I can’t wait to not work at Sonic anymore, if only so I can paint my nails again.

Dear Mattie,

I am so happy that you guys made it to Lubbock, with only Ryan’s sunburned knee as a trip injury! I can’t wait to see the video (as soon as Ryan gets off the freaking phone so you guys can finish it) nor can I wait to see your apartment in real life as soon as I get to come visit. I also hope that I can help contribute to the amount of holes in your walls, as this could be a standing tradition of ours.

Today started my last week as a Seven Points, Texas Sonic Drive-In carhop, and it’s a little more bittersweet than I thought it would be. It’s been a lot of  blood (one of our cooks cut his hand one night & I had to learn to cook a burger),sweat (mostly because our air-conditioner is crap), and tears (those belonged to this poor girl who still can’t figure out how to match her carhop slip to the tray she’s supposed to take out. At the bottom of the slip it says “Take Tray :insert number here:” Poor thing…). I met a new Sassy Gay Friend, learned how to make a “Purple  O”, sang Cher songs more times than I’d like to count, participated in an “All You Need is Love” store-wide sing-a-long, danced like a crazy person, learned a few new skating tricks, planked on the tray table, watched the slush machine explode onto my manager, & fed somebody’s dog a hamburger. Overall it’s been a pretty good way to spend my summer and I might even miss being able to say “Thank you, have a super Sonic day!”

I’m getting really excited about going back to school. Mostly because I’m ready to decorate my bedroom (I’ve been watching a lot of “The Nate Berkus Show”). I’m also really excited about starting rehearsals for Colorado. I know Dr. Carrie is gonna read this so here comes the sucking-up-yet-still-honest moment about the show: I’m feel super honored that she’s trusting me & Micah to do this show, and super relieved that we don’t have to go through the audition process. I know I can say on behalf of Micah and myself that it means a lot that she believes so much in us and is giving us such an awesome opportunity. I’m also excited that I get to be dead for 90% of the show. I’ve only been dead onstage once in my whole life & I think that this experience with expand my death-range. Not to be confused with death-ray…because I don’t have one of those. Darn the bad luck. I’ve also been reading Stanislavski for my thesis until I want to pluck my eyes out with a salad fork.

I leave you tonight with 2 photos, the first is for your entertainment & for those who may read our blog but aren’t my friend on facebook :::cough:::Carrie Klypchak:::cough:::  and the other is a little goody my mom found in one of her old purses.

Behold! The Planking Carhop!

And here’s a real gem. This is a photo i.d. card my parents had made when I was little so that if I ever got lost or kidnapped they could give it to the police. I urge you to look closely at how completely gangsta & cavalier I am in that photo. Even at 7 years of age, I knew what a badass I was. And how to rock some killer bangs. 🙂

“Ain’t no bad man gonna get me!”

 

 

Moment of Honesty:

When I start thinking about how excited I am to be moving back, I sometimes forget for a second that you’re not going to be there anymore. And then it hits me like a slush machine explosion to the face that you’re not near me anymore. (And yes, that was my coping mechanism of trying to be funny when I’m sad kicking in.) I miss you so much already, Mattie.

Fuzzy Memory:

This one really is a fuzzy, but I’ll try to remember as best I can.  We were in high school and I had just gotten over my obsession with child-star and one-hit wonder Billy Gilman when we became friends. He had recorded an album of songs made out of the poems of a wee little poet by the name of Mattie Stepanek. Mattie just happened to have muscular dystrophy, just like you, and just like you as well, he was using the talents he had been given to make the world a better place, despite the fact that his life was rougher than a lot of other peoples. And (since I don’t think very many people know this besides us) that’s how you became Mattie to me. I thought that Mattie was such a cute name, and of all people you deserved a cute name, so unless I’m mistaken, I put that nickname on you and it’s there to this day. The other Mattie passed away in 2004, but I think he’d be happy to know that there are still angels like him doing wonderful magical things with their lives (that means you). 🙂

Love you till the end,

A’Mari Jo