Thankfulness, Day 3

Today, I am thankful for being a mom. If there's one thing I've learned in the last handful of years, its that being a mom isn't a given just because I'm an adult female. During all of our miscarriages the idea of being a mom began to drift further and further away. I knew in my heart God had a family in mind for us, but I would be lying if I said doubt was never running rampant in my mind and heart. 

Today we had such a fun day with Lorelei and Addison. We went to this Family Fun day at the local library. There were clowns and fire breathers and a snake charmer. There was even a 'stilt walker'. Although, arguably, he was more of a 'stilt stander' than a 'walker' as he wasn't actually capable of moving without falling. We had so much fun together even though the entire event was incredibly cheesy. The girls loved it, and that alone made standing around all day totally worth it. 

Later today we went to Starbucks. We each got our delicious drinks as we sat and played UNO as a family for a while. Prior to children, if I were going to sit at Starbucks for an extended period of time, you can bet it wouldn't be to play UNO. Or any other card game. Ever. But having kids changes everything.

Each night I get to tuck the girls into bed. We have a cute little routine that we go through each evening. They both pray, then I pray. Then it's lots of hugs and kisses. As I hug each of them I tell them one thing from the day that made me proud of them, and I remind them that I LOVE being their mom and I am so glad they're mine. As I walk out of their room, Lorelei, without fail says, "Sweet dreams, Mom! I love you, Mom! Good night, Mom! Muahh! Mom!" My night just isn't the same without those sweet little words. And I know the day is coming when she'll decide not to say them anymore. My heart already dreads it.

The thing about being a mom is that it's a lot of work. More than anyone realizes until you're a mom. but more than all of that- being a mom changes you. From the inside out. It starts in the mind and in the heart and very quickly the role of 'mom' completely transforms who you are.  For the better.

I know there are parts of my life that would just be meaningless and empty if it weren't for the children that call me Mom. My entire future is geared towards these precious little people that own my heart, and I wouldn't have it any other way because anything else just seems frivolous and selfish. It's often said that people are generally happiest when pouring into and giving to others. If you do it right, being a mom means endlessly and relentlessly dong just that. Giving and pouring into your children with all you have, from the deepest parts of who you are. It's both exhausting and exhilarating.  It's draining and refreshing. It's biter and it's sweet. It's equally sacrifice and reward. 

And no matter the kind of day, no matter the frustrations, the challenges, the strong wills of tiny people- I am so undeservingly blessed to be trusted with all three of these children. I thank God daily that He would allow me to be their mom. I am so humbled that He would choose me, of all people, to guide and mold Lorelei, Addison, and Jackson. The fact that I get to be their mom is just astounding. Simple as that.  

I am very thankful for them, and very thankful for the role I get to play in their lives. I love being a mom. 


Lorelei- "I'm thankful for all of the blessings that God gives us. I like that we get blessings like real good movies and funny ones, too. And ones that have happy endings. I also like all of our pictures, and those are blessings, too.  And money because then we get to buy lots of stuff. And that's what dads are for. To get us money. God blessed us with a good dad who gets us money."

Addison- "I'm thankful that God makes us and that Daddy made my name Rain because that's my middle name. I love the name Rain because Daddy named me that. That's all I am really thankful for right now."

Thankfulness, Day 2

I am so very thankful for this little family of mine. I can't event think about it without a smile crossing my face. I had no idea I could love 4 people as much as I love Christopher, Lorelei, Addison, and Jackson. My heart literally didn't comprehend the amount and depth of love it would feel before I had them in my life. 

I think back to when Christopher and I were first married. I knew he was the one God wanted for me, and I am so thankful that I stepped in faith rather than following advice from people. I knew our life would be an adventure, and I knew we'd have a family one day. I had no idea the adventure would be in the getting. I just love that our family is built so uniquely. People sometimes comment on how cute our family is, or how our children look just like us, or how we have the cookie cutter family. And I love that though it may seem so on the outside, our little family unit is far from cookie cutter. 

Each of our children have such different stories- all with God's hand prints across them. I even love each of the journeys God took us on as he built our family one child at a time. 

I am so thankful that I get to be married to Christopher and walk through life with him as his wife. I am humbled that God would allow me that role with such an awesome man. 

I am beyond thankful to be Mom to Lorelei, Addison, and Jackson. Three completely different little people that not only challenge me on a daily basis, but bring me more joy than I ever knew possible. I love them so much and am so thankful God made them just for me.  

