Relapse!

I am Tracie Thompson Ross, daughter of Dick Thompson and I am an addict. I come from a long line of pop-in-ers. You know the type. They don't call ahead. They just show up. On your porch, unannounced. Not only is there no call, but at times, there are no knocks. Granted, the no-knocks are usually reserved for actual family. An open garage is an open invitation in our family.

Sean is a planner. He calls ahead, schedules the visit and then still freaks out if you aren't there at the exact time you said. I'm more of a "I might stop by sometime" kind of girl. There are merits to both for sure. The unannounced pop-ins can be extremely annoying, especially if you have something else going on, or planned.

I have pretty much moved away from my former pop-in freely status. I have spent the past several years calling ahead, making plans, avoiding the drop in. The idea of dropping by to see Mateo (Erin's new baby) at least requires a phone call. I don't just show up anywhere. That would be rude.

Until today. When I had the incredible urge to see my sister and the kids on the way home. Ok, I guess I could see Stafford too. Whatever. It had been 2 days, and 2 days is too damn long. Anyway, I didn't call ahead. I didn't even text. I just drove over after my acupuncture appt. The kids were playing outside. It brought a smile to my face just to see them. I still can't believe they are really here, just around the corner from me.

I chatted the kids up for a couple of minutes before I asked "where's your mom?" And then there she was, walking down the driveway. God,the actual sight of her still takes my breath away. And here I was, unannounced, the dreaded "pop-in". Shit, isn't this one of the things that caused the move across the country in the first place? No boundaries, no personal space, oh no! Maybe I can just fake it, like I took a wrong turn but didn't want to be rude to the kids. But what was that? A smile, a hug, an "I've missed you" and an invitation in. Where we shared a glass of wine, laughs and ideas about bare walls and moving boxes gone missing.

So I say, good bye to you planning ahead. I'm a Thompson and Thompson's are pop-in people. Sure, that pesky Ross name is tagged on at the end, but Thompson came first and that's always the hardest one to break. So I'm not going to. For the record, I don't think I'd really want to be any other way.