You can't make this stuff up!

As proof that I am not just some sort of celebrity-obsessed recluse who sits at home all day talking to her cats and yelling at the neighbor children to "leave my Conan-shaped topiary ALONE" I submit these facts: I am married, have kids, a job, and no cats NOR a topiary in the shape of anyone who is or was once on TV. I do yell at children, but they are my own, and they don't listen to me anyway. And since I do have a life outside of the "I'm With Coco" board, I thought I would go out and play in it today! The Fam and I went on a road trip, starting at our home (situated on the corner of Nowhere Lane and BFE Drive) and ending up in the Big City. The purpose was shopping - we needed shoes, soap, and toothbrushes, among other things. It sounds exotic, I know, but we are simple, normal people, just like you. Maybe a touch better looking, but whatever....
Anyway, even though I have offered up more than enough proof that I am a well-balanced woman of the world, I did have a wave of separation anxiety when I realized I would be many miles away from my computer and therefore separated from all things Coco or Coco-related. Before you ask "Val, are you so out of touch that you have no internet access on your I-Berry-Phone-Pod thingy?" let me explain that I do have a cell phone. It does cell phone things, like it butt-dials people and goes dead when I leave it on in my purse for a week. And that's about it. So, no Facebook access, no Twits, no nothing.....Of course, I was more than happy and fulfilled to spend my day helping my kids try on Payless shoes and shopping for our eldest child's upcoming birthday (he will be twleve - I had him when I was nine...) But there was this little nagging in the back of my brain that whispered "Amazing things could be happening RIGHT now and you are missing them....." It was annoying, but luckily most of the other voices in my head are much louder and pretty much drowned it out.
However, I really shouldn't have worried myself psychotic, because I was soon to discover that you can take a girl away from Coco, but you can't take Coco away from the girl! Reminders of him were everywhere!! To start with, as we pulled in the Target parking lot, my five-year-old spotted the sign and piped up "Circle, circle, circle! Target is with Coco!" (I think she might be a genius, we just need to have her tested....) At Party City, everything was themed for St. Patrick's Day or Hawaiian Luaus, both Coco related of course. Later, as we sat down to lunch, my dear husband ordered a Guinness to go with his food - do I have to underscore the meaning in this? I thought not. Then, as we walked to our minivan - AKA the "Love Mo-sheen" - we saw that the sewer covers read "CO," which I immediately pointed out was half of Coco! At this time my husband mumbled something about needing another drink, which I found odd.....
As we were pulling into the Costco parking lot, our radio began playing the first strains of "Surrender," a truly epic moment in my day. I cranked it up, and my killjoy kids told me to turn it back down. Ugh, they will never understand my generation! And, AND - I didn't even know this had any significance at the time - one of the free samples we had in Costco was YOGURT! Do you see? Conan's Twitter Tweeter Twoday, er today, was about yogurt! In spirit, Coco was with us! All day, even at Walgreens (where nothing Conan related happened but I have to mention because I love Walgreens) I felt that crazy Ginger presence all around us!
But, you know, I'm cool about it. I don't try to read TOO much into this stuff. That would be a little too weird, don't you think? I do wonder, however, how hard it would be to have a Conan-shaped topiary? Not for me, for a friend..... A friend who just may be a little nuttier than she'd like to admit.