Lorelei- "I'm thankful for the green dress up dress that I have. I love it because it's green and that's my favorite color and it has diamonds and I love diamonds. I also love it because, well, we get to wear it a lot. And that you made it for us. I'm thankful that it's my favorite color."

Addison- "I'm still thankful for Jackson. I'm thankful that he got born because I love him. He loves me too so much."

Thankfulness, Day 1

I woke up this morning trying to decide what I would write as my first thing to be thankful for this month. Should this go in some specific order??? No, that would be crazy and impossible, I think. Should the first thing I write about be the thing I am absolutely most thankful for? What is that, even? I mean, yes, I could say my salvation. But that seems cliche and very much like a sunday school answer during flannel-graph story time. 

I went over all sorts of things in my head that I'm thankful for and the thing that kept coming to the forefront is that idea that I am thankful for the opportunity to be thankful. That sounds ridiculous, right? I thought so too, at first. Hey, you don't always have to agree with your own thoughts. Or maybe you're supposed to and I'm a freak. Either way.

To be thankful for the opportunity to be thankful... I think the thing of it is that I feel like I 'get' to be thankful more easily than a lot of people.  As I ponder what to write about during Thanksgiving, I have a hard time deciding. Not because it's such a difficult task to pin point anything to be thankful for, but because I have such an abundance of things to thankful for. That doesn't even bring to mention the things I SHOULD be thankful for that I'm probably never even recognize. 

Growing up (until about age 8) I really didn't have a whole lot to be thankful for. Not in the same sense that we often consider thankfulness. I remember one Thanksgiving at school we had to make a craft that centered around the things we were thankful for. Immediately kids started drawing and cutting and glueing as they listed all sorts of fun things they were thankful for. Their new bike, their nice house, new shoes, favorite toys. Even some less materialistic things like their family pet, good food every day, and family. I sat for a while thinking about what I would put on my page and nothing jumped to mind very quickly. I distinctly remember my teacher coming over to me and asking what I was thankful for as if to spur on my productivity. 

"Well, do you have any new toys you're thankful for?" she asked.

"No, not really." I said sheepishly, thinking back to the last new toy I had gotten. I had had a birthday party over a year prior and my dad showed up out of nowhere and brought me hundreds of dollars worth of toys. A Barbie dream house, a Teddy Rucksbin (or however you spell that), and everything else under the sun that a little girl could dream of wanting. But then he disappeared again and I hadn't heard from or seen him. Missing my dad made it hard to care about the toys. They just reminded me that he was gone. Sure, I had gotten toys, but what I really wanted was my dad.

"Well, what about your nice house?" My teacher continued.

Little did she know my 'nice house' was on the verge of being condemned, it had plywood where windows had been broken out, hot water was hit and miss, and you couldn't see the floor for all the junk and trash scattered about. And the only food it had in it were the many boxes of Doritos that had been taken out of the back of a high jacked semi truck destined for Target. Which of my mom's friends stole it and parked it in our yard, I have no idea. But it was there and it was loaded full of chips and flip flops, if I remember correctly. So, that's what we ate for a while even after the police took the semi back. So, I just sat quietly. 

"How about your mom or your dad? Surely you're thankful to have a mom and a dad to take care of you."

"Yeah, I guess so." So that's what I put on my craft. A picture of my mom and my dad. I was thankful for them. Just not in the same way a lot of other kids seemed to be thankful for their parents. I wasn't thankful for them because of how well they took care of me, or how much they loved me. I was thankful for them purely based on the idea that they were my parents. That was it. In truth, and despite how well they kept it together when I was much younger, the only concept of 'parents' I had was my mom as a drug addict, laying lifelessly on her water bed for hours and hours on end all day long. And my dad was in and out of our lives, gone for months at a time. He'd show up for the day and act like life was great. 

That story isn't for the sake of pity, but rather contrast. How different my life is now as an adult, and even in my later childhood. Once I was removed from that situation, I suddenly had all sorts of things to be thankful for. And it seems to have increased consistently ever since. Seeing that change over the years has made me incredibly aware of just how overwhelmingly thankful I should be.

Sure, as an adult looking back, I can find things to be thankful for during that time of my life. However, most are more philosophical and theoretical than tangible. 

