E-pistolary

This site is a continuation of my online novel-in-email, xo bri xoxo me xoxoxo love you christy. Call it a soap opera in email.

Thursday, August 23, 2007

About the characters...

Here's hoping that by reading the work I've posted here, you get an idea of who these characters are, what their interrelationships are, what motivates them, etc etc...

I found the following blurb in an old email, though, and I think it gives a pretty good, concise picture of who the main three characters are and what they're like:

"Brian is the kind of guy who would go into a diner and order Rice Krispies... as an adult, he's been with women who would say 'God, CEREAL?! Brian, we're in a diner. Why not stay home if you want cereal?' or 'Get eggs' or 'Why don't you just run to the dollar store, buy a cheap bowl and a spoon and pint of milk and a box of cereal? That'd cost less.' When all he wants is to have a bowl of cereal in a diner.

"Christy is the kind of woman who'd say 'And I want a feta and bacon omelette. And a Sprite.'

"And Margo is the kind of woman who'd say 'Rice Krispies? I want Rice Krispies--no, Frosted Flakes. You think they have Frosted Flakes? Let's... you get Rice Krispies and I'll get Frosted Flakes... Look... there's the boxes. Up on the counter, Bri... next to all those coffee mugs. They're like those little slumber party boxes... You think they make you cut the box open or give you a bowl? I always used to love that: the KelBowlPak. It sounded like some serious technological advance...and all it was was a flippin' BOX. Remember... remember that time we had those cereals and you cut down through the bottom of the box and you had, like, milk all leakin' out and stuff? Yeah... Hi. HE wants Rice Krispies, and I want Frosted Flakes...'"

Monday, August 20, 2007

Re: Re: So who's the baby?

From: ritaritasenorita@yahoo.com
To: brianpressley14@aol.com
Date: Aug 18. 2007 21:02 EDT
Subject: Re: Re: So who's the baby?

HA! I AM HEALED!!! I read your zeeerooo feeeeeeeeeeeeees... guaranteeeeeeeeeeeeeed and it didn't get stuck in my head at all! But you are so right: it is that EXACT spot in the top of my brain. What IS that physiologically, Doctor Pressley? Do they cover that in music school????

And you always have this way of giving TOO MUCH INFORMATION. I am of course referring to "I've been through the nursing once, just not as a supplier" or WHATEVER GROSS THING you said, forgetting that I AM MARRIED TO HER SON, BRIAN!!!! I don't WANT to hear about what you do with your "supplier" OK???

Was it such a beautiful day up there? It was SUCH a beautiful day down here. Mimi and Grandpa LeDoux came down and Fran gave us all the baby stuff Margo and her picked up for Dannydan THANK YOU MARGO


Well, then came lunch. You guys have all been through this before, but this is our first, so we're still a little, uhhhh, EDGY. But that's why you two and Fran and Tom and Mom and Dad are there... to pass wisdom on. Margo's mom said "I know dat you worry because it's all so new, he is so little, so helpless, he needs you to do everyting for him, but you will see: dis age is NUTTING" (Do I have the accent DOWN or WHAT??)

Anyway Fran said what Margo did: "LIGHTEN UP!!!!" Just wrap him tight, put him in the pappoose, make sure you have all the baby stuff in the bag, and as Tom added "Good God, just make sure you don't walk off and leave him anyplace!" And Fran rolled her eyes... so it must have happened with either Margo or John Paul (oops... "Jompaw") at least ONCE.

Anyway.................... SO!


We gave him a clean didey, wrapped him up like a big football and I put him in the pappoose and wore it on my front so he was all nice and snug and warm against my chest... and we rode downtown and went to Lexington Market to (where else) FAIDLEY'S, and then over for two of those cream donuts which I have been STARVING for ever since my h20 broke. (I swear that THAT was the worst thing about my water breaking: it wasn't that it happened in public, or that my nice new Skechers got ruined... it was that I WAS NEXT IN LINE TO GET MY DONUTS AND I DIDN'T EVEN GET THEM!!!!!

(I just reviewed what I wrote. I am overdoing it with the faces. What gives with me? )


Anyway we got our crabcakes and donuts and tomato salad and took a cab over to Federal Hill and sat on the lawn and ate and watched the harbor and kids playing in the park... and of course NO ONE STARED when moi fed the baby... plus Fran was there blocking me, sort of. She was shifting Tony and Tom around: "Look... you... you... SIT dere... so she has some privacy!!" She is so funny... I'm so glad I've gotten to know her... she reminds me of Margo... just quick and sharp and so funny.

We were watching a daddy play with his son around 7 or 8 and his little little girl around 2-3, Maggie Kay age, tossing a tennis ball and the girl wanted to throw it and just couldn't get any distance on it and the dad was trying to help her. And THEN she figured out that she could go over and throw it OVER THE EDGE. This happened three times... the first time, we were all watching her run toward the edge and thinking HOLY SHIT! SHE'S GOIN' OVER!! but she just stopped and THREW and watched the ball bounce, bounce, over the edge... HAHAHAHAHAHAHA she laughed... and of course Dad had to go get it... so now, as Fran said, it was a game... two more times she did it... the third time the dad pulled her aside and I didn't see if he swatted her or not, but she started crying and throwing a fit then, and the ballgame was over.

