Charlie McNamara

So I promised a long time ago to share some of the fruits of my creative writing class that I took earlier this summer. Well, there were a lot of bits and pieces, but nothing that goes together well and actually starts a story, so I thought I would just introduce you to a character, share one random scene and leave it at that. -adam

Charlie stood. At about six foot two he stood taller than the average guy but not tall enough to get noticed. His coffee brown hair began each morning thoughtfully messed until the stress of the day caused it to become truly disheveled. Gray had evaded him through the years, though now in his early thirties he secretly wished for it, hoping it would add a distinguished angle to his boyish attractiveness. His teeth were perfect despite his mom’s warnings that they were sure to fall out if he continued to drink so much pop as a teenager. Not so for Charlie. His grin had become the most intoxicating of his many charms. His shoulders were broad and his body fit, but not muscular. His fingernails were nonexistent. As long as he could remember he gnawed at them from edge to edge, often till they bled. It was perhaps the only visible flaw to his exterior, and while it embarrassed him, Charlie carried himself with such a comfortable confidence that one would never even suspect that he had reason to bite his nails. Charlie greeted men with a firm handshake and shoulder pat while most women, even strangers, were welcomed with a hug.

********

“I don’t get it.” Quinn said curtly.
Charlie cocked his head like a confused puppy. One way, then the other.
She shook her head and rubbed her temples. She mumbled her annoyance but Charlie couldn’t make it out. They had stopped for coffee and decided to sit outside. Charlie always wanted to sit outside. He pretended not to notice that she was less than comfortable on the outdoor patio furniture.
Quinn looked up quickly and set her styrofoam coffee cup on the table hard enough that a few drops spilled out of the lid. She started in about how she didn’t understand how a Harvard MBA could wind up at an ad agency in the Midwest and how Charlie was so intelligent and graduated near the top of his class and could have gone anywhere in the country and made so much more money.
Charlie perked up in time to remind her that he actually could have gone anywhere in the world. “Remember the gig in London I told you about?”
Quinn tossed her wadded up paper napkin at him, got up and snatched her keys off the table.
“Okay, okay,” he said as he caught up with her. “Lots of reasons. Can we sit back down though? I really don’t want to go back to the office yet.”
“Fine, go,” she said as she sat on the edge of the wraught iron chair and pressed her elbows into the table.
Charlie seemed very sincere as he convinced Quinn that there were lots of great reasons to live here. Quality of life, he said, the cheap beer and even the clean air.
“Since when do you give a crap about the air?”
“Oh, you didn’t get the memo? I’m going green.” He smiled.
Quinn rolled her gigantic brown eyes, got up again and marched back into the coffee shop and right into the ladies room.

Chillin In The Pink Chair

Time Is Flying

Home

A New Deck....

Another few weeks, a few more changes at the Wright household. Here's a quick rundown.

* We have a deck. As of last week we can now enjoy the beauty that is our back yard. Well... we don't exactly have much of a yard, which is exactly why we wanted a deck so badly. It's already proving to be everybody's favorite part of the house.




* Bella is staying with us. For now, at least. After meeting with a few families that were interested in adopting her it became more and more apparent that we might have overreacted a bit, especially from the standpoint of the behavioralist we worked with. Bella is not perfect. But she is a part of our family. We decided we would commit to continuing to train her and to crating her more often.

* I am taking a creative writing class at the Indiana Writers Center in Broad Ripple. Entitled "Novel Ideas," it focuses on how writers come up with ideas for novels and how to develop the stories. It has been fun and enlightening, but also incredibly challenging. If I actually get something of substance down on paper, I'll share a few paragraphs on the blog just for fun and let you be the critics.

* My beautiful wife got me an awesome Father's Day gift. She got me a plane ticket to visit my buddy Benny Boy Helmers and his wife Michele in Florida in late July. The agenda is already being set and I can't wait.

* Speaking of my lovely wife... she's two months and three days from turning 30. Just in case you were counting.

- Adam (some more pix just for fun!)

