Lance and Jen have a son that is the same age as Elliot, my 18 month old. They are in the same class at daycare, and every morning, we ask Elliot if he is excited to see his friends, including "Jack Jack." We take his repetition of "Jack Jack" as affirmation that yes, he is indeed excited to see his friends.
I've seen Lance and Jen at various social events, and I see them in passing when we are either dropping off or picking up our children at daycare. Most of our "conversations" have consisted of us saying "Hey, how's it going?" with the appropriate response being some form of "good." We're either rushing to get to work or rushing to get home, and we're usually covered in some sort of slobber or spit up.
So it was nice to see these two outside of their normal setting. Elizabeth, myself, and Elliot met the three of them up at the Greensboro Science Center (Elliot is a big fan of the eight-legged-creature known as the "opitus"). Throughout our walk, I asked them similar questions that I had asked the day before. Mostly, though, I just enjoyed their company.
Lance and Jen
What was nice about this "interview" was that it really was a conversation as we moved through the Science Center. Jen and I talked about the daycare that Jack and Elliot both go to, and we both lamented how we missed some of the younger classrooms (but how we also thought everyone there was great). Lance and I talked about how we both wished our parents were closer so we had a little bit of help, but at the same time we liked not having to juggle time between everyone. We both agreed that it's getting fun with our guys now because they are interacting with us more.
Lars: Where are you both from?
Lance: I'm from Goldsboro, and I went to ECU, that's where I met Jen.
Jen: I'm from Rockville, MD, it's actually pretty close to where your parents live now, off of the red line...
We then talked about the Metro for a little bit...
Lance didn't tell me his favorite joke, but Jen was able to say that as a blanket rule, any dorky, goofy "dad joke" or "kid joke" was her favorite. To which I told her one of my favorite jokes:
I could tell you a German joke, but it would be the wurst...
What's a meal that reminds you most of home?
Lance: Vegetable soup...mom always made that for me.
Jen: Roast beef with mashed potatoes...and peas stuck in it like a birds nest.
Lars: That's pretty specific, why that?
Jen: That's what my dad always did.
This, of course, makes me wonder how much Elliot is picking up from watching me...hopefully not my love of triple decker PB&J's with crushed Oreos...
If you could bring back one musician, who would it be?
Lance: Left-Eye (this was said without any hesitation).
Jen: Joe Cocker, because my dad listened to him with me when I was little.
Again, will Elliot grow up thinking that it's perfectly normal to belt out Mariah Carey songs when you're home alone?
Will the world be better or worse in 20 years?
Jen: Different...is that an ok response? Ok yes, different. I hope it will be better. It's up to us to make it better, right? I hope I'm still here!
Lance: (After laughing a bit) It's gotta be, right? Yes, it will be better. Hopefully we'll find a cure for cancer by then. But yes, it'll be better.
As we moved through the Science Center, it was fun to watch out little guys interacting with one another. "It's crazy how they get excited about certain things" Lance said, as his son raced towards a fish tank and Elliot ran towards the aforementioned "opitus." Our two boys also shared a love of the dinosaur room at the Science Center. Lance had been hesitant at first to let Jack go to the room ("He gets scared by the T-Rex"), but Jack was very brave and had no problems (I'm thinking that having Elliot there as back up helped).
It was also fun talking to two people who's lives are running on a fairly parallel track to Elizabeth and myself. Lance and Jen are doing a great job with Jack (I'm basing this on the clear evidence that he's a wicked happy little dude, so they can't be too far off the mark). They were easy to talk to, and I look forward to more meet ups like this (they just signed up for a membership to the Science Center as well, so I'm betting that we'll be seeing them at the "opitus" tank soon enough).
Our shared connection is that our kids somehow made it into the same class together. It's great to know that Elliot is in a class with kids who have parents like Lance and Jen. It was also great to get to know them more than a head nod in a hallway or an "excuse me" as we passed each other through a doorway. How many more connections are waiting beyond those head nods, beyond those throwaway lines? That's what this month is all about!
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