i blew it.

Charades.

The one thing that makes my frontal cortex go haywire and freeze, my reactionary time quadruples, and I feel dizzy and then ALL of my frontal cortex is thrown into NOT fainting in front of all these people.

A close second is when I’m called upon the first day of classes at BYU, when the instructor asks everyone to go around the room and introduce themselves.  And of course, what does that entail? 

1. Name,

2. Where your from, and

3. Something interesting about yourself. 

The room gets hot.  I start to sweat.  They start around the circle.  And all of a sudden, I realize I have NOTHING interesting to share.  NOTHING interesting has EVER happened to me.  Not that I ran over my sister on a motorcycle, not that I may have been born with eleven toes, not that MY NAME IS REMI-that’s not interesting at all, (at this point the room starts closing in on me), or that I was named after a French boy in a book about an orphan boy who goes around making money with his self-made circus comprised of two dogs and a monkey. …. Its my turn.  Oh MAN why did I have to choose to sit here???? If I would have sat at the back corner I’d have all the time in the world to think of something, or at least text every member of my family to ask them.

And then I’m the girl who acts like they forgot #3 and just answers the first 2.  Hoping the instructor didn’t pick up on it.

Well, last week (mother’s day) I did it again.  Except it was scarier, because there were only four of us.  We went to dinner at the Stoneman’s, which is ALWAYS a treat.  Mr. Stoneman decides to throw out some improv and say, “Now lets go around the table and all say our best memory of mom. I’ll start.”  Here’s the seating arrangement.

Clockwise or counter-clockwise isn’t going to help me much this time.  Mr. Stoneman’s memory took all of 5 seconds (he obviously had planned this moment without letting me know) and then everyone was staring at me.  My mind went blank.  Not only did I not have a best memory, but I had NO memories of my sweet mother-in-law.  AWESOME, right?  Everyone is waiting for an answer, I’m giving Mr. Stoneman the death glare for not letting me know that this was coming so I could mentally prepare for it, and worrying my head off that if I don’t think of something quick I’m going to hurt her feelings for not having even ONE best memory!

Thankfully, someone changed the subject (NOT Mr. Stoneman, as he didn’t catch on to my death glare, OR he was getting back at me for doing the exact same thing to him before we were married)

So, now that I have had a good solid week to recover and think, I come to redeem myself.

MY BEST MEMORY:

I just got home from my mission, Mr. Stoneman and I were hanging out, and it was his birthday.  I had to go into his mom’s office to ask her something pertaining to his birthday party and felt a little awkward talking to her when I wasn’t sure where her son and I stood.  I caught her in the middle of reading Nat’s blog, but she welcomed me right in, made me feel comfortable immediately, and didn’t ask me ANY questions about her son (whew!  Although her co-worker DID ask if I loved him)  Nat’s blog was a dedication to Mr. Stoneman with a picture of him as a 4 year old with his sisters on each side kissing his cheeks.  She told me all about how funny it was when they took that picture because it was a surprise from his sisters that he REALLY didn’t like.  She  laughed as she reminisced,  and I remember looking at her in amazement as she told the story, wondering why she was being so kind to me, when she certainly didn’t have to be.  She must have known I had put her son through some hard times, and yet she chose to show me nothing but love. 

Because that’s just how she is.  And even now, each time I see her, she treats me like I’m another daughter, and even has that FREAKISH ability to get me the PERFECT gift even knowing me for so little time.

Happy belated Mother’s day to my ever-so-loving second mom.