Wow!! WOW!!!! PART 2

My previous post (https://builtfordtough.org/wow-wow/ ) has ignited some wonderful responses on my Facebook Page (Regan Ford).  So much so that my Mom and the author of the original email are going to meet.  And…get this, she has found the program with my Mom’s autograph. I kept the author’s name from the original post, but she has given me permission to let you all know.

This is part of the original email thread that I previously posted:

– Regan – Forgive my intrusion, but I saw your name on the Capitol Hill list serve. By any chance is your mother’s name Antoinette? If so, I still remember your name from 1975! –

I replied:

– Yes, Antoinette is my Mom. Oh Em Gee. How do we know each other? –

She replied:

– Regan – we don’t know each other, but your mother was an absolutely awesome speaker at a forum I attended in Washington. Coming from Michigan, she was the first truly professional woman I had ever seen. I know it sounds corny now, but I went up and got her autograph. I still have it. Just tell her I said “thank you”. I have had an awesome career in Washington, at least in part thanks to her. –

I replied:

– WOW!!! –

The person who sent this email and who was inspired by Mom is Lawranne Stewart.

Lawranne Stewart is the retired Chief Counsel for the House Financial Services Committee.  She is currently on the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) serving as Interim Senior Counsel for Chairman Timothy Massad.  She previously served as Chief Counsel to the Financial Services Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives, spending a total of 13 years on committee staff, where she had major roles in federal housing policy, securities law, derivatives, TARP and the Dodd-Frank Act.  Prior to that, Ms. Stewart worked at the Department of Treasury as Senior Advisor to the Under Secretary for Domestic Finance and as Associate Director of government securities regulation in the Bureau of Public Debt. She began her service in the Legal Division of the Federal Reserve Board after graduating from NYU Law School.

Wow!!!  She has my Mom’s autograph…and KEPT it!!!!

Wow!! WOW!!!!

Yesterday I received the following email:

Regan – Forgive my intrusion, but I saw your name on the Capitol Hill list serve. By any chance is your mother’s name Antoinette?  If so, I still remember your name from 1975!

I replied:

Yes, Antoinette is my Mom.  Oh Em Gee.  How do we know each other?

She replied:

Regan – we don’t know each other, but your mother was an absolutely awesome speaker at a forum I attended in Washington. Coming from Michigan, she was the first truly professional woman I had ever seen. I know it sounds corny now, but I went up and got her autograph. I still have it. Just tell her I said “thank you”. I have had an awesome career in Washington, at least in part thanks to her.

I replied:

WOW!!! 


So, of course, I tell my Mom this.  She is tickled and humbled at the same time.

Then….

MOM:  1975!!!  Baby, what was I doing in 1975?

ME:  I don’t know…I was 6.

MOM:  (thinking…hard)  Hmm….I wasn’t a Fellow any longer.  Was that when we lived in Cambridge?

ME:  I don’t know…I was 6.

MOM:  Where you at Congressional, or Burgundy Farms?

ME:  I don’t know…I was 6.

MOM:  (thinking…harder)  1975. 1975.  Hmm…..what was I doing?   Hmpf…I’ve done too much…let me look at my C.V.

ME:  (giggling)

MOM:  By the way…I am getting an award this Sunday as the Women of the something or other…you have to go with me

ME:  Ok…cool.

MOM:  This is the 3rd great thing I’ve received this morning and it isn’t even 10am.

ME:  That’s kind of cool.

MOM:   (whispering)  Regan…what does this mean?  Is the rapture coming??

ME:   I’M GOING TO WORK!!!

 

Mom. Dad. Roller Skates…OH MY!

So…a couple of posts ago was about a conversation that I had with my folks…specifically about what my Daddy wants for his 80th birthday.   My parents’ birthdays are December 14th (Mommy)  and December 15th (Daddy).    My Dad said simply that he would just like to breathe and my Mom said she wants to go Rollerskating….hmm. (see Breathe and Rollerskate)

Well….my Mom is now set on having a Roller Skating Birthday Party for her (she won’t let me tell that she is turning 76) birthday next month.  D-E-T-E-R-M-I-N-E-D.   Like…she brings it up EVERYDAY.

This morning she bought it up again…and here we go:

MOM:  I really want to have a Roller-Skating party for my birthday.   I’ve talked to some buddies of mine.

ME:  Hmm… I really don’t think that is a good idea.

MOM:  Why?  I used to roller skate

ME:  Aunt Phyllis said she tried it a few years ago and she would NEVER do it again.  Kymmy said she went a couple of months ago and she fell down so many times that they asked her to leave the rink.

MOM:  Well…that’s them.  I can skate!

ME:  C’mon Mom, when was the last time you were on roller-skates?  We can do something else…your balance isn’t the best.

MOM:  I. CAN. DO. IT.   How about this?  I will do one lap around the rink.

ME:  (sigh)

—–THEN DADDY CHIMES IN…SMH SMH —–

DADDY:  Regan…let her do it!   You know she won’t let it go.

ME:  Yeah.

DADDY:  BUT…you will need to do something before you get to the rink.

ME:  Huh? What?

DADDY:  About 30 minutes before she starts her lap, call 9-1-1  Tell them that you will need them in about 30 minutes…be on standby.

ME: (giggling)

DADDY:  I’m serious.  Tell them that they will have a 76 year old woman who will need full treatment.  Tell them to bring everything they got!!!

MOM:  (pouting)

ME: (giggling harder)

DADDY:  Tell them they will need a stretcher, bandages, iodine…

ME: (iodine?)

DADDY:  band aids, an eye patch, mercurochrome, alcohol swabs…

ME:  (mercurochrome??)

DADDY:  gauze, a helmet, neck brace…

ME: (can’t contain myself)

MOM: (staring at him…right. at. him)

DADDY:  splints, crutches, a wheelchair…

ME:  (oh em gee…I can’t breathe)

DADDY:  knee brace, a cane, ear plugs…

ME:  (CRACKING UP)

DADDY:  Tylenol, Icy Hot, Ice packs…

ME: (tears are now rolling down my eyes)

MOM:  (side eye, rolling eyes, hands on hips)

DADDY:  Needle and thread and a defibrillator!!  I think that’s about it.

MOM:  SHUT UP MELVIN!!!!!  Ummm…but… don’t forget… a nurse!!!!

ME:  (head on table, tears rolling down my face, CRACKING UP!

*** Like I always say..I can’t make this mess up!!! ***