Tell us about a time you saw something and noped out immediately. I was on a walk with my dog, and there was a coyote. This is just in like mid-Michigan. And I was like, looking at my phone, and I looked up, and there's the coyote, and immediately I like ran with my dog, and I think she was, she was on a leash, but like I wasn't holding it. And I was like, "Brownie, run!" And we both started running, and then Brownie was behind me, and I didn't want to like look to see if the fox -- the coyote was catching up. It was alone, I think. Yes, it was. And I was -- and then all of a sudden, Brownie was in front of me, and I'm like, "No, now I'm gonna get eaten!" And we were both fine.

I'm also grateful for my sister and her fiancé for letting us stay over for the entire week. It's so nice to have a home base wherever I'm traveling, I don't really like to be in a hotel or anywhere touristy. I really like to be local and just see how like people live in different areas. And so, this trip has been, so far, amazing. And there's just -- we did so much already and it's not -- okay, it's about halfway through the week, but -- yeah, we went hiking around different parts. We got to go into the water, go rock hunting. And I went on a run yesterday. Which was really nice to do -- finally be able to run outside. I think it's still a bit too cold in Michigan to be running outside. So I've been running on the treadmill pretty much all winter, so yesterday was my first run in -- out in nature, which has been really great. Another thing that I'm very grateful for is that the pollen hasn't really been an issue yet. Usually in Michigan, when the spring comes, um, the pollen comes with it. And so, my first runs are usually followed by a lot of coughing and sneezing and having mild cold-like symptoms because my entire body gets congested from the flowers. But yeah, yesterday it was just -- everything was perfect. Perfect conditions. It was sunny, it was like a good 50 degrees out, and -- 50 degrees Fahrenheit. And I was just kind of running around this lake that my sister lives by, and it was just absolutely beautiful, and I just can't believe she gets to live in such a nice place.

My daughter was seven years old, and our next door neighbor was a little four year old boy that she would play with and she loved him. And we lived by a divided highway. Four lanes on one side. Four lanes, then a, a medium, and then four lanes on, on the other side going the opposite direction. And to get across there, there was an overwalk. You had to go up a bridge and walk over the eight lanes of highway and walk down another bridge and you'd be on the other side. Well, my daughter's school was on the other side of the, the freeway -- or, the highway. I saw her go get the little boy and she was allowed to walk down to the mailbox and no farther. So she went and got the little boy and they walked down to the mailbox and I saw her go up the ramp. And I went and I got in the car and I followed her up the ramp and across the ramp and I got to the other side and I knew she was going to the school. So, I just followed along. She didn't know I was following her. Mind, this was Detroit in the ‘80s. So, I wanted to make sure she was safe. And I followed her. And I followed her back home when she got -- they got done on the playground there. She walked back home with him. And when she got to the house, I had parked the car and I asked her, "Oh, my goodness, where have you been?" And she said she walked down to the mailbox. I said, "You didn't walk any farther than the mailbox?" "Oh no, Mama. I wouldn’t do that." I said, "You didn't walk up to your school?" "No! No, Mama, I would never do that." And bold face lied to my face.

Um, I should probably look at a weather report before I say this, because maybe I will discover that it's actually gonna be a lot colder than it is now, but the last couple days have been quite warm. Yesterday was very warm in comparison to what it has been and the sky was blue and right now we're getting some precipitation as rain, which is not what we've been getting previously. So, I'm really hopeful that things will start to warm up a little bit. This is the time of winter that it gets pretty old. I try not to have that attitude because we live in Michigan and I love having all four seasons and this is just part of that but every year it kind of catches me off guard, like, “Man, this is still happening.” And it's just the grey skies. Like, I remember that, couple years ago, I went up to Marquette around this time of year and was like just shocked at how blue the sky was and it was sunny and it wasn't just a “that day” kind of thing. People were like, “Oh yeah, it’s like pretty typically like this.” So even though there’s snow and it's cold there is still that sun. And I've probably talked about this before, but Grand Rapids, I think, is one of the most overcast cities in the nation. Like, more so than Seattle. And it's easy to think that you wouldn't be affected by it until you're in the depths of February, and, of course, you're being affected by it. So, yeah, I'm just hopeful that maybe we've turned a corner or that we'll have a couple sporadic days in the next few weeks of nice weather to offset the continued grey skies and cold weather. Um, I'm not foolish enough to think that we are headed towards spring just yet. I know we’ve got another few months probably of winter, um, or at least a solid month of proper winter and then, you know, the slush and rain and all of that transition period. But, um, my -- I'll just say my desire for next week, maybe it's too ambitious to say I’m looking forward to it. We'll see what the weather report actually tells me, but my desire for next week is that we have a couple more days that are nice.

There was this -- when my daughter was in high school, there was a guy that really liked her a lot. And he was very nice and he was very pleasant and they got along well. And I always liked him, but she didn't. She was -- they were good friends but they never dated. And after she graduated from high school, and he was in college, and she -- they both went to the same college at that time, and they had run into each other, but they hadn't really done anything else. And one day, I was on my way home from school. And I know this is a crazy thing, but I was on my way home from school and I stopped at a stop sign. And on the other side of the stop sign, just stopped, was [Name], who was this boy. And he rolled his window down, and he looked at me and he said, "Hi Mrs. [Surname], how are you?” And I said, “Oh, I'm fine, [Name].” He said, “Can you give me [your daughter’s] phone number? I don't think I have it anymore. And I'd really like to call her. I saw her from a distance at the -- at school, and I wanted to call her and I don't have her phone number.” And so I said, “Sure.” And I gave him her phone number. And I went on back to my house and he went on the other direction and so much was that and nothing happened. And I didn't think anything about it much at all, except for that about two days later, we were getting ready to go to a swim meet for my son at another school. And I saw as we were getting -- going out to get in the car and [my daughter] said, “I'm going to go separately,” and I said, “You're going to drive all the way to [town]?” She went, “No,” she said, “I'm, I’m going.” -- She said, "[Name] is coming to pick me up.” She said, “He wanted to go and so I said okay, and we're going to go together.” I said, “Okay, fine.” And I'm thinking to myself, “Good! Maybe she'll go out with him. He was a nice guy. He's better than the -- anything she's gone out with since.” So, you know, and I said to my…