That Unicorn's So Fluffy I'm Gonna DIE!!!!!!!

Are you thinking what I'm thinking?  
So you think I look like a crazed maniac?!! 
Well, have a good belly laugh at my expense.  I don't care!  I have already fallen in the floor laughing at the face of a five year old who just saw Santa Clause come down the chimney with presents.

Go ahead. Laugh.

Our church's mothers of preschoolers group had Lisa Whelchel* as the guest speaker today.  I'm not even in the moms group because PandaJOY goes to public preschool and her schedule doesn't allow me to attend not to mention that 90% of the attendees are so much younger than me and I am at a totally different stage in life.....I just happen to have a preschooler, too.

Anyway....back to the excitement!  I have loved and adored Lisa since I was 10 years old watching The Facts of Life when she played Blair Warner.  When I was an adult I read her autobiography and learned that she is a Believer.  She has since led women in ministry in several different arenas selling numerous books and speaking with Women of Faith conferences.

She actually lives just down the road from me in the two communities over and away from ours, but I've never crossed paths with her in our shopping area as have some of my friends.  I know she's not a superstar to most people, but I have truly adored her since I was a kid.  She was PandaPop's first TV crush when she was a kid on the NEW Mickey Mouse Club in her pre-Facts of Life acting days.  I know he was dying to meet her today, too, but his gutsiness level isn't as high as mine and he had a staff meeting. Poor guy.

I went in the meeting and saw that she was sitting at the same table as our pastor's wife and lo & behold there was an open chair right in the middle of them that was screaming my name!! I sat down with my heart beating about 1000 times a second and feeling so completely stupid that it was doing so.  I took a deep breath and introduced myself, small talk, blah-blah, smile-smile, shake hands and NICE TO MEET YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I thanked her for her ministry and couldn't help but tell her that my hubs had a crush on her in his wee years of boyhood.  She laughed.

I flew back to PandaPop's office on my magic carpet and could hardly breathe!!!

He was laughing at me. I so wanted a picture, but felt stupid going BACK in there for it.  I certainly did not want to distract or take away from the actual moms meeting. Heck most of the girls in there had NO IDEA who they were in the presence of!! lol!! I knew I'd regret it forever if I didn't get a picture and PP said the same thing, so I went back in and asked if I could be so crazy as to have a picture taken with her.  Of course, she obliged and a friend took the picture.  Apparently, I was so overwhelmed with bubbles of giddy elation that they overflowed through the picture.  I even laughed and told her I was acting like she was Elvis or something to which she replied, "Well, thank you very much" (only oldies will read that with the correct intonation and "get it").  She must have some kind of system as to where she memorizes people's names because she remembered my name from the earlier meeting and said, "nice to meet you today, Jana".

WHAT????????? She remembered my name?  I think I fell on the floor.

No I didn't, but I so wanted to be invited to her home for coffee, or tea or a sleepover.

As for the title of this post?  You have to have seen Despicable Me* to fully understand the intensity of it.  The smallest little girl of a trio of sisters goes to an amusement park, sees a very fluffy stuffed unicorn and wants it sooooo badly that upon seeing it she squeals in delight with teeth clenched and body tense yelling, "That unicorn's so fluffy I'm gonna DIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" And she says it in the EXACT tone that I do when I come upon something that I really, really like.  I know.  I should probably be too old to act like that, but I can't help it.  I'm very passionate about things that I like and in the moment that I see it or realize that I super-uber love it I jump up & down, squeal and thrill in delight and feel it to my bones......that I like it.  Whatever "it" is.  I like that I have that much passion.  And I love that I got to meet a lifelong idol today.

I know she is just a regular person.  But she is a beautiful godly woman who has impacted my life and God allowed me to meet her today.  I am thankful.  I'm not one for autographs. I think those are so stupid.  No offense to anyone who does like them, but a person's signature does diddly-squat for me.  A photo taken with Lisa Whelchel* or Beth Moore* (which I did in 2001!!!!!!!!!!) makes my millenium.