Too Much Too Little Too Late

I went by the post office today to buy a book of stamps. The line was long and slow moving. Before I went in the door, passed two women taping up about six large boxes for mailing on the trunk of their car. I noticed a couple of them were packed with food items. I smiled, said hello and simply asked "Puerto Rico?" One of the women replied they were for family members. I simply told them "God Bless you all...and I'm so sorry this country has been so slow to react to help those American citizens. It's embarrassing, and I apologize."

I got inside and found a long and slow moving line. Every person in there besides me and one African American dude were Hispanic, shuffling forward in line, moving a pile of taped up boxes along with them...doing what they could to help out family and friends back home, living in more than catastrophic conditions.

I have been a server for almost forty years and worked with more Hispanic people than a lot of people ever will. They are quite literally the back bone of the restaurant industry. They are some of the hardest working people I've ever met, from bussers to dishwashers to utility to cooks to sous chefs. Off hand I can't think of one lazy Hispanic person I've ever worked with. I'm sure there are a few, but more often than not, they are hard working, great producers and many of them send part of their paycheck back home to help other family members.
He's from Puerto Rico and most of his family is still there. They don't have power, they don't have water, they don't have gas or diesel for generators, they don't have ice or even food. The hospitals don't even have power.

How can this government, our government, my government have waited so long to help these American Citizens?

Everyone here, in their air conditioned house with mobile devices and internet wants to go on and on and on about NFL players (peacefully) protesting police brutality while American citizens are literally dying, living with inhumane conditions while enduring tropical heat.



That's what we need to be going on and on and on about. That's what should bother people the most.


Another thing which bothered me was seeing all those people in the United States Post Office paying to mail all these heavy packages. One woman in front of me paid seventy dollars. Can't we allow these packages to be mailed for free?

I don't have a lot of money, but  have all the necesitites and even amenities of a pretty great life. I have a job where I can make more money any time I pick up an extra shift and walk out the door with it...that night.

Here's what I can do.

I can take this stash of water we have stockpiled in our garage when Tim's company delivered it before and after Irma hit and can take all the baby wipes we bought, wondering if we'd need them to bathe with if the water went out and ran out. I can take the huge bag of every size battery known to man that we have and drop it all off at the American Red Cross to be shipped to Puerto Rico. I have so many clothes I never wear, spare flip flops, even extra paper towels in the garage. I have enough spare sheets to make beds for ten people. I have enough canned goods to feed us for two weeks.

None of this will go very far in Puerto Rico, but if every stateside American did the same, it would.


My offering is a grain of sand, but if the other 323.1 million people living here did the same, it would make a huge difference to millions in Puerto Rico, with nothing gone but things you had to spare.

Katrina wasn't kind to NOLO, Texas was devastated recently as well, the Keys took an awful hit too and even people here in Orlando are still flooded...but they are here. We can reach them and help them rebuild.

The Alchemist is the first book I've ever read with a highlighter in my hand the entire time. There are enough inspirational quotes in that book to change even the sorriest person on earth.

I recently bought a copy for someone who has been struggling. I thought they needed to read it. I started to loan him my copy but I have so many things high lighted in mine that it feels like a part of my soul.

I have faith.

I have doubts, just like I had today, but also think that positvity begets positivity. I've been through a lot this past decade...but millions and millions of others have gone through so much more and actually makes me grateful for our tiny downward blip on the grand screen of life.



I gotta give credit where credit is due.

I left the computer in our bedroom while finishing this blog, went into the kitchen and asked my husband as I passed by, who was sitting three feet away in our tiny temp rental living room what song tied this blog together?

Bam!!

This guy...we met, both broke as jokes but flourished then failed but always remained steadfast.

He nailed it.

All you have to do is "give a little bit."

Till next time...COTTON

Stupid Obviously Can't Be Fixed

I left work tonight around ten. I had to stop for a couple of things at the store so decided to go by the Neighborhood Market which didn't close until eleven. It's a smaller WalMart, selling only things you'd find in any other grocery store. When I went in the front door, the manager was standing behind the only open checkout, usually go down to one the last hour. There was a more than biggish woman,  standing at the front of the line, with her (I guess) daughter who appeared to be about eight or nine. She had about fifty coupons spread out over the counter and was complaing o the manager. As I passed the produce section directly behind them, heard the manager saying "This one and this one are duplicated and can't be used. Any others that are duplicated or fraudulent can't be used either"

I picked up my four items and returned to the checkout. The line was ten people deep by then. One couple had a buggy so full it looked like one of those plates people heap food on at the Golden Corral when they seem to think it's gonna run out of food before they get to go back through the all you can eat buffet.

