Here Comes The Sun?

I guess I shouldn't complain. It didn't rain here for almost three months and everything was dry as dust. Wildfires everywhere and not one blade of grass in our yard.


Charlie just scrubs his back on the black sand filled with ant hills. I'm assuming, by this point he isn't allergic to them but then again, they probably run from his smell.

For the past week, it has rained like a mofo. And I don't mean a drizzle or light shower...hence the term, mofo.

I had to make myself,  but bathed the dogs, swept and mopped the entire house and swept the screened in back porch, aka the dog's "Crib."

 Massey cleaned her bathroom and I cleaned ours.

It's so refreshing to walk into your bathroom first thing in the morning and look into the mirror without looking through a spatter of dried toothpaste stuck all over it, and  small globs of it dried in the sink like  cheap dinner mints.

Once it was all done, our tiny rental house was so nice to be in, I almost felt ashamed I had to force myself to clean it.

Here's the thing.

When you have three (big) dogs living inside a tiny cement cubicle with a back yard so small that once they take off running will bang into the other side of the fence before they reach full speed...you kinda feel sorry for them, yet are grateful they still seem happy and love you.

My three dogs fall right  behind my three kids as far as my love goes. Not a single one of my dogs have ever asked me for anything or complained about the way I treat them. Not one of them has ever asked to borrow money from me or pouted when their water bowl is a bit slimy.

It's a good thing I'm not a dog.

That's kind of the way I see life.

They can't complain but instead hope I'll simply understand them and comply.

We should all be dogs.

Grateful for what they have, forgiving in an instant and forget misgivings even quicker, with no feelings of resentment.

I'm thinking dogs are smarter than humans. They are certainly more compassionate.


So back to the rain.

We needed it.

I didn't want it, although know it was needed. I moved here for the sunshine.

There's life in a nut shell.

You want what you want.

You don't necessarily think about what you need.


Relating to having dogs, and pretty spot on...

I've prayed and wished, I've survived and pretty much laughed about it the entire journey.

Then my upbringing comes back...not to haunt, but inspire me.

It makes me think about life.

Think about my life over the past decade.

Think about how we almost lost everything. Think about how lucky I am, with all the losses. I have family who loves me unconditionally and continuously.

How in the world can I possibly complain when I have all these people who would do or die for me?

Not to mention about fifty other people I could call at any time...any hour or any day.

That's the time you realize no matter what life throws your way, you're still lucky.

On our climb back, have spent quite a bit of time trying to Pay It Forward. Not enough time, but it's a start.

As long as you start, as long as you try, as long as you continue...good things will happen when you are a good person.

I started with baby steps. A card in the mail. I've worked up to cooking for peeps here who I really care about. A co worker or a neighbor.

You don't realize how  much baby steps mean until you take them.

We have to quit placing blame, pointing fingers at others... we should instead extend our hand and ask what we can do to help.

 Life only gives you one chance...make the most of it.

Til next time...COTTON

The Perfect Marriage

Today is my parent's wedding anniversary. If both were still alive, would be celebrating their sixty fifth year together.

I feel so lucky to at least still have all these pictures, in fact still have their wedding album where these are kept...along with the boutonniere she gave him.

My mother filled out every page of the album, all the wedding gifts she received and who gave them. There's a scrap book section at the back and trust me, she had that filled as well.

I absolutely love still having their wedding invitation as well, especially since I now have a daughter we named Massey Ann Cotton, almost twenty two years ago.

My Diddy looks pretty stoked about heading for their honeymoon in this picture as they left the reception.

Seems they didn't make it all the way to their destination of Daytona that evening. Here's the receipt from their wedding night, eighty two miles south of Atlanta.

They made it the next day, seemingly after creating our oldest sister the night before.

Mama even saved the flier from the movie they went to while on their honeymoon.

They remained married for twenty five wonderful years.

They had the perfect marriage. They were the perfect parents. We had the perfect childhood.

I absolutely love the above picture, taken with my sister's Swinger Polaroid camera in our kitchen on 2545 Bayard Street.

Funny story. Our parents never fought, never argued. The closest they ever came to an even heated change of words was one night when he'd worked late and came home to find out we'd eaten all the dinner mama cooked. He decided to just make a sandwich instead and went to get two slices of loaf (Colonial white) bread. We were out of bread.

Mama didn't act too concerned about it so Diddy commented, "You never seem to run out of cigarettes." Mama didn't miss a beat but calmly replied "If I smoked bread we'd never run out of bread."

Classic Ann Leach!!

The memories I have of growing up with those two as parents are as priceless as the memories I've made, having the above two as the Sib's they gave me.

Our mama died when I had just turned seventeen. Our Diddy died when he just turned seventy seven.

Both deaths were devastating. Both deaths were defining moments in my life.

Case in point, when my daughter was born.

