The Summit: Official Minutes

Dates: 7/2-7/5
Participants: Puppy & Derek Thompson, Nacho Thompson (dog), Luke & Diane Verenburg, Mango Verenburg (baby)
Agenda: Reconnect as non-homo soul mates (PT & DV), eat and drink heartily (all)

Minutes:
• I had to call Puppy and warn her in advance that motherhood had taken a horrific toll on my body, specifically my stomach ("flabbies!" as BB would loudly exclaim) and my boobs (nonexistent, or "the A Team" as Luke likes to call them now). I didn't want my body in a bikini to frighten her away from ever having children. Because, despite that NY Times article, being a mom is pretty cool.
• Puppy's a big phone person, but I'm not, so we don't always talk that often. But when we see each other, it's like it was just yesterday that we were sitting eating pizza-Goldfish and drinking Cokes in her Chelsea kitchen, talking about our impending talk show and how funny it was going to be.
• Got to meet Nacho for the first time and he was everything I dreamt he'd be and more. He really is the perfect dog, because he's super well behaved, but more importantly, he likes to sleep late and will sit in anyone's lap. He also let Mango pretty much poke him in the eye and beat on him while I continually yelled, "gently!" like Wesley at the end of the Princess Bride without so much as a warning growl.
• I was so excited for Derek and Puppy to meet Mango because, and I know I'm biased, I think she's the coolest baby in the world. I mean, she pretty much never cries, and she likes to babble and laugh and she sleeps from 7-7 every day. Well unfortunately, Mango saved up her entire month's of crying for the Summit, and proceeded to cry in the car, at the beach, on the boat, in the car from the beach, at bedtime, and at bath time. On the car ride leaving the Summit, she babbled happily for 1/2 hour: I believe she was saying, "shouldn't have hyped me up, sucka"
• Puppy and Derek have been traveling together for the last 2 months. And Derek still made Puppy breakfast in bed one morning. Pretty damn cute.
• Forgot to mention when I was talking about impressing Derek and Puppy with Mango's awesomeness: she pooped on me. Well, not directly. But she made such a gross, runny poop that her little Huggies Jeans diaper couldn't hold it, and it seeped out onto my Fourth of July dress. Before dinner. Thanks, Mango.
• Puppy and I send Derek and Luke grocery shopping. They came back with 5 kinds of sausage, a Flintstones size chunk of steak, and mozzarella cheese. I was going to make some crack about them being idiots, but then I realized they're actually pretty brilliant. All 5 kinds of sausage were good.
• Puppy and I decided we should make friends at the bar one night, even though our Ball&Chains were there. I selected Jonathan and we hit the jackpot. Jonathan was really cute, recently divorced, and looking for some fun. He told us a fascinating story about hit bitter divorce from the woman who had been cheating on him with a coworker, a guy he had golfed with. I jokingly said, "did you punch him in the face?" and he goes, "no, I flew down to my then-wife's work trip in Aruba, walked into the hotel lobby, beat the shit out of the guy, and then turned around and flew back. All on my wife's company's dime." Brave, Jonathan, bravo. We salute you.

Next steps:
• Renewed dedication to the blog
• Train Mango to like the beach and boating