Softly and Tenderly

This is not my normal upbeat, funny little blog, but it needs to be said....

Softly and Tenderly, it's one of my favorite hymns. They played it at my mammaw's funeral 3 years ago. She was the inspiration little girls only hope for. Her beauty, style and grace was simply amazing. She always taught "me pretty is as pretty does" in fact, my cousin/sister gave me a pendant that I wear with the cross mammaw gave me- I never take it off. It reminds me of who I am and where I came from... But she's not really the reason I am writing today.

Often times we get caught up in our day to day lives with the small things like traffic and work issues getting to us. Some of you reading this are in the middle of a war so you all excluded from that statement. We sometimes forget the precious moments some people will never enjoy.

I want to tell you the story of Daniel. Up until he turned 13 he was a normal boy, playing with his friends, skinning up his knees and doing normal boy things. He was and still is the apple of his parents eyes. But when Daniel turned 13, he became very sick, it was an extremely rare disease that took his innocence from him. The doctors told his parents to put him in a nursing home but they refused. They decided to take care of him at home until he absolutely had to go into a nursing home. His mother worked days and his father worked nights so they could care for their only son. There were no prom dates, no football games, no being grounded for breaking curfew, all Daniel's parents wanted was for him to live, that's all, just to live.

Daniel eventually had to go into a nursing home and today he is slowly slipping away. The doctors have told his parents, he may go tonight, or tomorrow, they just don't know how long poor little Daniel will linger. By the way, Daniel is now 24. He wasn't even supposed to live this long. But by his sheer will to live and through the love his parents, he blessed us all by teaching us what real courage is.

Daniel's parents probably will not have the merriest of Christmas' because their grief is immeasurable right now, but what they are left with is the memory of one of the most amazing children any parent could ask for. It's a memory we can all share.

Today, I imagine my mammaw standing at the gate waiting to welcome sweet Daniel home. I'm pretty sure he's going to love her. I can also hear my favorite hymn...
Softly and Tenderly Jesus is calling, calling for you and for me...
See on the portals he's waiting and watching for you and for me;
Come home, come home, ye who are weary come home....

I feel blessed to even have known Daniel's name and to his parents... you are angels among us..

Work it, Work it, Own It, Own it

That's one of my favorite lines from Pretty Woman.. I think of it when it's time to go honky tonkin' down on lower Broadway in Nashvegas. Yes I'm talking about the World Famous Tootsies, Roberts and the Stage... I get all dressed up, by dressed up I mean, wearing the most fabulous fitting faded Ralph Lauren Jeans and the ever famous lowcut (but tasteful) black tank (from Ann Taylor no less), along with either black boots or black stilletos (depends on the season). I usually curl my hair so that it's a little wild.. you know, the kind of hair that if you're dancing and swinging your head around your hair just looks that much sexier?? The eye make-up is a little more dramatic and the lipstick is glossy, very kissable....

So then I get in the car and crank up some party music, usually the CD my friend made me for my 30th b-day.. It's the best mix!! When I walk into the bar to meet the girls, it's like I own the place and I'm giving off the vibe of "Come and get it boys" .....

But to me, it's all just a very fun game b/c there ain't no way any one of them is coming home with me or getting within 10 feet of these lips... Even if he does buy my drinks all night. He might, MIGHT get my number, but it's doubtful...

But then it's back to work on Monday, the pristine Junior Leaguer is back but that wild honky tonkin, beer drinkin', dancin fool is still dying to get out... and when she comes out and I take that last look at myself as I going out the door, I can hear "Work it, Work it, Own it, Own it" ....

Thanks Meg for the inspiration....

Tick Pie

Ever heard of it?? Well I had not heard of it until yesterday. I went to lunch with some of my girlfriends after church, these are the Steel Magnolias... 2 of them are from Mississippi, the other 2 are from Georgia.. All of them are hysterical.. Oh and we all go to different churches, 2 of the girls are Church of Christ, one is Baptist, and one is a former Baptist, now a Catholic... I'm somewhere in the middle as Methodist.. But we all love Jesus!! Let's just be clear about that..

I met them all in the Junior League and despite what you have heard there are some really cool ladies in the league, these 4 included. We all love our mommas and our daddys and we love being with our families..

Yesterday there were only 4 of us, one of the other Georgia girls was still out of town, so we tried to make do... there was a small point of contention though.... the Egg Bowl (football game between Ole Miss and Miss.State) was played on Saturday and Miss.State won.. The Mississipi girls are split right down the middle, one went to State, the other to Ole Miss... Ole Miss is apparently having a season as bad as my vols...But we soon got passed that... Apparently the rivalry between the two schools is pretty fierce. One Mississippi State fan told me that at her house when they would ask the blessing at dinner, they would finish by saying "Go to hell Ole Miss"... Fierce, but you gotta love SEC football...

