Fun Days

We all need fun days to get away from all of the stress of everyday life. I had a definite fun day on Sunday. I really debated on whether to get up and make the trip. After all, we had to spring forward the night before and I had to get up on Sunday morning no later than 5 a.m. This is really hard for someone who is definitely not a “morning” person. My alarm went off, and usually my dog, Chloe, starts her usual barking to be let out. This time she just looked at me like the time was all wrong and that I was crazy for getting up and staggering to the kitchen to get my morning coffee. She stayed in bed for another hour. I got to see the morning sunrise and it was beautiful. I was off to parts I’ve never been before, and I was getting excited. First was breakfast at Cracker Barrel and then to Helen, Georgia. I’ve heard so much about this quaint little town, but it was like going back in time. If you’ve never been, please go. It is really worth the trip. On the way back home, we stopped at Amicalola Falls. I love waterfalls. To really see the falls you need to walk up the side of the mountain on a paved trail and also steps. There are five levels. I’m so out of shape I only made it to level 2. I plan to go back and make it to the top. Even at level 2 the view was breathtaking. After regaining my breath and getting back down to the car, it was time to go home. Thank goodness for Google Maps and the little woman’s voice that guided me back to the interstate after I got my car. Yesterday was a wonderful way to get rid of the past week’s stress, and to know that there are so many beautiful things in this world that God has put here for us to love and enjoy. I can truly face whatever crazy things happen in this coming week. DR 3/10/14

Time Flies

Sometimes I think time flies and then again, I think it really drags. When I was a kid growing up, I thought I would never get old enough to leave home. Looking back, I wish I had done a lot of things differently. But, the choices I have made through the years have made me who I am today. I don’t know if that’s a good thing or not. I am thankful that I have a wonderful daughter and eventually I found the love of my life. But, tonight I am thinking about what happened four years ago. It took me a while to think back to the good times I had with my mother. She was sick for a good while—really a lot longer than I thought because we all kept making excuses for some of her behavior. But, to the good stuff—when I was a little girl my mother and I went to town every Saturday. We didn’t have a car until I was in high school, so we always rode the bus. I can remember eating at Miller Brothers in the cafeteria and I would always get meatloaf, creamed potatoes, rolls, and sweet tea. It was so good I can even taste it now, and I’m not even a fan of meatloaf today. I remember my mother telling me the story of one time we were in the ladies dresses and I hid in a rack of dresses. When my mother got right in front of me I threw the dresses back and yelled “Mammy.” Well, you can guess what happened next. You can believe I never called her Mammy again. I can’t even picture me doing something like that. I was a very shy little girl. If you spoke to me I would turn red. I guess a lot of it had to do with my mother constantly telling me that children should be seen and not heard. I really don’t think she knew what my voice even sounded like. My mother taught me how to cook and sew. She always made my dresses and she was really good. I usually got a “store bought” dress for my birthday and since my birthday is in April, it was always my “Easter” outfit. She always bought me shoes to match. When I became a teenage I wore spike heels and I always wore a hat at Easter. It was the thing to do back then. My dad always bought me a corsage for Easter and Mother’s Day. When I was about 10 years old, my mother stopped sewing for me because I started making all of my clothes. When I took home ec I already knew how to sew and I would come home with a bag full of collars or sleeves to sew for the other girls in my class. I think they paid me a quarter to do theirs. Wonder why the teacher couldn’t see they all looked alike? My mother would take things that I made to work to sell. She had to wear a certain kind of apron and so the ladies she worked with always bought my aprons. Guess I’m telling off about my domestic side. I have a lot of people fooled that think I don’t cook or sew, but I used to be very much the home body. When I married Charles I told him that after my divorce I had decided to never sew again. Well he got a hole in one of his pockets in a pair of pants. He put the pants on the ledge of the stairs. The next week he pulled the pocket out. The next week the pocket had a note with an arrow pointing to the hole. The next week he took his pants to my mother and he told her that he really believed that I would never sew again and could she fix it, and she did. I had a good mother and I can’t believe that she’s gone. Today it has been four years since she left this earth. I miss you, Mother. DR 3/6/14

The Licking Machine

When you’re snowed in, you have a lot of time to reflect on things. My mind takes me back a long time ago when Charles and I were doing a lot of mailouts. The worse thing we had to do was sealing the envelopes. He told me that there was some sort of ceramic wheel we could buy. We went to T. H. Payne downtown (now you know it was a long time ago) and every other place we could think of. I’m pretty sure it was before Office Depot and some of the office supply places we depend on today Every where we went, no one understood what we were looking for. Charles had described it as best that he could. He didn’t know the proper name for it. Well, we had just about given up when we passed by Brainerd Village. Charles whipped into the parking lot and said he wanted to see if Lanham’s Bible Book Store would have it. I told him that I was tired of looking and I would wait in the car. In a few minutes he came back out looking a little strange. I asked him what had happened. He said he thought he had said the wrong thing in the book store. I asked him what on earth he could have said in there. He said, “Well, there was a counter over in the bridal part of the store and he asked if they had a ‘licking machine.’” He said the lady looked at him and said very abruptly, “we don’t carry anything like that in here.” Of course, I started dying laughing. I told him that this was one time I was really glad that I had stayed in the car. DR 2/12/14

