Pumpjacks and Playdates: Only Julie Ramblings

Who can resist "Only Julie" stories?

I'm sitting in my office working away when a very large cockroach glides across the floor. I am appalled because I have never seen a cockroach in an office!!! At my news station in Abilene the janitors told me there were rats in the attic, but I hate cockroaches more than rats. I suddenly had a call from a client come in so here I am sitting on top of my desk talking business to the client! I wanted to tell him all about my problem, but felt like it might be unprofessional. I ran downstairs to tell them to kill it and they laughed at me. I thought about it for a minute, but killing a living thing might not be in God's book. Does He entertain roaches? So this thing roams around and around... we lose him... and then Staci comes in ready for the kill. She chases him, but fails to kill him... So he runs into my boss' office. By this time you have three women shrieking and running from a huge two inch creature!!! We lost him... and minutes later I hear my boss scream as the thing is right by her foot!!! Finally one of the guys from downstairs come to the rescue. He catches it in an envelope and takes it outside. He didn't kill it!!! I find it hilarious three grown women are basically standing on their desks running away from it. I was literally shaking. I hate bugs. Hate. Hate. Hate. One time in sixth grade Chandra sprayed her hair with Raid instead of hairspray at my house as we got ready for a wedding... and I did the same thing a few weeks later on the first day of school! All because of bugs.

Now... today is a special day. I have four birthdays to remember today! One of them is my "child," D'Layna Nicole Smith. She is the daughter of my cousin, Sara. Layna turns nine today making me feel very, very old. She has been very special to me since the day she was born. She is my little Mini-Me. We have a very special connection and I treat her as my own child. When she was three I taught her to call me "Princess Aunt Julie." The little girl has been put through a lot as her grandparents, my "godparents," Donna and Bill have custody of her and she is slowly reconnecting with her real dad. Sara is on the right track now married with two kids, but it would be too hard to take D'Layna out of her environment now! She is full of wisdom beyond her years, loves cheerleading, church, basketball and tumbling! She hates boys... give it two more years... and she is in the attitude stage of telling you what to do! I remember I used to talk to her like an equal when I would visit West Texas and ask about her day... I remember she was about five and she finally gave me this long explanation of her day. I knew then she was growing up. The entire Roberts family of cousins has always been like brothers and sisters to both my Dad (He lived with them for a summer) and for me. Dad lost his favorite cousin, Lori Ann, Donna's daughter out of three other girls, to a car accident... The weirdest thing to all of us is that D'Layna looks almost just like Lori... even weirder... D'Layna's mother, Sara, was adopted... yet we all look alike... Now that's God! I taught D'Layna at a young age about taking pictures and she knows when Aunt Julie is around you take pictures... and you steal her gum...