three for thursday

1. Sometime during one of our numerous car rides to/from school, seminary, church, or Tuesday Adventure locations, M and I invented shoulder dancing. Well, I'm sure we're not the first to shoulder dance, but we coined the term. Okay, maybe not that either, but for the purposes of this story, let's say we did. Anyway, shoulder dancing came about because sometimes your jam comes on while you're driving and you just have to dance. But seeing as there isn't much range of mobility in a car (especially the teeny tiny Civic I drove in high school...bless that car), we had to get creative. And so shoulder dancing it was. We are both quite proficient.

Anyway, occasionally when I'm at work, I encounter that same dilemma that I encountered those years ago driving in the wee hours of the morning: one of my (many) favorite songs comes on, and my heart just fills with pure happiness, and I just can't keep my shoulders still. I am more prone to this on particularly good days like today :)

It's considerably more embarrassing in an office setting surrounded by hard working employees with remarkable control over their shoulder movements than in a car with your BFF, in case you were wondering.


2. One of my proudest moments also involves M and that tiny, beat up Civic. And a mall. And a birthday. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

The story goes like this: One fine afternoon (or morning? or night? that detail is hazy) I texted M and informed her that I needed somebody to go shopping with me on Saturday afternoon. She accepted and we embarked on an adventure. We shopped. She bought a pair of jeans. I bought some jewelry. And then we went home.

The End.

Just kidding. All of that did happen, but one tiny detail that M was not privy to, was that the real reason we went shopping was so that her mother could fill her house with food and friends and fun in the form of a surprise birthday party. And I was the decoy. We even had a code phrase that I would use in a phone call on the way home. It was ice cream, because what else makes sense?

M didn't suspect a thing. She told me later that my odd phone call didn't seem that odd to her because I was talking about ice cream. If that doesn't give you insight into who I am at the very deepest level, I don't know what would.


3. Remember my little brothers? The ones that will forever be six-years-old with gap toothed smiles and scabby knees? Yeah, they're going to prom. With DATES. I am really not okay with this. It's like life keeps moving on in Kentucky while I'm at school...what is that all about?

You know, my birthdays and milestones have never really made me feel "old" or like I'm growing up. Their birthdays and milestones, on the other hand, make me feel ancient. Because those events make me (try to) come to terms with the fact that they're not, in fact, small six-year-olds going to kindergarten and watching Arthur like it's their job (although I do suspect they might still do that if given the opportunity). Rather, they're impossibly tall young men who are going to prom. With dates.

(I'd say that I hope this doesn't embarrass them, but that would be a bald-faced lie. What fun is being an older sister if I don't get to embarrass my little brothers every now and then?)