A Few Of My Favorite Things

Mother's Day may be my favorite holiday of the year. Number one I had the greatest momma ever, albeit just for seventeen years. I've missed her every single day since but still grateful for every day I had with her.

Granted I've had a couple of Mother's Days which were pretty lackluster (like when Tim gave me an anniversary card by mistake) but as all my kids have grown up, they tend to spoil me more with each passing year. I certainly wouldn't earn a prize for Best Mother or runner up or top ten but think I did okay. None of them are dysfunctional and all are pretty great adults and extremely hard workers.

What more can a mother as crazy as me ask for?

I've had some bad things happen in my life but for the most part have laughed more often than cried.

I call that "Winning."


I grew up in a wonderful family...

and now I have my own wonderful family.

This past Mother's Day has been one of the best. I talked to all three of my kiddos in three different states and was spoiled beyond belief. My daughter gave me the wonderful present of a necklace with three rings on it, each engraved with my three kids' name on it.

She also bought me a vase of tulips.

Ole Jed (my husband) as I fondly call him..

 gave me a dress that I will actually wear.

I was almost shocked by how much I liked it.

He also gave me a pair of sunglasses, which always come in handy living in the Sunshine State. My current ones were purchased at the Dollar Tree and are more like toy glasses. I mean what do you expect for ninety nine cents?

Massey took me to lunch after we ran a few errands. We were at the register in Yankee Candle and the guy ringing me up said "Those sun glasses are awesome, by the way, just to let you know." I told him I'd just gotten them from my husband for Mother's Day and thanked him for the compliment. We were leaving the store and got to the car about fifty feet away. I had to wait to get in my side because a young girl was getting her small daughter out of the back seat of the car next to us. She apologized for me having to wait and I told her not to worry about it. After she got her daughter out of the car seat, she turned to me and said "I love your sunglasses, they really Pop on you!"

Dang, Ole Jed done good!!

You know, more than a few years ago I wasn't sure we would make it and more than once felt like throwing in the towel and walking away from the dance.

The main reason I didn't was because we had kids together and those kids deserved to live in a nucleus family.

Ten years later and thousands of miles down the road of life, we discovered happiness again and am so glad neither of us gave up.

It's called the Dance of Life for a reason.

We didn't get through this alone. 

We got through this with the Big Guy Upstairs, family, friends and even strangers. We were carried through by a collaboration of charity, prayers and love.

Once we moved to Orlando I started my writing  agenda. I'd lived in the south side of  Atlanta for over fifty six years and felt lost when we moved. I essentially moved away from my entire life.

I have probably written well over a hundred letters, if not more, to peeps back home. It's not only kept me in touch with friends but has allowed me to meet many more, including relatives who I haven't been in touch with for years.

The connections made me realize that life truly is a circle.

It started raining the day after Mother's Day and has rained every day since. What a buzz kill. Especially when you just got a killer pair of sunglasses.

I know we needed the rain, but did we have to get it all at once? On the up side, I now have grass in my back yard again.


We also have been coping with Ziggy, our youngest boxer, recovering from a pretty big surgery to remove four (luckily) fatty and benign tumors. The boy came through like a champ. I was actually amazed. One of the tumors (on his hip) was almost the size of a tennis ball. I was preparing myself to get another 'remembrance' clay paw print in the mail from the Vet.

The three smaller incisions healed up quickly but unfortunately  could reach the huge incision and started licking it the minute he felt better. The vet sent us home with a large plastic cone of shame for him to wear. Ziggy gave that one a hard no the first time we even tried to strap it around his neck. When the wound started to pop open where he had licked the stitches until they began to dissolve, the vet put in a couple of staples and gave us a prescription for really strong tranquilizers and we just keep the boy sedated. I can't really blame Ziggy for not wanting to wear the cone. You can't see anything or where you're even going, much less eat or drink.
 Then a good friend of mine from high school told me about the inflatable ring collar she used with her dog. I picked one up today and its a whole new ballgame now. When we first put it on him, he stood there for over five minutes without moving a muscle.

  He's starting to get used to it, and bonus points can still see, eat and drink. I cut the zombie pills down to one instead of two just because he's such a high energy dog and don't want him to do too much until the incision heals completely.

