The Big Night...For Massey And For Me

It's hard to believe that almost fifteen years ago this same time I was on complete bed rest waiting for Massey to make her entrance into my life.


She came into this world in a BIG way , my placenta rupturing and having an emergency C-section at 4:20 AM...almost three months early.

She was a tiny thing barely 4 pounds and didn't make a peep until she was almost a year old. She was a pensive quiet toddler who came into her own by first grade and hasn't stopped talking or going since.



She has blossomed over the years into a young woman who is not only my favorite daughter but my best friend.

Tonight she went to her first prom (she's already beating my record...I didn't go to any).

My husband came downstairs this morning where I was watching the news on TV to cook breakfast. If things hadn't worked out for us I was sending him to Waffle House to apply...he can cook a mean stinkin' breakfast...home fries and all! I asked what Massey was doing and he said she was upstairs getting ready...for Pete's sake it was 8:30 in the morning!

She has a mass of curly hair that she hates and every one else loves and was upstairs with a straightener smoothing out her locks. Once AGAIN we were blessed...A friend loaned her a dress and she went as another girl's date who had tickets. I gave her $20 to eat with because they were going to Texas Roadhouse and that was the extent of my cost. I decided she needed a corsage and bought her an inexpensive wrist corsage from Publix.

We came home from the grocery store and sat out in the back yard for an hour while I gave her a manicure and a pedicure. Purple polish (of course) to match her dress and she marched back upstairs to work on her Medusa curls one more time.

I had to be at work by 5:30 and all the kids were meeting at 5:00 for pictures so it worked out great for me. I took her over to another guard parent's house where every one was meeting and took a ton of pictures and made this short video.

These wonderful parents had rented a small bus and took the kids to eat at Texas Roadhouse and then on to the prom and back home again. The dad who drove them even had a digital sign flashing above the windshield saying "Congratulations class of 2010, East Coweta High School" or something to that effect.

I gave my girl a kiss and hug, left her smiling and went to work with one minute to spare when I walked through the door at work.

WELCOME TO CHAOS !!

The place was packed (a good thing) and between the usual Saturday night crowd and two Proms on the same night the joint was hopping.

I had six tables before I had been clocked in for five minutes. The next two hours seemed like two days and I made a few mistakes...none that the customers knew about. Just having to have certain drinks transferred to another ticket because I was so overwhelmed and rang them on the wrong ticket. I cashed out one table when I meant to cash out another and had to have it pulled back (a lot of server mumbo jumbo...but basically it means I goofed up.)

Luckily nothing outrageous happened like me having to pay for anything myself and by 7:00 I could breathe again.

Nothing like "trial by fire" to get you learning the ropes. If I could have FOUND a rope around 6:00 I may have put it around my neck.

As usual every one I work with helped me through the crunch and somehow I made great money and walked out the door shaking, tired but SUCCESSFUL!

If I can make it through the shift I just worked...I CAN MAKE IT.

Picked Massey up when the bus rolled back home, dumped her in bed and started this blog.

When I went to the mailbox at home earlier today, I received a card and gift from a relative that has been related to me all my life but who I have only recently met. The card read: "Just think of this as a little time-out in the game...a chance to consider your options, design some new plays. And remember...lots of people are cheering for you. Especially us." These wonderful new found relatives have once again sent me hope and help when I have needed it the most. My life has been humbled and blessed all at the same time.

It is a good day to be a "Leach"... the family I was lucky enough to be born into. Without family, friends and the great God upstairs I hate to think what would have become of me and my family. Instead I am giving Thanks, picking up my girl from her first prom, wiping my brow from a butt kicking at work and feel the strength to do it all again.

The words come back to me that the Neurologist asked my father to say when he was in the hospital before he died from West Nile ... trying to determine his lucidity and awareness.

"Today is a sunny day."

Indeed it is.

Til next time... Continually Grateful COTTON