Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Day of life.

Today was a day of celebration. Sometimes the hardest part of
Celebration is learning that it isn't always good. We celebrate change even though we don't always like it. I've come to know that as New Years or your birthday. :) like when you are scared to death of turning 25but especially, when someone is called home.
      I learned today that it is always okay to host a garden party. You will forever be remembered for being the lovely host with the ridiculous, but necessary, hats and beautiful tea cups. That no one will remember that you didn't have enough creamer for the coffee but that your cream puffs were to die for and the company wasn't bad either. 
     On that note,  to always drive 90 miles an hr because those make the best stories and to live that metaphorically in life. We should always be ready to hang on by the seat of our pants and enjoy the ride. Whether it be to Georgia to go peach picking or Tampa to get fruits and veggies at the best farmers market around. 
     I learned also that colors are good for you and to be a sunflower among the weeds.  My life and my clothes should reflect that, my words and my actions should shine. I learned that my talk better be backed up with my walk because, lord knows, I ain't trying to have awful stories said about me. 
     But most of all, I learned to be transparent. Sitting in the church listening to countless people give their testimony on how Mrs. Janice had touched these people's hearts young and old, she never held
Back. Over and over, people Commented on how you never had to guess what she was thinking. It was right there for you. No matter what she went through, or the trials that she faced in her journey she never let it bring her down. She sat up, dusted herself off, and kept on truckin. 
         So today, we celebrated life. Life to its fullest. Skirtin into those pearly gates  by the seat of her pants and letting a good holler escape before making it into Gloryland. My word.. What a great image. 

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Graceful rodeos.

             Last night was probably one of those times in every persons life that is horrifying. Wrecking their car. Obviously for me, 1. I have done this many times;  one when I was 16 and I backed into someone's truck... The time when I wasn't thinking and hit the gas as I was putting makeup on and I hit an old ladies car,
 That other time in college when I was so tired that I gently nudged some woman's car, another time in college when I busted some mans tail light... 
     Those are only the ones I can think of and I don't even want to think of the times I have been stopped by an actual cop but that is besides the point. It's likely to say, this wasn't my first rodeo.                And
Yet it was, because for the first time it wasn't my car, nor was I the one driving it. 
It was Caleb. 
       Which in turn made it that much scarier and I am pretty sure at one point I just about  had a heart attack. We were stopping to get food on our way home and he overcompensated in the parking spot. Thus, scratching an older man's dodge ram 2009. To be exact. 
   Now in my learnin to drive stages, I had a few fender benders; 1st paragraph to name a few, and I understand the gravity of this situation... But that being said, I always had someone to be the adult and tell me how to handle these crisis. Last night, I became the adult. I never had to deal with a cop, or an irate man, or a hundred million gawkers. For some unknown reason ( I think it's because I have a southern accent and I cried) I was let off with a stern talking to, or a sympathy pat, or once with a thumbs up because there was no scratch. Poor Caleb got it all. The man was yelling... The cops got called and amounts of cash were being thrown out like we were at an auction. It was not pleasant
     He handled it like an adult. So much better than I would have at 17. I realized then how much he has grown up.           
So much better than I would have at 17. I realized then how much he has grown up. He's not my kid anymore. 
     The day before that as I was grumbling about some petty thing that he did and talking about how he would never survived in college, I realized I was wrong. He would. He would excel and succeed. Not because now he learned how to actually park that huge truck.. Or that he got publicly humiliated in the town of Mayo.. It was because he learned to handle a problem with grace. Not even many adults can say they can do that. 
         
        .