Fran said "She reminds me of Marguerite" and then she told us a great Margo Little Girl story: "Thomas's parents, dey used to have cookouts at da cottage, Opinicon you know, every tree weeks, just for us all to get together... so one time Thomas and me, we come down from Ottawa wid Marguerite, she was only two or so, almost tree because I was pregnant wid Jompaw. Anyway so we are on da patio, after supper, and Thomas's fodder is sitting at da picnic table, and Marguerite is playing wid a tennis ball, just bouncing da ball, laughing the way she laughs. And Edward said "What is so funny Margo?" And Marguerite said "I have a BALL!" and Edward said "Do you want to throw it to me?" And Marguerite said "Yeah, and I'm gonna THROW it at your BIG FACE!" And Edward said "Well, instead, why don't you just throw it to my hands and I'll catch it?" And Marguerite said "Because THAT wouldn't be FUNNY!" But she played catch wid him after all. And Marguerite always says dat it was my fodder who taught her to throw a ball, to pitch, but I tink it was Edward."

And then of course her and Tom get into a DISCUSSION... he gets his ass all up in the air: " ~ I ~ tossed the ball with her, Fran!" And she just patted his hand and said "Yes, yes, of course you did, Thomas..."

Tom just kept it going though: "No, I did. I taught her how to step into a throw... to step toward who she's throwing to. Because then when we saw your dad the pitching coach, he said 'She's already a pitcher' and I said 'Yeah, uh huh, you can thank her daddy the coach.'"

Tom and Fran said that Margo was even MORE of a handful than Becca was for you two, if you can imagine that... "Somehow da boys in dis family are placid. Tony was placid for her. Jompaw was placid for me. Thomas, he is long since whipped into submission." Of course the whole time she's saying this stuff she is smiling the way Margo does when she makes a joke like that about you two. It's so cool: they've been married 48 years now, and you can tell they're still best friends, that they GET each other like you and Margo do. Like me and Tony do...
I STILL haven't figured out Mom and Dad yet, hahah...

Anyway Fran was asking about how "da boys in our family" were, which of course I don't remember... by the time I was born you and Big Danny weren't boys... you were GODS and I just relayed what Mom always said: that YOU always came across as LOOKING quiet and all innocent, and so Danny had the reputation as a troublemaker because he was more loud and out there, but she eventually figured out that you were just as bad as

OOPS! BRB

I was hardboiling eggs and forgot about them and the pan boiled dry!!!! Here I am, just sittin' here typin' away and I hear this POPPING sound coming from the kitchen. Three of them popped and two of them just look scorched. Ewww.

I guess I won't have to worry about the yolks not being done the whole way through with THESE, huh?

Into the trash they go. Can't believe I just wasted five eggs.

I'm doing more and more airheaded things like that lately, I swear. What... did a part of my brain come out with the baby???

And Tony's on the back porch with Dannydan so he didn't hear it.

Jeez... that's funny but it's scary too... it could've been a calamity.

Anyway... wow. Take a breath, Senorita.

So it was great seeing Fran and Tom... they left at around 5 pm to get down to RFK for the Nats-Mets game.

Wow. I'd write more but I feel all verklemt now, plus I growwww fateegued, Captain, and plus, Tony just came in with the little dude, so we're gonna put him down and maybe go down ourselves.

Hope Tonybaloney isn't hankerin' for an egg salad samwich!

ACHOO! ACHOO! ACHOO! Hey Mr Outdoors. Is there something in the air?? I have been SERIAL SNEEZING the last week. THAT'S not some post-pregnancy thing is it??

Ask Margo.

OK... time for beddy by... love you bbbb. Talk to you or text you soon!!! Tony says good night and Dannydan... he's sleepin' away, so...

Love
Senorita!!!


Friday, August 17, 2007

Re: So who's the baby

From: brianpressley14@aol.com
To: ritaritasenorita@yahoo.com
Date: Fri, 17 Aug 2007 19:19:52 EDT
Subject: Re: Who's the baby???

HA!!! Yes, that is quite the catchy little number, isn't it? Zeeerohhhhhh feeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees.... guaranteeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeed!!! Bores right into your brain.. right hemisphere... top, just below the skull... whenever I hear that commercial, I can kinda feel that song moving around RIGHT IN THAT SPOT... even just singing it to myself... OOOF!... there it is now... it's like... Dey put TINGS... in our EARS, Keptin... made us... tell lies... but we were strong...

I just gotta say that you called twice the last few days when I had the phone in my pocket and just couldn't get the right button pushed in time to answer (I was out doin' Hot Sweaty Work in the trees this morning, Yankin' Out Them Stumps), but don't stop calling... I love talking to you, love hearing from you, love hearing how the baby's doing and how you and Tony are handling it. Love YOU, Senorita, and Tony, too, and little Dannydan, and am happy for you.

If there was a simple solution like "Oh, just follow the baby's schedule" it'd be easy... but it's not, there's not. You just kinda have to muddle through it. But call and ask questions any time... Margo has been through this TWICE (esp the nursing)... I've been through it once (not the nursing) (at least not as a SUPPLIER...) so we both can answer questions and give help to you.

Will the three of you be up for Labor Day festivities?

And Margo asks "When is Senorita going back to work?"

She and Becca and Becca's friend Tina are in the other room, watching PEE WEE'S PLAYHOUSE. I thought it was HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL but Margo said "Christy said that's kind of a big girl movie, so we're just watching Pee Wee."

Talk or text to you soon! xoxoxoxo biggest big brother bri

Texting

From: brianpressley14@aol.com
To: christyswims@yahoo.com
Date: Fri, 17 Aug 2007 19:10:29 EDT
Subject: Texting

OK, ok... just one question:

HOW DO YOU TYPE IN THOSE TEXT MESSAGES SO FAST??

I stand there writing and fumbling and I'm not fast, I realize, but I'm not slow either...I'd say after six days of using this thing, I'm Competent, but not Expert. I can hold my own.

But I fire these things off to you and I figure, OK, I'm good for ten minutes... and two minutes later, the stupid thing is VIBRATING IN MY POCKET with your response.

