Venturing About

I guess this picture is from about six or seven years ago, when I still had my convertible Lil Beemer. Boy, Massey and I put some miles on that little car, taking road trips every day we could. I think this one was on our way home from The Little White House in Warm Springs.

I've been very fortunate as a mother. I have three pretty wonderful kids who are so different from each other, which makes for quite the eclectic and enjoyable mix.

We're a mixed bag of nuts, that's for sure.

I had my two sons first, then as luck would have it got a daughter the third time around.

Boys will go anywhere with you when they are still too little to argue with you or be left at home alone. Once they hit middle school, just buy them a new gaming system and cell phone, so you can reach them when you need to.

Then gas up your car and take off for any where with your daughter and go exploring.

I can honestly say Massey and I have always been pretty close over the years and feel fortunate that she will still hang out with her ole crazy momma.

Since moving to Orlando, we've gotten even closer. We love going to Cocoa Beach together or hanging around my brothers' lake house. We ventured to Mt. Dora after a co worker of mine told me about it and found the place to be absolutely enchanting.

Massey quickly made her first BFF (Ashley) after meeting our next door neighbor, a young woman in her mid twenties just embarking on her own teaching career after recently graduating from UCF. She's from New York but has been living here for several years now and has taken Massey to a lot of cool places.


Massey introduced me to one of them just the other day, and treated me to lunch.

I immediately got that feel good vibe like you get when visiting L5P in Atlanta.

You park in the back and are greeted by the coolest VW bus wedged into the fence of their garden outdoor seating area.

You order from the counter and your food is ready within the matter of less than five minutes. We ate in the garden area. This is a pic of the front of the order counter.

We carried our food out back and began to sink our teeth into the best BBQ sandwiches we've ever had.

Luckily it was the middle of the afternoon and during  the slow period so I took a quick video as we were finishing up.

The food was amazing and the vibe was even better.

 Actually Massey and I went to eat there again today. There was another woman there  for the first time and she was wowing and going on and on  about the place just as I had on my first visit.

Massey and I spent quite a bit of time tooling around all the eclectic pockets of Atlanta like L5P, Virginia Highland, Inman Park and Edgewood.

After a year here, are finally venturing out  in Orlando to discover what secrets this city holds for us.

Sometimes it's not enough to just put yourself out there. Sometimes you have to venture and discover what's out there.


I'm going to continue and enjoy my venturing about with Massey;  it will be over within a few short months.

She graduates from college in early December and will be leaving us to mark her own mark in this world. She has several different options, one of them being moving to England for a year. I think that is an excellent idea. I want her to venture even more than we have together and explore every option
open to her. She'll always be welcome here in Orlando and when we buy our house in April will be one big enough to accommodate visits from all three of our kids.

Massey never wanted to live in Orlando but came along for the ride. Thank God she did, I would have never survived without her.

One year later, think I'm okay now to survive on my own with Tim and the pups. Having a brother ten minutes down the road helps too and have made a few close friends who I can count on.

It's going to be a hard adjustment for me. For twenty two years I've had her by and on my side.


I've let both my sons go and worried for them both, still do...but are making it on their own, each in their own different way.

Massey is all I have left to let go of.

How did she get this old this soon? It seems like last week I was holding her on my hip.

The times, they are changing.

Raising kids is really hard but thoroughly fulfilling when you step back and take notice of what amazing people you are adding to society.

We've added three.

What boggles my tiny mind even more is that I am almost fifty eight years old.

How did that happen?

I've earned every wrinkle and gray hair, sometimes the easy way and sometimes the hard way.

You have to take a jump on life, even if it's from the cliff of depression or the edge of despair.

You have to move in life.

Life, defined by Webster's:

"The physical, mental, and spiritual experiences that constitute existence."


Lucky for me, can say with conviction...

Been there done that.

Kudos to my kids for surviving having the craziest momma on the planet.

I may be losing Massey for her to pursue future endeavors but will always have my sister as a back up ride or die.

Once again, I am a lucky, lucky person.

Till next time...COTTON