Cast of Characters

Someone recently asked me who all the people are on my blog, and how they got their monikers.  It wasn't the first time I'd been asked that, and I thought...maybe, after more than 9 years, I should write a post about the who's who on my blog.  I'm only going to give you the main cast, not the "also starring."  Trying to keep it simple (and even so, this is one long post!).

Just in case you didn't know... this is me.  I call myself bettercountry when on the internets.  How'd I get that name?  Well, 9 years ago, when I began blogging, way back before Facebook and Linkdin and Twitter and etc, people thought it wasn't so smart to put all your information out there for the world to see.  So I created a moniker for my blog/internet identity... and just kept it that way.  bettercountry is a shortened version of the full name of my blog, which comes from the verse Hebrews 11:16.  Voila.  That's me.  If you'd like to know more about me, read THIS.

Sue-Wee was my roommate for the two years that I lived in Paris.  She's the non-family person I lived with the longest in my life.  She was a regular on the blog throughout 2007 and 2008.  How'd she get her name?  She is an Arkansas Razorback, and whenever she'd do her cheer for her team, it sounded to me like she was saying "Sue-Wee."  This is my favorite picture of her from her time in France.  

The camelridingcowgirl has been a regular on the blog since 2009, and has been my favorite travel buddy since then.  We went on the Mad Dash About Europe together (six countries in as many days), and then went on the Big White Boat together with her parents.  She actually came up with her name herself, as it's her internet name.  She's a cowgirl, the cool boot wearing kind, who moved to a desert country where there are camels.  Hence the name.  Then she moved to France, and I'm so glad she did.  Here we are rowing a boat together in Slovenia...one of my all-time favorite memories with her ever.

This is Barney (left) and Woody (right).  Barney and I were friends for a year before Woody came along.  They met during a summer in Marseille, and they now live in Marseille, yay, for almost two years now!  Barney got her name because she is my Barnabas, my "daughter of encouragement."  Not that she's my daughter, or a purple dinosaur, but that she's an encouragement to me.  It just seemed to work.  Woody has been his nickname for a long time, longer than I've know him.  If you know him, then you know where the name comes from.  They're cute, aren't they?  

Princess William is probably my oldest friend.  Not that she's old...but that we've been friends the longest.  She and I met at an international training back in 1999, and then ended up going to grad school together a few years later.  Sometimes I wonder what if I'd gone to different schools than I did?  Well...I figure she and I'd still be friends because she went to Auburn (war eagle!) and even lived in Turkey the same year that I did (but not at the same time).  We've been through a lot, me and her, and I'm happy to call her one of my dearest friends.  Why is she Princess William?  Well, back in grad school, she and her roommate had the same name, and nobody at school knew anybody else's last names.  So we named one of them William and the other one Harry.  She lives in England now, so it just makes even more sense.

The Real McCoys are my African family.  When I lived in North Africa, they became my closest friends...and it just sort of stuck.  They have to leave for visa purposes every few months, and often come to visit me.  I love, love, love when they come to visit, and love being an aunt to their kiddos.  They got their name because of two things: (1) McCoy has to do with their last name--which is NOT McCoy and (2) they are legit, the real deal.  

The Superheroes live in Paris.  They, like the Real McCoys, are so legit.  They're so REAL.  They do their job and they do it well.  They love Jesus and people and it shows.  They've loved me and shown me grace through some of the ugliest periods of my life, and I am a better person because of their friendship.  I truly look up to them and desire to be like them in many ways.  I have watched them grow...watched their kids grow...and well, they're one of the few constants in my life.  

With my company, there is a two-year internship that's a pretty awesome deal.  It's what I did in Portugal.  And again and again until my company asked me to stop being an intern and sign on the dotted line already.  So I did.  But in all these years, I've gotten to know a lot of the interns, seeing as I was one three times.  There was Schroomie #1 and Schroomie #2 in Turkey.  Sue-Wee, and Swimmer, and about six others in Paris.  JellyBean and KO and Bell and Flower in Marseille.  Hugs in Paris.  Now BonFils here in Marseille.  Here's how he feels about it:

(Just kidding.  That's actually just how he felt after his first day of language school...and probably still feels since he's only about three weeks into it.  Bless his heart.)

