Knee High By 4th of July ...

... or "Make New Friends and Keep the Old ..."

*** WARNING: This is a long one. And pics will follow later ***

Life for the Pfirrman girls has been busy - I know, I'm sounding like a broken record. But it's true nonetheless. The holiday weekend brought with it quite a bit of activity. Not exactly the holiday itself, mind you. We spent most of the fourth locked in the house. I am taking a neuropsychology class this summer as a prereq for the grad program. And since I had three tests this week, I was hurriedly trying to memorize the parts of a neuron and the operation of the sodium-potassium pump that facilitates neural activity. WAKE UP!! I know you all dozed off for a minute. Except you, Jen Brann. :)

After knocking out chapter after chapter of exciting material, Miss M and I went to the Beavercreek July 4 parade. It pails in comparison to the Loveland parade that we have been going to for the last few years, in part because they were not allowed to throw candy and there was no music. My favorite part of the parade was the Beavercreek Citizens on Patrol car. I kept waiting for Hightower and that guy who does the beat boxing to step out (vague Police Academy reference for you non-movie buffs). We also went to the Beavercreek festival, which amounted to two food booths run by the Boy Scouts and a band.

After all that fun, we joined some of my new neighbors to watch the fireworks. That's right, you can sit on their deck (and mine too) and see a fantastic fireworks show. Not just the city's fireworks, but all the neighbors' as well. And since most of the families in the neighborhood are part of the military, the fireworks take on a whole new tone. Let's just say, at one point dynamite was used and I got to watch the fireworks with night vision googles.

It was great to meet some new people. To make it an even better night, no one asked the question that generally stops all normal conversation around me - "So where's your husband?" I think the old owners filled them in.

Friday we went down to Loveland stay with Erin and Pat for two reasons (well, three if you count the fact that we love the Hoopers). First, Erin planned a going away dinner for us. Some of my favorite women (Molly, Ali, Aunt Judy, Julia, Kelly, Erin, Maddie and Peyton) took us to the Iron Chef. As always, I was very pleased to be in the company of such fabulous chicks.

Friday also brought with it the best part of the holiday. The Clymers came to town. Actually, they came to Erin's too. For those who don't know - the Clymers include one of my best friends in the entire world - Kelly - and her husband Jamie and their daughter Peyton. It was so much fun spending time with them. And although the genetically enginered super corn is taller than knee high, Miss Peyton, who celebrated her first birthday in April fits the saying well. (Pictures to come later).

A little back story (if you know this already, or if I lost you at the talk of neurons, feel free to skip ahead): In addition to my sister, Erin and Kelly are two women who I feel are essential to my life. I met Kelly during orientation week at Kent after she saw me running at the track and stalked me. :) Kelly was a jumper on the Kent track team. As for Erin, Kent State finally got something right when they assigned us to the same room. We were all kind of inseparable after that.

These are the two women who knew me when. One of us can say, "'Member when?" and the other two will know exactly what she is talking about. They loved me when I drank Pepsi and ate toast for breakfast and still do when I run on about why we should all be eating organic foods now. I know that they love to shop, particularly for bargains, so I go to Gabes with them. They know that my tolerance for it is low and they don't mind too much when I start to whine and beg for lunch. They are ones can make any situation feel like home for me. After Kevin died, they were among the first five calls that I made and they didn't hestitate to jump on planes to be by my side.

And while I adore the almost 14-year history that I have with them, I think I love observing the women we are becoming even more. Watching Kelly coo over Peyton makes me smile as much as watching Erin take charge now does. And even though we live far apart and don't see one another as often as we would all like, when we do get together it's as comforting and fun as it has always been.

Happy 4th everyone.
Jami