If your thumbs had been that fast when we were DATING... ;-)

Anyway, I am AMAZED at how much FUN this thing is. And you know what else? I DON'T HAVE TO BE A SLAVE TO IT. I DON'T HAVE TO BE A RUDE IMBECILE BECAUSE OF IT! I can just let it ring and call back later, same as I do with my landline. I can PULL OVER TO THE SIDE OF THE ROAD and talk. I can GO TO A PRIVATE PLACE IF I'M OUT and talk, and NOT STAND WHERE EVERYONE CAN SEE AND HEAR ME. Although God forgive me, I have yammered on it in public, like any other imbecile.

And I'm sorry, but it IS fun to be out on the trail or working in the trees or in the car, calling Margo or texting you or (especially the last two weeks) getting a call from my sister with a baby update. ("He just crapped his didey, Bri... it's NASTY. And this morning he squirted pee ALL OVER TONY'S SHIRT while we were changin' him.. haHAA!" Rita has that distinct haHAA laugh and whenever I see it's her, I always pick up, just because I know she will let loose at least one of those.)

(And when I see it's you, too.)

(And in case Margo asks, her too.)

I am typing you this because I am inside... we just had Big Beef Burgers and Margo and Becca and Becca's friend Tina are watching HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL. I'm sure it's very good. I'm sure they'll love it.

Hope you are well... I tried calling Marty on this thing and got his voice mail. Is he out with the band tonight??

Talk to you later! xo bri

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

So who's the baby??

From: Rita LeDoux (ritaritasenorita@yahoo.com)
To: Biggest big bro Brian (brianpressley14@aol.com), Margomom (ledoux67@aol.com)
Date: Wed 08/15/2007 12:56 PM EDT
Subject: So who's the baby??


I am delirious tired... I know what you say about "Just follow the baby's schedule, try and sleep when he sleeps, get up when he gets up" and all... and when you're preggers it sure SOUNDS like a plan, but now that the little, uh, is out there, it's a WHOLE NOTHER MATTER entirely... as in: my body is just not used to it yet, and when he's sleeping, there are things that need to be DONE (and Tonybaloney's at football practice)...

And I just looked at the screen and thought "Why did I write I am delicious tired????"

So last night while Tony's out at the team's Evening Session (and when did HE become Mr. Touchdown USA???) (oh and he's home now by the way, just got in and brought me A STARBUCKS LEMONADE ICED TEA!!!! Yuv yuv yuv yuv yuv him!!! )

So last nite I thought I'd take an apres dinner nap... well, Dannydan had other ideas... so out with the boobs, feed him... that tires him out and it tires me out too... HE goes right to sleep while I'm holding him... I put him down and try to take a nap and put the Orioles game on for just an inning... didn't lull me to sleep... so I turned the radio off but unfortunately let it play through the commercials, so now I HAD THAT DAMN SONG FROM THAT ONE COMMERCIAL PLAYING LIKE A LOOP IN MY HEAD AND CAN'T GET TO SLEEP!!!!!!!!!

WHAT song, you ask?

BALLTIMORRRRE AMERICAN MORTGAAAAAGE!!!
NO POINTS, NO CLOSING COSSSTS!
ZERO FEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSS
GUARANTEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEED!!!

Oh, and this is the complete commercial arrangement with the punchy horns

BOMP! BOMP! BOMP! BOMP!
BALTIMORRRRE AMERICAN MORTGAAAAAGE!!!
NO POINTS, NO CLOSING COSTS!
ZERO FEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES
GUARANTEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEED!!!
BA-DA-DAAAAA BA-DOM!

As you can see, it is STILL stuck there. Occasionally it will creep to the hidden corners of my mind, but then just when I least expect it, I hear those horns in my head....

BOMP! BOMP! BOMP! BOMP!

AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

Maybe I'll sing it to Dannyboy....

Ahhhh yessss... some people play their kids Mozart... I sing my kid the Baltimore American Mortgage song.

Yummy iced tea though.

All right, I am using all of the faces I always RIDICULE so I MUST BE deliciously tired, and deliriously tired, and Danny is sleeping away (35 minutes now, and I pumped this morning, so next feeding is TONY'S) so I'm gonna take a nap myself... in fact, I'll see if Tony wants to curl up next to me (he's in the shower)

AND HE BETTER NOT TOUCH ME!!!!!!!!!

First though I gotta ask the big question: o biggest big bro, WHEN did you get a CELL PHONE???

It's so cool to finally see you in THIS century, Brian!!

Texts rock so, don't they??? Maura and I text more than we call or email. The only thing is, these messages will be forever lost to posterity. As Maura says, WHAT will they stock the stacks of my archives with???

OK he's out of the shower... dripping wet and ready for yuv... TOO FN BAD!!!!

There it is again:

Zeero feeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees
Guaranteeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeed


Note to self: find head doc, get meds.

Later guys! I love you... so does Tony and little Dannyboy

xoxoxoxoxoxo
Senorita Mammasita



FORWARD to Brian's reply
HOME

Monday, August 13, 2007

Monday

From: ledoux67@aol.com
To: christyswims@yahoo.com
Date: Mon, 13 Aug 2007 12:43:38 EDT
Subject: Monday

Hi Christy... they're off to the lake. I just didn't feel like tagging along. But GUESS WHAT???? BRIAN FINALLY HAS A CELL PHONE!!!! And o irony of ironies, guess where we got it? WALMART!!!! HA! HA! HA! HA DE HA! HA! HAAA!

Mr. "I-will-never-own-one-of-those-things-and-why-do-you-shop-
at-that-evil-store-that-goes-into-small-towns-and-drives-all-
the-local-businesses-out-of-business-EFF-WALMART!!!!"
is now carrying a CELL PHONE FROM WALMART!!!!!

He has been absorbed into the collective, lmaaaao.

