Awkward Hugs

My friend Tia today said, "I love to watch awkward hugs."

This was in response to an awkward hug I received at a work function today. This person I know at work, who I believe to be one of the most uncaring, cold, and bitter individuals I have ever met, felt it necessary to give me a hug to say goodbye. This wasn't just any hug, mind you. See I went in for the casual one arm "gee, thanks" type of hug that usually lasts about 1.8 seconds. This person went in the for full two-arm sucking-the-life-out-of-you hug and it lasted an unbearable 8 full seconds. All the time I was thinking, "Oh God, help me. This is so fake. Oh God, make it end. Please now." It was brutally awkward. I still feel kind of weird about the whole thing. Really, I do.

And by the way, the word "awkward" is really awkward.

Meet Me in St. Louis

I spent some time this weekend in St. Louis with my friend, Kate, and I had an absolute blast! Kate and I had a great time catching up on life's happenings while enjoying the city. I have been to St. Louis a few times, but only really experienced the Budweiser tour, Cardinals vs. Phillies games, the Arch, and the riverfront. This time, I saw an entirely new area of the city, thanks to Kate, and it was great fun.

We spent some time exploring Wash U (Kate's alma mater and current employer), wandering the shops in the Loop, eating Ted Drewes custard, touring Schlafly Bottleworks, and enjoying the night life in Blueberry Hill. In essence, I got to experience an entirely new St. Louis. I absolutely love this. I love playing tourist and seeing the sites that everyone knows about, but I also love touring a friend's city, and seeing his or her favorite places - Kate was a great tour guide and I really enjoyed everything we saw and experienced.

The trip also helps give me some reference on what I am looking for in a future home, after my upcoming stop with my family. Each new place I see or hear about via a friend gives me more to consider in terms of what I am looking for in a new city or town and what that might mean for my quality of life. This information is certainly valuable.

Each experience I have, though, usually has some unpredictable moment. For Kate and I, this came during our taste-testing after our tour at Schafly Bottleworks. One of the other tourists asked the guide to sample only the foam of the beer. Honestly, he said, "I'd like just the foam" and the guide kindly complied with his request. Twice. I may not be a beer conossieur, but I've been around enough alcohol in my day to know this is behavior that can be considered quite odd.

Makes for an interesting story in an excellent weekend. Thanks, Kate!

Christmas Tradition

I am not a person who gets all crazy over Christmas. Mostly, I feel overwhelmed by the madness, chaos, and overcommercialization that many people have allowed Christmas to become. My family has tried to keep things simple in recent years and I do appreciate that. I do tend to like some Christmas traditions, like baking/eating certain types of cookies that only come around once a year. Some traditions, like my family's use of "the pink chair" for gift opening, are slightly odd. There remains one tradition, though, that does hold a special meaning for me.



My mom has this calendar, which she purchased from Avon at some point in the 80s. We kindly refer to it as "the mouse calendar" because there is a little mouse that you move from day to day as you count down to Christmas. You can see the mouse on today's date. Yes, the mouse has a bowtie, it's fantastic.

Every year since I can remember, my brother and I battled to be the first one down the stairs in the morning to "change the mouse"; only when both Joe and I were in college did my mom and dad ever actually participate in this activity.

Some mornings, Joe and I would race each other down the stairs, push each other if necessary, so we could have the chance to move the mouse. For the past twenty-some years, including last year, we kept this tradition alive in our parents' house. It's just too much fun so we keep doing it.

At some point last year there was some debate between Joe, my mom, and I about the mouse calendar; I honestly don't remember, but I'm assuming there was some discussion about who would get the mouse calendar in the future - one of us should have it I guess was the thought.

My savvy mom, who is learning the ways of technology, to my utter shock and surprise, was able to successfully get on eBay and bid on two of these calendars. My brother and I each received our very own mouse calendar on the day after Thanksgiving. I think Joe was embarrassed to be giddy about this small, yet appropriately thoughtful gesture by our mother, but I was absolutely ecstatic. Sure, there's no one to battle in the morning to be the one to move the mouse like there was in previous years, but each morning for the 24 days before Christmas, I get to wake up, move the mouse myself, and think about my brother and my family and how blessed I am. You see, that's what the mouse calendar represents for me - the safety and security of the familiar and the sense of family that I absolutely adore.