My Sphere of Influence: Susanne

Your sphere of influence is comprised of all the people who help make you who you are; they are present and active.

Another such member of my sphere is Susanne! Suz (which is what I used to call her before her now ex-mother-in-law started to call her & ruined it for me) is the third leg in the tripod with Carol & Laurie. She’s a member of that “go-to” team and I love her.

Susanne is a tough cookie. She’s been through some ups & downs, but always seems to keep it together. One day, she will crack and it will be bad, but that’s another day.

When she was pregnant with her first daughter, Valerie (pictured left), Carol and I went to her house for a visit. Her now ex-husband answered the door and told us that she was lying down, and actually expected us to leave. Yeah, not gonna’ happen. We pushed our way past him, went to her room, and climbed in bed with her. We laughed and laughed, and he was mad, and we didn’t care. She was OURS before she was his, right? LOL

Susanne is ridiculously smart. She’s got one of those math brains. She’s sometimes reserved and tight-lipped most of the time, but when she lets loose you better look out! We were at a party many years ago and had WAY too much to drink. On the way home Sue says, “Hey! There’s a strip club! We should go there!” and at that moment, Carol whipped the car around and inside we went! I have NEVER, EVER laughed that hard in my life! It was all we could do to keep her from going into the back room to change and try to dance “… but the shoes won’t fit!”

Sue has two amazing little girls that pop into my head about 100 times a day. Val and Katherine are crazy cute, VERY smart, SO funny, and growing-up fast. This is a picture that I took of the sassy-pants when they came to the OBX for vacation a few summers ago. Oh, I wanted to keep them!

I sent Sue a webcam about a month ago, hoping that we could Skype every now and then, allowing me to get my little girl/big girl sister fix. She has yet to set it up, and I’m OK with that. She has about a bazillion things to take care of! I can be patient sometimes!  

I think that it’s really interesting that my inner circle is so incredibly different, and yet exactly the same. We’ve known each other since the 7th grade! We still laugh at the same stories. When we get together we all talk at the same time and never miss a word. When we laugh as a group, it deafening – ask any of our husbands of BFs.

Gosh, I miss all of “my girls” so much right this second. I need a trip home to Jersey… soon.