It All Started With Rotten Bananas

Today has been a day of baking.  And memories. 

Yesterday afternoon, I noticed that my remaining bananas were pretty brown.  My THREE remaining bananas.  Well we all know what to do with THREE rotten bananas, right? 

I made Banana Bread!  As I pulled out my trusty banana bread recipe, I had to laugh.  This recipe card has seen better days.  I was trying to remember WHEN exactly I had received this recipe.  It took some time but I am proud to say that I actually remembered!! :-)  This recipe was given to me 14 years ago at my bridal shower, from my good friend Christen.  Christen and I have been friends since high school when we dated 2 brothers.  (She married the one brother. I on the other hand was dumped, and met Rick shortly thereafter.)  Christen and I ended up being college roommates and after college even taught in the same school.  Our lives have paralleled in SO many ways....marriage, jobs, babies, etc., etc., etc.  Anyway...Christen, I thought you'd get a kick out of the fact that I still have that recipe card and use it whenever I've got 3 rotten bananas. 

As I pulled the banana bread out of the oven, I was reminded how I used to always make an extra loaf for my brother, Kenny.  Banana bread is one of his favorites.  Kenny now lives a few hours away and this made me miss him.  So Kenny, this is your official IOU for a loaf of  b-bread the next time you're in town.  Miss you, bro!  :)

I also decided to make a batch of homemade beef jerky.  I've gotta say...I've gotten pretty darn good at the whole jerky business!  Lol!!  Whenever I make a batch of jerky, I am always reminded of my "low carb" days.  And whenever I think back to my low carb days, I remember that this is the time when my mom and I became so close.  Mom and I have always had a great relationship, but it was during this time, about 4 years ago, that she and I became VERY close.  Like talk on the phone for 3 hours a day/every day close.  Yes, I know.  It's pretty unbelievable.  Although we don't talk EVERY day anymore, (we do text daily however) we usually talk at least a few times a week, and yes, we can talk it up for 3 hours at a time!  I'm so grateful for our close relationship Mom.  You're awfully cool!  :)

My good friend and fellow surro Jesse called this afternoon wanting to chat about a few things surrogacy.  She's just been matched with her IF's from Prague!  Pretty cool, right?! She has a blog too!  If you don't follow it already...you should.  She has been given the gift of words and has a killer sense of humor!  I heart Jesse!  Anyway, as we were chatting, I whipped out my HUGE folder containing all of my surrogacy paperwork, manuals, contracts, medical records, etc.   It is a VERY large folder, but don't you fear...it's very well organized. ;)  After we got off the phone, I started looking through that folder.  It has the profile I received of George and Farid along with some of the very early on communications I had with both Circle, and the guys.  It brought back so many memories looking through the folder.  I can still remember exactly what I was feeling when I first looked at that profile.  It was neat to go back and look through things now that I know them so much better!  Back then, I had such fond feelings for them, but now....now things are so different.  Their twins are growing in me!!!!  It made me ever so grateful....yet again....that I am on this journey...with them!   Farid and George, I couldn't have asked for better people.  You guys are truly amazing!!