A Family Reunion...Just Not Mine

Ahhhhh...what to do on a lazy Saturday afternoon?

My husband and I are always trying to find someplace new to explore; something new to do. One such Saturday last year, we ventured out to Victoria Gardens with a friend. Such a beautiful place to shop, eat, stroll, people watch.

Oh, how I love to people watch. If only I would just stop at watching..... I usually try to interact in some form or fashion, usually inappropriately...hahaha...can't help myself :o)

"No, really. They told me to join you for lunch."

Friends will tell you of instances where I will walk right up to an elderly couple in a restaurant and try to join them for lunch...on their tab...insisting that the friends they were expecting called, they couldn't make it for lunch but go ahead and get me whatever I want and they'll pay them back later ....

This reminds me so much of my dad

I love to walk up to old people in Home Depot when they're driving those little handicap carts. I lean over and whisper in their ear that there's a nut loose behind the wheel. They study the steering wheel, looking for a malfunction and then realize that I'm talking about them !!!Classic :o)

Nope.this is not me...LOL

Did you see that lady at the auto mall? she was wearing a coconut bra and a grass skirt and she jumped up on stage with the band and sang backup for Mustang Sally and Chain of Fools????? Yep, that was me   ;o)

I am guilty of attending an all women"s dessert night at a local church, attempting to get a few giggles from the other ladies at the table by acting like I'm gonna get a handful of man booty as the "waiter" comes by....I didn't realize I was sitting next to the "waiter's" wife and they were on the worship team!!! LMAO, that was a funny night !!! My friend Debbie took me to that party...and amazingly, she has invited me back several times now..but I do try to behave  (try) .... but I wouldn't be me if I didn't act like...well, me!!!

I like to jump into the random stranger's photo in the park or at a restaurant during a birthday party...huh, Tulsa Crew???Can I get a shout out from my Tulsa Crew???

But the most memorable of all these was that day at Victoria Gardens, a local SoCal shopping mall. We had visited just about every store, ate mall food, played with all the bras and sling-shotted thong underwear in Victoria's Secret, tried on every fragrance in Bath & Body until we smelled like French whores (that's what someone said to us... what the what???).



As the three of us were walking down the sidewalk I noticed a rather large family leaving a restaurant across the street. ( I'm speaking large in number, not in mass ). Now this family is dressed for Sunday service...they are looking good. And there are a lot of them !! Maybe 25 to 30 family members. They're all so happy and have obviously had a great family luncheon together. And as they were saying goodbye, they're all hugging each other and kissing each other telling each other how much they love each other...It was oozing with sentiment and emotion and was causing quite the spectacle.

And then it happened.......

I couldn't help myself. I had to get in the middle of that action.I had to get me some of that love!

I looked at Jim with that mischievous grin of mine...looked to my friend who was clueless as to what was about to take place, and I was off !!!

I crossed that street, parted the family seas and walked right up to the matriarch of the family...


                                                          AND HUGGED HER !!!

This would be the opportune place in this story to relay that this family is African American. Every last family member. I am the only white girl on the block. I'm hugging this little old lady and telling her how much I've missed her and how good it was to see her again. You could've heard a pin drop. She held me out at arm's length and looked around to the rest of her family with such a look of utter confusion. Her expression clearly said, "who in the blazes brought the white woman?" Her expression was met with equally confused expressions.  ***crickets***




After a long pause, and no obvious explanation, that sweet grandma pulled me into her massive bosom and said, "Oh, come here baby, there's enough love here for everybody!"

...and while she's hugging me, I'm hand signaling to the other members of the family to call me; holding my pretend telephone up to my ear. It didn't take long for the laughter to start and before you know it, I was accepted into the family folds, getting hugs from everyone. I told them that it had been far too long, let's get together soon, lets' do this again, don't forget me, call me  ...



And as quickly as I had walked into their lives, I walked out....leaving them to their "twilight zone moment".Jim and our friend were watching from a safe distance...half way laughing, half way mortified and not wanting to be seen with me...( I get that a lot ) LOL

People ask me why I do silly things like this. Well, you know what? That family would have had their lunch and gone on their merry ways, back to life and reality.  But now, I guarantee you, that family will remember that day. I'd be willing to bet that at reunions, dinner tables, funerals, baby showers, whatever! somebody's gonna say, " Hey, remember when we had lunch with grandma at Victoria Gardens and that crazy white lady acted like she was one of the family?"

Yep...I created a memory :o)

Live, Love, Laugh ....make memories

Yes, officer...that's the white girl that crashed our family reunion...