Truth

I was struck by the following when reading a blog entry from the pastor of the church I grew up in.....

"David Henderson, a pastor in another Indiana community, points out that most couples enter marriage carrying in their minds a picture of the perfect partner. When reality sets in, they have two choices. They can either tear up that picture and accept their partner, or tear up their partner by holding on to that picture."

What a beautiful reminder to love our spouses as they are and not what we want them to be.

Blessings,
Katie

My Boy

Strawberry Picking

Avery, Brady and I, and some friends, headed out this morning to pick strawberries at a local you-pick. We had a great time picking AND eating. I hoped to snap a photo of Avery upon our return home, but she was so covered in strawberry juice I had to take her straight up to the shower to clean off before we had strawberry stains all over our house.

After we were all cleaned up, we came downstairs and ate some, freezed some and sliced some up to take over to friends.

Rainy Days and Nights

We have been spending more time inside than any of us would like lately due to a string of thunderstorms that have come through Indy in the past week or so. While being outside suits all of us better, we have all found some fun things to pass the time. Eating, cuddling up on blankets and playing with Avery's new chest of dress up clothes in her "big girl" room. We can't seem to get her to want to sleep in the new room but we are all logging some serious play time in it.

Avery Turns 2 And A Whole Bunch Else

This past weekend we celebrated Avery's 2nd birthday. A small and very chaotic gathering of family and a few special friends. Needless to say, there was little chatting and a whole lot of chasing as all those in attendance tried to keep track of and more importantly, keep happy, 6 kids under the age of 2. We celebrated at a nearby park with cake and ice cream and, of course, a few gifts for the birthday girl. My personal highlight, Avery suggesting we repeat "Happy Birthday To You" with an emphatic "more, please."



In addition to the family celebration, we ha a few other major life moments over the Memorial Day weekend as well...

* Adam, thanks be to God, still has a job. Adam's company laid off over 1,000 sales people last week and we had a "wait-by-the-phone-to-see-if-you-still-have-a-job" day, like you only see in the movies. Thankfully, he was unaffected and we have been praising God for our good fortune as some of Adam's friends and fellow co-workers weren't so lucky.

* This weekend also featured a rare visit from one of Adam's closest high school friends, Mike Krejci. Mike has been down in Nashville, TN for about 6 years now and has become quite the singer and songwriter. He and his girlfriend, Becca, performed two nights in Zionsville and they were wonderful. Adam and I took the kids to his first performance Friday night and had a blast watching him. If you haven't heard of Mike, check him out here.

* Adam and I, unfortunately, made a very tough and stressful decision to "re-home" (as it is now called) our sweet Bella. Its become evident to us over the last few months that all our family changes have been really stressful for Bella and have changed not only her behavior but her temperament as well. After enlisting the help of a dog behaviorist, we collectively decided that finding Bella a home without children might be the best thing for her... devastating for us....but good for her. We are looking into a few leads here for a permanent and close placement for her, but if those don't pan out, we''ll be going through the Dachshund Rescue organization. Remembering that Bella was the first addition to our family right after Adam and I got married makes it even harder to think about not having her around, but I am certain we are doing the best thing and have been reminded that sometimes the best thing isn't the easiest thing.

*On a much lighter note, I received a wonderful gift from my sweet husband this weekend as well. No, not diamonds or jewels, but in my world just as cool... a vacuum. For those that know me, you know this is a gift right up my alley as I am obsessively neat and clean. The Bissel Healthy Home sucks like no body's business and I think I have vacuumed my carpets at least 7 times since receiving it. Please, please, please, don't hesitate to call if you would like me to come over and clean your carpets :).

*This weekend also afforded us the opportunity to do a few chores around the house. We dug a bed in our front yard for some foundation plants and got a small, but mighty vegetable garden planted in the back yard. Both were priorities for me and I am geeked their done.

*Oh, and last but not least, we finally decided on and bought a new camera. Here are a couple recent pics of the kids.





Blessings to you,
Katie