Just a Peanut Butter Mother

You may have noticed that I am following a new blog called, Just a Peanut Butter Mother. The author, Andrea, is a long time friend of mine. She lived in a town about 1/2 hour from Tisdale and we played ball together growing up. She is a fabulous ball player and fiercely competitive - let's just say we got along smashingly :-)

One of my favorite "Andrea" moments, not surprisingly, came at the diamond. I think I was relaying some story about how my current boyfriend was deathly afraid of my dad. I mean, I knew completely why this teenage boy was afraid of my dad, but still it annoyed me. My dad was a butcher. He looked angry most of the time. His nickname was "Hacksaw." And to top it off, my dad probably said less than 10 words to the boy in the almost year we dated. In hindsight, that may have had something to do with the fact that Dad couldn't remember my boyfriend's name. This is a flaw of my dad's. One time in high school my dad asked me who was coming to pick me up for a hockey game. I replied, "Aimee" and he said, "Aimee who?"  There was basically one "Aimee" in our entire town. She was my best friend. We played ball together. My dad coached her every summer. We played ringette and volleyball together. Aimee had come to pick me up hundreds of times before. My dad honestly adored her - but in that moment, he didn't have a clue who Aimee was LOL. More recently, Dad had trouble with Hugh's name. Until well after we were married he would frequently mess up and call him "Lou" or "Stu" or some other name that was somewhat close to Hugh! Back to Andrea!

After relaying my boyfriend annoyance, Andrea responded, "Why the hell would he be scared? Your dad is a teddy bear." I laughed. My dad was not a teddy bear. That was the LAST thing I would use to describe my dad. I mean, seriously, if my dad was even a tiny bit mad, I would locate the quickest exits and make some sort of escape plan. Hacksaw was scary - but apparently not to Andrea.  She immediately walked over to my dad in the dugout, wrapped her arms around him in a huge bear hug and said, "You are just a big ol' Teddy bear, aren't you"

I tensed, waiting for my dad to toss Andrea aside like rag doll. No one hugged my dad, let alone referred to him as a child's stuffed toy.

But he didn't toss her aside. He laughed. And then promptly told her to get her ass on the field.

I was shocked.

Needless to say, Andrea and my dad built a very special relationship on the diamond. I know she holds a very special place in his heart. But my dad would NEVER admit to having any kind of sentimental feelings, so you will just have to take my word for it. 

So on top of being fiercely competitive, I would also call Andrea courageous. Read her blog. You'll get a taste. She is writing about how she sees it. It is uncensored and hilarious. Here are my two favorite posts so far: This is what is wrong with society and Insanity. Enjoy!