Look how far we've come, now baby...

I met Trisha about three years ago. I was temping after I moved to Nashville, and she worked in the office where I ended up. We hit it off pretty quickly, and she became my saving grace in that office of insanity. We only worked together for about six months, but she has been my friend ever since. Trisha is married to Jay, and they have three of my favorite kids on earth: Hudson, Gabe and Grace. These are my favorite recent stories about them. Hudson (8): Has decided he is a stand-up comedian. His routine consists of picking up various items and saying, “What’s the deal with this? I mean, what is this?” Regularly accuses Gabe of stealing his material. Gabe (5): Wants to be Elvis for Halloween. Will get your attention, turn his back to you, then spin around and point and say, “Thank you very much.” Grace (4): Trisha will ask, “Who’s pretty?” and Grace will raise her hand. Then she asks, “And why are you pretty?” and Grace says, “Because you’re pretty, mama.” Saturday was Jay’s 30th birthday, and Trisha planned the mother of all surprise parties for him. His family and friends live all over the country, and they all flew in. She took him to dinner at The Palm, and while they were there the babysitter called to tell them that Hudson was really sick and they needed to come home. (Before they left, Trisha paid Hudson a dollar to go to Jay and act like his stomach was upset and play sick until they left. Genius.) So they walk in the door, and 30 people yell “Surprise!” It was awesome. He had no idea. Then he started to see who was there, and how many people had traveled to be there with him, and he got overwhelmed and started crying. Then I did. I’m a sucker. It was great fun to be a part of something so special in our friends’ lives. Trisha was my first real friend in Nashville, and we have spent many an afternoon hanging out with them and their kids. She’d put together a DVD slideshow of pictures of Jay growing up and of their family, and I think everyone got a little teary. I know I did. It was so neat to see how his life turned out to be what it is. And looking at how special pictures of just a random day at home can cause you to get emotional years later. A testament to how it’s all about the little things, I guess. *embarrassing side note* During part of the slideshow, they played Shania Twain’s “You’re Still The One.” Now, Shania is on my Do Not Listen list. She really is. But hearing that song and watching pictures of them just getting married and the kids when they were so little… it got to me. I admit it. So I guess you can add that to the list of songs I shouldn’t like but do. Crap.