So that brings me to today. The thing is, I don't have to sit at a desk and have a teacher help me brainstorm what I'm thankful for. I don't have to think hard, search far, or dig deep for things to appreciate and recognize as blessings. My life is so full of blatantly incredible things and circumstances, finding things to list this month is easy. 

There's no way I could even pretend I lack the opportunity to be thankful. 

And for that, I give thanks. 

Lorelei- “I’m thankful for Bella because she’s the best dog in the whole wide world. She’s so cute and I love her so every morning I kiss her.”

Addison- “I’m thankful for Jackson that he’s so cute and I kiss him a lot and I get to hold him. I just love him a lot. And we have so much fun and I am a big sister.”

Intro to Thankfulness

Every year I watch people use the month of November to name the things they’re thankful for each day.  Obviously being thankful is something that should be a day to day, moment to moment emotion. So in one respect listing the things you’re most thankful for during the month of November seems a little cliche. However, I do think it’s a great opportunity and even discipline, to stop and really consider what our hearts are thankful for.  ..and perhaps what they’re not.  Having to daily sit down and tell about a specific blessing- or even challenge- in our lives that we give thanks for might just give a fresh perspective. 

I decided that this year the girls and I would do something similar. In our house we talk a lot about having a thankful heart. The girls are big enough to understand the holiday of Thanksgiving beyond the turkey and stuffing. Despite their answer when I asked them this morning, they understand that it’s a day to be thankful for all our blessings. To really dive in with them, I will have the girls also tell what they are thankful for each day and I’ll add that to my blog.  Knowing my children, this could be pretty interesting.

Me- “What is Thanksgiving and why do we celebrate it?”

Lorelei- "It means that winter is here and Thanksgiving is when you celebrate being thankful for chicken and stuff."

Addison- "Snow! And after Thanksgiving it means we are moving to Hume Lake!"

Clearly we're off to a fantastic and well grounded start.  Umm... what?  

a little look back, shall we?

One of the first questions we got asked about our pregnancy was why we waited so long to announce that we were having a baby. I didn’t feel like 16 weeks was all that late in the game, but it seems more and more often people announce their pregnancies at week 5 or 6. I guess that makes us a little weird for waiting. The thing is, after so many miscarriages, announcing that you’re pregnant is the last thing you want to do because the fear is always there that you could lose the baby. Dealing with a loss like that is hard enough without having to go back to everyone and explain it. Especially when you add in having to deal with the sympathetic looks, typical Bible verses that in that moment seem too cliche to have any other purpose, and worst- the few people who don’t know what to say and thus never stop talking rather than not say anything at all. They’re the worst! Event hough we had never announced any of our previous pregnancies, people were always nosey and some figured it out and spread the word for us (thanks, again for that). It really did make losing each baby harder and harder with every person we encountered. 

So when this little baby came along, though I felt confident that God had destined him to be ours forever, and God was building him cell by cell to be a healthy little person- that fear and hesitation was still there. Part of me wanted to wait until viability before we told a soul. And an even crazier part of me wished it were realistic to not tell anyone until he was born! But with that thinking, why not wait until he’s ten? We didn’t really set a time when we would tell... we just took it week by week until we both felt comfortable with letting the cat out of the bag.

Though fear played a role in our hesitation to announce, there was also a much (MUCH) more exciting reason to keep our news a secret for a while.  The Tilley family as a whole was about to grow by one more little person! We were so excited for John and Alex to be having their first baby (Even if they tried killing us with anticipation by not finding out the gender!). As their pregnancy went further and further, we got more and more excited for them and everything that little baby was going to mean to our entire family.  While we were shocked and thrilled to finally be expecting a baby of our own, I really felt just as excited for them. We didn’t want to do anything to take the attention from where it should be. After little Trey was born, we just enjoyed getting to buy things for him and shop for him without feeling like our pregnancy and baby were a factor.

A lot of other questions were asked, but most of them weren’t directly asked to us. They were asked ‘about’ us to other people. We expected that though. I know it was shocking for most people to hear that we were pregnant. After all, as far as they knew we couldn’t have kids. Fair enough.  Most couples that ‘cant have kids’ actually can. They just can’t do so naturally. And that’s the boat we were in. It was totally possible all along, and we knew it. It just wasn’t likely to happen the easy way. I think a lot of people fail to realize how many fertility solutions exist. One of the things we looked into a few years ago was something called Snowflake Adoption. Did you know you could adopt embryos? Yes, embryos! And you can have them thawed and transfered into your uterus- and actually carry the pregnancy like any other pregnancy in the world. And give birth just like any other mom? Only, at the end of the day, the baby you gave birth to is actually adopted. I still think that’s incredible! Obviously, that’s not the route we chose in the end. But it’s an example of outside of the box thinking that never occurs to a lot of people.

