Do I look like an axe murderer, a child kidnapper or an alien? My neighbors within a four-mile radius of my house sure make me feel like it. Today, just like many other days when I am not going to go to a gym class, I take a 3 to 4 mile walk just to do something. I've mentioned before how different this experience varies in WI as opposed to IL. Apparently, in WI people do not think I look scary, but in IL they do. Every single time I take a walk in IL, I purposely count how many people I walk by and smile, give a friendly nod and/or say hello/hi/good afternoon/good day matey or something of the sort to. Generally this number equals the number of people that completely ignore me or look at me like I am nuts. Today it was 8, however, miraculously ONE acknowledged me...and she was 2. YEA!!! Finally!! Thank god I haven't totally given up on the human race thanks to this little girl. I had already walked by 2 people and said hello to blank stares, when I came across this little girl and a woman, who I assume is her mother, playing in their front yard. I smile to the woman in the manner of "oh your little one is adorable", but she just looks at me like I'm not even there. When lo and behold - the little girl gets this huge smile on her face and she says HI! I say "well hello there little one - how are you?" She babbles something as she is only a toddler. I smile at her mother and giggle, her mother still doesn't acknowledge me. I turn to keep walking and the little girl runs a few steps and says "Buh-bye!" Holy moly!!! Can you believe that this made my day?!? Because everytime I wander on the sidewalks of Arlington Heights, I come home defeated that I can't get anyone to say a simple hi. I mean do I look scary?!?! I mean I think I'm nice... hello I AM smiling at these people!!! I have a substantial amount of friends... I just don't get it. Today was absolutely perfect - I'm happy to take 2 seconds to say HI to someone that is on this Earth right along side me and should be enjoying the day as well. However... blank stares... that's it... that's all I get. What IS that about? I just don't get it. Isn't it human nature to acknowledge other people? I guess it isn't here.
In other news, we've been keeping busy. This past weekend, Bry had a boy's weekend up at the lake, while I attended Jaime's bachelorette party. We both had a BLAST!!! Last weekend, Kevin and Bernadette hung out up at the lake with us and we had a riot at the Lake Geneva Fest and on the golf course. We sang and danced for HOURS!!! It was so much fun. We spent a day with our friends, Gina and Dave, on their ridiculously large boat! We also took a tour of the Yerke's Observatory and were able to look through their 24" telescope to see Jupiter and its moons, the Andromeda Galaxy, an exploding star among numerous constellations up close and personal. It was AWESOME and we highly recommend it to anyone that would find it interesting! The weekend before that - was ACDC and our Iowa friends' visit to the lakehouse! Tif, Aimee, Darren and McCartney, Lori, Rob & Carter all came to visit and we had a blast! We had a good time during the day hanging out at the pier with the babies and in the evening, Tif, Aimee, Lori and I had some good girl time! We need to do that more often for sure!
