Meet and Greets

Between the holidays, the never ending Polar Vortex and a busy work schedule, life as gotten the best of me. As I sit here hyped up on some Alka-Seltzer on yet another Work From Home day (thanks to those tundra temperatures), I figured I should take some time to update.

Within the past two months, I met two people I’ve been waiting to meet since 2004. And three weeks ago, I got to meet a tiny little lass I’ve been waiting to see and hold since August.

First up, the Bernings. Fate dealt us one sweet card when Matthias and his parents ventured down to Chicago the same weekend Mom was in town. We’ve heard a lot about Matthias’s parents over the years, but we’ve never met, as they don’t come to the States all that often. This meeting/reunion of sorts was my absolute favorite part of the holiday season. We all easily fit into conversations with each other, though Matthias had to jump in every now and then and wow us with his seamless German-English-German speech. The weather wasn’t the best, though I spent the whole day in fits of giggles and smiles. A Christmas miracle? Nah, just much overdue.

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After some time Facetiming with Lisa and Baby Beckett, I ended up having a work trip out to Colorado. Lucky for me, the presentation was on a Friday, which meant I could take the weekend with the Watsons down in Colorado Springs and finally meet Baby B. I was pretty excited and anxious as well as a little more than nervous. I cannot tell you the last time I held a baby. After a drive (and gossip sesh) from Denver to the Springs with just Lisa, I arrived to Watson Manor ready to meet Baby B. We both played coy. And during the Kansas game the next day we moved into the “hold me” phase. Thankfully, there’s one thing Baby B and I cannot get enough of…books.

Sharing some book love while dressed in Rock Chalk attire

Even with the mood swings of Old Man Winter, it’s hard to complain too much. Especially since Restaurant Week is going on and Sundance U.S.A. is this Thursday. Needless to say, there’s not much meandering around the city though enjoying the quiet, downtime of “too-cold-for-tourists” season.

Wish Granting Factory

I bought The Fault in Our Stars last week to read on my Colorado trip. Except I didn’t make it that far. Instead, I laid in bed reading for five hours until I finished the book. That’s one of my favorite feelings in the world; getting so consumed by a book the only way to stop is for the book to run out of pages and words.

I can say of all the years of book reading, I’ve never cried in a book. Sure, I might have cried during a movie adaptation, but I’ve never cried while reading. I’ve actually found myself a tad jealous of those who can get so lost in their imaginations and the written word to produce such powerful emotion.

And then it happened. The eyes welled up. A few tears trickled down. I regained composure. A full-on sob. Followed by I-can’t-quite-breathe sobs. And then again, pulling it together to finish the ending and more sobs. Then for some reason, I felt compelled to reread the ending. Puffy eyes greeted me in the morning.

The tale is about two teens who meet during a cancer support group. You know something bad/sad is going to happen, it’s inevitable right? But man oh man, the way John Green makes you fall in love with these characters so that you’re not worrying about their stories but more so their thoughts and feelings is truly genius. You get so wrapped up in Hazel’s and Augustus’s day-to-day that you don’t even have time to contemplate, read into foreshadowing or figure out where the story’s landing.

Just like Augustus and Hazel, I finally got my wish.