As a result of that, our close family members and friends got asked a lot of strange questions. And since very few people asked us personally, I got to sit back and watch the show. I found it really entertaining. My favorite ones were the socially awkward ones. One person who has never been particularly close with any of the family was asking Christopher’s mom if the baby was conceived with Christopher’s “stuff”. I felt bad for them that they would be so awkward. I don’t know, but I would feel really embarrassed to ask someone’s mother about her son’s “stuff”! But, I guess if you’re curious, you’re curious.

The other thing that was brought up by a few people was whether or not we felt like we were playing God by using fertility treatments to have a baby. This was a fun one for me to tackle.  I guess I could see where they’re coming from to some extent. But if you think about that for just a second, how can you not realize how absurd it is to think that way? Yes, we have fertility problems. That’s not the same as God coming down from the clouds and saying, “I forbid you to have children!” It just means we have a different path to take in order to get there than some people. The phrase, “Well, if God wanted you to have kids He would give them to you.” was said often. And I agree.. if God wanted us to have kids, He would give them to us. Lorelei and Addison are a great example of that, don’t you think?  They didn’t just land in our laps. We put forth a lot of time, effort, money, dreams, determination- you name it. Just as clear an example is this little boy growing in my womb.  To say that I’m playing God by taking hormone injections, is to say that hormone injections are bigger than God. If that’s the case, I feel bad for your decision to serve such a small god, first of all. The thing is, if you apply this theory to one area of life, you have to be able to apply it to all areas of life. Getting to work can be a challenge. But not so much if you have a car. However, if God wanted you to get to work, wouldn’t He get you there? Is driving your car ‘playing God’? When you get an ear infection you take antibiotics to clear the infection. If God wanted your ear infection to go away, wouldn’t He just not allow you to get it in the first place? Is taking medication ‘playing God’? When you get out of the shower and get dressed, is that ‘playing God’? After all, if He wanted you clothed daily, He would do so Himself, would He not? I know those examples sound absurd, but the bottom line is- any failure to utilize simple and moral advancements and abilities that God has given us, is just as absurd. Nothing we were doing guaranteed us having a baby. It increased the odds physiologically and scientifically. God still had to do it all. I think if any of my own solitary efforts could completely create a human being without God’s help at all- I’d be the richest most sought after person on the face of the planet.

Second, we stepped out in faith with this entire endeavor. We felt that God gave us this desire years ago. Not just to have kids, but to carry a pregnancy. Not because adoption wasn’t good enough, but because our family wasn’t complete even after our adoptions and He had a purpose. Having faith in God’s will means that we step forward in the direction we feel God leading us and expectantly await His work. If we knew for certain God was going to bless us with this baby if we took the steps we did, that would be obedience, rather than faith.  While obedience is invaluable... faith is even moreso.

gotta love life in the Army

Throughout the whole first part of the pregnancy Christopher’s chain of command was talking a lot of sending him to Ranger school. They’d bring it up and then it would get dropped. Then they’d bring it up again and then drop it. It went back and forth for a few months. As time went on, I knew he needed to go by June. While I knew it was a really great opportunity for him, I also knew that Ranger school and the Pre-Ranger course that he’d have to go to first take months.  If he left in June, he would miss the entire second half of the pregnancy and barely make it back in time for the baby to be born potentially. I was so torn between my own selfishness and wanting him to have every chance to progress and succeed in his career. And I knew the longer they waited to send him, the greater the chance of him missing the baby being born. I’m not going to lie, that was a struggle for both of our hearts as we tried to just trust God and go with whatever was required of Chris.

