F.O.B. #15: The Wonder Moments

Might I say, this is going brilliantly! Not only are the three FOBbers keeping up fantastically well, we have a new member! Give a big, warm welcome to Miz Knotty- she's bringing blogging back! Yeah! I'm sorry, but I'm digging that song. Not only that, she's caught up all our F.O.B.'s in a matter of one post. Shocking! Check out her latest answers and give her a BAL hello.
After the more materialistic #17, I'm going to ring in the changes and ask you today- Can you name 15 memorable experiences? They don't have to be "Best ever" but the kind of memory you like to take out, polish up, and look at.

15. The first article I ever wrote for UT's student paper, "The Daily Beacon." Reading it now, I must say, it's pretty atrocious, but this is still a great one. It was Kelly and I, at eighteen, in her sister's car, off to a club (Senor Frog's, I'm sorry to say), to watch K's Choice perform. The best part- the opening band was some group called the Judy Bats, and in my article I gave them a bit of a hard time (I believe the last line ran something like "though starting off on a poor note with the JudyBats..."). Apparently, the Judy Bats were actually a well-known group around town and The Beacon got a number of letters over my critique that started with something like "Who is this idiot girl?" and ended with "... clearly an idiot girl" and my entertainment editor was pleased because it was my first article and people had responded to me.

14. Our second trip to Las Vegas. I luff this city. Blackjack is my secret addiction.

13. Taking Pops and Suz Knitter to a Lyle Lovett concert in Knoxville a few years ago. The night started off with a dinner mishap- we were late for our reservations only to find out they wouldn't have table ready for another half-hour- so all four of us, in great spirits, sat outside in The Hubba's car at a little chicken joint, eating chicken tenders out of Styrofoam boxes before we headed off for Lyle.

12. Seeing the Colts play the Tennessee Titans in Indianapolis. The Hubba and I drove from Chicago to the game and back in a day and the whole trip was smooth, easy, Colts won, and I can say I've seen Peyton in a professional game.

11. My first- and so far only- trip to Maine. Mum Knitter packed me in the car for a summer trip, we took two days to drive from Tennessee to the northern coast of the state, we stayed with friends who had rented a beautiful old home and we were there for nearly two weeks. Strange how some places just catch your attention and make your heart sing- that trip did it for me.

10. Learning to knit! Talk about a world opened up!

9. Taking my Dad to a Lyle concert. Sounds a lot like # 13, except I was still a reporter (ha!) for The Daily Beacon, and I had comped tickets because I was covering (double ha!) the concert. I walked up to the ticket booth and gave my name and the name of the paper, my heart in my throat, and the fella behind the booth said "Who? I don't- oh, here they are!" and pushed two free tickets across the shelf to me. Wow. Talk about feeling important when Dad and I went into the concert on the tickets I got.

8. Having Kelly and Alyssa read the first half of my book. Talk about a Gulp! moment. Of course, they've been fantastic about it, super encouraging and asking to read more. Still, another heart in the throat moment.

7. The rescue work we did with East Tennessee Border Collie Rescue. We had more than fifteen dogs come through our home in a two year period and it was from this group that Miss Georgie came to us.

6. Seeing "The Phantom of the Opera" on Broadway in NYC with my mom and my grandmother. Especially, when the Phantom's just finished off Act I, with a particularly heartbreaking finish, him hanging off a balcony above the stage and Mammer turned to me and said "Phew! I was worried he would fall out if he kept waving his arms around like that."

5. The first time I heard, really heard, Wayne Dyer's "The Power of Intention".

4. All DMB concerts I've ever seen, but particularly these last two in Charlotte and Raleigh. The band was on, the crowd was great, The Hubba and I were in fine form, and we had a blast.

3. Our wedding. I realize some will think this should be higher on the list, but, truly, The Hubba and I were married before we were ever married- I think you know what I mean- so this was really about having a big party to celebrate. It was a charged day, lots of Crazy Family, lots of Fantastic Family (these two were mostly one in the same), lots of friends, lots of food and drinks, and good music, and hot weather, and irritating innkeepers, but even with all the rigmarole, and the tense moments and the parts that got left out, I love remembering the day. Though, I will say, if you know any brides-to-be out there, PLEASE don't say this will be "The best day of her life." God help the girl who stands at the altar and thinks that. For me, our wedding day was one of many of the fabulous days we had had and have had since then.

2. The first time I broke a board in Tae Kwan Do, mainly because I was nervous about performing in front of others and beyond that I was terrified of hurting myself (honestly, I was seconds away from being sick on my bare feet kind of scared). At the last minute, Master Kim pulled out two boards and stacked them on top of each other. The Hubba, who made a short video clip of the moment, laughed because, he says, my face went from "What a joker! Hahaha!" to "OH *%$!" in two seconds. For those who haven't seen this, I broke both boards, straight down the middle, my first try.

1. Our move from Chicago to North Carolina, for so many reasons. This was a leap of faith for us. Really. We had no money to move, we knew no one in North Carolina (except Betsy and her family and The Hubba's old boss, Dave), we never saw the city we were moving to, but, for us, it felt like the right decision and we believed in each other. The Hubba came home and said "They're opening a new office in Burlington, NC," I said, "North Carolina would be ideal," and two weeks later he was in North Carolina and I was packing up a house, ready to sell it and join him. The move was huge for both of us, him being there on his own (on his own, but with Barkley; we found a pet-friendly hotel) and me, and our other three dogs, selling a house in a city where we knew almost no one, and I had no familial support. (the only reason The Hubba and I managed to sell our house and leave TN in the first place was because I had Pops Knitter doing all the necessary house repairs and Mum Knitter helping me clean and tidy and throw away). Leaving Chicago was a huge moment in my short little life because I did this thing on my own, without any fallback, and I didn't buckle or panic or stress- or not much anyway!

So there's some of Knitter's favorite moments. I could take out any of those fifteen and in a few seconds of thinking about any of them and I'm there. As Kramer (Seinfeld anyone?) would always say "In my mind, I'm already there."