MR. DEMPSEY DOODLE JOINS THE FAMILY

BACK IN THE DAY, IN DA HOOD

I had a moment of clarity in my dream last night - I was in an old comfortable place...in my friend Eric's old red minivan.

THE SETUP

Growing up in the suburbs of Chicago (specifically Roselle, Illinois) had a huge impact on me - it's a place that will always be my home base.

I still keep up with many of my friends I went to grade school, junior high and high school with - we called ourselves DA HOOD. Many of us developed a common bond that carried into our adult lives.

Like many friendships and relationships - we have experienced many growing pains. People have moved away - like me, someone broke up with someone in the group, etc. But I still try to keep in some kind of contact with many of them - many only on facebook.com.

MY DREAM

I was sitting in Eric's red minivan eating a pastry when I realized I didn't have my jacket. I remembered I lent it to Dawn because she was cold and only wore a T-shirt. I began to panic because my phone was in the jacket and I kept repeating to everyone in the car that I never want to be apart from my baby - my iPhone. Hey - some people love chocolate, shoes, flowers - I love my iPhone.

My friend Lisa was sitting next to me and said she would call my phone so we could pick it up from Dawn. Then the phone vibrated in my pocket and I had to admit that I made a big deal out of nothing since the phone was in my pants pocket the whole miserable time.

We then drove to the basketball courts down the street and I saw famed NBA star Kobe Bryant playing basketball with our friends Ricky, Rob, Jim and Steve. We get out of the car and Eric yelled out, "We got next!"

I quickly mumbled to Eric, "We're going to get schooled by him, he's the best basketball player on Earth!"

Kobe came over to us and said he was tired and would play us tomorrow at Steve's house. I remember thinking he was shorter than I thought he would be. He told me that he only shoots the ball, he wasn't allowed to dribble or pass, so we had a fighting chance.

I abruptly awoke with an urge to pee - and accounted all of the details to this story as I tried to milk out the urine out of my semi-woody.

I felt all warm inside, like I was in a total comfortable world! It felt great waking up reflecting on the past and the strong friendships I was so fortunate to have back in my home town.

IN THE END

Living in Philadelphia with my main squeeze and two little girl pups - who greet me with complete love and affection - has been amazing. They help keep me sane, happy and thoroughly loved. But living in a new city comes with consequences - like having to make all new friends, which has been kind of difficult for us.

I truly treasure all of my peeps in Chicago - the people I see only a few times a year and/or talk to only on occasion. I love that we still try to keep the strong bonds we've had in our youth and I hope to continue to stay in each other's lives moving forward.

BUT it''s now time to develop new bonds and new relationships and make Philadelphia just as comfortable as sitting in Eric's old red minivan in high school!

FRIENDS AND FAMILY SLIDE SHOW - JULY 2009

Click on any of the photos to see them in their full glory...I'm very blessed to have so many people who love me!

IT FEELS GOOD AND COLD TO BE BACK IN CHICAGO

Yesterday was so much fun, but very cold. I saw Marcos and Jose for breakfast at a diner in Lincoln Park, Natalie Campbell for lunch at Macy's on State Street, my brother Ryan and I had dinner together at Rockit (bumped into Melissa Luebbe and her husband Jim), met Barb at LBC for drinks, we then met Sean at Improv Olympic for their midnight comedy show (randomly met a guy I went to high school with - Jerry Legan - who was working the door of the comedy club) and finished the day dancing at Berlin with Barb where my friend Fernando made an special appearance.

The snowy weather has provided a difficult time maneuvering around the slushy snow on the sidewalks and crosswalks. I have been wearing these great boots I recently purchased from our LA trip, they have been a Godsend! Barb was wearing hi-heels last night, which made it difficult to get in and out of cabs with all the black mushy snow puddles on the curbs and crosswalks.

A whirlwind day/night always makes me think, self, "I'm not going to get all crazy today, I had my fun last night and that was enough for the whole weekend." But I will need to give it the "old college try" because I have an even more hectic schedule of meeting up with people today, but I'm looking forward to it!

The girls told me they were very excited to see us all back as a family on Dec. 30! I am very excited to be back with them as well, but I have been enjoying myself with friends in family in cold Chicago!

FRIENDS AND FAMILY SLIDE SHOW

Friends and Family

I spent the afternoon making a slide show of my friends and family. CLICK THE PICTURE ABOVE!