"One Buddy a Night"

The story of the "One Buddy a Night" Rule.

Every night at the Fullers we embark on a journey through Aislynn's bedtime routine. It begins with a story and the extremely important choosing of a buddy.

Once upon a time when we were idiots, Andy and I lined up about 15 tiny stuffed animals on a long rainbow colored worm in Aislynn's bed as we embarked on "The Routine."

As time went on, the line up became increasingly large and insane. The "little buddies" soon required a specific order, a certain type of positioning, chaos erupted if a "buddy" fell off the worm or heaven forbid-fell on the floor!

Ever night I would think, this is insane! Why have we become slaves to this tiny little girl, the Little Einsteins, the entire Mickey Mouse Club House, Magenta, Valentine Bear, Lovey Puppy, as well as some stragglers? I couldn't take it any longer. Goofy refused to sit up straight. I never liked Goofy. I will not be Goofy's b**** any longer!

Then there was puke-LOTS of it.

One day in the town of Bloomington, Aislynn became the sickest I have ever seen her in her almost 4 years of life. She threw up intensely on 14 of the 15 buddies. It was a sad day at Mickey's Club House, particularly for Mickey. Genius finally struck when I realized that my child did not need to sleep with 15 tiny stuffed animals in a row on a large worm. Cleaning up 14 casualties from the puking incident really clarified my resolution.

So we implemented a "one buddy a night" rule when Aislynn recovered from an eternity of the flu variety show. She would be allowed to choose one special sleepover"buddy" a night. No entourage, no clubs, or gangs permitted-one lone character as a sleeping companion. I thought she would protest, I thought for sure she would fight for the WHOLE Club House. No fight, little protest, I think the causalities of the flu disturbed everyone including Aislynn.

I still shudder thinking about the implications of that flu.

Rainbow worm, may you rest in peace.

se·cret

It was not too long ago that I wrote about the first in a series of unfortunate events, the lost wedding ring-specifically MY lost wedding ring. I have a confession to make. I lost my wedding ring AGAIN. I know! I can already feel people shouting at me, "How did you manage that...why do you take it off at all...didn't you learn your lesson...why don't you have a safe place to put it...are you an idiot..." I KNOW. AH! I have no good reason, excuse, or explanation. I am a self-proclaimed repeat offender with a horrible habit of taking my ring off numerous times throughout my day. After I find my ring, I swear I am going to kick this habit! OK...probably shouldn't swear...just to be on the safe side.

So now you know. I am truly ridiculous and thankfully married to an easy going guy who refrains from finger pointing every time I lose my ring. I made my confession, how about you?

A couple months ago, my bff sent me a message asking me if I "posted a secret." She was sure that one of the "secrets" was mine. My mind drew a blank. I hoped I didn't have any secrets floating around being posted in random locations! I clicked on the link she included in her message. It took me here. I scrolled through anonymous, postcard size images, each revealing a secret, confession, or unspoken thought. Intrigued, I briefly read post after post-or secret after secret. I scrolled through humor, regret, anger, anguish, joy, indifference, bias, happiness, excitement, etc. You name the emotion and there was a secret to go with it.

Do you know there are 12 definitions for the word "secret?" That's a whole lot of defining for a one little word. This post is not meant to analyze my secrets, your secrets, or secrets on a deeper level. I just thought you might like to get a little something off your chest in an anonymous sort of way, because everyone likes to be anonymous sometimes.

If you have a secret or unspoken thought you'd like to get off your chest just leave it as a comment on this post and click "anonymous." Maybe speaking the unspoken might just lighten your week a bit.