A true friend is the rarest treasure

I have been overwhelmingly blessed in this life of mine with wonderful friends. I cherish each friendship that I make, and if I am fortunate each of those friendships will last throughout life. Today I celebrate the birthday of someone who isn't just a good friend; not just a best friend - but a true friend. Those kinds of friends are few and far between.
I met Shelli in 1987. We almost instantly hit it off and have been friends ever since then. Now there were a few times that we didn't always see eye to eye, but we were young and stupid and didn't know any better.
I have shared more laughter with her than any other friend that I have had. We have experienced heartaches together, helped each other through broken relationships, and have so many secrets that we will take to our graves that I don't think there will be room for our caskets. We have taken road trips that will go down in history as some of the craziest things we have ever done (like the 12 hour visit in Ohio and then coming back home). In fact when 9/11 happened we were together in Nashville and not knowing what lied ahead for our country and for our safety we got through it and became even closer because of it.
She was dubbed my children's Aunt Shelli at the birth of my first child (where she hid behind the curtain in the delivery room) and she has maintained that relationship for 23 years and has now extended that to being a great Aunt Shelli to my granddaughter. I have no doubt that should anything ever happen to me that my children will never need for anything, because that bond that she has with them is more than just an "aunt by proxy."
There may be weeks and sometimes longer that we go without seeing each other; without talking on the phone and only keep lines of communication open through text messages here and there. But she has always been there for me - no matter what the circumstance, the time or the place.
She is without a doubt one of the most original people I have ever known. In the span of over 25 years I have never once seen her in a bad mood or not enjoying life to the fullest. She's one of those people that you just have to say once "let's try it" and she's all in. Now she does have a few faults - she relies too much on what Dr. Phil says and puts entirely too much faith in Oprah. I think they have conned her into every self-help, feel-good-about-yourself and make-the-most-out-of-life books that have ever been published. But over the years I have learned to overlook those little idiosyncrasies  :)
It is very rare in life that one finds a lifelong friend that sticks by you no matter what. One that tells you what you need to hear and not what you want to hear. One that will always be that one person you can always trust, that you can always turn to and one that will never judge you when you fall short of their expectations of you. I have that in my friend Shelli and I am so blessed.
Don't get me wrong - I have more friends in this life than I deserve to have. It's just that once in a while there's that certain person who goes far above and beyond the requirements of friendship and instead becomes a part of your family, and when you have that person they deserve to be celebrated.
She has always said that she is my biggest fan - and she probably is; she always encourages me - never doubts me and pushes me constantly into the direction that I want to go but I am sometimes afraid to. It's a two way street though because I am in awe of the person that she is and I am so highly favoured by God that He chose to place someone like her in my life.
Happy birthday Shelli! I love you!

Making the change...FINALLY

Well I have finally taken the big step. Is it what I thought it would be? Is it going to be worth all the effort into making this relationship what I want it to be? I suppose that only time will tell. When you have lived your life a certain way for so long it’s hard to make such a drastic change. When you reach a certain age you become rather complacent with things being just the way they are. No need for change, no need to rock the boat, no need to fix what isn’t broken….blah, blah, blah. This is not “just” a contract – it’s a complete change of lifestyle. Yes, life has dramatically changed since the last time that I blogged. I have done something that I said I would never do….I have switched to a smart phone.

It has been a big adjustment and I have to say there are still nights that I lay awake and miss my trusty old flip phone. That phone and I have been through a lot. It had more water damage than the Titanic and had been dropped more that Taylor Swift. But yet that good old reliable phone served the purpose until lately and eventually I could just hear it screaming at me “Retire me already – I AM WORE OUT!”

So….I gave in to peer pressure, to the endless taunting of my friends and family, to the embarrassment of being the youngest person in the doctor’s office with a phone that was probably created around the time that Rhianna still had some class. To say it has been a little stressful would be the understatement of the year. I can’t figure out how to get to my voicemail; but yet I have conquered Instagram. I am rather fond of the speaking my texts into the phone instead of typing them the old fashioned way. To be honest, I thought I was only a pre-cert away from carpal tunnel surgery just from using my thumb 3,654 times a day texting my way through life. There’s just something to be said about how people look at you like you are in the Secret Service as you speak quietly into your hand where your phone is concealed. [It is, however, a little bit of a struggle with my southern accent – there are some times I wonder how in the world the words that came out of my mouth turned into what is on my screen!]

Moving forward isn’t as bad as I thought it would be, although I have to confess, it can be rather intimidating to someone as old fashioned as myself. I’m sure than in time this will become easier. In fact, I may even get to the point of actually liking it. I have a daily class with my kids and/or Patrick to teach me something different on my newly acquired friend and in a few days….or 6 months, I might even be allowed to go somewhere alone without supervision and not be afraid of being alone with my electronic pal.

I feel accomplished. I feel like I am slowly catching up to those that have advanced at warp speed ahead of me in the world of technology. Heck, next thing I may try is something called an Ipod.

