Thursday's Treasures or Things that Make Me Feel Rich

So it's Thursday. Time for Thursday's Treasures, or Things that Make Me Feel Rich. And I'll get to it, but first a little story.

Just a few moments ago, I was reading Ms. Moon's post Brains Baked, Simmered, Fried and Flaked. As usual, I was enthralled and inspired and at home in her words. As usual, I felt like she had given my belly stirrings words, and so told me my own truth. She's amazing. And so as usual, I laughed outloud and Dawn said, "What?" I said, "I'm laughing at Ms. Moon." She said, "What's she up to today?" I said, "She's yelling about people coming to her house to witness." Dawn said, "Witness what?"

Before I go any further let me remind you all that if it weren't for the fact that we share a heart and soul, you would testify that Dawn and I are Polar Opposites. She grew up WAY up there and I, WAY down here. Our political, social and spiritual upbringings were as far removed in content as they were in geography.

So you'll understand the sweet shock that rushed over me when my beloved said, "Witness what?" In the brief seconds that I stayed in my chair, I was hit head-on by how different our beginnings in life were and how amazing it is that we have come together and how glad I am to not be living my old life anymore and how much tangibly better my life is with her in it and so many others out of it.

And so, surprising both Dawn and me, I stood up and quickly moved to her. I took the laundry out of her hands and put my impatient mouth on hers and pushed her down and made love to her right there on the couch in the middle of the afternoon heat.

And I feel rich. And whole. And so very alive.

So here's my list for today.

1. Ms. Moon's laid-bare soul, her wisdom and her truths.

2. NOT living in Mississippi.

3. Having a whole swarm of friends to tell this stuff to and Believing that you really do care.

4. Pandora.com that always manages to play a perfect song. Right now, it's Debbie Comer's version of Crash into Me.

5. The City of Pensacola that puts on fantastic summer activities. Tonight I'm going to play in the fountains with my adorable family while a band serenades us.

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Mystery Solved

Nurture vs. Nature. It's an age-old question, and one that is bound to come up in the lives of my children. Storm and Faith are fathered by the poster child for the American Melting Pot. He most closely identifies as African-American. William and Ray are fathered by a pasty white Brit. Unfortunately, the children don't see them as often as any of us would like because the guys are both in the Army and have spent so much time overseas.

It's an interesting arrangement, no doubt. We get LOTS of questions and avoid many others. My favorite? "Which ones are yours?" And I say, "All of them." And Bitchy Ignoramuses say, "No, I said 'Which of the children are yours?'" And I say, "Yes, Ma'am. And I said, 'All of them.'" And they say, "Oooooooooh!" in a sing-songy way that betrays both their surprise and disapproval. I cut my eyes, smile and twirl Faith's hair around my finger.

So I spend a fair amount of time studying my children. I not only revel in their smiles and squeals and questions and answers; but I LOOK at them. I look for Dawn and Big Storm in Storm and Faith. I look for myself and Jack in William and Ray. Physical features are easy, but still need to be catalouged. The kids like to talk about where their eyes came from and how they got their toes and "who has hair like me." It's also good for the guys, I think. They need to hear about the obvious presence of their DNA when all else fails. Storm looks EXACTLY like Big Storm - perfect smile and Fred Flintstone feet, and William and Ray ARE Jack from the neck down - narrow shoulders and soccer-player legs.

What plagues me, though, are the weird habits and preferences/obsessions. One, in particular, really irks me. I have watched Storm do this for a couple of years now, and have been close to throwing-up for a couple of years now. He twitches his nose and then, with his palm parallel to his face, starts with the tip of his middle finger and rubs his entire hand and forearm up his face. This behavior has been a total mystery to me. I have NEVER, in my entire life, seen anyone else do this. Until tonight.

We found a new-to-us beach dive. Open-air, fresh seafood, good beer on tap, a little band - our kind of place. The kids were playing on the beach and Dawn and I were enjoying a rare moment alone. I was in mid-sentence when her nose started twitching. Her strong, capable hand came up; and as I held my breath and did my best to keep my eyes from popping out of my head, she performed the manuever.

Damn!

That's one less thing I can blame on THEM.

