Last week, Josh and I were initiated into the adults club. We were invited to have dinner at the home of the Hebdons, friends of the Teague family. There were two tables- the kitchen table set for the kids, and the ADULT table in the dining room. Guess which one we got to sit in?

I think the only thing sadder than being excited to sit at the “big people table” was the moment when the kids asked each other if they wanted to go outside. My first first thought was that I didn’t really want to go outside. My second thought was that a sort of inner humiliation for omitting the past ten years.
The dining experience was very fun and enjoyable, even if it felt a little strange to see the kids’ table from where we were sitting. Josh and I talked on the way home about how it didn’t seem that long ago that we were considered kids.

The evening must have left a strong impression on Josh. I woke up around 4 AM that morning to listen to a five minute speech he gave in his sleep to thank the Hebdons for inviting us over. At first I was amused as I listened to him recap our previous conversation to Mr. Hebdon about the kids vs. adult table concept. But he was really grateful. I finally had to interrupt him. His argument: “I knew I was talking in my sleep, but I needed to finish in case he really was in the room.”

Bonus Josh-Does-Weird-Stuff-in-His-Sleep-Story:
The other night, Josh tried to fix the bedposts (no, they’re not broken), turned on the lights, and sat on the end of the bed playing air guitar.

I always joked with my friends before I got married that once I moved back to the suburbs that I’d start attending a local school’s PTA meetings because thats just what seemed like the logical, suburb-living person should do. It would seem funny, you see, because I would neither be a parent or a teacher upon first moving to the area. Well, then I married an elementary school teacher. And as of last night, I can proudly say that I did attend my first PTA meeting.

I went to visit Lauren at her school before the parents started showing up for what I thought was Open House night. I scurried my way through the insanely packed parking lot, fighting off minivan after minivan and eventually had to park on the bus route. Bus routes! Yes :) !!

I walked through the double doors at the entry (ahhh . . . there’s that smell) and looked to my left into the lunchroom to see a host of people sitting in chairs, with rather important-looking people up on stage, and all the faculty and staff standing up along the walls. I walked in thinking “Hey, this is the beginning of Open House, sweet I’m here.” Only to realize that I had walked in on my first PTA meeting. It was like I infiltrated a secret society — thats the way i felt. I always heard about this growing up, but never imagined what it must be like.

Thankfully I spotted Lauren on the opposite wall where I was and made my way over to see her. After the presentations were all over, we walked back to her classroom so she could meet the family that had come for the actual open house event.

I decided to leave so she could get alone time with the visiting parents, thus forcing me to the end of the hallway where a few nervous looking teachers standing outside their doors thought I was a parent of one of their students.

A nervous head-down “He-hello” quick eye glance and I’m gone!

Phew!

Everyone I’ve talked to says that etiquette for wedding thank you notes allows up to 6 months to 1 year from the wedding date. Well, those people do not have my two incredibly organized friends who also got married this summer and managed to send their notes, like, the next day. That’s okay though, because at last, the Teagues have written, addressed, and stamped notes that will be in the mail tomorrow.
The thing about thank you notes is that you feel like a little note is so inadequate for the gift received. People give the nicest things that we needed and use all the time, and somehow a little note is supposed to be enough? I feel like I’m missing something. Does everyone want delivered flowers or lunch or something?
That being said, I do have some disclaimers about the thank you notes.
I am not exactly a “multi-tasker,” so if something was on tv or if the phone rang, things like “thank you for our gorgeous dessert gift” (which makes no sense) or “Dear Dand” (instead of “Dan and”) happened. Please excuse those.
I know I have absolutely terrible, childish handwriting. It’s so embarrassing. Call if you need some help deciphering.
If you sent a gift and do not receive a thank you note soon, please let me know because I just have that dreaded feeling that I missed people.
And finally, we received a very fun gift that I understood right away and loved because we also had one at my house growing up. Unfortunately, the card came with it appears to have been lost or separated. So if you gave us a red Special plate (so fun!), please let us know who you are because as of right now, you are unthanked.
So, one more time, I would like to write and say-
Thank you so much,
Josh and Lauren Teague

Hmm….we finally got caught. T-Mobile.

Our side of the story:
Last night, we were on speaker phone with customer service for an hour and twenty minutes. During which we tried to explain that we wanted to transfer Lauren’s phone line to Josh’s family plan. After much discussion of fees, cancellations, etc, we finally asked to speak to a supervisor. The supervisor got on the phone, seemed to be on board with what we were saying and agreed to waive the cancellation fee that would have been unfairly applied to our situation. He then “put us on hold” as he went to find someone to double check the situation with. We talk and laugh over how ridiculous the entire process had been and felt relieved that someone was finally on our side who could do something to help.
The supervisor got back on the line, asked several accusing question, said he felt “some things were being hidden,” accused us of “trying to scam T-Mobile” (for what? a continued contract? please? we’re sorry!), that he “heard the WHOLE CONVERSATION” (while we were ‘on hold’), that he could “HEAR US LAUGHING AND GIGGLING” and “WE DON’T TALK TO PEOPLE TRYING TO SCAM US,” and then hung up on us after scraping every last bit of dignity from the interaction. But don’t worry, he did wish us a “good evening” as his last remark, so that made us feel better.

Their side of the story:
They finally put a stop to one of many scams going on around the country, bilking T-Mobile for free phones, contracts, and unlimited use of their phone space which we did not pay for.
Or something. We actually have no idea what their side of the story is. All we know is that we are highly offended and a bit dumbfounded because despite what others may suspect, we actually don’t scam all that often.