One afternoon Chris walked in the house and said, “Well... I have some bad news and some possible good news.”  I looked at him questioningly and he said, “First, I’m definitely not going to Ranger school. I just came down on orders for Korea. That’s the bad news.” I asked when he had to go, and he said he had to report there mid September. I’m due mid October. I think I said, “Are you freaking kidding me?!” to which he calmly replied, “Yeah, because that’s something I’d joke about, Babe.” Oh.. yeah... touche´. “So what’s the good news?” I asked, feeling totally deflated. “Well, 1st Sgt. is pissed that they gave me orders and he is doesn’t want me leaving, so he’s going to try getting them cancelled.”  That made me feel a little better, but the bottom line was Chris was on orders to Korea and would be gone before the baby was born. I knew something like Korea would happen at some point, so I wasn’t surprised, and I was sad about it. But my hopes were up so high that his orders would be such that he could be here for the baby to be born. Not only did I refuse (at that point) to have the baby alone, I couldn’t imagine going through it all without him by my side. And worst of all, the idea of him not being able to meet his son for an entire year just killed me.

Over the following weeks, Chris’ chain of command made several attempts to keep him here at Fort Bragg. I just have to say, it’s very flattering when your entire chain of command is willing to fight not to lose you. What a compliment for Christopher! But at the same time, we’d been here for two years and he hasn’t had to go anywhere.. we knew something like this was coming and we were okay with that. We just wanted to do what we could to ensure him being around for the birth of our son.  So, back and forth the battle waged between his chain of command and the HRC rep (human resource something or other.. the guy who decides the orders). To no avail, they couldn’t get his orders cancelled. He was going. In honestly, we were fine with it. We just wanted the chance to work on the timing. Chris was finally allowed to file for a deferment, meaning he’d get to report to Korea at a later date on account of having a baby on the way. He had asked for 90 days, and they only gave him 60. It was enough for him to be here for the baby’s birth, which was really great! However, it’s definitely cutting it close as far as the birth, me being cleared to travel so soon afterwards, moving cross country, getting moved in and settled in our new house, all in time for him to leave for Korea when he needs to.  So, we are planning what we can based off the extra 60 days he’s got stateside and trusting God to handle the details along the way.

Chris and I decided it would be best if the kids and I were in California while he’s gone, and part of me is really excited about that. Of course I am going to miss him, but this is what we signed up for and I know we can handle it just fine. We’re happy to serve the way we do, even when it means sacrifice.  I am thrilled to be around so much family during that time. Especially for the kids. Lorelei and Addison will adjust so much better to everything with us being there as opposed to staying here. We are so blessed to have found a place at Hume to rent so we can be ‘home’.

Lorelei is going to be in Kindergarten there, and I can hardly wait. She will have the best teachers and a small class... it’s perfect for her. And Addison is thrilled to be able to go to preschool at Hume. Here at Fort Bragg, she is a little too young to start preschool this year. She misses the cut-off date by just a couple of weeks. Hume is going to be a blessing in so many ways!

So many of the crazy details have changed so often throughout this process, I am excited as we nail each one down and call it ‘planned’. We have a busy and chaotic road ahead of us we we try our best to navigate the move and planning along side the baby being born and my high risk pregnancy.  What’s life without a little adventure, anyway?

imagine that

Someone asked me if its tough to help my children differentiate between make believe and lying.  In all honesty, I have to say no. I know that some parents dread their child's imagination for this very reason. I remember reading an article once where a mother wrote in for advice because she was at her wits end in dealing with her four year old and his constant 'lying'. She gave an example of a lie wherein her son came in from the backyard declaring that nobody should go out there because there is a lion! She immediately chastised him for being dishonest. That broke my heart. She had no idea how to recognize, allow, or encourage her son's imagination. I think kids have a natural ability to imagine that far exceeds what most adults are capable of. To us, our limited ability easily blends in with untruths because we are so lacking in true imagination. We merely "imagine" while children IMAGINE. We steal from untruth to create a very impaired and artificial means of true and actual imagination.  For little children, their make believe world is so big and infinite, it's almost not a choice. Lying, however, is a very distinct choice. 


Very few things make my heart as happy and joyful as a child who knows how to imagine and play make-believe. It's unfortunate when that ability is often snubbed, either purposefully out of a parent's fear, or accidently out of a parent's desire to pacify their child with something like video games and TV for hours on end.  When I see a young little person using their brain and creativity to play, I think it's beautiful. 


So its very proudly that I tell you about Addison and her imaginary friend, Clarabell. Clarabell popped up in conversation one day several weeks ago and has been ever present since. I absolutely love it! First Clarabell lived in Yew Nork. Not to be confused with New York, mind you. Totally different place. She has a mom who's name is Saeji, and a cat named Sayer. She moved here to town from Yew Nork to be close to Addison so they could play all the time. They love the same books, the same clothes, the same foods, the same toys. And they are both excited about preschool this fall.  Addison talks about her all throughout the day and tells us what Clarabell has been doing, and when they plan to get together to play next.  It is so fun to watch her come up with this entire make believe world. The most fun part is that Clarabell doesn't exist within any limit of age, or space, or time. One minute Clarabell is a grown up, and the next moment she is three, just like Addison. 


