The dynamic duo: Big Daddy and Sexy Hot Mama (post for July 31, 20011)

“This kind of certainty comes but once in a lifetime.”

from The Bridges of Madison County

Our story began like many stories begin---well not really because nothing is ever “normal” with Big Daddy as you all know by now.  I had hit the ripe old age of 30 and so had Big Daddy.  I’d been through two traumatic breakups prior to this and I’d convinced myself that the life of a single woman was the life for me.  I had a career, supported myself, traveled and was basically pretty content.

Then it happened….

on my way to meet the student I was tutoring in Operation Read, I stopped inside a local gas/food mart called “Super America” to get non other than another Diet Pepsi.  When I went in…..there he was…a loud man dressed in shirt and tie and wingtips,  singing Bee Gee’s hits over the microphone that allowed him to talk to the people purchasing gas.  I heard him, before I saw him actually.  I felt an immediate attraction to him---something pulled at my heart strings---I almost knew immediately that there was something special between the two of us.  We chatted a bit and then I gave him a positive card that I kept in my purse to hand out to folks randomly about living an authentic life. 

I found reasons to go back for more diet Pepsi and every time I did….Mr. Microphone would be preforming and flirting with anyone who walked by…I watched him and my attraction grew.  I wanted to know what caused this man to be so happy.  One day I started praying for him…I actually wrote a note and put in my journal…praying for Superamerica man.  Finally one day, I asked what his last name might be.  He told me and I went home to check out the phone book…..oh my there were eighteen people with his same name.

One night..

I got my nerve up. I went in…stood in line….and waited.  It was busy and people were everywhere but I knew I had nothing to lose and perhaps…I had everything to gain.  With a line of people behind me…I did it….I actually said,  “there are eighteen of you in the book, I want to call you can I have your phone number.”  He pulled off a cash register receipt, jotted down his number and asked for mine.  I gave him two days to call me and when he didn’t….I picked the phone up and dialed the number…..he answered…I asked him to dinner and the rest of our love story was to follow.

Our first date:  Olive Garden and the movie Wayne’s World….I lucked out though…Big Daddy footed the bill.   Fast forward a year later on Valentines Day and Big Daddy pops the question kneeling in the midst of peanut shells at a steak house.  Since I don’t care for diamonds…no they are not my best friend…he gave me a big red ring pop for an engagement ring.  We had mine made a few months later. 

Fast forward…..July 31st, 1993 and I married my wild and wacky and funny and annoying Big Daddy.  At the reception Big Daddy pulled a pair of Victoria’s secret underwear from out of his sleeve when he went to pull the garter off…..

Fast forward 18 years and I must admit…we are quite the dynamic duo.  Over the years, we have laughed together and cried together.  We have created the wonderful “off color” family where life is always an adventure into the unknown.  We have put a lot of hard work into our marriage.  He is my best friend, my lover, my soul-mate and my greatest cheerleader.  He helps me live into my fullest potential every day.  Life has not always been easy for us…we often say…we’ve been to Hell and Back…but the truth is…there is no other person I’d rather lie down to sleep with every night and no other person I’d want to wake up next to…

Big Daddy is the co-leader of outrageous family.

So Big Daddy…

I will love you……forever and ever…

Happy Eighteenth Anniversary….

love always….

Your Sexy Hot Mama

P.S. I hope you start eating healthier and stop smoking so we can have many more…

(which reminds me….one day I’ll tell you about the time Smokey Bear had to give Big Daddy some fire safety lessons)

I am thankful today for my dynamic partner

Big Daddy

I am one lucky sexy hot mama!!!

that is for sure!!!

  

Have you Come Alive, yet?

Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go and do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive.- Howard Thurman

The world needs all of us—not as a sleepy eyed just barely awake human but the kind of human who is fully awake with sleep washed from our eyes awake and ready to make the world the place it was created to become.  In order to do that….it takes all of us moving about offering our unique gifts to the world.