I was tired of him being out of touch and always having to take MINE if he took Becca out-went hiking-went out to work in the trees- rode down into town to boff one of his students lmaaao, so Saturday I was out with Mom shopping for baby things to drop off for Senorita and I passed the display of go phones (or whatever they call them) (Net 10 phones; I'm looking at the manual) and they were only $29.88 with 300 minutes included, so I said "Doddammit, I'm gonna GET HIM ONE whether he likes it or not." And when I got home I gave it to him and before he even could START I said "Uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh. NO excuses. NO backtalk. NO lectures. This is your phone now. Use it."

The change has commmmmme, heeeeee's under my thummmmb, lmaaao

And you know him: he is so RESISTANT to having one of those things that he was TRYING to play stupid... "well, how do you answer? What key do you hit to just make a call? How do you turn it off?" But I also know that he is TECH SAVVY (esp for someone who use to call himself a luddite) and I said "YOU CANNOT FOOL ME! If you WANTED to, you would figure out how to work this thing better than me within an HOUR. Shit, BECCA knows how to use one." (I got her one too, for her schoolbag, so we can get in touch if need be)

And he said "Yeah, you're right."

And I did this too Christy: I set it with a REALLY ANNOYING RING TONE so that he will be FORCED to figure out how to work it. It's a sound of a rooster crowing, lmaaao. I have called him FOUR TIMES now since he and Beccaroo left (11:30) and I could tell he was getting more and more annoyed, but he would never SAY... the last time he answered he said "Can't a genie even take a baaaath?" (remember that Bugs Bunny??) and he was trying to be funny but I could tell if Becca wasn't in the car with him he would have gone BALLISTIC on me.

Which he needs to do more often.

Anyway last time I called (wait a minute... it's been 17 minutes... I have to call him again, lmaaao) he said "Uhhh, how do you change the sounds on this."

"It's in the manual..." Silence "...which you left..." Silence. "...here."

"Well, can you walk me through it?"

"Nope! Looks like you're screwed." END CALL.

The ads are right. These phones ARE fun, lmaaao.

Anyway, he'll figure it out.

But he has a cell phone now, so if you want to call him, it's 717-243-1313.

Call him several times in succession, why don't you? lmaaao

DAMMIT! He just called ME and said he figured out how to silence it. "This thing won't shock me if my swimsuit is wet, will it?" I said "Brian, now you're just being like your mom."

I expect that he will "accidentally" go swim with it sometime in the next two weeks.

HA! Now he's texting me. Full of typos. "Bdeccca rsays HI" O how the mighty have fallen.

HEY WOMAN. Lissen. I saw Trish Wood at Walmart on Sunday. She wanted to know if you and I wanted to put together the class picnic for our 30th reunion next summer, since the LAST ONE we planned rocked out so much. I said I didn't want to volunteer you, because now you have Maggie, but of course you would, lmaaao. So get ideas together.

Hope you're having a nice day... sweet weather, no??? xoxoxoxoxoxo me!


Forward to Brian's take on all this
HOME

Thursday, August 09, 2007

IT'S A.... I'M A...

From: Margo Pressley (ledoux67@aol.com)
To: Christy (christyswims@yahoo.com), Liz (lizledoux@yahoo.com), Mom (opiniconchanteuse@yahoo.ca)
Date: Wed 8/8/2007 9:48 PM EDT
Subject: IT'S A... I'M A...


IT'S A BOY!!!!!!!!

Daniel Thomas LeDoux
was born at
7:52 pm
on
Wednesday
August 8 2007
at
Johns Hopkins University Hospital
in
Bawlmore MD
hon!!!!!!

A week sooner than anticipated but healthy and normal....little Danny LeDoux is 7 pounds, 8 ounces with his mama's nose and his daddy's brown eyes and thick black hair!!

Rita is recovering nicely, sitting in the bed nursing her baby for the first time, sipping a gatorade on ice...

Senorita quote to remember: "I feel like I just wrestled a steer with my crotch" lmaaaaao

SO NOW I'M A GRANDMA! and an aunt, and probably a few other things that I'll figure out later.

And Becca is an aunt and she is beside herself. And Tony is already calling Brian UNCLE GRANDPA!!!

Just in case you're wondering who all made the trip: me Brian and Becca, and Maura (Tony called her when Rita went into labor and she was here by 7 pm) and Danny and Ronnie, and Dan and Laura, and Tony and Rita's friends Butch and Marie were here, and Rita's friend Andrea from the Orioles was here too.

We're not all in the ROOM, though. Right now it's just me, Tony, Becca and the baby!!!

Details -
I would tell you but Rita said "DON'T tell them where my water broke. Ewwww, god..." So all I will say is, AFTER HER LUNCH AT LEXINGTON MARKET WAS INTERRUPTED WHILE SHE WAS IN LINE WAITING TO ORDER TWO CREAM DONUTS, she went into labor and 7 hours later the blessed event occurred.

SOrry this message is so scattered...

I am so happy and excited that I am going to try calling you all again. When you get this or my messages call ME on my cell. (I don't have the hospital room number but wouldn't want you to call her here anyway)

PICTURES TO FOLLOW!!!! We all have our digital cameras and I brought the laptop of course but we all FORGOT THE CORD TO DOWNLOAD THE PICS!!! D'OH!!!!

The mom and dad both say HI and wish you were here!

IT'S A BOY! IT'S A BOY! IT'S A BOY BOY BOY!!!! Daniel Thomas LeDoux!!!!!!

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Tuesday, August 07, 2007

Re: Finally she is asleep

From: ledoux67@aol.com
To: christyswims@yahoo.com
Date: Tue, 7 Aug 2007 07:16:03 EDT
Subject: Re: Finally she is asleep


Awwwwwwwwwwwwww. I mean, really: awwwwwwwwwwwww. Those little moments like that make it all worthwhile, don't they... especially because the REST of the time she's being such a MISERABLE EVIL LITTLE BITCH!!!!! lmaaao

Well, like the Billy Joel song says, this is the time... you know that from having gone through it with daughter number one, just like I knew it from having gone through it with Tony.