 We go back for another wound check tomorrow and finally feel like the ole boy is gonna make it just fine...if I survive the next visit to the vet. Tim usually takes him, simply because he is so strong and hard to control when excited, and a room full of strange dogs really piques Ziggy's interest to say the very least. Also it's crazy how people let their dogs bark their heads off at the other dogs in the room and go towards another one. Considering I only outweigh Ziggy by five pounds, if another dog lunges at him, there is no way I could hold Ziggy back. The last time I took him it was around three in the afternoon and the place was packed. The first time I took him it was 8AM and I was the only one there. I'm making a morning appointment for the next visit. The earlier the better.

Although I really like my job and everyone there is wonderful to me, it is beginning to exhaust me working five days a week. Number one, we have tables inside, outside and in a solarium. Number two, it is summer eleven months out of the year here in Orlando. When I have to take tables outside in long pants, long sleeve shirt, heavy apron and carry heavy plates...it tends to be one long six hour unrelenting hot flash.

I was complaining to Tim about it the other week when he just shrugged his shoulders and said "Well then quit working five days a week."

I guess I've had to work five and six days a week for so long it simply never occurred to me that I didn't need to anymore.

The past two weeks I've worked four days a week and I feel like a new person. Luckily the area around the restaurant has really taken off with buildings going up everywhere and business has more than doubled since I started, with nothing but better things to come in the foreseeable future. So I'll make a little less money each week. That isn't going to break me. Working full time will. Serving is an extremely physically demanding job, especially when you are a dedicated, borderline perfectionist of a  server.

(Well maybe not that day)

And just like that...

five years later, everything is gonna be just fine.


For the first time in almost ten years we are all taking a family vacation together this summer. My family, my sister and hers and my brother as well. We always went to the Gulf Coast area off 30-A but are switching it up this year and spending a week in the Keys. None of my five have ever been and all are pretty stoked. To make it even better my brother is taking his twenty seven foot boat down and will have access to tool around all the islands and explore.


Sometimes you have to wait. Sometimes you have to wait and wait. And sometimes you need help while you wait, and sometimes you even have to wait some more.

I looked up 'wait' in the dictionary. Ironically, waiting on tables was also mentioned.

 Also mentioned were synonyms for waiting.

What struck me as odd was, over the past decade we have literally lived through every single synonym.


Synonyms for waiting:

delay, hold up, interval, interlude, intermission, pause, break, stay, cessation, suspension, stoppage, halt, interruption, lull, respite, recess, moratorium, hiatus, gap, rest.

Hello?

Been there, done that, lived to tell the story.

For any person reading this who thinks life is lost, it isn't. Sometimes you just have to fight for what you are willing to wait for.

Til next time...A Happy COTTON

Two Days In A Row

My off days are usually never in a row but somehow ended up that way this week. A girl could get used to this.

I think my manager who does the schedule felt sorry for me this past week. He scheduled me for seven shifts and two of them were doubles. To add insult to injury both double shifts were after I was scheduled to close the night before. The first double wasn't so hard although both shifts turned out to be complete duds.

I closed on Wednesday night and didn't get off until well after midnight. I had to be back the next morning and went in at eleven. I got off after midnight and while I made more money than I ever have, was totally exhausted and my feet were screaming. They still hurt when they touched the floor the next morning.

On Friday night I (nicely) told my manager I was simply too old to work double shifts anymore and certainly not two in one week. He apologized for having to do it, just needed extra servers that one week.

The USTA opened a huge facility here in Orlando (five minutes from Chroma) recently and has made for great business at the restaurant, located directly next door (literally steps away) to the Marriott where most of the players stay.

People come from all over the world to play in tournaments here. I've waited on people from literally everywhere; from all across the United States, New Zealand, Germany, England, Italy and even Australia.

They also held the ground breaking ceremony on Monday for the shopping and retail district being built directly in front of our restaurant. There will also be a movie theater, bowling alley and a few more restaurants and specialty shops.

In a couple of years it's going to be one huge Cash Cow for everyone involved, which luckily includes me.

I've already doubled my income in less than a years' time and look forward to making "Airport" money again, without the hassle of working at an airport.





Once again, am glad I listened to my brother, who told me to apply for the job with Chroma after my job transfer fell through last year when we moved to Orlando.

He's a pretty sharp guy with an even sharper wit. He makes me seem dull.

And look how much he loves me!!!

Totally kidding.

He does  give me quite a bit of grief and always makes fun of my horrible southern drawl. Especially the way I pronounce my husbands' name with two syllables. "Tea-um."

