Ramblin' Fever

Today, I wish I were a gypsy.  I wish I was a soul that just wandered without a care.  I wish there were no thoughts of work, retirement plans and insurance packages.  I know that I can a little overwhelming when I feel like this.  To ease my ramblin' fever I'm trying to plan a few small trips in the not too far future.  I need that carrot dangling out there in front of me.  I've also been looking at vacation pictures (not sure if this helps or hurts).  But I must say there are some amazing places in this world to see. 
Over the New Year's holiday I was able to put checks beside a couple of items on my bucket list.  I've been to Terlingua several times, but I've always wanted to go to their New Year's Day Black Eyed Pea Off and enter the black eyed pea contest.  And I've always wanted to run the desert dirt roads on an ATV.  So check and check!  It almost scared me I was checking things off so fast. 

So, to get me through this bout of Ramblin' Fever I've included a few photos to keep me going.

"A Little Help From My Friends"

This morning when I woke up my emotions bounced somewhere between reflective and I've gotta hit the road, like now!  I'm all over the place, and I think a little hormonal influence may be involved.  So with that knowledge I'm trying to keep myself tamed a little and go more with positive reflection instead of strap on an adult diaper and drive like a bat out of hell outta this place! 

I am so lucky to have had the same best friend for years. 

I've recently been thinking a lot about my friends.  One thing I do know without a doubt is that I am blessed with some very amazing people in my life.  I have friends that I do believe I could call at a moments notice, say I need you and they would hop a plane to come help me.  Having these kinds of relationships is priceless.  This past January we missed our annual pilgrimage to Boone Hall Plantation in Mt. Pleasant, SC for the Low Country Oyster Festival (Boone Hall Plantation Oyster Festival).  Every year for many years we have always gone and celebrated my birthday.  Of course some of our dear friends are always in tow which makes for an unbelievably fun time.  But this year life (or adult reason) just did not allow for this trip, and I am really missing my tribe.  I'm needing some friend time.

We look like trouble!

With that thought I have to share with you what I received on my phone that day of the festival.  The hubs and I were both pretty bummed we didn't get to go enjoy the coast and some of our favorite people.  But when you have friends like I have you know that you're present in spirit and you're missed.  The pic brought a tear to both of our eyes, and in the soundtrack of my mind Joe Cocker's voice started whaling, "I get by with a little help from my friends!"  So if you have a true friend, and you're close enough to give out hugs today stop and do just that.  There are always times when we need our friends to get us through.  And there are days that they need us too!

I Am My Grandfather's Granddaughter

As I age and begin to notice myself I can see so much of my Mom and Dad in me.  It's funny the little things that are ingrained in your makeup.  Some things I never knew could even be genetic.  There are those things that I picked up from my grandparents too.  I see more from my maternal side than from the paternal.  This is probably because my paternal grandparents died when I was younger, and over the years there was more time spent with my maternal grandparents.  First, there is the odd way my jaw slides slightly forward when I am concentrating or in the kitchen cooking.  I oddly develop this very strange under bite.  My jaw protrudes forward as I become lost in the task at hand.  My husband always laughs at me, but he knows I am in creativity mode!  Not only do I do it, but my grandmother and my mother develop this jutted jaw as they work in the kitchen.  How odd.

But the stranger characteristics are the ones that I picked up from grandfather.  I'm not sure how these habits could be genetic, but I am sure somehow it was ingrained in me from his blood.  You see, my grandfather was never a wealthy man, but he planned for the future and had what he needed.  My grandfather was also a very practical man.  He was good people.  Salt of the earth people.  And I loved him very much.  I wish I was more like him in these aspects, and the older I get the harder I try.  Over the years we watched my grandfather as he worked and went about his daily life.  My grandfather was always working and doing things that he loved.  There was always gardening and yard work.  He was excellent at these tasks, and we always ate well because of his hard work.  I loved to go to the garden with him.  It wasn't easy, but it was always productive. 
The funny thing about my grandfather's tasks was not in the tasks themselves but what he used to accomplish these goals.  I do not think I can remember a time that I ever saw my grandfather wear a pair of gloves without holes in them.  Big, noticable holes.  And usually the gloves were not only holey but mismatched.  If his left glove went bad, the he would turn his gloves around backward and wear out the backside.  Once he wore out the backside (after many gardening seasons) he would trade the worn out left glove for a new one.  But there was no way he would part with the right glove from the old pair.  It was still good.  Therefore, it would still be used.  And then, there was the rake.  The old metal kind of rake with the spindly fingers on it.  The metal became worn and eventally the fingers separated from each other.  I watched my grandfather work twice as hard because of the brokeness of the rake as he gathered up the long pine needles, but he used that rake and that rake only because there was still some good left in it. 
Over the years for Christmas the grandchildren would gift our grandfather really nice pairs of leather gloves, new rakes, new socks (without holes) and all of the things we noticed that he really needed.  This was a man that would really like and put to use this new pair of leather gloves and all of the other gardening and clothing essentials.  But when spring rolled around and Good Friday arrived (the day you had to plant in the South) out would come the mismatched holey gloves, the old rake and all of the other worn out gardening essentials.  He would head out in his too long dungarees cuffed up a little too high to be fashionable but at just the right length to keep the material out of the dirt and begin to sow his garden seeds.
When my grandfather died the daunting task began of clearing out his belongings and settling into life without this wonderful man.  When my grandmother and Mom began to clean out his closet they were in for a huge surprise.  All of those gifts given to a man that so deserved and needed a few new things in his life were placed in a closet still in their Christmas boxes to await the day he would wear out his old, but still useable, gloves and socks and handkerchiefs, etc.  Even out in his barn, the new rakes and garden tools were tucked away until his old rake finally gave up.  One by one the gifts were returned to the givers to be used in the way they saw fit.  And it's funny.  We knew it wasn't that our gifts were unappreciated.  We knew that he wanted to save them until they were really needed.  And the need had not presented itself in his eyes. 
So now, skip ahead several years.  I find myself in my garden, or wherever I am, and begin to notice those qualities in me that I used to see in my grandfather.  Notice the jeans in the above photo.  I could not make myself part with them until they were COMPLETELY worn out.  And when they would no longer hold together as jeans I turned them into shorts.  I have flip flops that have been duct taped to make them last one more season and gloves that allow the dirt to leak in around my hands because of their holes.  I still see good in these worn out things.  But I think the quality I now possess that reminds me more of my grandfather than any other is the way I cuff my jeans.  No, it's not in an effort to be cool or stylish.  As you can see it doesn't fit either catagory.  But it is done to keep the material out of the dirt of the garden and the manure of the cow pastures so that I can possibly get another day's wear out of the jeans before they have to take a quick pause for cleaning only to do it all over again.  Could these odd habits be genetic?  I have no clue.  But these odd little quirks that I notice more and more as I age bring back some of the sweetest memories of growing up.  So if the cuff in a pair of jeans can make me smile and my heart feel warm then I hope these genetics, habits, or a little of both stick with me until the day my gloves and my body wear out.

Top Five Regrets of the Dying, Grief and Loss - AARP

Top Five Regrets of the Dying, Grief and Loss - AARP