How does Marty handle it? When he was at home with her last spring, was she like that?

The way BRIAN wanted to handle it, I'm sure I told you this, is that he said one time "I'll just follow your lead" and I said YOU WILL NOT FOLLOW MY LEAD!!!! YOU WILL GO TO THE LIBRARY AND READ THIS, AND THIS, AND THIS, AND FOLLOW YOUR OWN LEAD, DAD. And then a couple days later he's stumbling into the bedroom scratching himself: "So, when she throws fits like that, it's basically because her brain's circuits are kind of on overload?" That's right, Dr. Spock, lmaaao.

Anyway he's almost better at it than I am. I just follow his lead, lmaaao.

No seriously... he's the kind of person, as well you know, who once he understands how something works, he can deal with it. Not that Becca is a "something" but you know what I mean. Once he understood developmentally what the fits were all about --SHE DOESN'T HATE YOU, SWEETIE!!!-- he handled them better than I did, like I said. Really. He's a gentle soul, very understanding and patient, so once he learned the tricks and what was behind how she was acting, he was fine.

Anyway....

Mainly I wanted to write and say THANK YOU for calling me and talking through that job with me. I think, looking over what I'd written, thinking about what I'd told you and Mom and Brian and Liz about it, that you're right: I wasn't going to take it. But I wanted to look at it seriously. I think there were things about it I would've liked (I still always ALMOST automatically type "would of") but in comparison to where I am, I would have been unhappy, it would have been a step down, or maybe a step in the wrong direction. In spite of the endless stream of college apps and affiliated bullshit in this job, and other bullshit, still, the thing I love about the job is being around kids, feeling like I'm an important part of a community, being around a place and people that are vital

BRB

Sorry to BRB you Christy, but first the phone rang, and lately any time the phone rings this early, I immediately think IT'S TONY! RITA'S HAVING THE BABY! I'M A GRANDMA! But it was just Mom, asking if we wanted to meet for yunch.

And then from the music room, I heard this song that I recognized (which happens so seldom with Brian, lmaao) and I wanted to know what it was. And I was told that it's Beethoven's Sonata for Violin and Piano #2, second movement. Very very pretty, but with stately parts... it sounds like the music they would play when you get coronated. Anyway, that happens all the time when Brian is playing one of his classical things: I'll hear a song that I recognize and then I'll have to rush in there and say "WHAT'S THAT SONG CALLED??" And then he tells me, shows me the cover, and he always says the same thing: "Did you know that many of the world's best loved popular melodies are derived from the classics?" lmaaao

And then I had to give him a nice big warm huggy hug and then go heat up my coffee. So now I'm back.

WHere was I?

Anyway, the things I like about the high school FAR FAR outweigh the things I don't like about it. Thinking about it, I'd like there to be more shrink counseling, but when I look at it in a certain way, even the college app stuff opens up opportunities for that sort of thing. You're helping a kid plan their course through life. I know there is at least ONE of my coworkers who hates the apps so much that she doesn't do anything with them but check off the parts and send them through....RUSHES them, which kind of bugs me. But she doesn't seem to like the other parts either. She doesn't seem to like ANY of it... I always wonder why she's there.

Anyway I always try to look at them closely, read the essays, look at the kid's grades and talk to the kid and ask them questions about it. Sometimes some red flags come up. It's all an opportunity to HELP them and for that I am grateful to be there.

ANd like you said, it sounds a little harsh in a way, but you're absolutely right: I probably WOULD go bonkers just doing shrink stuff. That might be a little too intense and high pressure. In a way the kind of counseling my job routinely calls for is better... it's low key... the doors open subtly... I like that better than sitting there with a tattooed 14 year old going "So TELL me about your mother..." You know? Shit, let me tell you about MY mother, lmaaao.

I just think of all the "talks" I'd have with girls on the softball team when they'd "just drop by to say Hi, Mrs. Pressley" and how even though those weren't formal appointments, I sometimes got the feeling that just popping in "to say HI" for 15 minutes or so during a study hall was just what they needed in their day. And it always cheered me up too. You know, if there's one thing I've learned in this business, lmaaao, it's that you don't always solve problems by talking about problems. Sometimes you just solve them by laughing or being with friends, or with an adult you like and trust... sometimes you solve them by going out and running a mile or taking BP. You know?

Anyway, since today is the day that I would have had to have given my two weeks notice if I was indeed to take the job, I called yesterday and said "Thanks for the offer, but..."

It's just... I HATE THOSE EFFIN PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT DAYS, CHRISTY!!!!!!!!! ANYTHING to get out of those. I swear I would've taken a new job just to get out of those.

BRB again

Back. Brian made peanut butter toast and wanted to know if I wanted some, and that precipatated this whole discussion about peanut butter and bread. You know one thing I love about Brian? I mean, he is Mr. Organic Off THe Grid All Natural, all that bullshit, but he also is open, adaptable, flexible, and willing to make concessions. Typified for instance by PEANUT BUTTER TOAST. I'm with him: I like the grainy, all natural breads... I like the IDEA of all-natural peanut butter, really I do. But as he just said, dammit, plain white Grandpa Strohmann bread with smooth Jif is the ONLY WAY to have PB toast. They haven't improved on that. "You can eat the birdseed bread and the spackling paste peanut butter and TELL yourself it's better, and maybe it's better FOR you... but it's not THIS."

And I agree. And so we are in love, lmaaao.

So now Becca's up and SHE wants PB toast.

