A Very Lucky Girl

I am so thrilled to be roadtripping to North Carolina in August. Not only will I get to stop in Nashville and see childhood friends, but I also will be spending time in Wilmington with one of the most incredible women I know, Emily Bell. I will also dine on Bojangles, but that's another daydream. I met Emily at BayLeaf Baptist Church when we were both a part of the youth group. I don't remember why, but we didn't exactly immediately hit it off. For whatever reason, we weren't best friends right from the start, but Canada changed everything. BayLeaf Baptist sent a team of members to Port Elgin, Canada and my family joined them from Texas after our move. Emily and I shared a bed that barely fit in our tiny room. We took turns making free calls to our American crushes from the outdated phone in the stairwell.  The first trip to Canadian turf rekindled our rather dim relationship and by our second trip to Canada, we were inseparable.  So much so in fact, that I felt e

I've known Mimi and Didi for almost 21 years. Their house in New Orleans was one of my favorite places. They had a perfect climbing tree in the front yard and a neighbor pond just next door. I earned the name "Pond Splasher" on a fishing expedition gone wrong when I slipped into the water. I went armadillo hunting in the backyard with Didi, armed with flashlights. I watching hummingbirds at the feeder from the back patio and read the comics at the island in the kitchen. I walked along the levee by the Mississippi River and ate beignets at Cafe du Monde at least once every trip.  My father's parents have always been insistent on teaching me about my Cajun heritage. When I was younger, I was more resistant. After all, splashing in the pool at English Turn country club was far more appealing to a grade school kid than listening or learning about history. But now, I'm far more appreciative of where I come from. I'm looking forward to visiting them in a week

First. Finest. Forever. I cannot count how many times I've been asked "are you in a sorority?" since continuing school at OU instead of TCU. Yes. But it's complicated.  I went through rush during my freshman fall semester at TCU. I wore the dresses, pulled at my strapless bra, and sweated through my perfume as we rushees waited to file into each house. I sipped the cucumber water and discreetly licked the sugar rim from the glass on the fancy lemonade day. I spilled my drink TWICE at the same house. They didn't ask me back after the second accident. I don't blame them.  On Pref night I had two houses left: Gamma Phi Beta and Alpha Delta Pi. Both had beautiful pref night ceremonies, but I felt most at home in Alpha Delta Pi. They presented each girl with a giant fake diamond that represented something about her the chapter valued. I don't remember a whole lot about my TCU semester, but I remember my trait being "independence." The fact t

The guys unwind from their long flight in an abundance of muted toned hoodies on a subway in Munich, Germany. Ben shares one of his many ulterior motive for applying for this show in his confession of never crossing the ocean before. He's checking two boxes off of his bucket list at once: travel, be a  jackass, and wear a womanly tank top. Oh wait, that's three! He's a go-getter.  Chris Harrison welcomes the gang, sharing Des' excitement for her first time in Europe to be with such great guys, and announces the dates for the week. The guys feel their plane food trying to make a second showing as they hear about the dreaded two-on-one date in store this week.  Chris heartlessly plants seeds of false hope by proclaiming, "see you all at the next rose ceremony!" Such a rose tease. At least one man will not be there to witness Des' sparkly dress choice of the week. Date One: "Chris, *insert words in German*..." The couple wanders the streets and

casual laughter on the floor Cuz we're the three best friends that anyone could have! Yep, it's time. The post about my two best betches, Megan Hunter and Hannah Whorton. I met Hannah during my senior year at Heritage Hall. We bonded over bugs on the wilderness trip. I met Megan during my stint at Jamba Juice. We bonded over strawberry surfriders and Prince Hot Ginge  Harry. Introducing two of my best friends and expecting the relationship to be magic is risky. All sorts of things could go wrong. What if the chemistry isn't there? What if they are complete opposites? What if they've already secretely hated each other just from seeing Facebook posts?  But this relationship...It blossomed from the beginning. Maybe it was the alphabet game, maybe it was the midnight trips to Ihop, or maybe it's because these two were meant to be friends even if I didn't exist.  But I'm glad I do so I can share life with them. Usually just summer life since Hannah likes to

I began my babysitting career as a mother's helper to a darling little one year old named Caleb. That is, I took care of Caleb while his mom worked from home. It was probably the best way for me to learn how to care for such a little guy.  From there I moved on to looking after the kids of the couples in my parents' young marrieds Sunday School class. I cuddled with Aubrey and Georgia Mae, while the adults carved pumpkins or exchanged White Elephant Christmas gifts.  I eventually took my talents to the Brubaker family. I loved my regular nights with Emily and Grace. We played board games, watched movies, and ate frozen pizza. They lived only a few miles from me and the convenience made for an enticing first real babysitting job. Combined with the evenings with the McAteer kids, I was rich for an 8th grader.  We made cookies for the neighbors down the road when they first moved in. They turned out to be the McAteer family and they were wonderful. Kevin, Pamela, Kevin Jr (6),