Seems a lot of the time, I myself get caught up in the business of life.  I work, I play, I blog, I drive, I cook, I sleep and in the busyness of it all, I go about almost like a robot moving on auto-pilot.

Now that I’m closer to the other side because of my age group, I’ve started trying to live my life a bit differently.  I am trying more to be present to the moments.  I find myself wanting to linger over the small things, take in the wonder of it all and even at times---look for that miracle that is just in front of me.

I want to be wholly awake and open to the World. Open to Love and Laughter and Life….for so many years of my life..I’ve been afraid…afraid of what others will think…afraid I wasn’t smart enough or cute enough or worthy enough to be the real unique me.  I am now at a point…where I’m waking up to the truth…I am everything enough to offer all that I am to the world.  I want to feel.  I want to experience it all…sadness, joy, love, laughter, compartmentalization of these emotions is over…..no more eating them away…

   I am wiping the sleep from my eyes…yawning my last yawn.

Look out world  the radical southern girl---the sexy hot mama is waking up…..I don’t know what will happen next…but I promise you--a radical southern girl thinking and blogging and talking and living can and will change the world…a bit at a time.

Look out world.

Here I come!

On this rainy stormy Saturday…my wish for all of you…

WAKE UP…

Wake up and LIVE!!!!

Blessings and Hugs….

That's What She Said.......

We don't accomplish anything in this world alone and whatever happens is the result of the whole tapestry of one's life and all the weavings of individual threads from one to another that creates something.

Sandra Day O'Connor

Last night my daughter M. was sitting on the couch watching TV, checking out something on her i-phone and talking to me all at the same time.  After a few minutes, she looked at me and rolled her eyes.  "You have not been watching those caterpillars everyday....you saw one and took a picture and exaggerated."---that's what she said.

I said, "How do you know what I've been watching.  There have been tiny caterpillars all along the vine out front for several days.  I've been watching them and looking at them every day."

(INFAMOUS DAUGHTER ANNOYED EYE ROLL)

a FEW MINUTES LATER

SHE LOOKS AT ME AND SAYS:

"YOUR BLOG IS GETTING BORING"...THAT'S WHAT SHE SAID.

"REALLY i SAY...WHAT DO YOU THINK i SHOULD WRITE ABOUT TO MAKE IT MORE INTERESTING?"

SHE GIVES ME HER MISCHIEVOUS SMILE...

"WELL i THINK YOU SHOULD MAKE IT MORE INTERESTING BY BLOGGING ABOUT YOUR WONDERFUL DAUGHTER AND ABOUT HOW FUNNY SHE IS AND TELL STORIES ABOUT ME..

THAT'S WHAT SHE SAID.

I LAUGH AND THEN SAY...

SO WHAT WOULD BE FUNNY

ME TELLING THE STORY ABOUT

THE TIME YOU POOPED IN THE TOILET

TOOK A PICTURE

DEVELOPED IT AND THEN POSTED IT ON THE TOILET LID AND ABOVE YOUR DAD'S PILLOW."

SHE LAUGHED....

"i THINK i COULD FIND THAT PICTURE IF YOU WANTED TO PUT IT ON THE BLOG".....THAT'S WHAT SHE SAID.

I ROLLED MY EYES AND

SAID

NOPE...THAT IS PRETTY GROSS...

"WELL I THINK YOU SHOULD START MAKING IT MORE INTERESTING WITH MORE STORIES ABOUT ME."   THAT'S WHAT SHE SAID.

SO m....WHAT DO YOU THINK?

WAS IT MORE INTERESTING TODAY?

tHE OFF COLOR DAUGHTER IS ALOT LIKE HER OFF COLOR BIG DADDY....

LIFE IS NEVER BORING

AND

ONE NEVER KNOWS WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT.....

IT'S LIKE LIVING IN A THREE RING CIRCUS...

LOT'S OF FUN....

