COMMS with the fam, the infamous Crew…and other important people

If you are thinking about doing a trip like this, you will need to figure out how to keep connected with your family and friends while you are gone.

With my parents, they call me and are on speaker phone as most people their age do…sorry mom and dad, but it’s the truth.

My son calls me, and is also on speaker phone…sorry Q, but it’s the truth!

My family also has a text group with the following participants / recipients / gluttons for punishment: my parents, my brother, my nephew, my son and me. It is awesome…the banter and pictures are priceless. I love it!

My brother and I just text, we don’t have time for speaker phone chatter. Love you bro!

My boyfriend and I use facebook messenger, text and video chat. We probably stay in touch the most…but that’s a given I guess.

Most my friends call or text me randomly. One of my besties Heather calls, texts and emails…so we stay in touch quite a bit too.

While I was in Williams, Arizona, the group of girls I’ve been hanging out with for over ten years was having a get together.

I was able to video into the festivities!! Not all of them are pictured here…but all of us were there in spirit…some on the ipad.

That’s me on the ipad!! We take the weirdest pictures…but it’s awesome!

For those that do not know about the crew, let me give you all the cliff notes on this group of kick ass ladies.

This group is fondly referred to as The Crew…obviously.

It was formed in August of 2009 by Tina, Lisa Marie and I. Tina loves Star Trek so of course the group name had to be the Crew…she was the founder and the Captain.

Everyone in the group has star trek names, except lisa marie and I, Lisa Marie is first mate and I’m deuce.

I’m deuce, because I did not want to be second mate, or number 2…plus deuce is the bus line in Vegas…VEGAS BABY. The Crew has a lot of Vegas stories…A LOT!

We started this group a few months after my divorce, and the same month that Tina turned 40. All three of us were single and we just started adding more single girls to the group until we had over ten fun single crew members! Most of us are not single now, but we still make time for the crew trips and get togethers!

We have had some members come and go, but there is a core group of us that remain.

About six years ago or so we were going strong as a group. Having regular trips to my parents beach house for crew weekends, all birthdays and life ups and downs were all celebrated, or supported. We even had a wedding where we all pulled together and decorated, cooked all the food and it was an amazing Crew wedding!

Then I had a bad weekend. A team mate on my search and rescue ATV team fell to his death on a call, as I watched. It messed me up.

The Crew didn’t know what I was going through. No one really did at first. Hey, I was a great actress…academy award good.

My responder friends soon saw it as plain as the nose on my face…I was messed up. I completely withdrew from life…from everything and everyone except my son. Oh, but remember I was a good actress, I was fine…just fine.

I was later diagnosed with PTSD. Then nine months of trauma therapy happened.

The Crew was always there for me, I just didn’t see it. They were new to this PTSD thing…but I was able to eventually talk freely about it with them, and we all reconnected.

Now they are huge supporters as is my family and other friends of my trip! So it was so nice to be able to virtually attend this get together.

And, most importantly, I am working on a screenplay about the Crew, from the beginning to the present. It will be a mix of Sex in the City, Fleabag and Party of Five…so basically a shit show that makes you cry and laugh, sometimes at the same time.

This sitcom will be loosely based on our exploits, some stories will be based on fact, other stories will be exaggerated or completely made up. And of course, a famous crew quote: What happens with the crew, stays with the crew. So some stories may never be included.

We also are the biggest weirdo’s…love our pictures!

Stay tuned!!!! (Shameless Plug!)

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