Whee!!!.....Whoa!!!!

I guess every family has its own family vocabulary of words and phrases the kids make up. Our family has some classics. The best example from my own family is a word my sister Kari made up to describe another little girl who was being very selfish: "hogative." Scott had a significant contribution too, "got-for", which was what he said when he forgot, like "I got-for flushed it" (referring to the potty!). My mom kept a list of a lot of these things so we'd remember them.

Luke is at an age where he's added several things to our own family vocabulary in the last few months--some of which I think are keepers. My favorite word is "icksgusting." Sounds so much better than disgusting, doesn't it? He also contributed "fost" for "soft," and "emmalade" instead of "lemonade" at ages 1 and 2.

I love how each person in a family contributes something sweet to the fabric of what that family becomes. I love that I am who I am because of every member in my family--and not just my immediate family. I grew up spending lots of time with my dad's side of the family. We spent every holiday and lots of summer weekends at Grandmom's and Gran'dad's house on the lake in Gainesville. I loved it. I adored my cousins and wanted so badly to be one of the "big kids." I can remember trying to think about which of my cousins was my favorite, and I couldn't give myself an answer--each one was special to me for a different reason. Those times at Grandmom's house are some of my best memories. Even now if I have to think of the place I felt the happiest, most secure, and most at peace, I think it would be out in the backyard at Grandmom and Gran'dad's house, sitting on the big green pillow out under the trees, my feet in the cool grass, looking across the lake to the island.

When we were on the way to Grandmom and Gran'dad's house, we started to get really excited once we got through the gate at Lake Kiowa. We knew we were close--close to family, good food, and whatever fun games the cousins had come up with this visit. We knew we were VERY close when we got to the "whee-whoa." What's the whee-whoa? It was two really large humps in the road with a big dip in between, bigger than speed bumps, and wide enough so that you could actually speed up when approaching them (or at least it felt like Daddy sped up for us) and go over them at more than 10 mph. As we went over the first hump, we shouted, "Wheee!!!" and at the second, "Whooooa!" The bottom even fell out of my stomach when we'd go over the whee-whoa. I think, if I remember correctly, that the whee-whoa got its name because Brad and Amy, two of my cousins, named it that. Not sure if that's the right story, because it was the whee-whoa as long as I can remember it--but someone can correct me if need be!

I don't get to see my cousins much nearly often enough anymore (especially now that I went off and moved to Egypt), but they are still some of my favorite people. I still adore them and love each one of them for a different, special reason, and they've all married wonderful people who bring something new and fun to our get-togethers. When I was little I used to worry--anxiously worry--about what would happen when my oldest cousins got married. I worried that we would never get together, never see each other, and would grow apart. Some of that has happened, yes, but we've decided as a group to make it a priority to see each other at least once a year to catch up and have fun together.

I think my cousins would be happy to know that I've taken some of our family vocabulary--the "whee-whoa"--and adapted it so that I could share it with Luke here in Egypt. There is a street we walk down to get to church and to Luke's school that has a sidewalk with big dips in it. When we walk down the sidewalk in the stroller I get a running start as we approach those dips and yell, "Wheee!"....."Whoa!!!!" Luke loves it. Sometimes we just run over them, like the picture above. He laughs and laughs, and so do I. We get some funny looks from the taxi drivers flying by, but for those moments I'm a kid again, and it doesn't matter at all.