So I'm going to hit send. Hope you have a nice day, Christy, full of little moments like the one you described to me. Hang in there sweetie... you know this phase doesn't last long, and what comes next (the POTTY TRAINED, GOING OFF TO HER ROOM AND DOING THINGS ON HER OWN phase) makes it all worthwhile.

Tell Marty hi and give Maggie Kay a kiss and a hug from all of us... xoxoxoxoxo me!!


Finally she is asleep

From: christyswims@yahoo.com
To: ledoux67@aol.com
Date: Sun, 5 Aug 2007 10:17:43 PM
Subject: Finally she is asleep


Phew, Margo, this weekend, in fact ever since we came back from Moms it was just one fit after another, just a holy terror, I swear for her birthday I almost bought her a one way ticket to an orphanage, really. Friday when Marty was in town for band and I tried to get her upstairs for her nap it was the worst: I HATE YOU! And I said "Well I love you anyway Maggie" WELL I HATE YOU AND I WISH DADDY WAS HERE AND YOU WERE GONE!!!! "Well if Daddy was here and he wanted you to take your nap would you hate him? I HATE EVERYBODY!!! So I didn't take it personally lol.

SO anyway she's bawling and I followed the prescribed course and just put her down and shut her door, padlocked it, put a chair under the doorknob in case she tried anything, lol, and then when I went up an hour later to get her for dinner she was already up, sitting at her desk and I went in and said "What are you doing sweetie?" and here she had drawn me a big smiley face, well actually it was just a blob of yellow crayon with a couple black blobs and lines in the middle for sort of a mouth and sort of eyes, but I could tell what it was supposed to be, with all this colorful scribble around the bottom, and she said "those are flowers and this smile means I don't hate you, I love you and I'm sorry I yelled at you."

WEll that made me cry a little and I hugged her and we kissed and made up and got dinner ready, well then she was a mess again at dinner, but then Daddy was home, I was like "Here, YOU deal with her, I'M breaking open the chianti" lol.

She was a little better today, it's easier when we're both here and can tagteam her. You know how Becca was at that age, she just wants her way with EVERYTHING, and RIGHT NOW. She does not like the word NO unless she's saying it.

Going through this with Maura at that age (and at age 12-13, lol) was so hard, I didn't get what was going on, I really took it personally and let it eat me up, responded to it, but now that I understand what's going on with her, I can handle it better.

And when she gave me that drawing, that was the best feeling in the world, really.

I am tired and part of me wants to go to bed but it's so nice and quiet here, I want to stay up and enjoy it.

How was your weekend? Did it pour down rain down there? We got some, a couple cloudbursts. No swimming, which was another fit. But we lived through it.

Hope our talk about your job helped some, I'm sorry I couldn't hang on the phone. If you need to talk more, call.

Later gator tator! xoxoxoxoxo love you christy

Job

To: christyswims@yahoo.com
From: ledoux67@aol.com
Date: Thu, 02 Aug 2007 9:07:51 AM
Subject: Job

So what would you do about this offer, Christy??

It's SO CLOSE to the start of the school year. I am a firm believer in the practice of giving a two week notice, which, if I was to accept the job right now, we start on the 21st with an inservice day, so I'd have to give it on Monday. And even then they'd be under the gun with trying to find a replacement for me.

So many things I'm thinking about this, the positives and negatives: it would get me back into a sort of clinical environment which I like, the counseling part of it (because as I have told you many many times, the part of this job that I don't like, that there's TOO MUCH of, is the college app crap). I'd have a much smaller workload, more intense work but less hours, a step up in pay, I could set my OWN hours.

Downsides: driving to NEW OXFORD every day from here (the high school is far away enough); paying more for insurance (but larger salary WOULD absorb some of this), but the main thing, dammit, I just love being at the school, in that environment.

Although I would still be working with kids.But a lot of the things I like about the high school are things that have nothing to do directly with the work I do.

Still I keep thinking "You've been telling yourself you want to try something different, you'd like to do more counseling, and then here it gets OFFERED to you without your really even looking for it or asking for it."

I'm just torn.

ANyway Brian and Beccaroo are out working in the yard and we MIGHT go to the lake later this afternoon... maybe later we can talk if you aren't up to your ears in Maggie Kay. I know you said you were taking her to story time at the library today and then going for yunchy yunchy... maybe I'll try you later.

Phew! GREAT seeing you three yesterday... hope your trip back was relaxing.. xoxoxoxoxo me

Thursday, August 02, 2007

BE JEALOUS!!!

From: Rita LeDoux (ritaritasenorita@yahoo.com)
To: Margo Pressley (ledoux67@aol.com)
Date: Wed 25 July 2007 13:26:07
Subj: BE JEALOUS!!!!!

OK.... so yes, you were here for the Cal Sendoff yesterday... and got BEHIND THE SCENES ACCESS to all areas that normally only Senorita is privy to....

BUT.... guess what just happened to MOI not TEN MINUTES AGO???

I left you a message and you haven't called back, and I can't wait to TELL you, so here it is, because I know you'll want it in writing.

(I know you're beside yourself with excitement and anticipation. )

(NO! I DIDN'T GO INTO LABOR, in case you're wondering. )

(So... ready?? Here goes...)

At shortly BEFORE (not after) one o'clock I was coming back into the cool airconditioned warehouse from the market and my crabcake, iced mocha latte and two donut lunch and I get in the elevator to go back up to my office and take my apresnoon nap... and just as the elevator door is closing, lo and behold who pushes his way in but YOUR HERO.... CAL RIPKEN JR HIMSELF!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now I have stood near Cal (or "Junior," as we call him here ) on the field (last season when they had the Orioles hall of fame stuff) and a couple other times... I've seen him in the warehouse before in passing but I've never been one on one, up close with him.... and I certainly never shared an ELEVATOR with him.

ALONE, mind you.

