Bill: Well, I think it is nice to tell people the why... you don't need to go into great detail or anything. Beside, I am proud of bougebag... it's a good word.
Emily: I met Allison and Megan when I went to church in Savannah while going to SCAD (Savannah College of Art and Design). The church was one square over from the residence hall I was living in and since I didn't have a car that made it safe and convenient. Trinity UMC is one of the oldest Methodist churches in Savannah. John Wesley actually stopped there on his first attempt to bring Methodism to the U.S. and failed epically. The history of the church is better in that it has continued to survive, even after a major fire in the early 90's (I think, I wasn't there yet...). They saved the painting of John Wesley, one of the few things they were able to save, and as the story goes when John was a young boy his mother saved him from a fire, so that's twice that John was saved from a fire... it's the story that the pastor at the time (now retired) loved to tell visitors.
Bill: Hahahahaaahahaahha. Now, what was this blentry about?
Emily: Anyway, back to college. After attending church there for my first semester, I discovered they were looking for a nursery attendant and it was a paid position. I applied and got an interview. Of course I mentioned that I probably wouldn't be around in the summers and if they didn't mind that, would they please consider me? With my background at the time of camp counselor, I must have been qualified because they hired me (I joke, I was well qualified, I had been babysitting since I was ten and had at the time worked as a camp counselor for five years). At some point I met Allison and Megan and by my calculations in the spring of '97 they would have just turned four and two respectively.They were pretty much the only children and I often entertained them by drawing pictures of animals, which for an art student might be pretty low, but for me was about the best I could do (that'll have to be a post on my blog, I'm not an artist...). Elephants, bunnies, puppies, kitties, turtles... fish. Maybe other animals, I don't remember. I also got to know their mom, Angela, as she stayed with them (us). When Easter fell in the middle of the semester (I don't remember which year) she invited me to come with them to their family gathering. That was very generous and thoughtful, and I did go. Of course I knew exactly five people there, two spent most of the time playing with cousins and hunting eggs. That was okay, I felt loved and I greatly appreciated the invitation.
As my relationship with Bill moved forward (Bill: you call this forward?), they (at least Angela) heard all about it. They probably met him on his visit to Savannah in the spring of '99. When it came time for our wedding it made sense to me to ask the girls to be our flower girls. I had known them for four years and we didn't have any family who was the "right" age (Skylar was fifteen months old at our wedding, not quite old enough so she earned the title of "Honorary Flower Girl). Our ring bearer was a boy that I had babysat since he was an infant, so it worked out that all the children in our wedding party would be from my babysitting brood of sorts.
Angela and I went shopping for the girls' dresses and since it was around Easter time (again) we found the perfect yellow dresses. Angela also helped host a wedding shower at the church for me. Then they came all the way from Savannah, Georgia to Niles, Michigan for our little podunk wedding.
Bill: Well, it may have been little and podunk, but it was our wedding. It was wonderful for so many people to travel and take part. Traveling is expensive. Especially with kids... seems like they aren't as willing to go without meals and sleep on bus benches as adults; and every second not being hugged by a Disney character is a mega-tragedy.
Emily: Then fourteen months after our wedding, we moved to Savannah. They no longer needed me in the Nursery, but I did become a Sunday School Teacher (where I might have taught "The Gospel According to the Simpsons". Maybe).
Bill: And I might have had something to do with that. And I might have helped you teach it. If it happened. I seem to remember it might have. Or not.
Emily: By this time Allison was around seven and Megan was around five. I remember going out to get ice cream with them right before we moved to New Jersey. I'm sure we spent more time with them, but my memory is starting to fade from all our moves.
Fast forward to the time of Facebook and Allison found and friended me. We started writing and catching up. She played softball for her high school until an injury (which is still a mystery) stopped her. She loves animals (hmmm was it all those drawings??) and soon had her driver's license. Bill refused to believe she was older than seven and I had to really convince him when she turned seventeen. Then I realized she would be graduating from high school and we had not been back to Savannah since we moved to Jersey. That would not do. I insisted we would go down there and while we had originally planned and thought it could be a week long trip, stopping to see many friends and family along the way (which had been discussed every year since we moved but could never be acted on), it turned out that would just not work into our schedule. We settled for a short, quick weekend trip via air travel.
Bill: And boy is my sister peeved we didn't see her.
Emily: Thank goodness for facebook. I've been able to keep up with Allison and see what she's been up to and look at pictures. It might have been a lot more awkward had we not had that tool for communication. While I won't establish any stereotypes, Bill did joke around with Megan and called her bougey. Like most females, she might have a tendancy to be a little more high-maintanance. That's okay, I do too. Allison is a little bit more laid back and you can tell that by her personality. There's nothing wrong with either, it's what makes the world go 'round. Anyway, the bougie name calling brings us to this post. Bill's going to have to jump in here, because I completely forget what guy we called bougebag, which of course is a mash-up of douche bag and bougie.
Bill: Me either, but if I said it, it must have been true. I am a keen and dispassionate observer of the human condition. For those of you who haven't been in Savannah, 12 in 6 people are terrible drivers through and through. I am sure that the person onto whom I hung the moniker bougebag deserved it. Certainly, this will be one that will go into the Uebbing dictionary.
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