BUT ALWAYS SOMETHING UNEXPECTED...

i AM BLESSED

TO

BE PART OF

SUCH

AN ANOMALY OF A FAMILY...

i BET EVERYONE WISHES THEY

WERE PART OF

AN

"OFF COLOR FAMILY" JUST LIKE ME...

THAT'S WHAT I SAID....

HAPPY FRIDAY

ENJOY THE DAY AND

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND..

HUGS

The World Feels Heavy.......

“Anyone can give up, it's the easiest thing in the world to do. But to hold it together when everyone else would understand if you fell apart, that's true strength.”

unknown source

Today I went in the local gas station/food store to get

a fountain drink---nothing better than a fountain drink on a hot steamy day. 

As I was walking by,

an older gentleman in khaki shorts and t-shirt stood at the same machine.  He looked up and our eyes met.  I smiled and drifted off in my own little world for a moment.  He kept looking so I politely said, "how you doing this evening as I scooted behind him to get to the diet pepsi."  Next thing I knew...

he was just talking and looking at me.  I had missed part of it so I said, "I'm sorry, what did you say?"

He proceeded to explain that he

had been Cancer free for several years.  It had been throat cancer.  I thought hum..."why is this stranger telling me this?" and then I noticed the weariness in his shoulders and the heaviness in his voice. 

I suddenly felt guilty for a moment thinking about why a stranger was telling me this and then I realized

it was my gift to him to listen and be present.

I looked at him.  He didn't expect much--just an ear.

He went on to explain to me that he now had a spot on his lung and they were going to do a pet scan soon in September.  My heart felt his pain, I sensed the panic and fear in his voice and I sent a prayer out to the Universe on his behalf.  As he finished, I simply looked at him and said as I put the lid on my diet Pepsi, "Well I hope everything turns out well for you.  It sounds like you've already been through alot."

He said, "me too, I don't want to live through Cancer again."  As quickly as we met, he left me standing.

As I walked to the cashier, I heard him telling the same story to her.   I could almost tangibly feel his pain and for a split second I was present enough to

want to take and hold a bit of it for a moment.

It has been that kind of week for me.

Pain every where.

I can see it on peoples faces.

I sense it in their body.

I hear it in their voices.

Energy swirling in chaos

unsettled emotions

I watch

and

while we all have a bit of it to carry

this week

I have felt

an

overwhelming heaviness in the air.

I thought for awhile it was just

the weather

but today

with this man at the fountain drink machine,

I realized

the weight I was feeling in my own body

really wasn't mine....

but that of many others in the world

who needed some help carrying things forward into tomorrow.

We are all connected you know

whether we know each others name or not,

energy and emotion and life

wraps itself around us

and

connects us

in some weird mystical community of sorts.

together

we bear the weight of it all

shoulder each other's pain

carry the burden for while.

My own heaviness comes from thinking I've hurt someone unintentionally,

I worry about not trusting my intuition

about what others may think

about forgiving myself..

that is all my own weight to carry

my own thorn to experience

but

as i walk

I see others

shoulders almost to the ground

and

suddenly

my little burden doesn't seem so bad anymore

and

I say aloud

to the

world,

Give me a piece of that pain,

I'll hold it up for awhile

while my brother or my sister

gets stronger...

they've done it for me

time and time again...

so it only seems fair

for me to shoulder the weight for a bit.

A moment at a fountain drink machine,

an uninvited conversation

arms that wrap around a friend,

a smile

an unexpected kiss,

a touch

a handshake

a call or note....

The world can be a heavy place

but when we all

make the conscious choice to bear the weight...

it ain't so heavy.....

and

we get stronger.

so for tonight..

if your feeling blue or down or depressed or anxious,

lean out into the universe and

let somebody...

or me

bear a bit of the burden...

Tomorrow will come

and

perhaps

just perhaps it will be a lighter tomorrow.

Blessings

and

Hugs

on this Thursday Evening