it's the journey

it's the journey

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Say What?


I love our rec room, actually WRECK room would probably be a more appropriate spelling.  It's one of the reasons we bought this house. It's a little haven just off the kitchen and over the garage. It has hosted countless scary movie marathons, Donkey Kong tournaments and surprise sleepovers. It's the place where all our cast off furniture goes to die. The cozy sofa that has family room written  dripped all over it.  White laminate bookshelves left over from childhood bedrooms. The GIANT antique chest I bought for next to nothing--topped with all the dusty awards that we're too self conscious to display anywhere else. The ugly old fashioned tv, that could double as an anchor for the SS Arizona. The hand me down rocking chair from Michael's grandad, complete with shag carpet glued to the bottom of the rockers, I KID YOU NOT.  Somehow it all works together with sort of a Martha Stewart meets Sanford & Son charm.  Tucked in every corner you'll find little treasures--like the ceramic dog "trat" canister made by Aly or the Andy Griffith throw Mallory bought for her dad for Christmas.  One of my favorite rec room gems is the furry, yellow day-glo pillow with purple stitching, a gift from our friends Doug and Cindy.


 A few years ago Doug had recently jumped into the wonderful world of email and suffice it to say, he wasn't quite up on all the lingo.  He didn't know his BFF from his BRB, if you know what I mean. Michael, being the epic emailer that he is was doing his best to get Doug up to speed on the basics. They emailed back and forth almost daily, sharing jokes and making plans for the four of us to get together. One weekend we had made plans for dinner and a movie with them when we got the sad call that Michael's dad had passed away.  Quickly, we packed up the family and headed to North Carolina for the funeral.  Just before we left, Michael sent Doug a short post to explain and cancel our plans for the weekend.  Once we got to North Carolina and settled in for the night, Michael set up his laptop and checked his email.  There was a response from Doug expressing his and Cindy's sympathy and letting us know we'd be in their prayers and he signed it--LOL, Doug.  Michael read and reread the email and finally said, "Babe, am I missing something here?"  We thought it a bit odd but figured it must have been a typo and frankly, we had lots of other things on our mind at the time.  In fact, neither of us thought of it again until we had them over for dinner a week or two later.  Michael said, "Man, I want to ask you about something.  You sent me a really nice email after my dad died, and you signed it LOL... I was kinda curious about that, you know the LOL."  Doug looked puzzled and turned to Cindy and back to Michael and said, "Well, you always put that in your messages--it stands for Lots Of Love--right?"  Let me tell you I snorted so hard I had sweet tea up my nose for DAYS!  Poor Doug, we teased him unmercifully.   We were all, "Hey Doug, sorry you've got the flu man, LOL or you guys have a good time on vacation, LOL."

When Doug and Cindy attended the state fair a few days later, Doug played one of the games on the fairway and wouldn't you know it, he won.  As he looked over the lovely array of prizes, he knew immediately which one he wanted. Today, it still sits in a place of honor in the rec room, a beacon of friendship shining forth from the rocking chair with the shag carpet trim.




3 comments:

  1. I love this! I can just picture that room... (We have one like it, too!)

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  2. I every house has one (or SHOULD have one) I think it's what makes even the fanciest house a "home" Great job, Tanya!

    Tammy

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  3. When I was a kid and wrote actual letters to my friends, LOL mean "lots of love." We'd put that and other things like BFF in our letters. I'll never forget when a male colleague started putting LOL at the end of his emails (7 or 8 years ago). I thought it was strange indeed. I finally asked him about it and was relieved to hear it now means "laugh out loud". 20 years makes a big difference! LOL

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