Oh come on, admit it. The first time you saw Juliana you thought, "I'm going to keep her in a velvet cage."

...

You know me WAAAAAY too well.

I did you!!

Mmm. That sounds porny.

You're right. You and Anne did. I'm forgetful and scattered tonight. More wine caffeine!

Now I'm getting so excited about this year's F2F. (Wherever it happens to be.)

Your vocabulary is much too advanced for 8.

This reminded me of my latest mommy-brag story. Today at Chris's basketball game, he didn't want to pass the ball (because that requires giving up the ball), but was pretty effectively blocked and couldn't move. Everyone was yelling to him to pass it. He was yelling back that he didn't want to.

The age director came over to Scott and said, "Is that your kid?" Scott laughed, and admitted he was. Then the director said, "He is funny. I remember him from try-outs. When it was his turn to come up and shoot, I handed him the ball, and he said, 'I require a lower basket'."

While they were at basketball, Julia and I were at Bed, Bath & Beyond, buying a hypo-allergenic pillow, pillow cover, complete mattress cover, because Chris has had to go back on the nebulizer. I also bought him a wedge-pillow (sort of like this [link] because he's been coughing a lot at night, and we've been trying to prop him up with two pillows, but he doesn't stay on them.

I showed him the wedge-pillow when we got home. He said, "Hey! A slide!" Then he said, "Really, mommy, it's shaped exactly like a ramp."

When I agreed, he then said, "Of course, it's an inclined plane."

I just looked at him.

"Don't you know what an inclined plane is, mommy?"

"I do. And you're right. It is an inclined plane."

"How do you know about inclined planes, mommy?"

"Um. I learned about them in geometry. In tenth grade."

I handed him the ball, and he said, 'I require a lower basket'."

Bwah!

Chris is old enough to play basketball?!? How is that possible?

Hmm. All these first impressions are reminding me of the 3 F2Fs I've been to, and making me sad I missed two others...but I'm hoping that this year it'll be earlier or later, so it won't conflict with my big drag show!!

I seem to get an awful lot of "and you must be ND" so I somehow suspect I fit what people are expecting. Just what it is they are expecting I have no idea. I'm me and I'm pretty good with that.

"How do you know about inclined planes, mommy?"

"Um. I learned about them in geometry. In tenth grade."

Ha!

I'm me and I'm pretty good with that.

Yes, you are.

I expected a kilt, ND. And I was not disappointed. But you were also funnier than I expected, and for whatever reason I had no clue about the beard (which I love, as I am a big fan of men's facial hair).

Aimee, are you still around? I finally finished NR's vampire books, and Valley of Silence made me cry and cry. That ending just killed me.

Someone do me. I'm feeling forgettable.

Pffft. You always walk away from a F2F missing a few people you had wanted to spend more time with. The flipside is that circumstances will often throw you together with somebody you didn't anticipate spending time with and it's all fun. You were my bonus baby at this F2F.

You have that shrewd, watchful quality I associate with a lot of writers. Always taking things in and mentally filing away notes even while you're at parties and talking to people. You've got some innate cool, and physical confidence. You know you're attractive even if you've been in mommy mode for a while now.

The thing I really noticed though was that little glint in your eye that seemed to grow brighter as the weekend went on. Like you were remembering a part of yourself that had gotten buried. An undomesticated Amy. A hungry, horny, risk attracted Amy.

Plus, you were just very fun to spend time with, and I totally enjoyed playing with your hair.