This journey Tea-um and I have been through has turned out to be quite the blessing, mostly and mainly because of these two.

They always had my back when I was a little kid and they've always had my back as a (still little) adult.

When life overwhelms you, sometimes it helps to take a step back and look around. You'll discover blessings you never thought about having before and learn to be more grateful for them.

My problems this past week were two hard double shifts which as we say in the south, wore me slap out.

My blessings were the redunkulous amount of money I made, with my only problem being sore feet.

 For the first time in over a year, am finally paying all my bills early again and socking money away into savings. Granted Tim pays most all the bills, I only pay the Verizon bill (which ain't cheap) and my car note. I buy most of the groceries and staples but Tim also buys some groceries too. We're a work in progress but is a total 'Team Cotton' effort.

I'm slowly gaining weight again and feels good to be tipping the scales at three digits without having to have rocks in both pockets.

I still miss our old home, but feel better knowing that my nephew and his wife are taking excellent care of and hopefully enjoying it.


We are twenty weeks away from moving out of our tiny rental and into our new permanent home.

It's served us well and have a pretty great landlord. Still seems crazy to me how much more rent is than mortgage. We had a fifteen year loan on our pretty big house in Newnan for $1500. We're paying $1235 to rent a tiny cracker box here in Orlando.

On a side note, hung another one of my mother in laws' paintings today on the wall in our tiny living room.

She always said this was her vision of what God would look like. Now He's watching over us as well.



So life has turned out pretty good for us after all. We're making strides and moving ahead. Our previous problems are behind us, and while we'll certainly have problems in front of us in the future, at least know we can make it...through any thing, and will.

A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.

And I will.

I will crush life, just watch me.

So we moved to the Sunshine State.

Here comes the sun!

That's alright.

Till next time...COTTON

It Speaks To Me

Totally getting rid of the porn mirrors in the master bedroom but besides that, is a keeper.

When you go and buy a house at our age, you're specific about what you want. It's the last home you'll buy and I, for one, want to be happy where I die.

Believe it or not my girl and bestie, Massey found this house the very same day it came on the market.

Blue ribbon for Massey!



Ironically enough is located on Georgia Ave. in St. Cloud, where we want to live.

It's not as big as our Georgia house but need to downside anyway, as I wind down my years with Fang.

I got off early from work today and drove to the house, a fifteen minute drive.

Tim couldn't believe I actually got out of my car and knocked on the door. I was kinda on the fence too but thought, what the hell.

Yes it looked larger in the video, but less house to clean is very okay in my book.

 The drive in was awesome. Old school homes, moss hanging off every tree lining the street and people everywhere, enjoying the massive lake on a Sunday afternoon. People picnicking or enjoying the lake. Peeps walking dogs. Cops pulled over on the side of the road, most probs eating dough nuts but there if you needed them.

It's a small town feel.

I'm all about a small town feel.

Their grown daughter opened the front door. I kinda felt (am sorta) stupid but basically told her I'd seen their house on Zillow and had every single thing I wanted in a house after moving from Georgia.

She pushed the screen door open and said "Come on in."

That was my first sign.

They welcomed me right on in, not knowing if I was a maniac or a serial killer.

It may not be the one, who knows..but the feeling was there. It just felt right.

They had so many antiques, even a sewing machine with the foot pedal. Our neighbor back on Bayard Street ( early sixties) had one and can remember her pumping that pedal as she sewed.

Sometimes you have to go with your gut.

It may not be the house for us, but at least we are getting closer.  It's been a decade journey...to simply live out our last few.

I talked with them for over thirty minutes and it just felt right.

When something feels right, there's a reason for that feeling.

Yes I did everything backwards.

I walked up and knocked on their door, unexpected or announced.


But they invited me in.

There's a reason for that as well.


It's even more crazy this is the first house I've been excited enough to venture out and explore on my own.

Be a good person and good things will happen, even if you have to wait.

Till next time..COTTON

Life's Crazy

Our life has been such a (mostly) downhill spiral for so long that was almost resigned to the fact. Then I landed my job at the airport (small pun) and shortly after Tim got on with a wonderful company who moved him up after just six months or so. Granted they transferred  him a thousand miles away from home but even after just a week have realized absence does make the heart grow fonder.