The woman was still arguing and showed the manager some app on her cell phone. The manager explained that one had expired....and that one, and that one too. The line now wrapped around the corner and back into one of the aisles.

They opened up two other lanes and we all split like the Red Sea.

Bitch please...who do you think you're fooling? Certainly not this manager. She is a small Asian woman who I really like a lot. She lines her eyes like a Geisha and I think it is so cool looking, mainly because it is. She is always helpful and always speaks to me and the other customers and seems to treat her employees with respect. Once two other lanes opened up, things started rolling.

The scamstress was still protesting but by this time, every other person was rolling their eyes at her as well.

By the time I got to my cashier, the manager was taking away four bags of food to return from the woman. As she walked away from the woman, carrying the bags, I could see a smirk of well deserved satisfaction on her face.

Well done, Geisha Girl!

On top of trying to basically steal items, this woman had brought her own daughter in with her to witness the fact. What is wrong with people?

By the time I finally made it out of the store with my four items, the crook was depositing her one bag and daughter into a Lexus which sat running with a male waiting behind the wheel. She handed him the receipt and he was scrutinizing it as I put my paid for items into my own car.

You know, I don't know their story but I know right from wrong...and so do they.


This is the problem we have in this wonderful country where I live. You have one bad apple who wants to spoil the whole bunch.

Well, us good apples need (and must) stand up and say to that one bad apple:

There are a lot more good people in this world than bad people. Sometimes you have to stand up and say "I'm simply not going to take this anymore."




Then we also have Americans in Puerto Rico living like this...for probably months and months and months.

I didn't vote for Trump, but he is my President now. Not happy about it but is what it is.

What bothers me most (lately) is that after Maria, he Tweeted once about Puerto Rico four days after the storm. He Tweeted seventeen times a few days later in one day about NFL players taking a knee.

And let me remind you, the 'taking a knee' has never been really about the flag or our military. It's been about police brutality...which is  unfortunately real. Another 'one bad apple' example.

Yes Puerto Ricans are on an island..."In the middle of an ocean". That's where most islands are.

We are a nation with warships, barges and aircraft carriers at our disposal. Load them up with utility trucks and supplies to help these people (our people) survive, and do it yesterday, for Pete's sake!

We can worry about the kneeling after we help the ones reeling; from a disastrous and catastrophic slam from Mother Nature.


Just saying...

COTTON

Three Hundred Sixty Five Days Later

On this day, last year, us Clampetts "Loaded up our truck and moved to Orlan-dee. Sand that is. Hot sun and leezards galore."

Amazingly enough, it's worked out for the best...although I had my doubts at first. The first punch came when the airport didn't immediately hire me. It was a hard blow to take, especially when I thought I would be back to work in a day or two. It took almost a month, and was a pretty agonizing
time for me mentally. Depression is a brutal adversary.

The second punch came before ever getting over the first one. After four days, Zach turned tail and went back to Georgia, homesick. It broke my heart. Seems ironic considering since he and I butted heads more than I ever have with my other two kids. I guess my relationship with Zach just proves that what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, and has made us both pretty strong(willed). It actually has made us closer. He and I talk more now than we did when he lived with us in our house in Newnan, and both end every single phone call with "I love you".

We've finally just come to terms with butting heads from four hundred miles away. In hindsight, seems like a good buffer. Bonus points, he tells me he loves me a lot more often now.

At least my sister is there to keep an eye on him too if he ever needs anything.

TJ has moved on and up as well.

Our oldest has moved from Orlando to North Carolina, which saddens me but has done great with his life and is a wonderful young man who is providing for his own family and pretty much knocking life out of the park.

Then there's my ride or die.

Massey and I have (luckily) always been close but this past year has made me realize exactly how much I truly depend on her love, wisdom, support and yes, even occasional criticism. Growing up, especially after mama died when I had just turned seventeen, I had Cindy...

Growing old, I have Massey.

Life doesn't get much better than that...or this.

After twenty nine years, we're still together. It's been the ride of a lifetime, with more than a couple of bumps along the way but nobody said it'd be easy.

 I can say with (pretty much) complete conviction that I have lived rather than just exist. What you put into life is what you get out of it.


I've done my best to reach out to stay in contact with friends and relatives back home. There's nothing I like better than writing, and by that  mean putting pen to paper. There is something wonderful about going to your mailbox and seeing a hand written letter or card waiting for you. I have written well over a hundred letters, probably more and have heard back from so many about how much it meant to them.

You know what?

It means a lot to me as well.

Right after my battle with depression when arriving here to find myself unemployed, and Massey kind of feeling lonely too...this happened.

