Shiny Things

You guys make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside:-) I came in kinda grumpy from a short nights sleep in a strange bed and I had all kinds of well-wishes from people…you are all too sweet!
I really have very little to write about today. I got to the office (not even our office…someone else’s that we are working out of for the time we are here) at 6:45 so that I could get a super early start. And I got a ton done, which makes me feel good. I have to drive back home tonight, which is a pain, but I have to do my civic duty (and let Munchkin help me:-), even though Smoking Hot Roommate already took her to the polling place once.)

Really I don’t mind…it will be good to see the little one, and I really get kind of homesick about sleeping outside of my bed. Yes, I am a baby…

I am actually gonna tell a story. Not sure why, but I alluded to it the other day and I feel like telling it at the moment. And Smoking Hot Roommate said I make her cry yesterday with my gushing about her, so I am gonna do it again. This will make me cry, too…lol. But the guys are in a meeting all morning while I am working on something so no one will see me…hee hee.

It is also in kind of the same general topic of my appreciation for the Rocks. [Oh, by the way, I am now referring to them as the Rocks, which is short for Rockerfeller. No, they are not actually Rockerfellers, but they have a name that sort of goes back like that, so this will work as a substitute].

Anyway…Mrs. Rock (SHR and Big Sis’s Mom, Papa Bear’s wife] died a little over 10 years ago. That has undoubtedly had a dramatic influence on the remarkably close relationship that they all have with each other. Mrs. Rock, from what I hear, had little use for many of the trappings of wealth; with one small exception…she really liked things that sparkled. This is actually a trait that both of her daughters have inherited (OK, so they are girls, and we all like sparkly things…)

Mrs. Rock had a jewelry collection that was substantial. Between things that were passed down through Papa Bear’s family and things he bought for her, she had a spectacular collection of stuff. Since she died, Papa Bear has been giving it to SHR and Big Sis a little bit at a time…birthdays, Christmas, graduations, things like that.

Example: when SHR was 16 or 17, Big Sis was home for a bit (she lived in London for like 6 years) and they went out and got their belly buttons pierced. Which Papa Bear was not happy about and apparently threw quite the tantrum, directed mostly at Big Sis. But three years later, he had an old pair of Mrs. Rock’s diamond earrings remade into matching navel studs for the girls.

Back to my story. Neither Big Sis or SHR wears a ton of jewelry, so in about May, the two of them told Papa Bear that he should start giving it to different people, that they had plenty already. Skip ahead to about July [I am jumping around a lot here, let me know if it is confusing].
Every year, Mrs. Rock’s family, who Papa Bear remains very close with, takes over the beach house for about a week and a half. Some day I will really tell you about the beach house, but for now, just believe me that it’s freaking huge (it is a "house" in the sense that the Taj Mahal is a "tombstone"). Anyway, Papa Bear decided that this would be a good time to give a lot of Mrs. Rock’s old jewelry to her sisters, nieces, etc.

And he likes to be kind of formal and stuff, so he had like a whole speech ready and stood up after dinner one night and told them all that he and SHR and Big Sis wanted them all to have some parts of Mrs. Rock to help remember her. Then he started to give the stuff out and had neat things to say to everyone and about everyone. Yes, there was lots of crying;-)

But then he started talking to me, and he said…I am para-phrasing, I didn’t record it…hee hee… "AM, you are very much a part of this family and I think of you much as I do my two daughters. We have never told you this, but you remind us all of Mrs. Rock, and the two of you would have been great friends. We know that she would want you to have these." They gave me a pair of earrings that I wear almost every day now...hee hee. They are teardrop diamonds with a little stud and a pear-shaped hanging stone. Not only are they nicer than all the other jewelry I have ever owned combined…lol…but they mean a lot more.

So there, one more super-sappy story:-P And yes, I am crying again…so what?!?!?
By the way, I got a message from someone last night that I will talk about later. It is another person I owe a ton to, but it is not quite as happy a story.