A Southern Rehabilitation

It's easier for me to write here than talk to each of you about how the day went yesterday... Mediation Day. It was undoubtedly the worst day of my life (to date)... for a number of reasons. We had to be at the law office by 9:30am. I had to take the day off from work. I was there on time and so was J. Thankfully we were at opposite ends of the building, but just a couple of hours earlier we were in the same house, getting ready for the same "event." I left my house way early just to avoid having to see him. I sat at Starbucks for nearly an hour and a half. Once at the office, the mediator introduced himself, gave a short run down of how things were going to work, and then he left to start with J. The purpose of this mediation was to TRY to come to an agreement on alimony and disbursement of assets. Needless to say, we never got to the "ED" as they call it... equitable distribution. In fact, we never finalized anything. We spent 7 1/2 hours in a room, going ba

Ok, tomorrow is "the day" and I am about to lose it right now. I am thinking if I just take a couple of "sleep aids" and go to bed right now, morning will be here before I know it and the day will get started and then the day will be over.  I've tried to do things to calm my nerves. I've tried to think of anything except "tomorrow."  Nothing is working. Nothing. So here I am, writing. Again. I spent most of the day with My girl. She had a rough day. Her boyfriend left today for Parris Island. He is currently in Charlotte for the night. He will get on a bus to SC tomorrow morning and arrive at Parris Island Marine Boot Camp to begin 13 weeks of hell. His choice. He says it is "something he has always wanted to do." He is 26 years old. Oldest by far of most of the recruits. He is even older than some of his "trainers." But Marc is "all in." He's been preparing for this day for months and months. So has Katelyn. Tod

"O, God, Thy sea is so great and my boat is so small."  This artwork was done by a sweet young lady that graduated with my son 2 years ago. She is extremely talented.   I saw this quote while watching the movie, " Thirteen Days ."  It was written on a plaque that sat on President Kennedy's desk in the Oval office. (the plaque really sat on his desk!) I actually googled it b/c I wanted to know who the author was that wrote these words. ( here )  As it turns out, the quote has an "anonymous" author. I just really liked these words; I began to think about them and what they could mean. The quote is obviously a prayer. It is called the Breton Fisherman's Prayer . This makes perfect sense... fisherman, sailors, anyone going out to sea knows how mighty and vast the sea is and how small *we* are in comparison. There is a need for protection while out on the sea. The sea can soothe and calm but it can also be dangerous and very scary.  Perhaps the f

"Oh, Snowflake, Pretty Little Snowflake"... ... First of all, I will go ahead and apologize to any and all who have been suffering all winter long with tons of snow and extreme cold, but we here in the South were just treated to Some Kind of Wonderful ! I have to blog about it... I have to. This was the biggest snow we've seen in YEARS!!! It just doesn't happen around these parts anymore. In fact, we haven't had a decent snow in over 3 years, and by decent I mean at least an inch! This was special and the entire Southeast was giddy with wild excitement for "the snow that was coming." (I can't speak for Atlanta, but the rest of us were pretty darn happy.)  I hate there were so many thousands without power, particularly in GA and SC, but I am here to speak about The Tarheel State. We absolutely loved the snowfall. People have been calling it the "Snowpocalypse", "Snowmaggeddon", "Snow Storm of the Century", etc...

Back in December (12/14/13) I had this amazing Girl's Get Together at my house. I posted here how much I was looking forward to the event, but I never actually got around to telling you about how wonderful the evening turned out to be. I know it was in December, but I want to write about it and show you pictures. :) I started thinking about having a Get Together sometime in October. I thought, "Can I get my act together to actually pull this off the way I have it pictured in my mind?" When I plan something, it's either GO BIG or GO HOME, so I knew it would be quite the undertaking. I thought about it for days, wavering back and forth, "no, yes, no, yes."  I finally just took the plunge and said, "I'm going to do it."  I went to Hallmark and bought some pretty invitations and I wrote a letter to send along with each invitation.  The letter explains WHY I wanted to host this gathering. Here is a copy of the letter: Dear Girlfriend

Ok, who doesn't LOVE a good Snow Day?!?! I got to have THREE last week. I only wish we would've had the snow to match the 3 days of being out of school. This is how it started: Tuesday we get a 2 hour early dismissal because "the snow is coming." It did start snowing before school got out but it was only "dusting" at that time. By Tuesday night, we had a small accumulation of about 1-2 inches, and that's being generous. Nonetheless, we got the call that school would be cancelled for Wednesday. Cheers all over North Carolina could be heard round the world!! You see, we haven't had snow for two years! Last year we had one Snow Day and it didn't even snow-not one flake.  Tuesday night kids could be heard playing outside, sledding, and no doubt trying to make snowmen out of this fresh "manna from heaven." This snow, however little it was, was a gift to us here in the South. Thank goodness I had gone to the grocery store on Monday ni