Chapter 1: My Mom’s Best Friend

My mom’s best friend without a doubt is Tammy. They are about the same age (Tammy is a few months older) and have known each other since they were little girls. Unfortunately, Tammy’s husband was transferred to the Oregon and since then they have relied mostly on phone calls to keep in touch. They still manage to meet each other at least once or twice a year for a week or so as Tammy’s husband travels a lot and she used his frequent flier miles. My mom always looked forward to these visits but the last time Tammy came to our house, I got to know another side of her - and Tammy learned a few things about her best friend and her family as well that at first shocked her but eventually got her curious.

Since then, work schedules and such had kept Tammy from coming our way although my mom had visited her and her family a few times out in the Oregon high desert where they lived near some big ski resort. I’d never been west of Illinois so someday I hoped to join her on one of these trips but they were hers and I didn’t want to butt in uninvited.

Tammy’s husband had no idea that my dad had been Tammy’s first but he had no cause to worry when Tammy visited us as my parents are both 100% committed to their marriage and my dad would never cheat with another woman, not even if Tammy wanted to. Odds were high she didn’t as my mom assured me that while Tammy may have experimented once with me during her last visit, she was really just your typical housewife and mother. True, very early in her marriage she had cheated on her husband but those days were long gone and today they had a great Christian marriage. Even so, judging by the photos of her husband and two boys, I couldn’t help but wonder what might happen if I were ever to make the trip with my mom!

All summer long my mom had been planning a trip to Oregon for some time in mid-August so it came as a surprise when Tammy visited us in July without hardly any forewarning. Apparently there was some conference in Pittsburgh and the person from her company that was supposed to attend got sick and so she was a last minute replacement. By the time we left she and I “experimented” again, as my mom put it. So when my mom agreed to take me with her this time to Oregon I was looking forward to the trip in more ways than one!