This is my absolute favorite picture of Tim with our daughter. She was in first grade but now almost through her second year of college. She misses her daddy, always been a "Daddy's Girl" and steadfastly been his biggest champion. I, on the other hand  (in hindsight) put a lot of negativity in our relationship after years of being broke. Somebody had to take the brunt of the blame and didn't feel like it should be me so made him the bad guy in my selfish mind because he had so much trouble finding a good job too. Yes I can be a bitch. But at least I know and admit it. That's something isn't it?

Tim called yesterday from Texas. Just to talk. The last time he called just to talk was in the 1980's.

The first time we talked about what bills were due and where to find them. He had found a room to rent and moved out of the hotel and told me a little about the place. We talked for a few minutes and before hanging up told him I was off all day and could call again later if he wanted. We have always ended phone calls with "I love you" and "I love you too."

 Life's short.

He called again later. I can't remember a second call just to talk,  ever!

I should have this motto etched on the back of my eyelids.

He's out there all alone in a place he's never been and doing it for not only us but me!

The room he's renting has a twin bed. He's over six two. He said his feet hung off the end. Bless ole Jed's heart, he's a good man.

I will mention one thing he said in the second call which made me smile. He said "I miss the dogs."

We have three kids and three dogs. Guess who complains the least and seems the happiest?

To me, dogs are totally therapeutic. If hadn't had these three pups to talk to the past few years I would be insane(r) by now. They've torn up the house, in the winter they plow up the back yard, sometimes get in fights (with each other none the less) and think they own the furniture but dangit we love those pups! If you don't feel good or have a bad day they instinctively and always know it.

If you have a really busy day and don't have a lot of time to spend with them; they'll look at you like that's okay too.

And it is.

My dogs have had to wait until the next day for food and still loved me. (even more when finally set down three bowls of food)

I've heard Tim complain to the dogs about me. I've done the same thing with them about him. They probably all three think we're both nuts!

I'll be honest, our three pups somehow hold the entire family together and are one of the few things we all have in common and care about equally.

I think they earned the furniture privilege. It's all at least twenty years old anyway and not like they're living at the Ritz. Heck, I had one of them's nuts chopped off in less than thirty minutes.  I think even they realize that much, and more times than not humble with wants and needs.

Maybe I should have given birth to puppies instead of babies. No that wouldn't work, dogs don't live long enough. Unfortunately, they're definitely a short fix.

I gotta have someone who can fill out the paperwork for me when  get shoved into an ole folks home much to the (probably by then) well earned and deserved pleasure of my future son and daughters in law.

All I ask is shove me somewhere that will let me have a pup.

I'm kidding about having had a litter instead. My boobs are way too small.

Our three kids are all composed of tiny microcosms, bits and pieces of us both miraculously put together by nature and God. All different yet all the same. They're ours.

They wear me out and can try me but also give me the greatest joy I've ever known.  I see some extremely wealthy people come into where I work with some (not all) pretty terrible kids (begrudgingly) in tow. What kid acts miserable when their parents are taking them to Greece, Amsterdam or Paris?

They don't have a clue how the other half (or nine tenths) live. My daughter was beyond thrilled to just get a pass through security so she could eat there...and wasn't flying off to anywhere. She rode MARTA with her momma to eat there and rode MARTA back to the borrowed car we used.

I'd take my kids over them any day of the week and all weekend long. They've seen Tim and me struggle these past few years and realize now, at pretty significant stages in their own lives  how quickly it can (and will) change.

Life comes with no guarantee, many hidden clauses and a lot of fine print.

I'd say we have about six more months of struggling but should have our heads out of the water and feet firmly in the black. Well maybe the really really dark almost black red.

Both Tim and I have absolutely fantastic jobs now and (God willin' & the creek don't rise again)  finally on the right path again. Our secure future is so close ahead we can wave at it now.

It appears to be absolutely stunning from where I'm standing.

The last few years haven't been easy but wouldn't change them even if I could.

We went from having everything we needed to pretty much scratching and scrambling for everything needed just to keep this house and family afloat. Essentially we've been living on an ark.

Our ark will be paid off in under three years.

I'll never forget these past few years and now not only realize how hard life can be but understand even more how priceless and fragile this exact very instant in time really is.

Life can change or simply choose to take you completely out of the game before a second hand on the clock can start to tick forward once.

Tim and I are literally a thousand miles apart right now but closer than we've ever been in over half a decade.

I'm gonna stay and dance with the one who brung me!

Til next time...COTTON