So back to the lunch, we were all sitting around talking about our Thanksgiving and one of the Georgia girls said their Mammaw makes tick pie, the Mississppi girls seemed to know what this was. Obviously I had a look of "what in tarnation are y'all talking about" on my face b/c they all started laughing. Now in Tennessee, we have some wierd meals- the Speaker of the Tennessee State House holds a Coon Supper every year. That's right, I said Coon, as in Racoon... We also had a fierce debate in the state house about road kill a couple of years ago.. so I'm used to odd meals and odd things in general, but TICK PIE?? It was quickly explained to me that some people put raisins in there sweet potato or pumpkin pies. When the pie is baking the raisins plump and they look like swelled up ticks- hence the name.... I love the SOUTH!!!

So if you really want to freak someone out ( especially yankees) tell em you had a wonderful thanksgiving and the Tick Pie was especially delicious!!

My dirty little secret

Remember when I said there were layers to my personality, much like the layers of an onion? Well here goes another one. As a proud member of the Junior League, I am supposed to be this pristine upstanding member of society and for the most part I am... But there's a secret side to me, my dirty little secret that would surely get me kicked out of the League, maybe not kicked out but certainly noses would turn up at the secret I am about to reveal.... Here goes... I am a RAGING Nascar fan!!! There I said it... I love Nascar, my driver is of course #8 Dale Earnhardt Jr. .... Usually every Sunday I would rush home after church to watch the race...But since the season ended last Sunday- Congrats to Tony Stewart and the Joe Gibbs Racing team for winning the Nextel Nascar Championship- and with the Vols season ending today, no post season bowl game, I am going into a period of mourning. That is until February when Nascar shifts back into gear with the Daytona 500....

I am a self procalimed sports junkie.. My parents instilled the love of sports in me. My mom has been taking me to UT football games since I was 5. I can talk football with the best of them. My momma used to tell me not to talk about football with guys b/c they would be intimidated by it... But as I've gotten older, I figured out that if a guy is intimidated by my knowledge of football, then we really don't need to be dating.. I went out with this one guy, very nice, nice looking, great job, etc... Well, when I asked him what his favorite college football team was, he said "I'm not really into sports, I would rather spend my Saturday curled up on the couch watching a good movie" I almost passed out... I was thinking either this guy was gay or just telling what he "thought" I wanted to hear. To say the least, we didn't go out again...

My daddy (yes, I am 30 years old and I still call him Daddy- it's a southern thing) is a Gamecock fan, has been for 25 years. They are used to losing seasons, he has been my counselor through the Vols losing season this year. If it weren't for football and Nascar, Daddy and I would have nothing to talk about...So precious is my Daddy!!

So there you have it, another layer... Underneath the Cardigan sweaters and pearls lies a sports loving beast..It's my dirty little secret...But I assure there are plenty more where that came from....

How's your mom and them?

How's your mom and them? A common way to greet a fellow southerner. It covers the concern you have for their mom and the whole family. Southerner understand it, yankees are confused by it... We don't really care, but it's this wierd courtesy type of thing. The common response is 'oh just fine'.....

So this morning, mother and I decide we are going to brave the crowds and go shopping on this the holiest of shopping days, Black Friday, i.e. the day after Thanksgiving... We are not those crazy women that camp out at the local Wal-Mart in order to get the $25 DVD player, we went out at about 9:00, b/c by then all of those crazy people have had to go home and take a nap...

Before the shopping commenced we stopped at the local resturant for breakfast.

Sidebar: My mother knows everyone in our hometown, or least the West end. I couldn't do anything growing up without someone calling my momma or blabbing about it at church... We can't go to the grocery or to the mall without running into someone she knows... She is the typical southern woman, she had a debutaunte season, and she is from "good people"...

We go in to the resturant and three of the employees there come running up to mother and hug her neck and say things like "we haven't seen you in a month of Sundays" ... So we spent about 30 minutes catching up on these peoples lives... I swear two other people came up to our table and started talking to her and she seemed interested and concerned about these people's lives.. What was funny was that one of these people talked with her for a good 5 minutes, he walked away and she said ' I have no idea who that was' NO LIE... It was hysterical. Instead of saying "who the hell are you?" she sat there like the good little southern lady that she is, nodded and smiled until they went away...

The quickest way to start a fight at a mall during the holidays: CUT LINE.... I almost had to break one up today.. These ladies and I are standing in line for the bathroom, I would say there were about 5 of us standing there. We're all kind of chatting about the bargains, the crowds and whatnot, it's what southern women do... We socialize at every available opportunity. Well, this woman, walks right past all of us right up to the bathroom door. The woman in front of me looked at me and said "oh no she didn't", she was ready to fight! A grown woman... I put my hand on her arm as to say "I've got this one".... I said to the woman, (i.e. the cutter) and said
"excuse maam, but the line is back here" ... She looked at me and honestly said, "I didn't know there was a line"... NO LIE... As if we were all standing there for our health... Amazing....

