Girls Weekend

I had 2 dates this weekend. Neither of them were with my husband.

Date #1 - Friday night was the Kathy Griffin show at the Long Center. Chad requested the moment I mentioned the show a couple of months ago that he would like to be spared from going. He finds her annoying, so it would be torture for him to go and listen to her. I went with Tara, and we made it a girls night. We went to the Woodland on South Congress for dinner before the show. It was very tasty, as always. If you have never been there, you need to make time to go. Also, make sure that you get some kind of dessert there. Kathy Griffin was hilarious as expected. We got there just in time to be seated and to admire the interior of the Long Center before her act started. If you didn't know, her act is all about making fun of celebrities. She spares no one. I figured out that what I really like about her is that you can tell that she genuinely likes/respects some of the people that she pokes fun at. She freely takes stabs at some celebrities (like Pam Anderson), but in many cases is able to still preserve some of their good side for the audience. It was a fun evening!

Date #2 - My friend Diana is 39-40 weeks pregnant right now and her husband is out of town in the process of giving their dog away to a relative. She really wanted to go to a friend's wedding in Waco this weekend, but the option of driving all the way to Waco with her 2 1/2 year old daughter and her expanded belly for the evening seemed like too daunting of a task. Add in the fact that she has been having contractions for the past few weeks on and off (a couple of times sending them to the hospital), and the idea of going into labor 100 miles from home with her husband out of town did not seem like the best option. I had sincerely offered to do anything she and her husband needed to help out with the baby, so she took a chance and asked me if I would accompany her to the wedding this weekend. Inside, I was a little nervous about her going into labor while we were on the trip, but I knew it probably wouldn't happen.

The wedding was beautiful and very personal for the couple. After being a bride this year, I noticed details about the ceremony and reception that I might not have before my own wedding. We enjoyed the reception and Diana got to spend time with her friends that she might not see again for a very long time. During the evening, her contractions began again and it became evident that she was becoming increasingly uncomfortable. I drove home from Waco on the way back, and there was a stretch of time where we timed the contractions...8 min, 6 min, 8 min, 7 min, 5 min, 6 min...regular, but no cause for alarm. At least she wasn't worried about it.

It was a fun evening, and I am so glad that I got to be a good friend to her during her pregnancy. It's kind of funny to me that I am unique amongst her friends right now. For one of the first times in my life, I feel like the 'late bloomer'. She has a ton of friends from her church group who are all at the stage in life where they have a small child and some are pregnant with child #2...they can all share in the childrearing stories and offer each other advice and consolation. I can't really be that kind of friend for her, yet, but I can definitely play a good substitute wedding date/driver for an evening!!

(Oh, and I did use one of my mad skills that I picked up as a teacher...Diana had told her daughter, Brynna, that she wasn't going to be able to talk during the wedding. We both know that 2 year olds talk constantly. Brynna is extremely well-behaved and sat quietly on the bench looking through the hymnals and asking questions (quietly of course because she listened well to her mom). People were being seated and the ceremony had not yet begun. I put my handy teacher skill to use. I leaned over to Brynna and said in a whisper, 'I can talk really soft. How soft can you talk? (pause) Can you talk like me?' She instantly responded in a whisper! Yay! She was so good! Brynna was so cute whispering her little questions so as to try to be quiet. --- Some of my fondest memories from when I was a teacher were the days where I was completely hoarse and couldn't talk. You would think that teaching without being able to talk is torture, but really they can be some of the best days ever. Kids have a natural instinct to be quiet when you are quiet. If you have to talk in a whisper, their immediate response is to whisper back at you. Being hoarse in a classroom almost guarantees that your day will be quieter than normal.)