Extremely Thankful...And Then Some

I can't believe it's already November. Where has this year gone? I just hope I'm not aging as quickly as the year has, but pretty sure I am.

It still beats the alternative. If you're not aging, you're dying. I'll take growing older as long as I can.

If there's one thing our move to another state after fifty six years has taught me, it's to be grateful...for the good and the bad.

I was a coward when we first moved here. I readily admit it. I was more worried about what was going on with me instead of noticing what was going on for us.

My setback was a temporary one and should have realized that right off the bat. Instead I threw myself a big fat pity party and made everyone else miserable along with me.

Fast forward one year...

I'm living thirty minutes away from the beach, just where we've always wanted to live. In our retirement years, it will be on the beach.

Unwillingly, had to start over again in my chosen profession of Plate Slinger Extraordinaire.

That actually was one hard pill to swallow!

I beat myself up when starting a new job, always thinking I'm not getting it or catching on fast enough.

I still remember that first day they hired me. They offered me a job after finishing my first interview and asked if I wanted to come back later that afternoon to begin training and knock a day off my two week training period.

Yikes...I wasn't even over my own Pity Party!

I was an absolute nervous wreck when I returned a couple of hours later, wearing the required pair of gray slacks I'd just bought at Kohl's in the little boys' department. They were the only ones small enough fit me. That particular Kohl's didn't have a 'Karen Carpenter' section.

I just recently celebrated my one year anniversary working at Chroma.

I've settled in nicely after being a wreck the first four or five months...obviously it is hard to teach an old dog new tricks. I've doubled my salary in the past twelve months and firmly have my tootsie established in the door for hopefully many years to come.

It's nice to be back on top in my place of employment. I'd even venture to say I'm one of the top servers there and have proved myself to be a reliable and dependable asset to the company. I have steady made more money each and every week and look forward to once again making airport money without the hassle of actually working in an airport.

Been there, done that.

Yes I was lucky to have that job for almost three years, especially at a time when we desperately needed the extra money.

I'm now also lucky that we aren't desperate for money and can live comfortably live off Tim's income.

We struggled for almost a decade...and I mean struggled. We never gave up and our friends and family never gave up on us either.

We have always been blessed, sometimes it's just harder to realize it.

 The twenty years we lived just south of Atlanta were some pretty great times, even with the few bad times.

I still miss our old home...it served us well and have very fond memories of raising the kids in it.

 This is from our very last Christmas living on Huntington Court.

Now we are quickly approaching our second Holiday Season in Orlando. We'll once again celebrate Thanksgiving here, at my brothers' house and go back to Georgia for Christmas day at my sisters'.

It's quite nice to feel normal again...well, as normal as it gets for someone like me.

Moving here, away from my home, friends and family after fifty six years was a wake up call. To cope with it, started doing what I (consider to) do best...write. I write and mail about twenty letters or cards a week. Just because I don't live near them anymore doesn't mean we can't stay in touch. Yeah, you can text or message or post on social media, but who doesn't like to open an envelope and see familiar handwriting?

I've written to childhood friends, high school and college friends, former neighbors, co workers, bosses and even mere acquaintances who meant something special to me. A few have even written back and is just as exciting for me to see their familiar handwriting.

Just because you move away from your old life doesn't mean you can't remain connected in your new one.

It never bothers me at all if they don't write back.

I selfishly do it more for me than them anyway, but just think (hope) to maybe put a smile on their face or brighten their day in some small insignificant way.

I still have the very first diary I started when just nine years old. I have about three hard back journals since filled and saved as well.

My Cray Cray life is well documented, along with the thousand or so photos I have stored in albums and boxes.

Call me a 'Life' hoarder.

Life is a road we all have to walk. What you make of your life, is the road you will ultimately follow.

Ours has taken us on detours and been re routed a couple of times but always gotten us there.

Life's a long and winding road, but well worth the journey and ours is getting better all the time.

Our road had some ruts in it along the way but love has gotten us through and over them.

Tramps like us? Baby we were born to run!

Till next time, an extremely grateful COTTON

Taking a Much Needed Day Off for ME!

Taking this Saturday off. Haven't done that in quite a while and really can't afford to but it will be a day all my own and all for me!

Massey is going  to see one of her besties who is at Valdosta State and I am going to a baby shower in the AM for a former co worker who  is (ironically enough) having a baby! The boys don't care if I'm not around (they probably prefer it) and Massey will be with friends so I am doing the baby shower gig in the AM and going to a Halloween party in the PM.

The Halloween party is being given by one of my favorite peeps in the world. I grew up with her going to East Point Christian Church. Our families took vacations together when I was a kid and we have kept in touch via funerals since we've gotten older (sad truth.)