The thing I find most interesting about all this imagination stuff is how greatly it exaggerates the differences in children.  Lorelei is just the opposite of Addison. She likes to live in a very real and very controlled world. Her imagination only reaches as far as reality does. For instance, when she plays house, only things that can happen in real life can take place in her make believe. Addison will say something like, "and pretend I had a baby and it's a puppy named Patrick." Lorelei won't allow it because people don't have puppies. They have humans. So while she is all about pretend and make believe, it's much different and more reality based than Addison's. 


Watching their two worlds collide is fascinating as it brings out and shows so clearly how each of them operate.  I often have to stop Lorelei from correcting Addison's pretending. When Clarabell goes from being a mom with three kids who was at the dentist with us, to a child driving in a car next to us, Lorelei corrects Addison. "No, that's not possible. She can't be a grown up AAAND a kid at the same time!" I can't count the times I've said, "Lorelei, it's okay. She is pretending, and that's just fine. She can pretend anything she wants."


 Encouraging Lorelei to pretend right along with Addison was my goal. And it seemed to be working. She was getting more and more involved with Clarabell and would ask Addison all sorts of questions about her. Then laying in bed the other night Christopher and I were talking and he said, "You know, Lorelei isn't trying to pretend with Addison. She's not trying to allow and encourage Addison with the whole Clarabell thing when she asks her all those questions. She's totally trying to stump Addison and corner her into admitting Clarabell isn't real. Think about it."  He is totally right. Clever little Lorelei finds Addison's out of the box imagination to be nothing more than a challenging go of entertainment. Without a doubt. Awesome. While I have to secretly give Lorelei credit for her tactics, I suppose the important thing is that Lorelei has learned that everyone pretends differently. She is understanding that it's not possible to control the whole world.. especially someone else's imaginary world. 


All the same, even though they pretend in totally different ways, I am so thankful they can play make believe together. I love so much that they spend hours every day going from one pretend world to another. Sometimes they're puppies, sometimes they're mother and daughter (and lucky me- I get to be grandma!), and sometimes they're doctors and patients. I think it's awesome that they have one another as they learn to imagine and sharpen one another's creativity. 


I sure love my little girls! I even love little Clarabell for all the fun she's brought to us.  ♥  ;)

oooh.. so original

The other day I went to Babies R Us to pick up some stuff we had ordered online. I walked in and asked the clerk and he got all my information and began pulling up our order record. Suddenly he says, "Jennifer Tilley.... Jennifer Tilley. Wait, isn't there an actress with that name?"

Ugh. here we go again. "Yes, there is." I say nicely. Can't be too annoyed with him, right? Even though I've heard it a million times doesn't mean he's said it a million times.  Yet.

Then he preceded to name every movie and show he could think of that she's been in. As he did so, his excitement was rising. Was I supposed to give him a high five for knowing a bunch of movie titles that a chick with my same name played in or something?

Anyway, they he says, "I'll call to the back and have them bring up all your stuff. Watch this!" He picks up his radio. "Hey Mark, can you bring up the order for Jennifer Tilley? The ACTRESS." Then he looks at me like I'm supposed to amazed by his cleverness.

While I wait for this Mark guy to bring up my order, he starts helping other customers, to what I thought would be my relief. Nope. I was wrong.

"That's Jennifer Tilley right there. You know.. like the actress? Yeah, that's her real name!" He said to EVERY. SINGLE. PERSON. in line. They were about as amused as I was. Did he get the hint that he wasn't all that funny? Ten solid minutes of this was a little over board, I thought. I mean, I get the incredibly miraculous phenomenon of two people having the same names, but still.

Then Lorelei pipes up, "Mom, why does that weird guy keep telling people your name?"  Loud enough for him to hear I reply, "You know, I'm wondering the same thing."

Finally Mark shows up, only he forgot some of my stuff and had to go back.. leaving me there even longer to deal with this psycho yahoo.  Eventually I'm on my way out the door, and just when I think the awkwardness is over- "Bye Jennifer Tilley! Great job in the movies!!"

uuugh.