"I wanna talk about ME ... (and Jeremy)!"

So, as I alluded to in my most recent post, Jeremy and I (and my parents and sister) spent the weekend in New York City. We were there, because God was so kind and gave me the opportunity to talk about Dorothy Fields at the Second Annual BroadwayCon.

The trip - and the lecture - went great, and I have to mention here - so I don't forget it in years to come - that I went in to the lecture with complete confidence, knowing FIRST, that it was God Who'd given me the opportunity and that He'd never set me up to fail, and SECONDLY, because I had SO.MANY.PEOPLE praying for me. I cannot even tell you how many encouraging texts and promises of prayer I got on Friday nite and Saturday. So I knew that God was in it and with me, and as a result-and by His help-I could not fail.

He was so, so good. Not only was the session miraculously well attended (I'd honestly joked with my "fan club" that they'd probably be the only four people there; I really thought they would), but it was also attended by one of the Managing Editors of Playbill, which was a total - but welcome - surprise.

Highlights of the trip include seeing my name and bio inside an actual Playbill (seriously, Y'all. I kinda lost it), eating ALL.THREE.SATURDAY.MEALS at Junior's, which was across the street from our hotel, looking out our hotel room window and seeing the most iconic Times Square view I can even imagine, watching UK / Kansas at Jack Demsey's with the UK NYC Alumni Club (if only the Cats had won ...), and realizing that while some kids don't even have the support of their families, I do a lecture four months before 40 and bring my own mini audience. If that's not #blessed, then I don't know what is.

Much fun as it was to get out of town, it was just as wonderful to get back to the boys. They did GREAT while we were away, as I knew that they would. Here are a few of my favorite stories the Pressleys told me about their weekend with Jones and Freddie:

1) When we FaceTime'd the boys after (a delicious) dinner (at Ocean Prime) on Friday, Freddie again said, "Pease come home." He wasn't whining or crying; he just said it, matter of factly. I, of course, cried.

2) On Saturday, the boys were playing hide and seek. The Pressleys found them "hiding" under every article of their Pop's clothing. They'd gone to his closet and pulled everything he owned off the rack, so it was all in a giant pile on the floor, and they were under it all. Nan and Pop were laughing about it - but it took them 45 minutes to clean up their mess (OHHHHHH, Boys ...).

3) "E" spent all of Saturday at the Pressleys', since Evan had a ballgame. When Brian came to pick him up, he said to Jones and Freddie, "You wanna go with me?" Apparently, they immediately jumped at the chance - they even went to get their suitcases to bring along. I think they think they were staying longer than they actually were.

4) We brought the boys die-cast taxi cabs from New York. They LOVED them. Freddie called it a "maxi" and put it up in his "treasures box" before hitting the hay. We showed them "Oliver & Company" (or, as Jones calls it, "All-ih-ber") after giving them the taxis, so they'd get a better idea of where we spent the weekend. It became an instant favorite. I've lost count of how many times they've watched it since.

So that's the story of the time Jeremy and I went to New York City. I imagine the next time we go, it'll be with the boys in tow!

We didn't see "Hamilton," though we DID
all play its Saturday nite lottery,
but I just about passed out from the
contact high of walking by its theatre
as we went to meet my friend Mark
on Friday afternoon.

Daddy and I picked this to see,
remembering how hilarious it was
when we saw it at Marietta's Theatre
in the Square 15 years ago.
THIS production, though, wasn't
hilarious. It was VULGAR.
We left after the first of three acts.

"the room where it happened"

Daddy did this, which was probably
my favorite part of the whole weekend.
Though I hate the Jennifer Garner
Capital One campaign, this TOTALLY
reminded me of the commercial
with her dad, as this is most definitely
"SUCH a 'Dad' thing to do."

FaceTime!

heading in to Jack Demsey's

three floors of Cat fans! GO, BIG BLUE! 

back to Junior's - for the THIRD time that day 

These are the faces of two sports fans
whose teams both lost.

"Pease come back?"

It's one of those days when I've yelled at the boys just about as much as I can yell.

I'm on edge, because Jeremy and I are trying to get out of town for the weekend - which means packing for myself to go to New York and for both boys to spend two nites at their grandparents. It also means getting the house in order, so we don't leave it in a mess, and OH, YEAH, making sure my presentation is ready for what MAY be the most significant lecture of my "career" to date.

So, needless to say, it's been one of "those" days, and, at the end of it, I laid down beside one of the boys who has borne its brunt.

"Pease sing to me in my bed," Freddie always asks when I tuck him in. So I laid down, and I sang to him - "Jesus Died on da Cross," "Jesus," "Hard da Herral ..." all the ones he always asks for - and then, my body cuckled up against his, my arm around his toddler torso, I said, "I'm gonna miss you when I'm in New York, Buddy."

For a split second, there was silence. Then, he took in his breath and said, "Pease come back?"

After the way I've acted today, I can't believe he'd even WANT me back.

But man, am I glad that he does.

Brookie & Ah-Jay come to visit!

Back when we were single, one of the things that made us the saddest about marrying so late was the fact that our kids wouldn't grow up with our friends' kids. I mean, I have friends whose kids are middle-schoolers; meanwhile, mine aren't yet in PRE-school!

So when God was kind enough to give us three boys between us in the span of three years, we DETERMINED that we would not let distance keep them apart, and I am SO thankful that we made that decision. The boys and I have made a couple trips to Nashville, and Brooke's family has dropped in on Canton a couple of times, too.

A couple of months ago, Brooke decided that we should fight the Winter doldrums by visiting each other in January and February. She and "Ah-jay" would come here in January, and the boys and I would go to Nashville in February. This week was their week, and we had an AMAZING time.

This was taken as we said our goodbyes. The boys,
at this point, had pretty much had it!

In fact, after they headed home to Nashville, I was taking the boys to stay with the Pressleys, so I could go speak in Athens. Jones said, "I don't wanna go to Nana's house today. I wanna go to Brookie's house today." If you know how much Jones loves going to his Nana's house, then you'll know how big a deal it is for him to say that!

As they always have when we've gotten them together, the boys do GREAT together. I was VERY proud of how well Jones and Freddie did sharing their toys with AJ - and super impressed with how well AJ adapted to being in a totally new place. Next month, it's OUR turn to road trip. Nash-vegas, LOOK OUT!

A few other funny stories:

1) We went out on Wednesday nite, and Freddie was sitting beside AJ in my van. He kept asking AJ, "You wanna hold my hand?" and when AJ didn't answer quickly enough, Freddie asked again: "You wanna hold my hand? Yes or no?"

2) On Thursday, the boys were playing out in the "cwubhouse." Jones went out on his stump and played, "Rocky Top," and it was so cute that I wanted Brooke to get some pictures of it, so I asked and asked him to do it again, and he finally agreed, but first, he said, "I'm going to get dressed." He went into the clubhouse and then came out wearing his red Mardi Gras beads that came with his blue Happy New Year necklace. After he did his show, he immediately went back into the clubhouse and hung up the necklace before emerging again, without his "costume" on. It was hilarious.


3) Finally, Freddie shared something with AJ and immediately looked at me and sweetly asked, "You happy now?" which was HILARIOUS, because I hadn't said a WORD about him sharing ... at least not in that moment.

Anyway, we had a great time - Leslie even came up for the day and a laugh-a-minute dinner on Thursday, and Brooke and I remain hopeful that our boys will be as good a friends as their mamas are!