A Southern Rehabilitation

Music... it has been a part of my life ever since I can remember anything. My grandmother used to sing to me with I was a baby up through little girl stage. She would play her vinyls on this huge record player cabinet thing. It was seriously 8 feet long! Her records were all gospel. I still have them. Groups like the Gaithers, The Happy Goodman Family, Elvis Presley, The Oak Ridge Boys, The Kingsmen, Statler Brothers, Loretta Lynn, Johnny Cash, and others I can't remember. She began my love for Elvis and Johnny with their gospel songs. When I was a little girl, my grandmother would take me to revivals and gospel sings, you know the kind where Quartets were popular? I didn't realize it then, but the harmony of those singers was truly amazing. Oh, it was country singin', but it was good singin'! People clapped and sang and swayed and moved to the rhythm--got happy, that's for sure. I learned to sing all the gospel hymns by memory and I loved them-still do. I have my f...

Welcome, Friends... Three years ago I started hosting a Girlfriend's Get Together at Christmas time. Initially I started it because I wanted to thank all the girlfriends in my life who helped me get through what was then, the worst year of my life. You can read about the first get together here .These girls were there for me in word and action, and I just wanted to find a way to express my heartfelt gratitude to as many as possible at one time. I also wanted my different sets of friends to meet. I talk about everyone at different times to different people. I wanted folks to be able to finally put a face with a name. The 2013 party was hugely successful and so when 2014 rolled around, I decided I wanted to do it again, and then 2015 and so on. Now I think it has become something my friends look forward to each year.   As I was contemplating what to do for this year's party, I searched Pinterest for party ideas (let's just give an ol' shout out for P...

This week an eleven year old boy committed suicide. He hung himself. This was right here in our amazing little town, a town where a great majority are affluent people, middle class people, family oriented, hard working, we love our neighbors kind of people. We have an incredible Little League and we have Pop Warner Football and we have Friday Night Lights mentality when it comes to our high school teams. We have a brand new Krispy Kreme where the locals camped out for days waiting for opening day just because it was something fun to do with their kids or their friends. Yet we had this horrific tragedy occur only a few days ago and the ripple effects of this will continue out into our community in ways we will never know or understand. My heart is saddened that a vibrant 11 year old boy, youngest of four children--only boy with three sisters, felt that the only relief from whatever, would be to kill himself. I simply cannot wrap my mind around it. What on earth could have been so bad ...

Good Riddance 2015!! This has been a bear of a year! I usually post a "Best of Whatever Year or Top Ten in 20?" post, but this time I am going to incorporate the "best and the worst" into one post. I can make a pretty long list of "good things" that happened in 2015, but I can't really come up with  "AMAZING" things in 2015. Good things, yes, but the blow my socks off kind of stuff just didn't happen this year.Thankfully, there is always something to be thankful for--something in which to be grateful. 2015 was the most difficult  year of my life. I am hoping 2016 will be so much more... New Year's Eve I sat on my couch in my pajamas and wrote out a list of the "best of 2015" and the "worst of 2015" because I wanted to write this post. I have to see things in writing in order to make sense of my thoughts. It's why I love stationary and pretty paper and journals and beautiful life planners. I want to write thin...

 I have wanted to write about this for weeks(I realize it is only 3 days before Christmas but it is what it is. Thoughts come when thoughts come) but just couldn't quite wrap my mind around what I wanted to say or rather what I would like to TRY and say to convey my feelings, my thoughts, etc... So now I'm going to attempt because there is this little gnawing going on inside me and it needs to be stomped down, thrown out, and put to rest. Plus, all these thoughts need to be replaced with NEW thoughts, new fires, new goals and aspirations--not because it's the "thing I should do," but because it's what I WANT to do, what I MUST do to start anew in 2016. There are some days, some weeks that just seem to take a turn for the worse... like once something starts it becomes a complete snowball effect. The bad things--the snowball-- just keep multiplying and becoming larger and larger, gaining momentum as it rolls towards you until you can't outrun it anymore an...

Fall used to be my least favorite season. The weather starts getting cooler, the leaves fall off all the trees resulting in "skeletons" all over the place, and the dark gray winter season will soon follow. The number one thing that I have always hated about Fall is the time change. I am ready for bed by 7:00pm because it gets dark so early. When darkness happens by 5:30 each night, it does something to one's psyche! I still hate the time change, but my attitude towards Fall has changed tremendously. Fall is my 2nd favorite season.There is a feeling of warmth and coziness that gradually creeps in and everything begins to feel like a soft colorful blanket. I love November because it is my birthday month; it is the birthday month of several friends and family members; it is the month that my house absolutely looks the prettiest and feels the most coziest and comfiest it ever feels (OK,Christmas probably trumps Fall decor, but Fall decor makes me feel really good too); it is ...

Today is October 6, 2015… I am currently on a plane bound for Chicago. I am flying with my daughter, Katelyn. We haven’t flown together since she was 13 years old. That was her first time flying on a plane and we went to Maine for 7 days. Someday I will have to blog about our trips with each of our children. When each child turned 13, John and I took them on a special trip.. their choice as long as in the US. She is now 26 and this is fun times for ol Mom. I hope she thinks so too.  I am excited about Chicago because two of my brothers are there. Katelyn will get to meet one of her uncles for the very first time. I have two older brothers, Ray and John. These are the 2 that live in Chicago at the present time. I also have a younger brother, Jeff. He lives in Alabama. The story of meeting my brothers is here  and here . It’s an amazing story really…. actually our entire childhood and subsequent years is a pretty amazing story. I could write a book about all the crazy an...