It seemed only appropriate to name my daughter after my mother. Massey was actually due on October 5th and couldn't believe my luck...that had been my mother's birthday! Also as luck would have it,  had major complications and ended up having an emergency C-section on August 19th in the early morning hours after an ambulance ride to the hospital. Massey barely weighed four pounds.We both almost didn't make it, but did. My sister was in the waiting room with my husband and the rest of our family when she suddenly noticed the date... it was August 19th.

That was the date our own mother had unexpectedly and suddenly died.. August 19th in 1977.



Talk about coming full circle.

Massey flourished and has grown into a pretty amazing young woman.

She's my best friend. I still have Ann Massey with me in life, she's just Massey Ann now.

Life is the one journey you need to make the most of, and enjoy every step and every turn of the way.

Looking back over my life, with all the twists and turns have realized (sometimes in hindsight) how truly lucky I've always been.

Life is what you make it...embrace it while you can. It doesn't come with do overs.

Happy Anniversary to my parents, Frank and Ann Leach.

Thank you for teaching me how to be a good person... I hope to make you proud.

Til next time...COTTON

You Dirty Dog

This video is from about seven or eight years ago. Ham (the boxer) could still see and Charlie (the bulldog) still had a little pep in his step.

This is Charlie now...most of the time.

Of course he's twelve years old now, which is extremely old for an English Bulldog. He's goes out in the morning after he eats and is good to go until before we go to sleep at night. When you have three big dogs in a tiny temp rental house, you gotta appreciate that low maintenance one.

 It's been raining here a lot lately and haven't had a chance to bathe the dogs outside but Charlie started stinking so bad it was hard to be in a room with him. Then again, put him outside and this is the first thing he does...NOT helping with his smell.

 It was a dry winter here in central Florida. It wasn't cold but never rained so all the grass dried up and left us with a backyard full of black sand and dog poop. I try to do poop patrol at least once a week considering we have three big dogs in a backyard this size now...

instead of the one they had in Georgia...

Huge difference when all three are taking a couple of dumps a day. Back in Georgia they all went into the woods at the back to do their bidness.

We 've got really great neighbors on one side of us, and have become good friends with them. A young couple, mid twenties and also have three (smaller) dogs. I told Ashley (our neighbor) I was tired of picking up poop with my hand stuck in a plastic grocery and dropping it into another as I patrolled. It's disgusting carrying a eight pound bag of dooky out to the garbage can on the front of the house. She said she just picks hers up with a pooper scooper and tosses it over the back fence.

Guess who bought a pooper scooper yesterday at Big Lots?

I mean, guess if those fifty squawking flamingos (yes I know they aren't really flamingos) are pooping in the retention pond...what's a little (lot) more?

Problem solved!

I decided to break down today, hoist and shove Charlie into my bath tub for a scrub down. It was no easy feat...but that was no easy smell he had either. I pulled and Massey pushed him from behind. We looked like Lucy and Ethel. He did not want to get in that tub and was of no help at all, but amazingly enough had no problem hopping out on his own when we got through.

Two problems solved!

I knew when we made this move to Florida it would be hard for our pups making a huge transisiton, especially with Ham being totally blind.

Ham has probably adapted as well if not better than the two sighted pups. He walks with caution and that nose a twiching. It took him about one day to learn the layout of the new house and yard.

Little Houdini has done great as well...not one escape or even one attempt, and that's saying something considering the back fence is only about four feet high. He's even been to the beach with us!

Charlie wouldn't care where we moved unless it didn't have a couch.

I read a book recently and had a chapter on her dog. There was a quote that nailed how I feel about my pups on their three big heads.


"People seem to love their dogs with an unabashed acceptance that they rarely demonstrate with family or friends. The dogs do not disappoint them, or if they do, the owners manage to forget about it quickly. I want to learn to love people like this, the way I love my dog, with pride and enthusiasm and a complete amnesia for faults. In short, to love others the way my dog loves me."

                                                                                               Ann Patchett




I think dogs actually make us better people. I know I'm happier when I own one (or three).

We only have twelve weeks left on our rental lease and will moving the pups one more time. Every house we look at has the stipulation of having to have a nice big fenced in yard for Larry, Curly and Moe to live out their remaining years with us in style. We're even getting one with a cement pond for them to swim in. I'm not even worried about Ham. The pool will be screened in with an outer yard fenced in but do look forward to easing him in at some point. Fat as Charlie is, he'll float like a buoy and pretty sure Ziggy will at least be extremely curious.

I am so not looking forward to packing up again but at least will be a thirty minute drive and the last move of our lifetime.

I've also discovered that being brave enough to say goodbye to Georgia has indeed rewarded me with a pretty nice hello and life Florida. Tim's doing great with his job and Massey's making friends. It took me a minute to get my new job down (always does when you're a perfectionist) but am consistently making more money each and every week. I've got my confidence back, once again am a selling machine and have a handful of new friends. It's gonna be just fine.

Til next time...COTTON