She is one of the funniest and most REAL people you could ever be lucky enough to meet...she makes ME seem like a stick in the mud!

I don't think I ever knew she was Gay when we were kids...or her either for that matter  . It was the sixties and early seventies... we were more focused on bashing  Blacks than Gays.

Heck , I never had a boyfriend..they weren't a pre requisite especially if you had a mouth or humor like she and I did. She was the life of every party or get together and  came by it honestly...her entire family is a hoot.

She emailed me an invitation to her "Halloweenie Roast" and my sister and I decided to take a night for ourselves and go!

My brother was supposed to go with us but he's a big wig fancy schmancy exec. and has to take clients out.  We'll give him a pass...he does really well at his job ( taking care of his sisters.)

I emailed my friend back and said I was excited to be attending and was looking forward to her "Chaz Bono" costume.

She emailed back  "What makes you  think it is a costume?"

I really need to work Saturday but I also really need to laugh and be foolish with life long friends and my big sis.

I am going as Peter Pan. I have the hair cut, lack of breasts and even the attitude...I don't wanna grow up!

My sister told me she had her costume ready but wouldn't tell me what it was.  I am hoping she is dressing as a "Designated Driver." Just kidding...my friend has already said she had a room ready for us if we wanted to stay.

I am pretty pumped! I worked a double shift Friday and feeling guilty about actually having an entire day off for myself on Saturday. Came home and trimmed bushes for two hours between the lunch and dinner shift. Went back to work smelling like deodorant overload and got off after closing. Thought I would get off early but it was crazy at work (a good thing unless you trim bushes for two hours and have chigger bites to prove it.)

Still have to make a fruit tray in the morning for the baby shower AND get a gift. Massey is leaving at nine on Saturday morning so if I get up to see her off I have time to buy a gift and magically produce a fruit tray. Then I will have two hours to fine tune my Peter Pan costume (it is awesome and I will  post pics.)

Look at me! Having Fun...I can hardly wait, and hardly wait to blog about it!

Squeezing a few more chigger bites (feels good to mash 'em like pimples) applying the nail polish and heading to bed.

 It is SO right that my email address is "The Clampetts"

Stay tuned for Halloweenie Roast update...
Til next time...PETER PAN

The Ties That Bind

It took me all day today to recover from my weekend...from funnel cakes to working two doubles to a memorial service squeezed in between shifts.

Cooked some food for the kids when they came home from school. A young Latino dishwasher from my restaurant stopped by to use our computer for a school project and I fed him as well. It was only yellow rice and beans but my young friend Noe,  said that was part of his culture and dug right in.

I took Massey to guard practice before heading to work. Another server and I split a party of 22 businessmen. Before our party arrived I was delighted to see four sisters that I have known all my life come through the front door of the restaurant to have dinner with me.

The second picture above is a picture of these four girl's mother. Below it is a picture of my own mother. Our mother's lived together right after high school and remained life long friends. Unfortunately neither of them lived as long as we would have liked... but we all grew up together in the East Point Christian Church family and I spent many weekends at their house and the sister closest to me in age even went on our family vacation with us one summer.

They could best be described as "The Lennon Sisters." (See first photo above) All with incredibly God given talent of the most amazing singing abilities I was always jealous of. I'd croak along with them by the piano in their basement and they are the ones that taught me how to sing in harmony.

 "Out of The Ivory Palaces" was one of our all time faves...not to mention "The Wonderful Grace of Jesus." At least with four of them singing so loud and right on key made my croaking alto barely noticeable (at least that's what I led myself to believe.)

Over the years we have kept in touch in different ways. One of the sister's has a teen in a high school that plays my kid's high school in football and I see her at ball games. Two other sisters used to come eat with me at my old restaurant (you know, the CRAPPY one) and believe it or not told me they haven't been back to that restaurant since they fired me . Talk about support, these girls know how to give it!

The youngest daughter was a wee one when we were all growing up together...I bet she wasn't older than eight or nine when we were all singing in the basement of their house or going to antique car shows with their parents.

Flash forward to today.

We are all middle aged women now (sorry Donna, I know you're the youngest but we are draggin' you into middle age with us.)  Our mother's are still friends with each other , I am sure of it... only now they are upstairs behind the Pearly Gates with so many other of our loved ones.

We  had a blast talking and chatting between me waiting on the 22 top and  reminiscing with them. They read my blog and wanted me to tell them which servers were what cartoon characters/ famous celebrities (previous blog ya gotta read.)

They mentioned my blog which meant "BINGO" you get a free dessert. They recognized at least four characters while they were sitting there and I told them I wished I could get Anna,  the Latino dishwasher to come out of the back so they could meet Charro the "Coochy -Coochy" girl from Laugh In and the old Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.