And me, married n preggers!!

And let me tell you, in the faint fluorescent light of the elevator, he has the MOST DREAMY EYES!!!! tee hee. I mean, ICE BLUE. I always noticed it in pictures and in person, but up close, in an elevator, they're even MORE dreamy!!!

Poor guy really looks tired, though... there are LINES under those blue eyes.

So the elevator door is closing on him and I'm hitting the button to get it to open back up and as he steps in I see it's him... and he says "Thanks" and I say "Good thing the doors don't have teeth, huh?" and he smiles and nods, and I'm thinking:

OMIGOD!!!!!
I AM STANDING IN THE ELEVATOR WITH FREAKIN' CAL!!
WHATDOISAY WHATDOISAY WHATDOISAY??????

Well... just as I'm thinking that, he looks at my belly and says "I was WONDERING why you weren't out on the field this season."

(and he RECOGNIZES ME!!!! )

Well, I nod my head and he says "So when's it due?"

And moi, ever the smartass, says....

"Due? I'm not pregnant!"

Well he turns BRIGHT RED!! HA!!!!! and I say "PSYCH!" and he laughs and TOUCHES MY ARM!!! and says "I thought you were serious." And I said "No, it's due in August. Four weeks." And he's just shaking his head, laughing, and still a little red.

"Well, congratulations. Do you know if it's a boy or a girl?"

"No, I don't want to know, neither does my husband."

"That's better. Why spoil the surprise?" Passing the third floor now (we have the SLOWEST freakin' elevators... if I wasn't carrying 12 pounds of baby, I would've taken the steps).

Meanwhile I'm thinking "God, I'm THIS CLOSE, I need to ask him for his autograph, do I dare? Nahhhhhh...."

Well, the doors open and he says "Well, congratulations" and I said "Congratulations to you too" and he BLUSHED and said "Thanks, thanks. I'll be glad when it's over."

So he gets out and goes the other way down the hall, toward the executive offices, and I go back to my office where Andrea is sitting, and I say "I just shared an elevator with Cal Ripken." Which of course means NOTHING to her... she's been with the Os since 1975 and always talks about all these guys like they're family.

"He's the same as ever... just less hair, that's all."

Anyway I'm sitting there about to call you and tell you, and I say "I should've gotten an autograph for my sister-in-law" and NOTE THAT I DID NOT SAY "MOTHER IN LAW" Well she goes "Why didn't you?" and I said "well I work here, it didn't seem right, he's probably sick of people coming up to him and pestering him for autographs, especially this week, he probably comes down here to ESCAPE that etc etc".

Well she GETS UP from her desk and goes "Rita, don't be so friggin' shy" and next thing I know she's out and down the hall and I hear her laughing and talking, and then she is PUSHING Cal Ripken back into our office, saying "Here, Junior. Sign for Rita." And I'm all embarrassed and I say "You don't really have to..." and he says "No, no, it's no problem... why didn't you ask in the elevator?"

Anyway Andrea had a few of those posters that we handed out last night and she puts her hands on his shoulders and goes "SIT DOWN" and he did one for me, one for Tony, one for Maura, and then one for you two... I figure as long as I HAD him there...

So while he's signing I told him about you being a pitcher and the first girl to play teener league in Adams County and that you threw a perfect game in the state softball championship game for Gettysburg, yadda yadda yadda, and he asked your name and I said "Margo LeDoux" and he said "That name sounds familiar..."

NOW IS THAT BETTER THAN AN AUTOGRAPH OR WHAT??? HE SAID YOUR NAME SOUNDED FAMILIAR!!!!!!

He thinks you might have played against his sister in a Maryland-Pennsylvania all star game. I said I'd ask you. But if he remembers, you probably did, right?

Anyway... I'm asking you. Did you?

BRB

Back. Tonybaloney just called and I had to tell him the story, then I tried calling you again and got your machine AGAIN...

Anyway... do you want me to MAIL the pictures or just hold onto them until next we meet? You will love yours:

"To Margo. Best wishes. Cal Ripken Jr. #8 Hall of Fame 2007."

But YOU didn't get to share an ELEVATOR with him!!!!!!

I need to get back to work but HAD to tell you this. Tell Beccaroo HI!!!!

Laters gators!

xoxoxoxoxo
Senorita!!



Forward to Margo's reply

Re: BE JEALOUS!!!

To: Rita (ritaritasenorita@yahoo.com)
From: ledoux67@aol.com
Date: Thu, 02 Aug 2007 14:03:28 -0400
Subject: Re: BE JEALOUS!!!

I can do the orange and black thingy too!!!

First of all, when your brother and I got back from Cooperstown, and I saw that big flat package with the Orioles logo on the return address, I KNEW what it was!!! (The mail man didn't even try to BEND it to fit it in the mailbox; God love him, he WALKED IT TO OUR FRONT DOOR and stuck it between the storm door and the door)


I effin' LOVE it and will frame it for my office wall, even though any time they say "Collectible Commemorative Poster Suitable For Framing In This Sunday's SUN" a part of me thinks WHAT, DOES THIS HOUSE LOOK LIKE A DOUBLE-WIDE??? WHAT KINDA GOOBER FRAMES A PICTURE FROM THE FRIGGIN' NEWSPAPER ANYWAY????????

But "To Margo. Best wishes. Cal Ripken Jr. #8 Hall Of Fame 2007." Yeah. THAT gets framed, and I'll set it right there on the shelf next to my set of Collectible Hardees Nascar Plastic Cups, lmaaao.

