October is half over....

and life is just passing us by very fast. It's shocking really if you just think about it.

I had lunch with Kathy yesterday. It was really nice. She has now lost two doggies in a month. I feel so bad for her. Loss in any form hurts so bad. In her heart, she has lost 3 members of her family this year. I know it hurts.

But we are not going to be all sad on this blog today...we are going to laugh about another memory that I have to share about Shirley.

This is one that would make her and I laugh. Laugh hard enough that we could barely tell the story. It's a two parter actually. And starts when we were very young.

Part I

It was a day when we were coming home from school on the school bus. We would get off the bus at the house Shirley lived in and walk down the street to our house ... the house Tom and Cindy live in now. As we got off the bus, I was not paying attention to where I was going and I was looking back waving at my friends. The next thing I know... my face slams into the huge bus mirror and I am laying flat on the ground. The bus driver jumps up and is asking me if I'm o.k. and everyone is looking at me. I don't have a lot of memory of pain...but I know that it hurt. The next thing I hear is Shirley saying "Oh, she's fine. Get up Teresa.". I remember thinking..."really Shirley...uh...a little more sympathy please?". Not just the pain..but for the embarrassment. So, off the bus driver went...and Shirley continued to walk home. As I get up, I remember touching my eye and feeling like it was swelling up. Once I got home, I walked in the door and Shirley was there. Her face had this look of horror on it...she said "Oh My God...that looks terrible". Thanks Shirley. I know. It was swollen, black and blue and hurt like crazy.

That's part I of Shirley having no sympathy for Teresa and never believing she was really hurt.

Part II

We are teenagers now...driving ourselves to school. And it was Shirley and I on this particular morning. I remember getting up in the morning and not feeling very well. My side had a pain in it. I tell Shirley that she can drive because of this. Well, we realize we need gas. As we pull into the gas station (Farmers Market), she tells me to get out and pump the gas. I tell her...again...that I am not feeling so good. Again, her response..."You are fine...it's your turn to pump the gas...". I tell her...I really don't think I am fine. She was having none of that...and I got to pump the gas. Oh and go in and pay for it as I recall. Nice. After arriving at school, I realize that I'm not going to make it the whole day so I go to the nurse. That day ended with Teresa getting her Appendix out. I remember Shirley coming to the hospital ... and I'm sure it went something like this..."I am so sorry...I thought you were faking".

Now, Shirley always felt really bad afterwards. And later in our life, these were stories that we loved to tell. We would of course make the silly faces while telling the story and maybe add a little more to them than what really happened. I can see her face now as I remember in my mind telling the stories. I miss that a lot.

O.K. there you go. Now you know another one of my favorites. Enjoy.

Love,

Teresa