Yay! It’s time for this week’s edition of “Freaky Friday” … AND more importantly, I didn’t have to beg, bribe, whine or cry to get someone to volunteer to write it! I am so excited, I think we may be moving in the right direction. So let me tell you a bit about this weeks (im)poster … she has a real name, but nobody uses her real name. More than once people have asked me “what’s an Ear Pie?” which makes me laugh. She’ll explain the name to ya. What I want to explain about Earpie is this: if it can happen, it will happen to her! She is a walking enigma … a murphy’s law book all her own. She finds herself in the derndest cicumstances without any effort on her part. But, if there is a deal to be found, she will find it, buy it and pile it in her garage, it’s an addiction, she can’t help it. So now, without further ado … I’m going to turn you over to her. If anything bad happens to you from this point forward, blame it on Earpie’s bad luck.

(poof)

Hey there. Earpie here. Okay that is Earp with an ie added to the end. For those of you who do not know me this name originated because we have two people with the same name – Tammy – that work in our office. So, I was given this name to distinguish between the two of us. Earp is my last name and the ie is just for good measure. I work with Melinda .I had to beg and beg and beg her to do the blog for today. Finally, she gave in. I really do enjoy her blog and I did want to contribute in some form. After reading my entry today you may feel I certainly did not contribute. Anyway here goes.

I struggled with trying to decide what to write about. I could do numerous stories about Melinda and things that happen to us at work. For example, the many, many people that we come in contact with at work that truly demonstrate the word “strange”. For those that know me they know I could write many stories about the weird and funny things that seem to happen to me on just any given day. But, (I know Melinda is now cringing because I just started a sentence with the word but – Ms. Grammar Queen) I chose to tell you about me and my family and a time in my life that was far from good. A time when I don’t know what I would have done without Melinda and the other people in my life. A time when Melinda kept me going not day to day but minute to minute. That’s what you call a true friend and I am thankful for those people.

I have been married for twenty one years to my wonderful husband, Bradley. I have a great teenage son, Nathan, who is seventeen. Pay attention to that age. Remember that is seventeen years old not seventeen months. I also have another son, Matthew, who is four. Yes, I said four. Quite the age span there. Almost five years ago my life was pretty normal. Okay maybe not normal but somewhat normal for me. Life was good. I was in a routine. I need a routine. Suddenly, out of the middle of nowhere, I find out that I am pregnant. I was so excited. We had always wanted another child. Always meant to have another one – after Nathan started school. That would have been a good time. Anyway, that came and went and so did middle school. Then out of the deep dark blue we were having another baby. Remember I was excited. Bought baby clothes, thought about how to do the nursery, all of the normal things a pregnant woman does. Then one night I go to bed the happy pregnant normal person (okay normal for me) and wake up the next morning being an alien. I didn’t want to be pregnant. I didn’t want to have a baby. What would I do with a baby? I could certainly never leave the house again because we could never go anywhere or do anything ever again – with a baby. My life was good just the way it was. Now this didn’t last just a few days or even a few weeks. I am here to tell you it was a long journey. My “friends” at the office just knew I was going to the “Delta Center”. That’s the crazy place for those of you that don’t know what it is. They even talked about me going there in front of my face. They didn’t even whisper. I now tell them I could still hear during that period of time. I guess they thought I was crazy & deaf. I came to realize that depression is a very true illness. I used to think that it was something that you just told people to get over. Quit thinking about it. Get on with your life. Let me tell you, it is far from that. If it hadn’t been for my wonderful family and friends I feel real sure I would still be at the Delta center. God placed those wonderful people as well as a good doctor in my path and thankfully I came out of it. Not quick but thankfully with a beautiful and healthy little boy, Matthew.

Now Matthew is another bog all of his own. I can’t imagine my life without him. God truly knows what we need and when we need it. I now look at life a little bit different and definitely understand when someone says they are depressed that it is not something they can just turn on and off. Wish it were that simple. But there is hope for the depressed. Never give up!

(poof)

I’m back! Ok, I just have to say, being honest isn’t always easy but just maybe it will help someone who is going through a difficult time in their own life. Now that I’ve been nice, I have to bust on her a bit … let me splain what she means by “her going crazy overnight” … that is the God’s honest truth! She fell off of the proverbial boat. She was a Captain without a ship, a boat without an ore, up the creek without a paddle … you get the picture. And as serious as it was, looking back now, it was funny as crap! I told her back then, as she was cussing me for not cooperating with her plans concerning the baby she was inevitably going to have, “Earpie, we’ll look back and laugh about this one day” if looks could have zapped me dead, I’d be dead! And let me tell you, not only does God have a plan for our lives, He also has a huge sense of humor. Matthew is one of a kind and that is not an understatement, if Earpie wasn’t truly crazy before he was born, she will be before he graduates highschool. So now, y’all go on down to the comment box & leave her some lovin’ for A. volunteering & B. being so open & honest. Earpie, I love you and cannot imagine my life without you in it! Who would keep me entertained?

ps: I’m not sure she ever did really find that boat!

me. & Earpie