Just A Walk Around the Block

Perfect , perfect weather outside!! Just a bit of chill in the night air! Today was a lovely pre-fall day!!! I even noticed the sky was what I call “fall blue” today. This is by far my favorite time of the year, and I am so ready to get the fall decor out and decorate my house! Looks like I would have done that today or… at least get outside and do SOMETHING! No, instead --I colored and watched “Phantom of the Opera”! Love that movie!! (Even before I realized Gerard Butler played the Phantom) I couldn’t help thinking that the phantom MUST be a Dimeira!! He has so many family traits!! Of course, I cried at the end ,and I always want Christine to end up with the phantom and… it NEVER HAPPENS!!! (Wonder if anyone I want together will ever end up together?) Like, “Gone With the Wind”! I get so mad at that Rhett Butler…What was Margaret Mitchell thinking??? Well, I guess so idiots like me that actually yell at their televisions thinking it will miraculously change the outcome, are left hanging every time! Well, it works! If that show comes on a 100 more times, then I will watch 100 more times! I really should buy it…but it’s not the same. I own several movies that I seldom actually put into the DVD player. (Crazy—one being “The Notebook”) Now, let it come on TV….Oh my word…will watch EVEN if it’s a marathon-- we’ll watch until it is gone off! I am the same way about “Sweet Home Alabama”, “Steel Magnolias”, and “Pride and Prejudice”. These are amazing movies! Now I loved the Titanic too but only for the musical score! James Horner is brilliant and so deserved that Oscar! (and thanks to the ideas from watching Jack and Rose run aimlessly all over the ship—Hank better put his exploring shoes on because when we go on our cruise in November…watch out!!) Oh, yeah, I am snooping ALL OVER that ship! I can almost see my trying to fly on the deck at sunset now!( Kidding Mama) But I will explore every inch I’ll bet! Well , I finally got motivated to walk tonight even though it’s Sunday and Days didn’t come on to get my blood boiling!(JUST KNOW I’M STILL MAD ENOUGH FROM FRIDAY’S EPISODE –but that’s not the point!) I was tired of movie time at the house so…walking I went!! Now- I have been walking around our new track we have in town. The lighting is excellent and it’s a really great place to walk. However, after a few laps, I’m bored out of my mind. I just get so tired of walking in a circle and looking at the same things over and over! Although --I do have my ipod that plays the soundtrack of my life and that’s extremely entertaining!! I get carried away and play the air drums, sing, and direct every piece of music that is played ….but I still get SO tired of the circle!! So tonight, I ventured off the trail. Me???Get off course?? Yep! Oh my word …You have to understand the subdivision that is right off the track is one I spent many, many days of my junior high and high school life! “The Subdivision”! First off, the sidewalk on Starkville Rd that was paved during a week long forbidden crush…and yes, I just couldn’t help myself and the initials are still there! LT loves Mark Lee! OH MY!!! Thought my parents would surely see that. (I was not the sharpest tool in the shed at not getting caught….fake report cards blog… coming soon) Then as I turned onto Carol Drive, I saw Karen Smith’s house. So many fun memories! What a creative friend she was!! We were best friends in elementary and remained close during Jr. high. I remember well staying in her camper some weekend nights in 8th grade and our friend, Fred Clark, teaching us to drive in the wee hours of the morning the old blue Nova! (No wonder I can’t drive) Then as I am about to turn onto Meadow Lane, out of the corner of my eye, I spy the Maschger’s old house. Those 3 brothers caused quite a stir in our Jr. high world!!!Especially that Mark….and he sure could dance! I can almost see him dancing to “Makin’ It” right now. Cute little dude! We girls all cried and cried and thought our lives were over on that day they moved in July of our 6th grade summer.(July 20th to be exact) Oh me … and as I turn the corner and made it down the hill…. I saw Deanna’s house! My heart opened a flood gate of memories!! Oh there were so many years worth… Cheer practice, playing cards, playing jailbreak, spending many, many nights with those scrappy Arrington girls!