Ten very random thoughts

But it has been a random kind of day. :-)

1. It is funny to me that so many people arrive on my blog because they have googled "humphead parrot fish". I wonder if they are watching the same National Geographic show that I watched. I can understand their fascination . . . have you seen them? You can observe one in all his (or her) beauty here.

2. I like my little live traffic banner. It's interesting to see where people come from, and how they land on my little blog, but it still gives them anonymity.

3. Speaking of visitors, I had one recently from Valdosta, Georgia! That is the neighboring town to my hometown of Quitman, and the city in which I graduated from highschool. I wonder if it was anyone I know?

4. I had to put gas in my car today. I can no longer fill up my car in one visit if I have less than an eighth of a tank - gas has gotten too expensive. The machine actually stops dispensing gas when you hit $75. I almost wept when I hit $75 and my tank was still not full. Such a sad state of affairs.

5. I was driving home today and I saw my husband at work. He was at a house to arrest a man that we affectionately call "crazy machete guy". It occurred to me that my husband is a big, imposing, slightly intimidating guy in uniform. I couldn't look away. It was as if I observed a parallel universe. The image before me just didn't mesh with the guy I snuggle with at night.

6. I might like coffee a little bit too much.

7. My nerves (about opening night THIS FRIDAY) are already affecting me. I think I need a massage.

8. I don't see how people function daily with long fingernails. I had acrylic nails put on for the show, and I want to gnaw them off at least 27 times a day. I do like the bright tomato red color, though. It makes me feel fiesty.

9. There's a giant Marmaduke-type puppy (Great Dane? mastiff?) bounding across the park. I'm watching him out the window and wondering how he can move so quickly and elegantly while being so enormous. It's kind of like that big tall athlete guy on "Dancing With the Stars."

And finally . . .

10. I wonder how many brain farts they had while figuring this one out.

And how has YOUR day been?

Mad Libs are 50!!!

I read today that Mad Libs are turning 50. The story of the game's creation is actually pretty interesting, and you can read all about it here.

When my husband went to boot camp, I stayed with his mom. I have a lot of really great memories from that time, but our evenings with Mad Libs are way up at the top of the list. I don't remember if we couldn't find the actual books anywhere, or if we just decided to play one night and didn't have any. Either way, we decided to make up our own stories. As we sipped our Dr. Thunders and ate chocolate covered cashews, things got very funny . . . and very strange. There was one story in particular that ended up being about a raccoon that seems to always come to mind. I think one of us may have it tucked away somewhere, and I think it might need to make its blog debut!

So, today I want to take a moment to say happy birthday to Mad Libs, and thank you to Ms. Robbin for the memories!!!

My kid, she's a little shy

Not really. :-) Last Thursday, she had her last day of Spanish class. The students had all chosen the type of character they wanted to be - they could pick anything they could imagine - and their teacher wrote a place involving all those characters and using the vocabulary they had been learning. There were two mermaids, a griffon, a dragon, the Queen of Spain, and Haleigh decided to be the lady at the circus who dances on elephants. (She's a little obsessed with elephants right now.) A few of the kids read their lines without ever looking up at the parents gathered around to watch. Most of them missed their entrances, but it was so cute anyway. Haleigh, however, once she figured out it was her turn, migrated right to center stage and made herself at home. I see a lot of this in our future.

Making grown-up friends

As outgoing as I am, I am not an overwhelmingly social person. That said, I always appreciate having one or two really good friends with whom I can totally be myself. Isn't it a great feeling when you meet someone and you immediately click? You just get each other, and it adds a wonderful new dimension to your life. I think it's a bit like dating, really - you meet people you like, but they fade away. Every now and then, a true friend comes along and that is something really special.

I had a lot of friends in school, but two girlfriends and I were inseperable. We were never without each other. In fact, people would often call all three houses if they were looking for one of us. I also had my cousin Chelsea, and you can read more about her here. My friends and I got married and moved away from one another, and my soul-mate Chelsea died when I was 19 and had just moved away from home. I was very consumed with my husband, and making our first home, but I think I realized even then that I missed having good girlfriends. I've made a few good friends over our Navy years, but inevitable one of us always moved away!

Until now. I've met my Katie. :-) Maybe one day I'll tell her about my blog and she can know how much I truly appreciate her. Katie is performing in The Pajama Game with me. She plays Gladys and she is MARVELOUS. She also teaches elementary school music - exactly what I probably would have been doing if I had finished college the first time around. Last night we were invited to a bonfire party at the home of the show's leading man, and Katie said she would go if I went. I knew my hubby would be working on homework and heading to bed for an early work day, so I said sure. We thought we would probably be home around midnight. We were in good company and having lots of fun, and I think Katie and I could literally sit up all night and talk. We practically did. Katie dropped me off at 2:40 this morning, but we were so deep into a discussion of religious philosophies that I still didn't make it inside until 3:30! Ouch. So, I'm sitting here, sleep deprived, and my hair REEKS of smoke from the bonfire, and I would give anything for a few more hours of sleep. But I am thankful for Katie, my new stay-up-until-all-hours-of-the-night-talking friend. We just have to start our outings earlier from now on. :-)

Just one more reason

to enjoy bicycling.

Goodbye, Mr. Heston

Charlton Heston has passed away. He certainly brought some iconic cinematic moments our way, didn't he? What was your favorite? Although I immediately think of him as Moses or Ben Hur, I had completely forgotten he starred in Midway until my husband reminded me. That's my favorite.

Just some thoughts

My mother-in-law shared a beautiful story on her blog yesterday, and for me, it provoked it a lot of thought. Hers is a tale of two little girls - one black, one white - who find each other as playmates around the wall that separates their two sides of a waiting room in a doctor's office in the segregated south. As I read it, I was reminded of a conversation I had with my father recently.

This summer, I enjoyed an extended vacation in Georgia with my family after a cross-country road trip. As I mentioned in an earlier blog, my daddy and I like to hop in a vehicle and head out to "see what we can see". One afternoon we were coming back into town after a drive deep into some rural farm areas where my daddy's family came from. He had shown me where his daddy proposed to his mama - on a wooden bridge over a creek - and the land where his grandaddy's farmhouse stood. Now, we were headed to a farmer's market in an area of town I wasn't completely familiar with to pick up some peanuts for boiling and some acre peas. Yes, most of my trips to the south revolve around food. As we passed over some railroad tracks, he pointed out an old school building to me. He said it was the "colored" high school before integration.

My father was 16 when schools were integrated in his hometown. I'm not sure that it happened as soon as the laws were passed, since much of the south fought the integration laws for a while. When his school district finally got around to it, they decided to split the district up, between the "white" highschool and the "colored" highschool. Depending on where you lived, you would be bussed to one or the other. As expected, many of the white students and their families did not want them to be bussed into a colored neighborhood to attend the colored school. My father was one of the students who would attend that school . . . and he chose to drop out instead. With the full support of his parents.

What???? My daddy told me all of this in just a few sentences as we passed by the school, but I had a really difficult time processing it! You see, my parents did not raise me to be a prejudiced person. I learned early that racism and intolerance are ugly things. Considering the times, this revelation shouldn't have come as such a shock to me, but it did. It reminded me how much we are influenced by people and our environment.

My mother-in-law's parents taught her tolerance. She passed that along to her children. My parents did the same for me. Most importantly, they taught us to use our brains and our common sense rather than be swayed by every breeze. As we reflect on a great man who was assassinated for encouraging us to challenge racism and embrace each other, I am grateful that I can share these lessons with my own child.