The rest of the story........

Sue G. DOES know who these beautiful ladies are, because she and I are both members of the "PGC Fan Club" (and if there was such a thing as "card-carrying members", then that's what we'd be!). PGC stands for "Princess Groovy Chick", and the stunning young lady on the left would be her, the one and only Sarah Smith. For those of you who've never met her or read the intelligent, witty, thought-provoking and beautifully written posts of her mom, Becky (on the right, and VERY willowy, I might add!), then you've been missing out. I first found Sarah's Caringbridge site in late 2005, when I was directed there from another site. Sarah AND her family have had a lot of trials in the past 7 years, but in the 3-plus years that I've "known" them, I can say that the silver lining always outshines the clouds. I've grown to love this family as if they were part of my own, and I always thought that, given the chance to sit down and visit with them, I'd feel right at home. Last Saturday, I finally got the opportunity to put that theory to the test.
In addition to Sarah and Becky, their household also consists of dad Steve (oh, can that man ride a unicycle and sport a fake handlebar mustache!), Snowy, the 5 pound teacup Maltese who smothers Sarah with love while ferociously defending their van, and son Nathan. If I could choose a young man and ask God to make my bug hunter turn out just like him, Nathan would be my pick, hands down. Scholar, athlete, college student.. but also loving son, doting brother, and "walk the talk" Christian; he's almost TOO perfect, darn it! He went to Jerusalem on a school-sponsored trip five weeks ago, and after over a month of breath-taking pictures and snippets of updates, it was time for him to come home. But not straight home, to North Carolina; first, he had to come through Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson airport. ATLANTA... the Smith family was coming to MY neck of the woods to get their beloved boy, and I wasn't about to be that close and NOT get my cigar (well, so to speak.. no cigars were smoked OR harmed in the making of this post, I promise!). So I "wistfully" noted in Sarah's guestbook that I'd love to meet up with them, and lo and behold, it worked out! A couple of other members of the PGC fanclub (hi, Mamasita!) who live in the area jumped on board, and one came up with a neat restaurant in her area in which we could nosh and natter. And from the moment I walked into the restaurant until we finally parted on the street in front of the restaurant, I never felt one awkward moment, or one whiff of "why I am here?" It felt like a family reunion. Becky wrote an article that was included in the latest edition of the "Chicken Soup" books--The Cancer Book. I got some signed copies, and I shed a few tears as I read her eloquent and poignant writing. She's not the only one who's being published this year; Sarah has written a letter that will be included in a book of letters from children across America to President Obama. Pretty talented family, wouldn't you say? But really, they say it better than I ever could, so please do visit Sarah's site.. often. Meanwhile, here are a few of my memories from a wonderful and well-spent evening:


Here's a shot of our group enjoying dinner at The Glenwood. The food was delicious, especially the fried pickles! (inside joke--all of us, even though we hadn't met in person before, knew that Sarah doesn't like pickles, so we all had to give her a little grief about not enjoying our appetizer).



Here's Steve showing off his appetizer of olives. Becky seemed a little surprised that olives, and nothing BUT olives, would be offered as an appetizer. You can see by Steve's expression what HE thought!



I know this just looks like a picture of Becky talking on the phone, and you might just be thinking "She's at dinner with a group of people she's never met and she's on the phone? How rude!" BUT... earlier that day, the Smiths had discovered that Nathan's flight had been delayed, and he wouldn't be arriving in Atlanta at 9:00 that evening after all. They weren't sure WHEN he would arrive. (and in a situation like that, after not seeing my boy for 5 weeks, I just "might" be a little grumpy and hard to get along with, but not Becky. You would never know there'd been a hitch in their plans; as a matter of fact, I hadn't checked Sarah's site before leaving for dinner and wasn't even AWARE that Nathan had been delayed til I got home!). He called while we were at dinner, and the PGC fanclub was in a race for their cameras to see who could get the first shot of Becky talking to Nathan. AFTER we hooted and hollered to the point that we possibly were garnering a few stares from other patrons in the restaurant, but I'm not admitting that as fact. I'm just sayin'.....



And this is Snowy, adoring defender of all things PGC. It's not the most flattering picture of him (and Sarah, who was holding him, was mid-blink, and I will not post a less-than-perfect picture of PGC, no way and no how!), but it's all I have. We were too busy talking and laughing and enjoying each other's company for me to take many pictures, and that's the way it should be. Let me say that Snowy looks a lot bigger in all the pictures that I've seen of him than he does in real life. Tiny body with the heart of a lion; Snowy is one fine and fabulous furry family member.


So, that's the rest of the story. Well, not really, because I know I'm forgetting a ton of details. And, Becky tells a story far better, with a Caringbridge site that goes back for years. So, take a minute (or a thousand) and hop over to Sarah's Spot; you too can become a card(less)-carrying PGC fan, and I'm betting that you will!