Love always Protects. The way the protection of real love makes sense to me is to think of an iPhone case. Just your standard otterbox, nothing fancy or overdone. An accessible and affordable option to keep the phone sheathed.  Even with an easy grip case, I drop my phone regularly. At least once a week it hits the floor at a medium to high intensity.  But the case does its job. My phone is crack-free. The vulnerability of the iPhone is countered by the sturdiness and shock absorbency of its blue jacket. In a similar way, loving someone in a real way involves striving to protect their vulnerability from the "falls" of life. It doesn't mean they won't fall, because they will. Everytime I think I've hit rock bottom this summer the bottom suddenly falls out again and I'm back to free-falling. But the love of people like Megan and Mimi and Didi breaks the sudden drop and keeps me from completely shattering. A Very Lucky Girl is scuffed, but love is a migh

I never met my maternal grandfather. He died soon before my parents were engaged. So I can't speak for his awesomeness, but his wife, Mimi Montgomery, is pretty cool. And so was her second husband, Grandpa Butch.  I am her first grandchild, which really doesn't get me any special favors. The title is about it. But I guess it does mean I've had her in my life for about 6 months longer than her other grandchildren.  I've been shipped off to her house several times growing up when the parents would skip town. We'd go on adventures to Fossil Rim, the beach/pool phenomenon, and more recently, infamous North Park Mall in Dallas.  For graduation, my cousin Katherine and I traveled to New York City with her, Shari, and Aunt Michele. I had undiagnosed Addison's Disease at the time, but from the snippets I remember and the pictures, I think we had a good time.  She's been almost perfect in my eyes for 20ish years, but no longer.  We've been close in the past,

This is Conner on the night that I met him. See that grin? That's the joy of a guy who just found his future BFF (me). It was the first Tuesday night of the 2011 Fall semester at OU. My neighbor, Rachel, and I ventured to a party we heard about. We found fun guys and punch. It was basically a winning combination. Conner and I compared class schedules as we watched an intense game of King's Cup. Discovering we had Communications together on Mondays and Wednesdays, he suggested we exchange numbers. Smooth, right? Points for Cons. I was ecstatic to discover he was from Dallas, Texas and fumbled to enter his digits in my phone under "Conner Texas." He later became Conner Texas/Golden. Why change a good thing? Despite the time that I threw a stack of post-it notes at his face (leaving a substantial mark), we have been friends ever since. He lived 2 minutes away from me during my Freshman year and we would study at the library until all hours, me listening to him dro

I met Natasha Adler my freshman year at OU. She lived down the hall from me and we were only acquaintances during the first semester. January brought my roommate's birthday and I decided to blow up hundreds of balloons to spice up our room for her day. I enlisted Natasha's help and together we inflated almost 200 balloons, driving her to comment, "All I can taste is latex and it smells like condoms in here!"  From there our friendship blossomed and she was unquestionably there with wine and John Tucker Must Die  when ED crushed me in February 2012.  I went sprinting down the hall to her room when I received the first email from Tyler. Being my least embarrassed friend, she had no qualms about shouting across the French class room asking him for a pencil the very next week. Luckily, he didn't scare easy or I would have had to kill her.  Our schedules sophomore year were always at odds which made spending lots of time together nearly impossible. She also had cats

Chris Harrison announces to the room of guys that there are 13 men remaining, for those of them who can't count themselves. Decked out in yellow and blue plaid, Harrison proclaims the first stop in the Bachelorette World Tour to be Atlantic City. Although I think Atlantic City was brought to Cali based on the amount of GTL evident this season (Gel, Tan, Long stories). Des arrives in Jersey before her dates and gets hit on by some random PoPo on the boardwalk interspersed with some travel shots of the gentlemen on parade. It's like following a fraternity house on constant camera. After settling into their sweet new pad on floor 43, the guys receive Date Card #1: "Brad, let our love shine through..." *spoiler alert* The light didn't make it. Don't you hate it when your dates don't measure up to your metaphors? As you recall from last week, Brad is the one who may or may not have been convicted of domestic abuse in the past. The couple heads to the Atlanti

Let me introduce you to my sister, Moriah Jo Cregor. She is my main gurl. My ride or die. The Anne to my Diana. The rat to my weasel. The sane to my crazy. My junior year prom date (I don't take just ANYBODY to dances). My maid of honor if I ever get hitched (we signed contracts in blood. Okay, red pen). A model snapchatter. A model, in general. A senior year nursing student who undertook the topic of Addison's Disease for her final paper. We've been best friends for 6 years. But it never feels that short.  I told you she was a model! Dillard's prom dress shows are the best runways around in Beaumont, TX. Remember that time we got haircuts at the Galleria during our trip to Houston for our Sweet 16? Remember that time we color coordinated for the Valentine's Dance? Remember those times we showered together after pool adventures? Remember that time Numero Ocho was GREAT at softball? Remember that time we spent break time being silly

I wrote and rewrote this post. But in the end, everything I wanted to say was far too vulnerable for even me to reveal.  "Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices in the truth." In other words, I will not pretend to be in favor of poor decisions that could have been avoided. I do not have a desire to continue a close relationship with someone who unapologetically hurts me.  A Very Broken Girl rejoices in the distraction of work and friends. 

