Paula Lawson

My great friend Paula Leah Sossen Lawson passed away suddenly this Sunday.

You would have liked her. Born in Massachusetts and living in Connecticut, she had this clear-cut, take-no-prisoners manner about her. She didn't couch her opinions and thoughts; you knew what she thought and you knew where you stood. But she was never rude; she opined with ease, grace and style. I respected that about her.

She had such a dry, often self-deprecating sense of humor. Sometimes she'd crack a joke and it would take me a full several seconds to catch up - then I'd laugh hysterically. Her one-liners kept me in stitches for more than a decade.

We "met" on an listserv for February 1998 Moms. Her son Jack was born just a few weeks before Anna Katherine. Our listserv defied time constraints and geographical boundaries, staying together until, well, we're still together. It's been more than 11 years.

Several of us in the FebMoms group have been lucky enough to meet in person. Paula and I connected early on and frequently talked off-line, both via e-mail and on the phone. We exchanged cards, letters and pictures of our growing children.

We met in person four times. Twice in Boston: once we had great times at the public gardens with other listserv members, another time we took our 3-year-old children to the aquarium and spent hours walking and talking. One time we met in DC and visited the National Zoo with other listserv members. The last time I saw her, about 4 years ago, she was in Atlanta for a work conference and I spent the evening with her, eating out downtown and talking a mile a minute.

We were so opposite: the Northerner (she called herself my True Yankee Friend) and the Southerner, the liberal and the conservative. But we began with the common base of the birth of our children, and a great friendship grew from there.

Paula and I e-mailed last week. We talked about the hilarious Palin/Clinton skit on SNL, and she said she had "cankles" (she didn't, of course).

Last night, a member of our listserv accidently stumbled across a mention of her sudden passing and we were all stunned. Today has been a day of remembering with friends via phone and e-mail, and a day of deep sadness for her husband, son, twin sister, parents and work family.

It's hard to encapsulate such an intelligent, kind, feeling woman. How do you describe all she desired, all she accomplished, into a few sentences? She was a good person, she married a good man, she raised a good boy and she was well-loved. Maybe that's a start.

Tina Fey for President.

If you missed the season premiere of Saturday Night Live this weekend, you missed a doozy. The show opened with a "bipartisan message" from Gov. Sarah Palin and Senator Hilary Clinton (played by Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, respectively).

NBC removed the full clip from YouTube, but it's here in this WSJ article about Tina Fey's return (it's also on my Facebook page if you're a friend):
http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2008/09/14/tina-fey-returns-to-saturday-night-live-to-play-palin/

Rus and I laughed until we couldn't breathe. As my friend Mark said, "Tina Fey does a better Sarah Palin than Sarah Palin."

Remember how hold-your-stomach-funny SNL used to be in the 80s and before? This skit is pretty darn close. Enjoy!

Tomorrow.

Each week, Ryan's class has a "question of the week" they must answer with six sentences. This week's question: "Why do we remember September 11, 2001?" Ryan knows a little bit about that day, but last night he asked Rus and I to really explain it to him. His resulting sentences were tremously deep and illustrated how powerful the simple thoughts of a child can be.

Their school plans to hold a prayer service at the flagpole tomorrow morning, around 8:45 a.m., and both children have asked to wear red, white and blue in honor of Patriot Day.

It's been seven years, but I can tell you every detail of where I was and exactly what I was doing that horrible morning. About 11 a.m. that day, Anna Katherine's school called to announce they were closing; they told the children it was an unexpected and fun "family day." When AK arrived home, I realized I couldn't remain glued to the news as I had been all morning. We did art projects in the playroom and sat in the grass outside with little baby Ryan. I couldn't wait for Rus to get home. I was trying so hard to stay spiritual and pray, but it was almost overwhelming at times.

As I told my children about September 11 yesterday afternoon, I couldn't keep myself from choking up. They don't understand - they think silly Mama is just crying about something she saw on TV. They don't get it, the depth of feeling, the violation we felt, the fear, the complete helplessness. I hope and pray to God above they never, ever understand.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_-x9kMPauc

Bend it Like Drew.

Ryan played his first-ever soccer game (he's a Pirate) this past Saturday, and he totally rocked the field. He seems to have quite the talent for this game - and we have no idea where that comes from. When I was in high school, I "managed" an indoor soccer team for a few seasons, and all of my friend-boys were soccer stars. I loved watching them play. Perhaps Ryan gets it by 23-year osmosis ?
Whatever the source, he loves soccer and he's good at it. As I took this shot, I commented to Rus that Ryan wasn't moving his eyes from the ball and was preparing to steal. Within 5 seconds, the other kid is on the ground and Ryan (blue jersey) was headed the other direction. So proud, am I.
The mighty Pirates won, of course. Ryan played midfield most of the game and saved two goals from going in. Once he reached the front, the other team had wised up and tossed some kid in front of the net, blocking Ryan's shot on goal. He's determined to score this Saturday. And I'll be prepared to yell "GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLL!"

Coolness!

Rus and I went to the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta in 1996, and it was just the coolest thing ever. We watched the mass ascension of 600+ balloons, we took a balloon ride at 6 a.m. one morning and we even crash-landed in the field behind a Captain Crunch plant. Good times.

This weekend there's a local balloon festival going on, so we decided to head that way and check it out. Last night was a balloon glow, and this morning was jam-packed with balloon rides, pancake breakfasts, boat regattas and bungee jumping. If you're interested, see all 55 photos here:

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0QbOHLFozbMXgw&emid=sharshar&linkid=link5

DC, My Kinda Town

So earlier this week I was in Washington, DC, for an annual media visit. The folks we meet with are just to die for: some of the smartest, nicest, most fun people to be with in the world. My businsess partner and I were talking on the plane ride home about how blessed we feel to be able to a)do something we truly love for a living, and b)get to work with such fantastic people. Here's three of us at dinner Monday night: that's Julie my biz partner on the left, Steph the editor in the middle, and me on the right. Our dear friend Katy got out of the photo op by offering to be the photog, ahem. We'll get her next time.

Proof!

My friend Liticia sent this photo of me dressed as Jim Cantore several Halloweens ago! You can't see the entire outfit: black T-shirt, khaki cargo shorts and my Storm Tracker hat. Thank you, Liticia!!!

This gentleman with me is our family friend Kyle Horton. His 40th birthday party is this evening up in Atlanta, and the Drew family is sad to not be there. We'd much rather be noshing on tacos with the Hortons than dodging tornadoes from Fay.

So a big HB! to Mr. Birds. He's da bomb.

(Full disclosure: Kyle's not a UGA fan. He's wearing the tattoo on his face because UGA beat UT that year and he was honoring his end of our bet. He should probably get ready to wear another Bulldog tattoo this year. You know, since UGA is ranked #1 in the country. Boo ya.)