CSI was one of the many two-year interns to come through France.  I met her before she flew over the big ocean, and actually flew with her across the ocean.  We went to language school together in Besançon, and shared oh-so-many laughs once we were both in Marseille.  She was a criminal science major in college, and so that's how she got her blog name.  I was so tempted to put one of the eight billion silly photos I have of her up here, but went with this one instead, cause she looks so pretty in it.  I miss her antics, I do.  And I miss beating her at backgammon, despite her magic ability to always roll double sixes, always.

Okay, I couldn't resist.  How bout the time she "borrowed" my phone and changed my wallpaper so it looked like this:

Pantene was another two-year intern (who stayed for a third year).  She got her name because she has the most beautiful hair you've ever seen, and really, Pantene should hire her as a model.  Maybe she could put this photo in her portfolio to them?

(In all fairness, that was a major Mistral day...but I get such a giddy joy from posting that photo on the internets.  It's like when parents show baby bathtub photos to dates.  Hehe...) Seriously, Pantene's been gone for a little over a year now (actually, 13 months exactly today), and I still miss her.  I'm so thankful for iMessage and FaceTime and how much that helps to stay in touch with her.  But I miss going for coffee and walking down Prado together....

This is my all-time favorite photo of the Artist, photobombing my picture of the Parthenon.  She and I met back in summer of 2008 (when we also met Barney), and have been friends since.  I've been to her ranch home in Texas, she's been to my house in Alabama.  We've shared laughs, heartaches, recipes, and so many memories.  She left two weeks ago and I keep waiting for her to come back from vacation...and then I remember that it's not a vacation she went to.  These two-year interns are killing me.  Anyway, the Artist is a professional Artist, and so um, her blog name is a no-brainer.  

So...I don't have a single serious photo of the Bodybuilder.  I have ones of him sleeping, and ones of him being silly, but never just a straight smiling photo.  Ah well.  So the Bodybuilder came as one of our summer interns for a few summers in a row, and then came as a two-year intern.  Like the Artist, he and I have been friends in America as well as in France.  He actually only lives about an hour and a half from my folks in Alabama.  He reminded me so much of my brother so often, he sort of became the France brother.  (Don't worry, Master Yoda, no one will ever replace you.  Impossible, that is.)  If you've ever seen the Bodybuilder, then you'd understand where he got his name.  I love this photo of him...hehe.

 ...hehe...and I love this one too.  The guy in focus in this photo is the Crazy Cajun.  He is both of those adjectives: crazy and cajun.  Here's been here in France with us for almost two years, learning French.  He's supposed to leave in January and will be greatly missed by many.

Here's me and the Artist and the Bodybuilder at their going away dinner in Marseille a few weeks ago.  It's the only picture I have of the three of us together, despite the fact that we've been friends for four years now.  Crazy.

Then there are Giggles and Munchkin.  I'll let you decide which one's which.  Haha.  Just kidding.  Munchkin is the guy on the right, and Giggles is his wife.  He got his name for a game he likes to play with the same name.  She's Giggles because, well, she's so joyful she giggles a lot.  She keeps me sane.  I told her the other night that I know her husband is her better half and all, but really, I think she's my better half.  When it comes to work, it always seems like God sends her in to save my day and meet me in my weaknesses...which happen to be her strengths.  I'm so thankful for that.

Mr. and Mrs. X might just be my favorite people ever.  God brought them into my life at a time when I needed some goodpeople friends...and that's what they are: goodpeople and friends.  They live in X, and well, hence their name.  I don't know anything better for my heart in southern France than hanging out with those two.  This is this year's trip to the lavender fields:

And seriously...how awesome is this photo?!  Me, Mrs. X, and the camelridingcowgirl, and lavender (back in 2009).  That's one worth framing right there.  Where would I be without those two women in my life?  Seriously, I just don't know.

And then there was Master Yoda.  This guy.  Oh my.  Many have asked where he got his name.  He gave it to himself.  You can ask him why he chose it, because after all these years, I'm not sure that I even know myself.  I suppose he thinks himself wise.  Or green, short, and with hairy pointed ears?

He was lucky enough to marry Princess Leah.  Her name just came easy, since she was marrying Yoda.  A girl couldn't ask for a better sister-in-lawlove.

I'd put a picture of Mom and Dad, but then Mom would get right on a plane, fly over the ocean and KILL ME.  (Hmmm...maybe that's how I can get her to come back to France to visit?)

And there you have it.  The people in my life.  There are so many more: the Suits and Creedance and notpoems, and Lanola, and Whitey, and Classy Spice, and the Soul Twin and Bound and ... more.  I'm blessed.

Truly blessed.