It's like people switch from semi intelligent to pure stupid the day after Thanksgiving... It's only going to get worse... But just remember, when you see someone you know, give em a wave and say "How's your mom and them" .... They'll know what you mean... =)

5 minutes of pure joy

Ok- I know what some of you are thinking, so get your minds out of the gutter...

Let me start at the beginning. My family as I have stated before is well...different. My cousin who we will call Tina is 10 years older than me, we grew up together and we are more like sisters than cousins, and I am more like an aunt to her kids. Our moms were sisters, I say were b/c Tina's mother died suddenly 3 years ago of a brain annuerism (sp??), so my mom stepped up and is surrogate grandmother to her her kids. Her kids consist of two teenage gilrs (18 and 16) and 3 year old little boy (second marriage). All three of them are blessings from the good Lord above but that doesn't mean that I don't want to knock them into next week at times.

A sidebar: Yes, we DO beleive in spankings, there was no naughty corner or time out at my house growing up. It was one of those things where my parents put the fear of God in me. All my momma had to say to me was, "I'm gonna tell your daddy" and that was IT for me. Just the thoughts that my daddy would be disappointed in me was enough to make me behave... My parents were great that way...

So at Thanksgiving tonight, after dinner we all kind of spread out, It was just me, momma, Tina and the 3 year old, we'll call him Thomas. Finding Nemo came on so Thomas and I started to watch it. Something amazing happened, Thomas came over to my chair and climbed up into my lap and just sat there for a full 5 minutes. The reason it's so amazing is that he never lets you hold him, let alone love you like that. I sat there with him and I was almost moved to tears. The love I have for him and his sisters is amazing. I prayed at that moment with Thomas on my lap that God would please bless me enough to have something as wonderful a child. It was 5 minutes of pure joy...

Ok, now you've seen my mushy side. My deepest darkest wish is to be married, have kids and take care of my family. It seems old fashioned, but that's who I am... Another layer to the onion revealed..

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and I hope you all had a least 5 minutes of pure joy...

Bueller...Bueller...Bueller

Ok so it's the day before Thanksgiving and there is no one, I mean no one at work, ANYWHERE. Rememeber in Ferris Bueller's Day Off (classic movie of my generation) when Ben Stein is standing up there calling out Bueller, Bueller?? That's what it is like at work today..
I'm getting ready to head east to my mom's house for the big turkey day. She is all excited, she loves to cook Thanksgiving Dinner, and let me tell you it's some good stuff!! But getting home is the big adventure, the roads are clogged with idiots that apparently have never driven long distances before and have no concept of anything around them. For instance, and this happens everyday on my commute to and from work, let's just stop in the middle of the Interstate (another indication that I am from the south, we call it the Interstate, not the highway, or the expressway) and change lanes, who cares if we just have sit here while traffic backs up, the changing of the lanes must be done!!

Ok, so I'm not allowed to participate in the cooking of the Thanksgiving Dinner, it's mother's thing.... God help my the man I marry, b/c I cannot cook and do not begin to understand how to cook a Thanksgiving meal. Some mothers would teach their daughters these things but my mother has the patience of a nat and fusses at me the whole time. So in order to avoid an argument, I just sit in the living room and watch TV. It's actually a pretty good set up...

This Thanksgiving I am very aware of the service men and women that cannot be home with their families. So as you are sitting around the table remember their sacrifice, maybe even set a place for them at the table... They are the reason we can have a big dinner and enjoy the freedoms we have...

Here we go

So anyway, I call myself a lost beachgirl b/c I left the beach when I was 4 years old, thanks to my parents divorce (no seriously, I'm actually glad they got divorced, both parents are great though). The only time I feel truly at peace is when I am sitting on Folly Beach (near Charleston,SC). I love the sounds, the smells, everything about the beach.

I've never done a blog but I hear they are cathartic in a way so there's not a whole lot to tell really but here goes:

- I love my family, most of the time, ok all of the time. We're southerners so sometimes it's a love hate thing.

-I am as southern as they come, funny thing, the more adult beverages I consume, the more southern my accent becomes. When I start quoting from Steel Magnolias, the girls know to cut me off...

-I love college football which makes this year very hard for me... My mighty Vols literally stink this year, we got beat by, dare I say it out loud, Vanderbilt.... Oh the shame of it all.

- I am a traditional lady (my mammaw always said there was a difference between a woman and a lady). You can open doors for me, buy me things, and flowers are a must.

-I am single, much to the dismay of my precious mother (I am her only child, my daddy has a son, my precious younger brother who is the light of my life). Nevermind the fact that I graduated from college, moved away from home (ok, so it's only two and a half hours, but it's just enough), bought a house and am successful in my career. This woman wants to plan a wedding then a baby shower a year from the moment I say "I Do".... I have to admit I want to get married as well, and have babies, but I'm not settling for just anybody.

Ok now you have the basics, but just like an onion there are many more layers to this pretty little southern girl. Some of the layers aren't that pretty and some of them are down right crazy, but in the south, we put our crazy people on display for everyone to see...