My manager from my old job came to visit us.

Then several of Massey's friends came to visit as well. I love when company visits, you always clean house better.

Then I made friends here.

I can't tell you how much I love these three or how happy it makes me to call them my friends . We are all totally so different it's a wonder we ever bonded. Then again, opposites attract. Always have, always will...take my marriage, please. (huge Rodney Dangerfield pun).

So here we are, one year later.

Older and hopefully wiser.

Looking forward to what our future will bring.

Till next time...

COTTON

Flawda Peach

Pretty much.


Yesterday made it one year to the day since I left my job at the world's busiest airport.

It was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do. It was an exciting adventure and job which literally threw more money my way than I'd ever made before.

 Over one hundred million people travel through this airport in less than a years' time. I met people from all walks of life and from all over the globe.

I also made a lot of friends.

Not too many of them have kept in touch, which is kind of sad but all these guys have.

I've kept in close touch with my managers and pretty sure I always will. He's visited us here and we've visited him there, and talxt (text and talk) to each other about once a week. He's awesome.

So I've almost survived my first year here as a Flawda Peach. No easy feat and had lots of twists and turns before happiness finally set in, but it did. The beach being thirty minutes away has been the best therapy of all.

After a shaky start, landed in a pretty great restaurant here as well. Excellent management and have made some really close friends. I felt totally out of place for the first four or five months but have found my groove and think I am a pretty good asset to them as well.

Once a week we have live entertainment. Last night was my favorite so far. Just a guy and his guitar, singing all the songs I love. In other words, he was old school...like me. At the end of my shift I was going to clock out and was getting my lunch box from my locker in the kitchen. Two other servers were rolling silverware. We were all talking about how much we liked the musician. I commented that he sang one of my favorite songs, "Creep". The female server (one of my besties) said "Yeah, you are a weirdo" to which I replied,  "I'm so effin special!" The male server rolling silverware with her cracked up.

The dude definitely has a set of pipes! This version is from 1994. I'd say it's one of my top three songs.

I've done a lot of thinking about life since moving from my home state of fifty six years.

Guess I simply decided to follow the sun I love so much. Sounds crazy since hot flashes are my nemesis but spent every summer back in Georgia out in my yards for hours on end. I'll always miss you Georgia, but tomorrow may rain so, I followed the sun.

One day you'll look to see I've gone
For tomorrow may rain, so I'll follow the sun
Some day you'll know I was the one
But tomorrow may rain, so I'll follow the sun

And now the time has come
And so my love I must go
And though I lose a friend
In the end you will know, oooh

One day you'll find that I have gone
But tomorrow may rain, so I'll follow the sun

I'm at peace for the first time in quite a while. The adjustment has been hard being away from my sister but think it will all be okay now. I love my job and my job seems to love me. Tim is knocking his job out of the park and doing incredibly well. Massey graduates from college in a few short weeks and has been my ride or die since moving here, and wouldn't have made it without her.

TJ is doing great with his new job in North Carolina after his recent promotion.My nephew and his wife are renting our home in Newnan and taking great care of it.

Zach calls me at least once a week and always ends every call with "I love you, Mom."

What more could a person hope for?


You can always hope for more, but always be grateful for what you have been given.


I do, and I am.

Till next time, COTTON

How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria?

Oh for Pete's sake, Irma just left and here comes Maria. It's supposed to be affecting us by Tuesday.

                                                   

                                                    Bitch...please.


I thought we were prepared for Irma. Seems we really weren't. Hindsight is always 20/20.

The day before Irma was to hit they cautioned everyone to be hunkered down by six PM. Of course I came across a really good recipe on Facebook at five thirty so headed out to purchase the two missing ingredients. Went to five or six stores...all were closed. I was heading back to the house when I saw a little market still open on a corner in a small shopping strip mall.

It's called Lucky's Market. I bet I'd driven by it a hundred times. I always assumed it was an oriental market run by Hop Sing and his wife, who he loved long time. Well Hop Sing was my hero now with that open sign glaring and I swung into the parking lot.

Holy Shitake Mushrooms!

It was like Whole Foods for half the price. All organic and a lot of house made items. The had their own butcher shop, made their own sausages, baked goods, deli items, enormous selection of bulk nuts, trail mix, candies and dried fruits. In the front section was a pseudo Starbucks which also serves beer and wine. You gotta love a shopping buggy with a cup holder for your alcoholic beverage while you shop.

They were closing in ten minutes to had to hurry but after Irma, Massey and I went back shopping and took all these photos. The day we went they even had a three piece band playing. It's the most fun I've ever had grocery shopping. Huge beer and wine selection, you can even create your own six pack. We even found Atlanta's own SweetWater 420.