We are the new Griswold's

If you were to see me out in public in one of my rare occurrences where I am dressed to the hilt toting my Coach purse and wearing my Pandora bracelet (both of which we gifts from my better half Patrick) you would probably think that I am an average person with a little bit of class.
Now on the other hand if you were to spend a day or two living with me you would find that I am really quite the opposite. Let me paint a picture for you of what my life really consists of. I live in the country in a quaint little house. I own a pig. I have stray animals that just show up randomly so any given morning I may wake up the proud owner of what could be 1 dog or it could be 6. Usually I have at least one or two canines that we commonly refer to in the south as being "in heat" so there are several times that I have to rush my granddaughter in the house because I don't have the vocabulary to explain to a 2 year old what it happening in my front yard and why she can't just go pet two dogs at one time. I have a 13 year old son that thinks nothing off walking outside in broad daylight at 10 in the morning wiping the sleep from his eyes and peeing off my patio for the cars that might be driving by. My daughters and myself walk around half the time in our pajama pants with hair that looks like it has been combed with a firecracker and no makeup. Usually every weekend I have enough teenagers who drive at my house that my driveway way looks like Fast Eddie's buy here - pay here car lot. On those weekend mornings I usually wake up to what looks like the morning after Woodstock with passed out kids lying all over my living room floor and I require a road map to get to my kitchen without stepping on one of them. I have neighbors across the field who in no uncertain terms have more of a hate relationship than love and because of their outburst of their profanities and screaming. I can practically summon the police by method of telepathic communication chanting repeatedly in my mind "they are at it AGAIN???"
Now that you have had a glimpse inside the life of the author of this blog, I will say that on some days it isn't as bad and on some days it's much more than I have described and I'm fairly certain that Jeff Foxworthy could use my life for one of his stand-up comedy routines. I try to convince myself that I and my tribe that live here with me are not "THAT much" of an example of a true redneck. But then something brings me back to reality.
Last night my jolt of reality came in the form of a conversation that Patrick and I had on the back from a really nice date. He proceeds to inform me as we drive down the interstate that he has found us an RV. [Now those of you that have read some of my blogs know that I dearly LOVE camping - so for a brief moment I was thrilled]. I inquire who for's and what not's of the proposed RV and he then tells me that it is a 1986 Toyota RV that will be perfect for us. He then goes onto say "when I get it all fixed up we can drive it on a date and on the way home I want you to walk back in the back and bake me a cake." Yep reality has set in....we are the new Griswolds!

Facing reality and chasing dreams

There comes that time in your life when all of the sudden reality sinks in. You have grown up! You wake up one day and suddenly it hits you that more of your life has passed than what may be ahead of you. With that realization comes a lot of satisfaction with the things that you have accomplished and a lot of regrets for the things that you haven't.
I've been thinking a lot in the past few months about growing older and the things that I have yet to check off my list of things to do. Don't get me wrong - I have succeeded in life with things that have mattered and things that are important. I have been incredibly blessed with 3 beautiful children and a precious granddaughter. I have basically been healthy - if you don't consider the daily aches and pains associated with the aging process. And I have been fortunate enough to have worked hard and made my way in the world without having to ask for help too many times and I have known love. But like most people, there are things that I would love to be able to have or to have said that I have done.
I try to teach my kids the importance of taking opportunities when life offers them to you and even when they aren't handed to them in a nice gift wrapped package they are still out there for them to pursue and succeed at accomplishing. But....like me when I was young I thought about tomorrow more than I thought about the present day. With age will come wisdom for them - the same as it has for me and they will hopefully see what I have tried to convey before they reach that point in life that I have reached where I have one or two too many regrets for things that I wish I had done.
Five years or so ago I was seriously contemplating going back to school and making a career for myself. But either due to fear or failure or a lack of enthusiasm, I talked myself out of it each time that the conversation played itself out in my mind. I imagine I could still do it - although to be honest any career choices that I had before wouldn't be quite as easy at the age I would be when I received my degree. The satisfaction though in merely completing the task and telling myself "I told you so" would probably be as valuable (if not more so) than the actual career itself.
But instead, I have put my thoughts into focusing on the things that I can achieve, the dreams that I can fulfill and the goals that I can reach. I have resigned myself to the fact that I am closer to retirement than I am to beginning a new career choice and have come to the conclusion that in place of feeling sorry for myself that I can't take a vacation this year, that instead I am setting my sights on a few years down the road from now; rather than thinking about the remainder of a boring summer.
While my dreams still consist of owning a camper and spending weekends at the campground or perhaps taking the kids to Disney World; I have extended my realm of dreaming to further down the road to where I can envision myself living at the beach.
Since it is obvious to me that I will never be the world traveler that packs her bags in a moment of spontaneity and heads to an exotic place picked out randomly. Perhaps living at the beach (even if it's just part of the time) seems to me like it would fulfill any void left by a lack of frequent flier miles. I love where I live; there's no place to me more peaceful than the quaint little town I have spent most of my life - but the ocean has and always will be my Heaven here on Earth. So rightfully so that's where my heart longs to be in the future.
So if I must accept the cold hard truth of getting older and live with the regrets of not doing things that I should have done, then I can at least concentrate on dreams of what my future can be. I may not be the age anymore where playing in a sandbox will bring contentment to my heart, but I can think about having a place where I can sit with my feet in the sand and stare into oblivion at the endless ocean before me. I can chose to think of the dreams that have passed me by and live with those regrets or I can pursue the dreams that are still ahead of me and pray that it will be in God's favor for me to see them come true.