One Lady, Five Teenagers, a Power Tool and a Screw

Note to reader: I wrote this post a long time ago. I'm just now posting it. Sorry!

Sr. BYF, the youth group at my church was most definitely one of the most important things in my life growing up. Some evenings after school we would get off of the bus at the church for whatever Debbie had planned for the evening. Whether it was a scavenger hunt in her engulfing woods (one of my favorites) a trip to the local eatery, Fat Eddie's, or an afternoon at the church to sing, it was always the highlight of my week. I'm sure you'll be privileged to hear many more memories from Sr. BYF since many of my best memories involve it!

The particular evening I'm thinking of was Friday night in mid-December, right before Christmas. Peter, Sarah, JulieBeth, Stacey and I were at the church helping Debbie put up the scenery for the Christmas play.

As I said, we were putting up the scenery for the play and that involved a few power tools. It was on this night that we found the hilarity of the word, "screw". Before I go any further, you need to know that Debbie gets a little loopy when it gets close to play time (Sorry Debs, I love you. It's true though!). On this particular evening she was extra loopy. As she was using the power drill to anchor something down behind the set, the rest of us were doing other odd jobs and handing her the necessary tools as she asked for them. All was normal. And then she asked for a screw. Except for she didn't ask for a screw like a normal person would. She put on this nutty accent (British? Australian? I have no idea! [Edit: Scottish. She says it was Scottish.]) and drew it out. "Sckrough?!" (that's the best I can sound it out. :P). We all stopped. We all looked at each other. Then we all laughed like crazy people. Needless to say the rest of the evening (Read: ever since then no matter who we are around) none our us said "screw" like a normal person.

A screw. (Think Scottish).

Not long after it came up again when we were working on a project at the church. Oddly enough, the rest of the Sr. BYF (who wasn't present the first time) didn't appreciate the hilarity of our word, even after being told the story. I guess for some memories, you just have to be there!

Sunday Radio Stars

I never really planned to remember this crazy Sunday afternoon. But I remember it like it was yesterday. I was 16 years old and it was a typical Sunday morning. For the most part. Julie Beth was in Home Ec. class and had been assigned one of those living baby dolls for the weekend so she had to bring the thing to church with her that morning. She, being 14 and incredibly self conscious as most girls her age are, was terrified it was going to break into mechanic sounding screams while the preacher was preaching. She sat near the back of the church and pushed the dolls car seat under the bench, trying to pretend it didn't exist. Unfortunately for her, baby boy was determined to let mommy know he hadn't forgotten about her.

I'm not sure the poor doll got an entire shriek out before JB had grabbed it out of it's seat and was out the swinging doors of the sanctuary fumbling for the key that would shut it up. Still in the sanctuary I was silently laughing so hard that I was almost crying and the few people sitting behind us were looking baffled. She came back in a few minutes later, looking extremely disgusted and embarrassed. I was still laughing.

Peter was working at the radio station on Sunday afternoons then so we all loaded up in his red car and went to the station to hang out with him. It was one of those afternoons where everything anyone did was hysterical. Julie Beth was a little sleep deprived from playing mommy dearest for the weekend. And anyone who knows Julie Beth, knows that sleep deprivation can only lead to two things. A) Extreme grouchiness or B) Insane silliness. This was a option B kind of day. Every song that played she was dancing with and lip syncing. I remember taking the picture above and laughing hysterically. Peter, as usual, was "above" our silliness. Never mind that he's only 3 months older than me. But as for Sarah and I, we found Julie Beth's antics hilarious. We all sang and pretended that we were the stars, reaching for dreams that we knew were above our realms of possibilities but believing in them none the less.

Crazy afternoons like these were a typical part of life growing up as a "Mt. Pleasant Kid". But this was one of these afternoons that always brings back a smile no matter what kind of day I'm having. We had no idea we were making a memory. Maybe it was just me making a memory. But forever in my heart I have a memory of a carefree afternoon with my best friends. God was giving us the very best years of our life and despite the everyday reminders we didn't realize it. We were happy and content, blissfully unaware that our lives would one day be so different. And for that day it was enough.

Welcome to my world

"You're makin' memories girls!" Nearly every week of my junior high and high school years I heard my amazing youth group leader, Debbie, tell my best friends and I those very words. Over and over and over until we were copying her and giggling over it like average teenage girls do. We'd roll our eyes and groan and say the typical, "I know, I know".

One funny thing about humans is we can hear something without really listening. Example? The lawn mower has been humming in the background of my thoughts for the past hour. But until I focus on that sound and assign it meaning, I'm not listening to it. It's completely meaningless.

Looking back today, I am awe struck at how many times my friends and I were laughing and joking, never realizing that the very moment we were living would become one of our fondest memories. At the time these moments were meaningless words and giggles. Today, I look back and listen again and again to the memory forever sealed in my mind.

In this blog I want to share the moments that become memories. Some from the past, some from today. But always a moment that is a classic "makin' memories" moment. After all "we're makin' memories" every day!

Edit: The original idea of this blog was for only memories but as you can see in the description, that's changed a bit. I want to use this blog to glorify God through the gifts of memories that He gives! Read on!