Happy Hump Day

First, I need to apologize for not posting this yesterday, but a big (late) HAPPY ANNIVERSARY to Bobbi and Ed who celebrated theirs yesterday. I really didn't forget!

I've decided that what makes somewhere...anywhere...a nice place to live is the friends you make. I hated, HATED, Iowa because I had no friends. That's not to say that I didn't know people, because I knew a lot of people, but I didn't have anyone to lean on if I needed to. Virginia was filled with friends. We had a neighborhood full of people who really cared about us, as well as friends scattered around the area. It wasn't unusual to get phone calls from friends asking if we wanted to meet at the mall because someone needed to get out of the house and they figured I did too. I could always count on the occasional call from Michelle asking if I wanted to meet for coffee. 9 times out of 10, I'd run into someone I knew at the store, and usually get sidetracked chatting (for some reason, we could never talk and shop at the same time!) Or I'd get a phone call from a neighbor, late at night when Mike was out of town, because they saw my lights on and wanted to make sure I was doing okay. Virginia was a very special place and I made friends there that I will have for the rest of my life. That's one of the reasons it was so hard for me to leave (it also didn't help that it was so darn beautiful there!).

As soon as we moved to Virginia, it was instantly 1000 times better than Iowa because I had nothing there. Moving here, I compared everything to Virginia (and still do) and it's a hard place to equal.

Things are definitely looking up. My MOPS table is full of such wonderful women that I can see becoming strong friends with. We've already started a weekly playgroup and are planning a couple's night out soon. The way we've clicked is much like how my playgroup a few years ago just clicked (you know what I'm talking about, Sara). I love that!

With the addition of the MOPS Bible Study every other week, I'm able to meet women at the other tables as well, and they're all becoming good friends too. Yesterday at our MOPS meeting, they did a spoof on the game show The Price Is Right...they called it The Mom Is Right. Shanna (our MOPS Coordinator and she sits at my table too) brought up 4 girls from different tables to answer some questions for prizes. One of the girls she brought up was Bree. Bree is a riot. I found out at the last Bible Study that she's from some suburb of Chicago (Naperville or Downer's Grove, I think) and we were chatting a lot about the area. Well, here's what went down yesterday...

Shanna: Our next contestant is Bree
Bree: Whoooo!
Shanna: Bree...tell us where you're from
Bree: CHICAGO!!!! WOOOOO!
Shanna: Do we have any other Chicagoans in the audience today?
Bree: (pointing to me) BARBARA! I know you are girl! WOOOO!

Now, for a second, I'm thinking "really, I'm from Peoria and not Chicago, but the boys were born there." What came out of my mouth was this...

Me: (arms up in the air and pointing back to Bree) YOU KNOW IT BREE!!!
Bree: WOOO!

I just finally feel like I've found a direction here and that makes me so happy. Give me another 1 1/2 years (our average time in any one place) and I probably won't want to leave here either.