Good Grief!

Babe and I did some packing this morning. I woke up at 4:00 AM and decided to work on a blog that I've been trying to write - the next thing I knew, she was standing in the kitchen fixing herself a "diet brown" (that's what she calls her pop.) I could hear the clank of ice cube after ice cube being put in her glass. Threw me off, because I fully expected her to sleep in since she is off work today. With her diet brown in hand, we made our way upstairs and into the bedroom. Yep..., began to tackle one of the two large master bedroom closets - yikes! Even K., our youngest, had never gone to sleep and was up and packing at 4:00 AM - we are such a strange bunch of women.


Babe collects interesting coins - she sat at the desk and sorted through all kinds of loose change that we had been putting into two antique glass containers. She was engrossed in sorting, as I pulled one box after another out of one of the closet and began to rummage through them.


Babe, "Honey, your just grinning away as you pull all of that crap out of the closet - why? Are you that excited to get rid of all of that stuff?" Turning around in her chair, with her good morning hairdo and sipping on her diet brown drink.


Paula, "I'm grinning because you are mumbling away to yourself over there while you are looking at each piece of that change!" Giggling, "Wheat..., wheat..., nope..., wheat, wheat and wheat!"


Babe, "I know! I can't stop myself from saying it out loud (wheat) every time I find a wheat penny!" Chuckling at herself. Picking up a penny and holding it out towards me, "Look, Honey Doodles, this penny will be 100 years old in just 17 years! Isn't that cool!" Her eyes lighting up as she looked at me. "I know..., I'm weird!"


Paula, "Your my weirdo and I like you that way!" Taking the penny out of her hand and examining it, "It's cooler than cool, babe. It's too cool - cold - burrrrr!" Smiling and handing the penny back to her. She keeps all of her interesting coins in a gold plated, candy box thingy. Looking over her shoulder, I can see that she has money from Panama, Canada, Japan and Mexico sorted into envelopes. I used to have a coworker that went on several cruises a year - damn bitch! (That was just a tad bit of jealousy there.) I would give her a twenty and have her pick up samples of foreign money for babe, so that she could add it to her collection.


Babe, "Honey Doodles, I can hear you singing away in there!" She starts singing in an lower voice (trying to mimic my singing voice), "I've got enough spice in this family life..., I don't need an affair with a friend!" She chuckles, "Speaking of spice..., just 18 more days until the girls leave for college!" Wink..., wink.

Did any of you in blog land, notice how damned good Brittany Spears looks in green? WOOF!

Then I ran across the pictures of when we took the girls camping - just after she had told them that we were a couple. Yes..., we waited a long, long time before we told the young little girls - wanted to make damn sure that our relationship was going to last - so that they wouldn't be introduced to someone that wasn't going to be in their life permanently. They already knew me, since I worked for Babe, for well over a year before they knew we were a couple. We took our relationship slow..., slow..., slow! Besides, Babe had never been with a woman - even though she knew she was a lesbian - so I wanted to make damn sure she was in love with me and not going to break my heart or get cold feet.

Anyway..., there was a shot of me standing behind Babe, with my arms wrapped around her. I'm leaning around her, smiling and looking directly at her face. She is standing there, with her long blond, hair smiling away at the camera.


Paula, "My God! Look how..., young..., we were!" Grinning at my wife.


Babe, "Look at my blond hair - I forgot it was blond back then!"


Paula, "Yep, it's been blond, sandy blond, dirty blond, light brown, medium brown, and oops..., greenish and oops..., purplish!" Giggling, "Now it's reddish brown!" Pushing her bangs out of her eyes.


Babe, "And you weren't gray yet..., look at all of that dark brunette hair you had!" Smiling at me. "Now..., I dye it medium brown for you..., well..., except for this last time!" Laughing, "I'm sorry, I picked out a much lighter color and didn't realize it until I had smeared both boxes worth, all over that thick, long hair of yours!" Running her hand through my hair and grinning.


Paula, "What comes to mind when you look at this picture of us?"


Babe, "Love..., love honey, that is what comes to my mind! What about you?"


Paula, "Hmm..., yes love..., definitely love! AND..., the second tornado that the girls, the other little girl that we brought with us and I sat through, in the campsite restrooms, while you were at work that night! Every bit of our gear and clothes were scattered all over the place and EVERYTHING was soaking wet! AND..., it reminds me of fixing macaroni and cheese and hot dogs for dinner. Remember, I told you that we used a towel to strain the macaroni in after we had cooked it - the girls thought it was funny. All four of them held a corner of the towel as I dumped the hot water and macaroni into the center of the towel. Hell..., I didn't know what else to use since I forgot to bring the lid to the pot! AND..., it reminds me of M., having that screaming, crying, completely unglued fit, because there were bugs in her tent! Remember, she unzipped it, went inside with her lantern and all of those bugs flew into her tent because she refused to turn the light off? Remember how she screamed and flailed her arms all over the place..., for what seemed like hours! Do you remember..., how we kept yelling, ""Turn the light off! Turn - your - light - off! Zip - the - door!"" Then, we couldn't help her - as she screamed and flailed so much - that the tent was falling down around her because, all four of the rest of us, had segued into a gigantic, humongous laughing fit of epic proportion? We laughed and laughed and laughed until the tent collapsed, the light went out and she just laid there!!!!" We both break out in laughter as we remember the event together.