I've spent some wonderful days as the girlfriend of the greatest guy I've ever met in my life. I wouldn't take back a single second of my time with Tyler Aaron McKee. Whether he knows it or not he teaches me what selfless love looks like. And I recognize that I lack it. I don't have the same desire to care for people more than myself that he embodies everyday, but I'm trying to cultivate it.  He is a thousand wonderful things, but I greatly appreciate his thoughtfulness, his honesty, and his selflessness. He isn't so great at the Gladiator playstation move game, but he will dominate in frisbee golf if you dare to challenge him. He has an uncanny sales talent, with both mobile phones and plasma screens. Go visit him at Best Buy! He will unabashedly skip you in Phase 10, but I think I am on a winning streak. If you were unaware, we broke up for 2.5 seconds (okay, 3 incredibly long days) in the middle of April. They were some of the most miserable days of my

God, I'm so bilingual. Nahhhht. Another week, another check. And I haven't had to work past 4 PM yet this summer. So far, so good. This week I: corrected grammar: "She jamped!" No, she JUMPED.  made breakfast: chocolate pancakes. They asked for extra chocolate chips AND syrup. AM I mean for refusing? sat stonily when they tried to tickle me overused the word/sound "shmeh" to the point where they have begun to mimic me avoided Sister's cuddles at all costs. She is always wanting to hang on me in the heat of the day. CHILD, IT'S FAR TOO HOT FOR THAT. Learned that Pluto is officially no longer a planet Learned a continent named Oceania exists was stumped when asked, "how many movies have you seen in your life?" Overall, a pretty uneventful week in the life of A Very Lucky Nanny. Except for when I impaled my shin on rocks by the creek after our picnic lunch on Wednesday.

I left this draft blank for several weeks because I think this is one of the hardest tributes for me to write. One of the most difficult things this year has been seeing the imperfections in my own parents. It was silly of me to hold them so high in my mind, but I think it's a natural instinct for any child. I love my dad a lot. He has disappointed me in 2013. But at the same time I'm very proud of him for facing struggles honestly. I've talked to him as an equal adult more this year than any other and I like to think he's listened to me sometimes.   He's been my storyteller, my coach, and my biggest fan. He's been my enemy, my provider, and my companion. I wouldn't trade him for any other father.  I learned in Sociology of Family last semester that fathers are usually the parent who encourages their kids to take risks. Paul has done that for me. Sometimes without a choice; moving is always a risk and I've done it several times. But with those

My first memory of Marianne Williams is from 4th grade. I was a new student at St. Timothy's School and she reached out to me. She shared a story about her dog, Mo, with the class. Mo recently passed away, but the story of him jumping out of a moving car window will live on. We were nearly inseparable from then until 9th grade when I moved to Texas. From Williamsburg, to Washington, D.C., Crabtree Mall, and homecoming dances. We giggled in Mr. Bridges' class and passed notes across the room in Mr. Ennis' science lab. When I moved away she put together a DVD slideshow of pictures of us and friends through the years and I probably play it at least once a year to remember the innocence of days long gone by. She is another friend of mine who is pursuing a career in nursing, and is admirably focused on her goal. She's faced some health adversity of her own, causing her to switch universities midway through her college career so I definitely relate to some of her experie

Now that I've started working this summer, I look forward to Monday Bachelorette nights even more. This one did not disappoint. Date Card One: "Chris, Ryan, Drew, Michael, Brooks, Brad, Mikey, Brandon, Zak, Ben...love is a battlefield." Des met her men in a clashing neon outfit of orange tank top and hot pink sweatshirt and invited them into a garage. A team of professional dodgeball players greeted them and taught them the tricks of the trade. I played dodgeball in P.E. in sixth grade. I could probably teach them a few things. But these pros were intense and were here for the right reasons. One of Des' men monologued, "it's all fun and games until the ambulance arrives and someone has a broken face." And here, class, we have a prime example of foreshadowing by the ABC production team. Chris Harrison interrupted the dodgeball practice to introduce a "winner-takes-all" match and randomly split the guys into a red team and a blue team. The