More of my favorite memories...

You will see that alot of the memories I am sharing involve my daughter and her friend, Sarah. They were inseparable throughout high school and are still the best of friends. It was good for Tracey, as she was an only child and Sarah became the sister she didn't have. The two of them have some memories that they may someday share on their blogs...but for now, I will share some more of mine.

1. We were on a youth group servant event in Colorado and one of the other youth groups had two boys that Tracey and Sarah fell in love with. I need to correct that statement, I believe each girl at that event fell in love with these two boys. Sarah and Tracey even talked about marrying the boys and staying friends forever. Well the staying friends forever worked, but the boys are just a memory...its really a loss for those boys who passed up these two girls, but a win for Bart and David who now call them their wives.

2. Tracey had to stay awake all night in order to take a medical test when they were trying to figure out why she was sick. Sarah helped her stay awake and went to the doctors appointment with her the next morning. Tracey had not been able to eat and was starving when we left the doctors office, so we went to a pizza buffet that the girls liked, Tracey ate so much food that Sarah and I couldn't help but laugh at her.

3. Tracey and Sarah bought some "old 60's dresses (that would be back in style now) at a thrift shop and wore them as I went grocery shopping, trying to see what type of reaction they would get. People did stare but no one said anything.

4. Sarah rode to Nebraska with me to pick Tracey up to bring home for the summer. A police officer pulled me over in Kansas and was giving me a hard time. What made it even harder for me was the two of the girls and the comments they were making from the back seat. I am surprised I didn't get taken in just for the comments! I did get off with a warning only. But in the girls defense, he was a jerk!

5. Tracey wanted to make a surprise for me so she tried to bake some cookies for me but we didn't have one of the main ingredients. The cookies turned out more like communion wafers than cookies, but I ate them! But don't ask her what I did when she made Turkey burgers, not a story a mother is proud of!

6. Tracey entered a beauty pageant in Pennsylvania at age 12. We had to go to Harrisburg for the event. My friend Goldie, her husband Richard and their daughter Keli came over from Ohio and went with us. I had never been in the world of beauty pageants and I hope I never have to be again. These girls were all 10-12 years old and some of the mothers were unbelievable. I wanted Tracey to have fun, if she won, fine, if not, fine. Some mothers picked up their girls and moved them if they started talking to other girls, some mothers had family members block the girls so the other contestants could not see what they were doing with their hair, and all kinds of other things. Tracey did receive a trophy as runner up. The reason this is a memory that makes me smile is in the car driving back to Johnstown PA, Tracey looks to me and says "I never want to do that again". I answered that was fine that I was proud of her for trying it once. Some time passed and she said "Those judges must be crazy, I am so much better than the girl they picked." (Yes, I agreed!)

7. This one just happened in 2007. I just discovered the world of texting and was sitting watching tv one night when I received a message from Tracey. All it said was "I am so glad you are my mother". While this was wonderful to receive, I'll be honest, I wondered where it came from. I later found out that she had gone for a girls weekend with some girls she worked with and the mother of the girl they were visiting did not display actions Tracey and the other friends expected from a mother. Later, she was out with some friends who were sharing memories and stories with their moms and they were all terrible stories, mothers who put them down, didn't support them, etc... Tracey said to them "You need to come and visit my mom and see what a real mom is". (Yes, I will remember this moment for the rest of my life!!!). She scheduled a visit mom weekend but only two were able to come with her. I had a great time spoiling the 3 of them and have given them an open invitation to visit at any time. I have added them to the list of my adopted daughters (along with Sarah and Keli!).

That is enough for one post....I'll share more memories in the future. If you are reading this and have memories of Tracey please share them...I'd love to hear them. If they are memories about me....be nice!