Monday, July 27, 2009

Making light of a heavy situation

So, as I mentioned in the last post, I just got back from visiting Memphis. Missy wanted to visit some of her family while we were there so we accompanied her to the nursing home where her grandmother, Puddie, lives now. I should visit nursing homes more often just for fun.

The first day Missy went to visit Puddie, Puddie and another woman were in the hall rolling around in their wheelchairs looking for a slipper. Here's their exchange:
Puddie: Where did you see it last?
Other woman: On my foot!
Puddie: Well when did your foot get COLD?
Other woman: My foot's been cold all day!

Then yesterday before we headed back to Atlanta we decided to all go in and visit Puddie. Now Puddie had a brain aneurysm about 8 years ago and everything since then gets mixed up and tossed around in her brain. It can be sort of amusing as you'll see but it gets sad when she doesn't remember her husband dying about 3 years ago and still thinks he's in the hospial. She's a pretty cool lady though. She lived in Tupelo, MS for almost 80 years and taught Elvis in 1st, 2nd and 6th grades. Here's what she said about Elvis:

"He was just an alright student. Never really stood out. He was just as sweet as he could be though. A kind boy. His family didn't have much money so other people would give him quarters at school. Then he got into music when he was, well I guess he was about 16. He doesn't do that music anymore. Everyone kept bothering him about it so he moved up to the mountains and he still lives up there to get away from everyone."

As we were introduced to her she asked us if we were kin to her cause she was nervous that we were related and she didn't remember. Then she asked if Jason and I were friends and I said, "Yes." Then she asked if AK and Joe were friends and AK said, "We're all friends." Then Puddie said, "Well, I know you're all friends...but are you courting?" AK said, "No." so she asked me and Jason. Then she looked at Jason and said, "My...you're a big boy....you're a REALLY big boy." Then she looked at Joe. He weighs 145. She told him he needed to shave.

Walkin in Memphis

The weekend is over and Monday has surfaced once again. All I can think is, "Thank God I'm still in school because this work thing is killer." And I don't even work every day of the week. In fact, I only work two and a half days a week. I don't even study that often (Yes I do, Mom, that was a lie for effect). I even LIKE what I'm doing this summer and it's still killer. I can't imagine what life would be like with a job I hated.

Anyways, when I grow up I'm just going to travel the world and take pictures of people (or be a duck) so schedule won't be important.

Speaking of ducks, this weekend the boy and two of my friends joined me on an adventure to Memphis. I know what you're thinking..."You mean like on vay-cay? Let's all go! ROADTRIP!" and that's exactly what it was.

My darling roommate, Ms. Ann-Katherine Hailey, is a Memphis resident and has been all but begging us to come visit this summer. Luckily, I'm an incredibly thoughtful friend so I sacrificed a weekend off my ridiculously busy schedule of baking brownies and watching movies with my fam to go visit the homegirl. She's welcome.

The boy's name is Jason and he has a 1989 Taurus SHO. Dreamy, I know. My car is a 2007 and I'm sure Missy and Joe have cars from the past decade but for some reason the SHO seemed like the best choice of vehicle. Even without the air conditioning. So we loaded up Friday evening and arrived just after midnight Memphis time.

AK is like any other college kid. She pinches pennies when it comes to eating out and loves to shop at TJMAXX and Target. She drives a Jetta and is a strong advocate of Craigslist.

Now AK had mentioned in passing one time that her house was fashioned after a plantation home but I don't think I really recognized what that meant. When we arrived in Germantown it was quickly obvious that Germantown is the Alpharetta of Memphis. And AK's neighborhood is the Country Club of the South of Germantown. On steroids. Now she might not be thrilled that I'm exposing her inner rich girl, but I didn't put up the 40 pictures I took of the house on Facebook so I figure I can go wild on my blog. The house is white and has columns. And a gate. And a private pond. With geese. And a pier. With a paddle boat. In her front yard. She has ten acres that include about 3 swingsets, a trampoline, a pool, a basketball court, a hot tub, etc.

BUT, to spare her, I won't go into detail.

The weekend was filled with Elvis and Barbecue and an impromptu trip to Arkansas, which I didn't even know bordered Tennessee. Goes back to that studying thing.

I'm super excited to move into my Athens house next weekend.
AND Ashley and Hunter's wedding is in 19 days!

Monday, July 20, 2009

God is a Rule-breaker

Over the past few years my cousin has had two beautiful baby boys and is soon expecting a little girl. The oldest boy is 3 and is definitely in the stage where he wants to know everything. So my cousin, Betsy, sends out emails to our family to let us know what her little boy is curious about. Now I'm pretty much just going to copy and paste the email. I usually wouldn't try to steal her thunder but this is just too good not to post. So here are the words, directly from Betsy's keyboard, for your amusement:

JH's Theology Question of the Day:

JH: Mommy, did God die?
Me: No, JH, God's always alive.
JH: Then why did go to Heaven?
Me: Well, that's just one of the places God is and lives. (We've previously discussed how God is everywhere.)
JH: But, you have to die to go to Heaven.
Me: That's true, unless you're God.

Another conversation:

JH: Does God have one arm or two?
Me: We don't really know, but I like to think of God as having two arms.
JH: Does God have one leg or two legs?
Me: I guess he might have two. (Me thinking - how many one-legged things have you seen, child?)
JH: Well, I think God just has wings because he has to fly all over Heaven.

Good call, kiddo. You might just have something there.

JH also thinks it's great that everything poops. It's great that he poops and it's great that everything else poops: anything from dragonflies to wombats (and this literally keeps him awake at night). And, no, I'm not at all sure how God poops - but John would like to know.

Monday, July 13, 2009

Those who look for beauty, find it.

I’m opening an article at work with a quote about beauty and it got me thinking about beauty. Yea, I know it’s cliché, but it’s fun to ponder things like truth and love and beauty when you have a second. So what is it? What makes things beautiful or not? And to whom? Everyone’s seen those couples where you think “guess there’s someone out there for everyone.” And most people who have ever witnessed modern art wonder who wasted so much wall space on something so ridiculous/ strange/ simple/ obnoxious/ WEIRD.

I don't know the answers to any of these questions, by the way. But rhetorical questions are a writers best friend, right? Anyways, in my search for quotes on beauty I found these. And since everyone loves a good uplifting quote or two I thought I’d share.

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that frightens us most. We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and famous?' Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that people won't feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in all of us. And when we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.
-Maryanne Williamson

Beauty is not caused. It is.
-Emily Dickinson

Beauty is the shadow of God on the universe.
-Gabriela Mistral

Keep your faith in all beautiful things; in the sun when it is hidden, in the Spring when it is gone.
-Roy R. Gilson


And on a lighter note (so this isn’t ALL super transcendentalist):

I'm tired of all this nonsense about beauty being only skin-deep. That's deep enough. What do you want - an adorable pancreas?
-Jean Kerr

Monday, July 6, 2009

Yellow Snow

Today, I learned that filling your water bottle up with Crystal Light lemonade and going to the bathroom should be made into two separate trips.

Otherwise, expect strange looks from coworkers.