Babe smiling, "Yes..., I remember that! If we had helped her, she wouldn't have learned anything. We already told her to keep her tent zipped and her light off, at least, a hundred times!" Chuckling, "Hell..., once we got the tent back up..., she never left it unzipped or went in with her light again! Even M., remembers that night - she laughs about it herself now!"


M., got up out of bed and stepped into our bedroom, "What are you two laughing about?" She leans over Babe and sees the picture we took of the three little tents that we had bought each of them. "Ah..., you made us each try to put our tents up by ourselves so that we could learn! Of course we couldn't get them up alone, so you had us help each other - that's when the first fight broke out. I think we had been there a whopping ten minutes! J., got pissed, threw her tent into the woods and stomped off in a huff!" She pauses, "Oh my God..., do you remember all of those bugs? How I came completely unglued, screamed and screamed at the top of my lungs?" Her eyes light up, "That's what you two were in here laughing about, isn't it? I see how you are!" She laughs, "I thought I was going to die in that tent with those thousand bugs! That trip was a blast!"


Paula, "Do you remember that we made you pack your own bags and told you guys that you needed to bring bedding, your swim suits and several changes of clothes? And we checked with you guys repeatedly to make sure you had at least brought what you would need?" Looking up at M. while Babe begins to chuckle.


M., "Yes..., I only packed my swim suit and Teddy (a stuffed bear!) J., only packed her swim suit and cd's. I think K., was the only one that brought any bedding and some random bag of trash out of her room. Cassie, on the other hand, saved the day, because she packed every single item that she owned and brought it with her! Too damn bad we all weren't size 1 like she was and none of us could fit into her clothes!" All three of us start laughing. "Remember when K., packed her room when we moved in with Paula? You unboxed countless bags of trash from her room that she had packed?" More laughter filled the air. "She even packed the trash that was inside of the trash can that should have been thrown away!"


Babe, "Yes..., that would be..., absolutely correct! Countless bags of trash! Every time we went in to check on her progress, we would find her just sitting in the middle of her room, playing with a different toy. Then..., when moving day came..., all of a sudden everything in her room was mysteriously packed and ready to go! She even packed up the packing tape, scissors and marker that we gave her to use!"

Yep..., I even found the contract for a paper route the four of us worked on one summer - many, many years ago. Damn - what a blast we had running that route with K. and M. M. and I would head out in one car - she would direct me as to where to turn (because I couldn't remember where I was supposed to go to save my self) and we would roll and throw, roll and throw - all night long. We had such a blast together, trying to beat Babe and K., on their half of the route. Yep..., not one restroom open anywhere..., yep..., we peed in the bushes many times and laughed our asses off! Apartment complexes: papers inadvertently thrown into the pool, on the wrong balconies, broken hanging pots after I wildly threw the paper up to the third floor..., wild, wild, summer nights. That was the summer K., broke her ankle running behind the smoking piece of shit, van that Babe was driving - not good! Yep..., M. and I would get bored - try to hit the balconies by standing with our backs to them and throwing the papers over our heads, between our legs like a football being hiked to a quarter back, spinning in a circle and the letting go of the plastic wrapped, rubber banded paper at what we thought, was the appropriate time! So much fun..., it's a wonder that we didn't get Babe fired!

M. and I also had this set of run down, dorm type apartments that students lived in - God..., the smell inside the halls was sickening. Dread..., every night when we had to go inside. So, we worked out a system - she rolled, banded and bagged - I ran hand fulls into the building, raced up and down the stairs to see how fast we could get the papers out while I held my breath. Smell - God it smelled in there! Stunk - we would smell just like those apartments when we left there. It was awful! Damn..., Babe and K., always finished before us - didn't matter how hard we tried to beat them; couldn't have been because we were always inventing some new, entertaining way to throw the papers. The job only lasted for a couple of months since it was downtown in a very large city - yep..., Babe finally saw someone with a gun and it was over with at that very moment!

Babe also worked in a convenience store - over night - while she was going to college to get her degree. Scared the shit out of me every time she went to work. Sometimes I would drive there and sit in my car all night long while she worked away. Sometimes, I would go inside and spend the evening with her. I just couldn't help it - she was there all by herself - all night long - on the highway with absolutely nothing else around! I can't tell you how damned excited I was when she had to quit so that she could do her internship in a doctor's office. The doctor's office where everyone was constantly sick because their basement had flooded, the records and walls had all molded heavily and they didn't have enough good sense to get it CLEANED UP PROPERLY! Yes..., they handed out allergy medication to all of the employees every day - fucking unreal! At least the internship only lasted 8 weeks and then she was free to find a job in her new field. FREE internship - did I mention that she wasn't paid!

I had never heard of a house or businesses having basements until I moved to the Midwest. Being an Oklahoma and Texas girl - we only had brick homes. Then..., you move to the Midwest and the homes are all painted in pastels and have siding and basements. It was quite a shock to me at first. Oh..., and multiple floors - not just one level anymore. I felt out of place for several years in the Midwest. I still would like to move somewhere else - away from all of the lingering homophobia. And..., then I learned about snow plows - stay out of their way! Most we ever got in Oklahoma was a good case of ice - rarely any snow like here (inches and inches become feet over time.)