(They sure could fight) And the time Deanna’s parents went to Hawaii and she learned to drive the stick shift while they were gone so we’d have wheels! We “fell in love” with our guys in Jr. high and were convinced we’d marry them.(SHE DID!!!!!!!!!!) She married my next door neighbor, and he was always like my brother! I sang at their wedding and went into labor with my daughter, Marykelli, at their reception! Then, how ironic as I turned onto Woodland Circle , Lionel Richie’s “Truly” came on my ipod—then “ENDLESS LOVE”… as if I planned those songs to come on right as I came upon The Craig’s house! Now, there it was…just before me…their house that I spent SO MANY fun days in! Now I could almost see Hal trying to impress me as Dutches, the golden retriever, played fetch with the tennis ball.(great dog…with an orange collar) I remembered on Halloween-during my 7th grade year- having so much shaving cream and goo on me that Ms. Joann made me go inside and wash my hair before calling my mama to pick me up! I remember thinking Hal Craig would be the one I’d for sure marry…then, we broke up and then , eventually, we truly became BEST FRIENDS!(well after my heart healed a bit…which took about a year-- he was the one in trunk of my car when I went into the ditch in my previous blog) We shared all our deepest secrets and yes, one summer I even got him hooked on Days of Our Lives! (as I recall on cigarettes too) But, as they say, guys and girls –and old flames -can’t REALLY be friends. We had been each other’s first loves but we had both grown so out of that. Well, truth be known, we always were a little confused and didn’t know how to handle all that. So, one BIG FIGHT just before my jr year, his senior year, I slapped him and sadly, we were DONE FOREVER!!( Honestly it was like a death in my heart and took me years to get over that one!)He never spoke to me again until, ironically, at Deanna and Tony’s wedding reception when I went into labor! (Oh well..that was the last thing on my mind that night …)FINALLY, I turned on the next street, Evans Drive. There it was….my HOME AWAY FROM HOME!! MY OTHER FAMILY…My Julie’s house. OH ME!!!!! Every other night we stayed at one another house until I got married. What did we not do???? (don’t worry Julie, Not busting us out) I went on vacation with them, although I HATED THE BEACH PART, we HAD A BLAST!!! (and while Julie was on the beach ‘soaking up the sun’…yes, I was inside our room watching Days—I have had a lifelong addiction!) We had the MOST FUN the year the Mantee crew were there in FL also! And oh.. the many nights we pushed the car in neutral down the street and then cranked it…got chased by man with gun…hit a mailbox (she was with me when we glued side back on car and when Hal was in my trunk) …ALL those trips to Foodway because we ‘needed’ milk—[sure , whatever]…making up stupid songs …and just how many times DID you make me watch “Urban Cowboy” and “An Officer and a Gentleman”?... and I think I woke you up a night or two with a “brilliant” idea… and I am certain Edward “Fred/Trigger” Clark let us drive his blue Nova MANY , MANY times!! I have a TON of memories that are special treasures in my heart of my Julie and her precious family!!! They will remain in a place all their own that time will never ,ever fade! I love that family!!! Then, as I was turning to go back for one more lap around the track, I glanced at Karen’s house once more. I then remembered a VERY SPECIAL memory ….my jr year in high school on her front porch, I got my very first kiss from a very special guy I had just developed a major crush on….his name…Hank Harrington! Guess my little world sort of came full circle….I married Hank 2 years later and that was 25 years ago! ( of course he’s asleep but I just want to wake him up and kiss him right now…I just smile with thanksgiving in my heart that God saved the very best for last!!!!!!!!!!) So, I decided that I have no need for watching movies….I AM a walking movie!! Think it would be best suited for Lifetime! (although I think it’d have to be a mini- series and I would do all the music myself, of course)And that was around just one block….lol. Well, thank God He was watching over me and also thankful for my dear friends from my youth that will always hold a tender place in my heart! They all definitely colored on the walls of my heart and still can bring a huge smile to my face! I pray their lives are blessed and they smile when they think of me as well.

That’s not all I know, but all I feel I should tell!
Lol—
LO