As any reader of this blog knows by now, I was recently in Utah. It was a great trip. I had the opportunity to go take my kids to a lot of fun places and do neat things. I also got the oppotunity to catch up with some old friends. One of those old friends was Amy Hutchins. I love this girl. Never in my life have I met someone funnier. I met her when she was a roomate of one of my other good friends, and she was fresh off her mission. I didn't think much about her until we rode together to a party one night and she started quoting lines from "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory." I knew we were kindred spirits from then on. On my wedding, she gave me a big basket of goodies with a note for Doug that said if he didn't treat me right, she would hunt him down and hurt him.
She's one of those people that everyone gravitates to without even knowing why. That's why she's got a bizillion friends and they keep coming. She is witty, charming, lovely, hil-a-rious, loving, kind and has great square round fingernails:)
So back to the reason for this post. I was trying to find someone to watch my kids so that I could go to the evening viewing of our family friend who passed away. I dind't want to leave them with anybody they didn't know, but then Amy popped into my mind. I figured that at least she would have them laughing through their tears by the time I got home. I called and left a message for her, fully expecting her to be busy. After all, it was a Friday night and she is a single girl with prospects! This was the message I received in return:
"I would be happy and honored to watch your precious little ones. Let me know what time you would like me to be there and I will make it happen. I am supposed to have a date on Friday, but I can move it to another day, unless you aren't going to be too late, so just let me know on the time. Please know that I am HAPPY to do this and feel honored that you would trust me with your babies."
Let me also add that she is also the busiest person I know. She certainly didn't have time for this, but she made time.....and she brought pizza and her niece (who was equally as lovely and brought her own bag of kid toys to boot, thanks Ellery!) The evening went just fine and I am so grateful.
If you know Amy, consider yourself lucky. If you don't, too bad. I am cutting off her friendship availability sho she'll have more time for the friends and family she already has. Unless, of course, you are a single man who is almost perfect in every way and wants to marry her. That's ok, as long as you live in Virginia after the wedding:)
Thanks for your friendship, Amy. I miss you.
PS- Hope you don't mind the pirated Facebook pics. The ones of us in front of Paradise Bakery...not so good!
My friends Jeff and Margaret. It's always great to see you guys, even if it's only for dinner. Margaret is married. Jeff is not. Ladies, take note!
Hudson on the cabin porch
The cabin. One of my most favorite places on earth. It was built by my grandpa and his brother in law many years ago and sits on about 150 square acres of land. It is rustic...powered by a generator. No phones, no tv (even cell phones don't work up here!). Indoor plumbing-yes, thankfully! The greatest thing about it is that kids never get bored up here. I remember playing for hours as a child, quite happily and falling asleep at night dead tired. My kids did almost the same thing. The getting to sleep part wasn't quite so easy, but they were just thrilled to be up there. Playing in the water, hiking, fishing, picking flowers, hunting for snail shells and animal tracks, roasting hot dogs, marshmallows. Sitting on the front porch watching deer emerge from the woods at dusk...doesn't get much better than that!