So Very Thankful

The last few weeks for me have seemed to be full of challenges. I don’t know about you, but it seemed like everything that I touched or had a hand in, turned out all wrong. I’ve been so very thankful that even during the low temperatures, my heat continued to be on, and also the electricity. I woke up a couple of days ago and I thought, wow, I’m cold. Yep, my central heat unit was dead as a door nail. I called the man who put it in, and of course, could not reach him. Then out of the blue, Mike called. I had called him to come do a few things around my house to get it ready to be put on the market. He told me he was on his way. When he got here, I told him I had done all I knew to do to check my heating unit. He checked a few things and then, evidently he has an inside line to the electrician. Pete told him to check a few other things and Mike got my heat back on. I told Mike that God had sent him just when I needed him. Mike told me the things that I needed to get for the work I wanted done, and so I called Debbie and Kristin and asked them if they would like to go with me. I went out to the garage and got in my truck and my battery was dead. I sat there and just laughed. God, you really do have a sense of humor. I called Debbie and she said she would pick me up. Leon had gotten a new truck just a few months before he got sick, and I had never gotten to ride in it. God really works in mysterious ways. DR 2/6/14

Christmas 2013

Today is Christmas Eve and my heart is so heavy and so sad. I’ve never had a brother, but my cousin Leon feels like a brother to me. He was so good to my dad when he was in assistant living. I would take Leon so he could cut my dad’s hair. At one time, I think he was cutting every man’s hair that lived there. Then when Charles got so bad, Leon would come over every night and just sit and talk to Charles. He kept Charles’ hair cut and also shaved him. One night Leon was coming in and Charles said, Leon is that you? Leon of course said yes. Charles said, “I love you Leon.” I can still hear Leon laugh as he said, “well Charles I love you too!” Then Charles said, “But Leon, I REALLY LOVE you!” Charles was not the type to show his emotions like that, and I will never forget it. Leon is a year younger than me, and Leon always liked to tell everybody that. Of course, it isn’t even a full year. After Charles died, Leon and I became very close. He helped me with so many things at my house, and he also went with me to some places. One morning he went with me when I was having some blood work done. When I came out, he said, “Let’s go to Nancy and Bobby’s house.” I called to make sure they were home and off we went. When we would leave, we would usually be gone until dark. One night he built a great big bon fire and nobody would sit down there with us. We sat by the fire and talked and talked. His granddaughter, Kristin, said we were just alike. I asked her, how? Kristin said, “You and Poppy just strike up conversations with complete strangers.” A couple of months ago, Leon and Debbie learned something terrible—cancer. I’ve never seen anyone go down so fast. I’m losing one of my best friends. I just can’t understand why, but I know that God’s timing is never our timing. My mother-in-law told me one time that if you live long enough, you will see more and more of your friends and family die. I’m beginning to see that more and more. I can only say that it is not easy. There are no words to describe the pain and the sense of not knowing what to do. I told Leon today that I loved him, and he responded back to me, “I’ve always loved you.” He reached up and held my hand. Oh Leon, I feel so much at a loss. I thought we had a bunch more years to have fun. I guess God wants you more. DR 12/24/13

Fantasies

We all have fantasies or sometimes I have called them my dreams. One of my fantasies is to be able to do the Viennese Waltz. I can picture myself in a beautiful long flowing gown and gliding all over a marble type floor with a wonderful dance partner. I have learned to do the basic steps in a waltz, but I would love to be able to be an expert. Well, so much for that fantasy. But, who knows, it may come true. Sometimes our fantasies do come true, only to become a nightmare. You may have had some of those. Even though you have had some to materialize and not really be as wonderful as you had imagined, don’t give up. Don’t stop dreaming. What do you think the most about? If you’re like me, you become too busy to even think about dreaming or fantasizing. Life with all of its complications may have become too much of a hassle. I had dreamed of a lifetime with my husband—well that didn’t work out. I went through a time of wondering what do I do now? So, here I go again, dreaming of what could happen in the “golden” years of my life. I can still remember my mother saying that whoever called these the golden years must have been crazy, because all my mother had seen was “rust.” We can get that way, thinking that life has dealt us a bad hand. My mother lived a long life and she only had a few years that were bad and actually the last few she didn’t even know how bad it really was and I’m very thankful for that. Well, fantasies/dreams? What are yours? Think about it. DR 9/17/13

Cell Phone Blues

I never really knew how much I was attached to my cell phone until the unthinkable happened. I’ve heard stories of other people who have dropped their phone in the lake or dropped it and it shattered or a bunch of other crazy stories, but for me to drop my phone into the toilet was absolutely one of the craziest things I’ve ever done. I never put my phone in my back pocket, but I did. I forgot it was there and well, you can imagine the rest. I dried it off, used a hair dryer, put it in rice over night. Nothing worked. My phone was dead. I had just gotten my phone about 2 months ago. I need my phone because of my work. The first thing I did was get a temporary phone. It took me all day to just learn to “answer” a call. Then, of course, the laughter of my friends—well, family. My family thought it was hilarious. My cousin even had the sound of my phone hitting the water—which by the way, I did not hear when it happened. This happened on Friday and I had to wait until Monday to get my new phone. I discovered that my insurance did not cover “water” damage. Of course, just my luck. I finally got my phone and I had a backup from my previous Iphone 4. When my daughter tried to recover it all, it required a password. Neither one of us remembered putting a password on that. We tried every password we had ever used—nothing worked. Fortunately, she recovered my apps from ITunes. She downloaded each one separately. I got most of my things back, but I also lost some things. It was a costly, time consuming, nerve wracking experience. I even bought a new cover that is waterproof, dustproof, and snow proof. Guess what? I can’t use it. I went out to show houses and my adapter for the ekey would not fit. I had to remove the cover. I just hope that Verizon will let me get my money back. My advice to all cell phone owners—this could happen to you. I never thought that I would be a victim. DR 9/6/13