Now....I know we told you about the autographs WE snagged (Brian finally broke down and paid $65 to get an autograph from Pete Rose; "It made me sad, in a way, but I had to do it") and I got to not only get autographs from, but banter about pitching with, Denny McLain and Bill Lee... Lee was great: "I still play senior league ball. Why don't you just go PLAY if you feel like you still want to play?"... and we saw Eddie Murray coming out of the bathroom at the museum (I shrieked "EDDIE!" and he put his finger to his lips and went "Shhhhh" lmaaao. You know, some things are BETTER than getting an autograph!)... we saw George Will rushing down the street on Sunday morning to get to his book signing... talked to a gentleman at the bookshop who was Burleigh Grimes' ghostwriter-historian... saw a ton of people who we both KNEW were former players but we couldn't quite place names to the faces... and then of course there was our Mel Proctor sighting (he was sitting on the corner across from the bakery on Main Street Sunday night after the ceremony, looking VERY piqued... he looked like I felt, like he needed about four showers and a massage on top of it)...

But as I hinted on the phone to you two, the best of all was SATURDAY NIGHT, after the "red carpet event," waiting out front of the museum for Cal to come out, because we all KNEW he would stop and sign autographs and since it was Cal, he wouldn't STOP until everyone was taken care of... well, we were about ten feet from the door and he was working his way down, and as he signed for the kid standing next to us, I said "Hey, Cal... my sister in law says you came into her office and signed autographs for her."

And he looked at me and said "Who's your sister in law?"

"Rita, in the warehouse."

And he smiled and said "Oh, yeah... the ballgirl!"

Anyway YOU ARE SO RIGHT ABOUT HIS BLUE EYES, good God, I remember them so well from the time that Tony and I waited at Memorial Stadium for an autograph. Still gorgeous... swoon sigh lmaaao. Anyway I said "Yeah, the pregnant ballgirl." And he said "Yeah, I asked her when the baby was due and she said 'What do you mean, due? I'm not pregnant!' and I thought 'Oh, no...'" lmaaaao

Well, then he goes "Are you the one she said played against Ellie?" And I said "I don't know. I mean, I played softball the same years she did, but I don't remember, unless she played in one of those Maryland-PA classics." And he goes "Well, she's inside... go in and ask her" and he lifts up the rope and says "She's in the lobby in there with Billy." And I can feel Brian thinking he's going to get left behind so I grab his hand with my left and with my right, I grab Cal's hand and say "Congratulations" and he smiles and says "Thanks." So... no autograph, but a handshake. Like I said, some things are better.

Anyway we march up the steps and into the lobby, and there Billy Ripken is standing with this woman about my age who you can tell is a Ripken, same eyes and nose and LOOK about her. And I said "Are you Cal's sister?" and she says "YEah." And I told her that Cal said come on in, I used to play softball, and in 1977 and 1978 I was on an all-star team that played the Maryland all star team down at Western Maryland COllege, and she said "Yeah, I played in that." Well, we compared notes, I told her who I was and I STRUCK HER OUT THREE TIMES, RITA!!!!!! Twice in 77 and once in 78.

She said "I was even READY for you in 1978 but that didn't do me any good" and I said "No, it probably wouldn't have" and she laughed, and Brian said "I KNEW you were gonna say something like that."

Anyway we stood and talked shop for about ten minutes... it was just so cool. I mean, anytime you meet someone like that (Cal or other ballplayers) you get all nervous, when really they're people with families just like you, you know? YOU know... you're around these people all the time.

And I HAD to tell Billy about the time at the Orioles store in DC when Tony and I went down for his autograph. I don't know if Tony ever told you this one or not. It was August 1988... the Orioles used to have a team store in DC on Farragut Square, and players would come in every so often and sign autographs. Well, this one day Billy Ripken and the Oriole Bird were scheduled to sign and Tony and I rode down there in the stinkin' Washington DC heat and humidity and got there around 11 for a noon signing and ALREADY the line was around the corner... and this is the big business district of DC, so there weren't many kids... it was mainly government workers, business people, etc. Well, the line starts moving about 12:30 and we inch around the corner, closer, and closer, and closer... finally, we get into the store at about 1:30 and we are literally fourth in line, and the Bird hands us autographed postcards (signed "The Bird" lmaao) and this store worker comes out and says "Folks, we'd love for Billy to keep signing, but unfortunately, he has to get back up to Memorial Stadium for batting practice" and just as I'm thinking "I hope Tony takes this all right," the guy in front of us, this fat puffy ruddy faced baldy in an Armani suit, goes BALLISTIC!

"I WAITED ALL THIS TIME TO MEET BILLY AND NOW YOU'RE SAYING BILLY HAS TO LEAVE BUT I WANNA MEET BILLY AND GET BILLY'S AUTOGRAPH!!!" I mean, it was part LAYING INTO this poor six dollar an hour store clerk and part BLUBBERING like a baby... I would of expected it from Tony, but Tony was totally cool; this big 35 year old BABY was losing it.

Anyway as this guy is going nuts, out from behind the partition steps Billy Ripken, just this dude dressed in sweats and a t-shirt, and he says "Calm down, man," and he hands the guy a picture, then shakes Tony's hand, gives both of US pictures, and then turns around and goes out the back of the store with the Bird.

I told Billy that and he laughed and said "Yeah, I kind of remember that. That guy's probably standing out front right now with junior" lmaaao.

Anyway they were both nice and we could have stayed and talked more, but we didn't want to keep them or anything, so we said good night and then took off through the museum. Brian said "You should have gotten her email address" and I didn't even think of it. Ah, well.

So in answer to the question: yes, we did play against each other in that all-star game, two years straight, and I GOT HER both years!!! HA!

Anyway I hope you are bearing up well under the heat. I KNOW you are. Give you an air conditioner and some dulce le leche and you'll bear up FINE, lmaaao.

Less than two weeks, Senorita. I'm excited for you. Brian and Becca and I will be down next Friday night. Is Maura coming in??

Later sweetie! xoxoxoxoxo Margo