I was in the kitchen talking to the owner AKA "Dr. Evil/ Mr. Magoo" and said that my friends had really enjoyed their dinner and had also enjoyed picking out who was who in my little  Cartoon/Famous people blog. I told him I wished I could get Anna the dishwasher to come out front to meet them since they all were old enough to know who "Charro" was.

He immediately hollered over the line to the dish pit area and said quite loudly "ANNA...GO SAY HELLO TO TABLE 302!"

Anna doesn't speak much English but she knows enough that when the owner says "Table 302" just go there. She immediately dropped what she was doing and hurried out of the kitchen, with her immaculate eye shadow , blood red lip stick and  baseball cap with rhinestones.

She followed me to my table and I introduced her to my friends. Let me say right now that she is one hard working woman, and we are lucky to have her. But when the owner says "GO GO GO" we do just that.

I really think that she felt good being singled out to meet the guests. She works so hard and washing dishes is oftentimes such a thankless job.

I absolutely "LOVE" Anna. If I come into work and forget to say hello to her she will do this little routine of "Hello, Killy..how are you? I am fine Anna, how are YOU?"

I enjoyed waiting on "The Lennon Sisters" and once again was reminded how 'The ties that bind' are often the most precious.

This four sweet girls left me a  150% tip.

I tried to decline (only once.)

Why I am so blessed is often an amazement to me... humility escaped me over a year ago and has been replaced by total gratitude.

Now my cell phones won't be cut off tomorrow.

My mother would be mortified that cell phones are a priority of mine. In today's times they have become a necessity. In my youth when your parents couldn't get in touch with you  and you came home late your Dad would get his belt out and use it until you heard the ringing in your ears. That was a ring tone you could never miss hearing.

It's been a long year but it has been a year of  realizing  that what you get is what you give. What you receive is what you need to pay forward and every gift is just that.."A Gift."

I am a lucky, lucky woman.

The 100 year anniversary of East Point Christian Church is this coming Sunday. I am lucky to have had the church and the church family to make me into the person I am. I have faltered, I have wandered but I always have had the convictions  of what is right and wrong. I have come to know the Lord even closer over the past year. If not for Him, my family would have been lost in the shuffle of a terrible economy.

If not for the owner's of my new restaurant, I would be without a job.

I plan on attending the 100th anniversary of EPCC.

Should I sit on the last row of the balcony eating sixlets like I did as a kid or be one of the people sitting up front?

I'm not really an upfront person so maybe I'll split the difference and sit halfway down the sanctuary. I DO know that my Mom and Diddy will be there in spirit along with the "Lennon Sister's" Mother.

Another long week...but that has been my life for a year now. I am still here and thanks to family... God and friends I am still swinging away and keeping it going.

I hope they ask me to come up front and sing "Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus." That's my favorite and with the 'Lennon Sister's' as back up I bet I could sound pretty decent.

Til next time...Countin' Blessins' Cotton

The upload is blurry...but of course the program is thirty one years old. It's hard to believe that thirty one years have passed since I graduated from high school.

Tonight we had our Christmas reunion. An all year reunion that we have been having a couple of times a year (we like to party.)

There were people there that graduated in the 50's and people that graduated in the 80's. That's the great thing about my high school. As the years have passed we get together more and more often....we may have gone to Russell and may not be the smartest but we are the most dedicated to keeping in touch and I have made many new friends at these get togethers.

We had people from the fifties out on the dance floor doing dances that I don't even remember but they were pretty darn good at . I thought they may break into a "Jitterbug" at any given moment or at least whip out THEIR jitterbug to call a classmate that wasn't there yet to see if their Rascal had had broken down or were looking for the handicap entrance. I will say that the women from the fifties class certainly haven't forgotten about sequins or leather and dress to the nines at these reunions.

Some of the ones from the sixties were in denim or tank tops and the ones from my era were dressed normal (that's because I am one of them and want to feel good about myself.)

My high school was very eclectic. We had preppies, sluts, brainy kids...misfits, snobs and jocks. We had pot heads and ones who gathered around smoking Marlboro's. Years ago we would never have mingled or intertwined our lives but as our ultimate demise comes screaming closer and closer we have bonded and all come together to realize that we are ALL getting older.

Thirty years ago four years of difference in age was huge. Today it is simply a blip on the radar of life.

I am truly lucky to have gone to a school that still has that bond of all being WILDCATS (our mascot) and continues to remain Wildcats.

What an appropriate mascot.

A varied but committed bunch of people that grew up in the greatest community you could ever imagine.

It felt good to get out and have a night to myself and see old friends and make a few new ones.

Several people came up to me and said they liked my blogs. People that I had never even met. That was a really good thing for me to hear...my own Christmas present from the people I grew up with.

A fun night...just what I needed.