Anyhoo...back to Irma.

Just when I thought it would be okay, it wasn't. I've never heard such wind and rain, for hours and hours and hours. We could hear pieces of the house flapping and tearing and clanging...all in the middle of the night, with no power and only battery operated visor lights. It was a long night and the storm went well into the morning hours.

We made it. We were all alive and had a roof over our heads. No back yard fence or many roof shingles left and lots of huge branches down, but felt pretty lucky.

The first day after wasn't too bad, it was still extremely breezy and we opened all the windows and sliding glass door.

The second day was like living in a crock pot set on high...a long slow simmering twenty four hours. All the ice melted and so did our frozen food. The refrigerator smelled like a three day old crime scene.

Lesson number one learned about surviving a hurricane...don't stock up a refrigerator or freezer. The ice always runs out and you'll never have enough.

I did come up with a good idea. I sent a text to our sous chef at work and asked if he was planning on going to check on the restaurant? He said he was and I asked if we could meet him there to fill up our cooler with ice?

Bingo! At least we had cold drinks. Our food was already all spoiled but a cold Co Cola sures tastes good, not to mention a cold beer.

By the third day I thought about walking across the intersection to the old folks home with their annoyingly loud generators humming away and committing myself. It was ninety degrees before noon, was only going to get hotter and knew I couldn't last much longer. Tim took a cold shower, I couldn't muster the strength to even sit up. Massey had bought a small spray water bottle with a tiny battery operated fan on the top. I went through four sets of batteries and kept it a foot away from me at all times.

Since I hogged the only fan in the house, Tim and Massey ventured out in search of food. They had been gone about two hours, probably just enjoying riding in an air conditioned vehicle (and couldn't blame them).

Not to mention, through all of this, our three dogs never complained once (not that they could have) but knew it couldn't be too much fun to sit around in an eighty five degree house wearing a fur coat you couldn't take off. With no fence we had to walk three dogs, three or four times a day and steer the blind one away from all the debris he couldn't see.

So I was trying to read a book, with sweat dripping into my eyes like I was outside cutting grass when suddenly I saw the lamp beside me come on. Then the TV came on as the ceiling fan slowly started to spin. I crossed my fingers and waited for it to go out again. It didn't.

I gave the A/C a fifteen minute head start, then started shutting all the windows and closing all the blinds.

The house (it's tiny) cooled off to seventy nine degrees in about an hour. It was like living in an igloo!

I had to go back to work that night, and thankfully could take a warm shower and wash a uniform. We were balls to the wall busy. People had cabin fever. The kitchen ran with a skeleton crew, some people were flooded in, some were out of power for over five days. Lots of orders got doubled in all the confusion and we ended up with a buffet of food coming back to the expo window.

One of my favorite servers was working with me that night. His power was still out. He and I met in the dish room every spare second we had, sharing and scarfing down Cape Canaveral shrimp with a chipoltle aioli and crab spring rolls with a ponzu reduction. Neither one of us had eaten warm food in days and it was wonderful to eat even luke warm leftover food.

The one good thing about Irma is she hit while we were still renting. The landlord sent a crew out yesterday, they put up a new fence and nailed tarp over the entire roof.

Work has been a double blessing. I'm eating good and the tipping gods have smiled on me. I'm making pretty good money and getting closer to 'airport' money each and every week.

And now...

We got Maria coming?

At least I'll be smarter this time. Nothing but canned fruit, peanut butter, chips and crackers. The only thing I'm icing down is drinks.


Once the power came back on and I saw the devastaion others went through, and continue to go through, know once again we are truly blessed and lucky people.

I was out back reading with the pups yesterday before work. It's a Richard Russo book, "Nobody's Fool". It's about a lot of things but also about a down and out guy (Sully)who was a football star in high school but a failure in his later life.

"Sully, it seemed, scarcely got interested in the contest until someone on the other team landed a good shot or offered an insult, after which something changed in Sully's eyes. If Sully couldn't win the game, he'd start a fight and win that. If he couldn't win the fight he'd started, he'd continue to hurl himself at whatever he couldn't beat with increased fury, as if the knowledge that the battle was unwinable heightened its importance. What Sully did better than anybody else was pick himself up off the ground, and when he returned to the huddle, bruised, nose bloodied, limping, he'd still be hurling insults over his shoulder at whoever had put him on the ground."

Sometimes you have to take off your skirt and get in the game. Ironically enough, I haven't worn a skirt in years.

We're stepping out here in Orlando, and stepping into our future. You gotta keep stepping.

 Til next time...COTTON