Getting Closer to Batman

How many bats does it take to become Batman?  This is the question the question of the week in my house.  It is kind of like the question of how many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie roll pop.  

Last year there was a bat in the house while I was at work. It is easy to think what I would have done at the time, but it is hard to really know what I would truly do.  A year later from the last bat incident, we were revisited by the brown bat. 

Dib was no help with the bat and Iggins hid under a bed.

It started simple enough. I was puttering around the guest room talking to Laura on the phone when I noticed something at the window.  I didn't have my glasses on, and it was a dusky twilight in the room, so I couldn't immediately identify what was going on.  Less then a minute later, it became clear as a bat flew out of the window and at my general direction. 

Oh, did I scream.  Down the stairs I thundered, hollering about a bat as the winged menace followed me.  My husband was less than thrilled about the nocturnal nightmare fuel that now inhabited the kitchen. My husband and father in law collaborated in the bat removal.  I did my part and screamed every time it flapped around and laughed maniacally when not screaming. The bat was released back into the night air. The whole event was kind of like the thrill of a roller coaster, you don't really know what the next turn is going to be, but that rush of adrenaline makes your giddy with anticipation and makes you silly.

In a moment of silliness, it made me contemplate if I am one step closer to becoming Batman. There is some serious bat trauma that has to happen before Bruce Wayne lost his parents that helped shape him.  I have had some not so serious bat trauma. How many bats does it take to become Batman? 

Missed Holidays & Odd Beginnings

Through some of the many notifications I get on my phone about national holidays and international holidays and the greeting cards I should send for all of them, I missed National Friendship Day on August 7^th.  This could be one of those holidays contrived to sell greeting cards, since the reminder for the holiday asked me if I wanted to send a card, but I want to believe that is a genuine holiday designed to show gratitude to those special relationships in your life.   I wish I could write a sonnet for every friend that had touched my life and the impact that they made, but poetry was never my strong suit.  I will however share some antidotes as to how some of my best friendships started.   Just to keep it fun, see if you can guess which anecdote goes to which friend. 

The friends in question are: Barbie, Lizzy, GAT, Faye, Steph & Nic.

1.       They say that you are either going to love the person that sits next to you at work or you are going to become arch enemies.  After weeks of silent treatment, hairy eyeballs and suspicions of bird harboring in desk drawers, negotiations were finally made.  I tried to go for arch enemies and then Stockholm Syndrome set in.   

2.       The tinkling of bells rang in the air with every step she took quite literally. The best interviews are the ones that are done in Halloween costume, because you can tell right away when someone is nervous.

3.       And I said to her, “You will know my house by the snow bunny in the front yard.” After a moment of silence, she said, “What’s a snow bunny?”

4.       I was standing behind the registers watching the crowd for the midnight release, when she stops in front of me and hands me a bottle of drugs.  I wasn’t even sure if I had met her before that moment.

5.       “Let’s put this sweater over our heads and we can pretend we are fairies in a cave.” 

6.       I was walking down the mall when someone from inside one of the stores I was passing yelled, “FRESHMAN!” I turned and responded with, “I’m not a freshman.”  She just smirked at me and said, “You’ll always be a freshman to me.”

Please keep in mind that there is more to most of these stories than these few sentences.  The drugs weren’t the illegal kind, but more of the pain relief sort.   For those that are wondering who lined up with what story, here are the answers:  1=Nic, 2= Lizzy, 3= GAT, 4=Barbie, 5=Faye, 6= Steph.   It just proves that friendship starts in the most unlikely ways.  Happy Belated Friendship Appreciation Day!

Awesome

Have you ever read a book that with a turn of the page it can take you from laughing uncontrollably to sobbing your heart out and still make you want to turn the page? I just finished reading Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson and I wish I could buy everyone copy. If I had a spirit animal, I am pretty sure it would be Jenny, because she makes me want embrace the sharp jagged pieces of my self in a loving embrace and be happy with them, because they are mine.   The sheer amount of bravery it takes to open up about the depression and how it is a sickness that not only affects you as an individual but also those that are closest to you and the way the rest  of the world sees you  is heroic. 

Each chapter in the book is Shakespeare.  It is either a comedy or a tragedy and full of made up words that are now commonplace.   There are some chapters that make question whether or not taxidermy would fit in my decor  or if it is one of those arts that I can appreciate in some one else's house.  There are other chapters that make appreciate my husband and the idiotic conversations we engage each other it, because being dumb with each is half the fun of being married.  If I had to sum of Furiously Happy, I would say that it has heart and so few books touch mine the way this one did. It reminded me to embrace the adventures I go on and own them, because there are no do overs and appreciate those that give your life character.  Sometimes I need that reminder that quitting isn't going to solve anything and that it is okay to be weird.  Weird is some one else's normal. 

"Quitting might be easier, but it wouldn't be better."
 - Jenny & Victor