Redo Please?

I was looking at all my photo albums the other day and you know what?

There is almost always a story behind a picture. And half of those stories aren't the greatest. I look at those pictures and think, 'well I should've done this instead' or 'man, i really wish that didn't happen' and so on. But who cares right? After all, it's not like I can go back in time and do it all over again. There are several important lessons behind those pictures.

Growing up, I was the biggest Barney fan alive. And, yes, even though Barney is weird and he gets a bad rap, I will let my kids watch it someday. It's better than Tellatubbies and Spongebob, so it's not the worst. For my third birthday my mom made me a Barney cake. Everyone knows that Barney is purple. Well, I was very disappointed to find out on my birthday that my Barney cake was blue. You can eve tell by the picture that I was disgusted. I think about that every year; how that cake was so not right. AND I remind my mom that she was the one that messed it up. So, this year (yes, for my 20th birthday) she made me a Barney cake. And yet, I was still not impressed. Yes, I love her and give her an A for effort, the icing was even purple; but even I, the Barney expert, could not even tell that it was supposed to be Barney. So, whoever can make me a Barney cake that looks like him AND is purple will be my new best friend.

Speaking of kids television shows, do any of you remember Molly and the Big Comfy Couch? I loved that show! I watched it all the time, until I picked up on one of Molly's bad habits. For those of you who have seen it, remember the episode Molly's Bad Day? Yeah, she sticks her tongue out in that episode. If Molly does it, then it's ok for me to do it right? Yeah, well not so. I was watching TV and my dad asked me to put my clothes in my room. I didn't want to, so what did I do? Yep, I stuck my tongue out at him. And when he asked where I learned to do such a thing, I told him I learned it from Molly. Needless to say, I never watched that show again...

My brother and sister and I used to sit at the edge of the driveway and throw little rocks across the road to see who could throw it the furthest. And, of course, we were good kids and only threw when there were no cars coming...except for this one time. Yes, we hit a car. BUT, only the tires so it was ok...no damage. Well, the driver didn't think so. As soon as we realized what we had done, we ran around to the back of the house to "hide". The wonderful driver came storming back around the house and angrily explained to our poor babysitter what we had done. Thanks to her, she is called The Rock Lady to this day. It wouldn't be so bad if that was the first and last time we saw her right? But of course, she has been one of my coworkers, she goes to our church, and her daughter is one of my mom's students. So, that always makes it awkward.

One time, I baked cookies and didn't realize I had left the oven on until we got back home from church...3 hours later. Yeah, you can only imagine how that one turned out.

Or, the other time that I had put meat in the freezer outside in the garage and didn't close the freezer door all the way. 10 days later, after coming home from vacation, my dad informed me that I had ruined about $200 worth of meat. Now that's a great feeling. Especially when you get the special privilege of cleaning it all up.

One thing you may know about me is, that I am deathly scared of clowns. In fact, I am scared of anything dressed up. Don't ask me why because I don't know; I have always been that way. Well, my sophomore year of high school I was standing and waiting for the Christmas parade to begin. When, all of a sudden, 2 of my classmates decided it would be funny to get a clown to come over and wish me a happy birthday. Needless to say, I started freaking out and even cried. #1, it wasn't my birthday. #2, that was a very embarrassing and frightening moment I must say.

I am also not a fan of tight and crowded spaces. I don't like hugs; I just like my space. I don't like my personal space invaded. On senior trip, my dad told a group of about 12 of us that we were going to jump on the upcoming subway...which had standing room for about 4 people. Yes, my personal space was quickly taken and I did not handle it well one bit. I was smooshed between people, my face in a classmates armpit. Not something I would classify as a fun moment. I was so tired, so out of my comfort zone, and so needed just some alone time. I lost it, I cried, for the whole metro to hear me. And what did my dad do? He laughed. Thank you, thanks for your support dad.

So, yes, for some of these experiences I look back and laugh. But don't get me wrong, I would never want them to happen again. And, would probably prefer to have a chance to handle these situations and respond differently if I had a chance. But I don't, so I get to live with the memories; and I get to share them with you.