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Summer Lovin'

I love, love, love my new look! What do you guys think? Very Summery, right?

I'm quite in love with summer tonight. Does it show? Summer is all of my favorite things, except Christmas. But that's good because the wintertime needs something uplifting, too, you know?

Summer is my favorite foods - crawfish boils, homemade ice cream, oysters on the half, and Perfect Garden Vegetables (notice how I give respect with capital letters). Tomatoes. Tomatoes. I could write yet another Ode to Tomatoes right now, but I'll spare you.

Summer is my favorite drinks - Iced Sweet Tea, Chilly Cold Beer straight from my rusty cooler, Frozen Margaritas, Late Afternoon Vodka & Tonics that take many witty cocktail napkins. My favorite one shows a 50s era woman in a button-up pink dress leaning against a tree. She's smiling coyly. The caption reads, "She had not yet decided whether to use her powers for good or for evil."

Summer is my children - at the Beach, in the yard, on a road trip, in fountains, on bikes, in parks, at festivals, together.

Summer holds my favorite memories from my less than illustrious childhood and not-yet-adulthood. I went to summer camp at Camp DeSoto atop Lookout Mountain in Alabama. I went for a month for 6 years. LOVED it! It was hot and dusty and humid and comfortable and safe and fun and perfect and wanna hear me sing some songs?

Summer was the time for my tragically dysfunctional Southern family to take a FABULOUS trip. We drove across Canada once. Good Lord. We had run-ins with bears, massive sheep and elk that wouldn't get off the road for the goddamn Pope. There was snow (we Mississippians don't do well with that.) There was a grumpy customs agent who didn't think much of our Georgia peaches. My now ex step-dad drove the rental van into a pole in a bank parking lot. I got new L.A. Gear high-tops because they were affordable in Canada. My now ex step-sister did not and threw a massive fit, so my mother's sister threw one of the aforementioned peaches at her in the aforementioned rental van. Good times.

Summer is my favorite boyfriend. Lance. It was the summer I worked at my dad's Country Club as a lifeguard. When I say it was my dad's what I mean is that he was the Golf Pro at the course. It was his job. Lance was a lowly cart boy, and a county school kid, at that. He was adorable. Totally smitten with me. I was the boss's daughter, 16 with a rock hard newly transformed body in a brand new bright red racerback suit and tortoise shell sunglasses. My goodness. He was tripping on himself. He drove a T-top Camaro with only the primer on it. The tape deck responded better to a good swift whack on the dash than to the buttons and knobs. He cried a little the first time we heard "Beaches of Cheyenne," the big hit of that summer. To this day, he's the sweetest boy I ever knew.

"If a June night could talk, it would probably boast it invented romance."

Go get some sweet kisses, girls. Summer's here.

Aloha!

I went to Hawaii once in Middle School. It was nice. I like Hawaiian music and I think the native language is beautiful. Like every little girl, I had a grass skirt at some point. I have a few Hibiscus plants in my yard. All this to say that I think of Hawaii as much as the next person. I'm not hankering to get there. It's not my mental happy place. Hawaii, just Hawaii. Whatev.

Yesterday, though. Damn! I couldn't get away from it. Weird Hawaii happenings in chronological order: 1) I bought Storm the next book in the Magic Tree House Series which happened to be High Tide in Hawaii. 2) Storm and Faith's dad sent a box of souvenirs from Hawaii where he had recently been on a training exercise. Faith was covered in hibiscus themed jewelry, and Storm was fabulous in a new t-shirt that read, "Hang Loose." (This saying always makes me think of going commando.) 3) On the way to an evening spent playing in the public fountains, we stopped to get a bottle of wine at Aloha Wine World. 4) When we pulled up to the fountains, there was an old car with a sticker on the back window that read, "AlohaWinds.net" 5) On the ground next to where we parked was a tag from a beach towel covered in hibiscus flowers. Isn't this weird?

So I've decided to try out "Aloha" for a while. I'm going to answer the phone with it. Annoy drive-through tellers. Sign emails. Confuse my neighbors.

It's good both coming and going. Aloha!

Treasures from the Moon

I so love this notion that Ms. Moon put in my head, that I think I may make it a weekly post like Wordless Wednesdays or Dawg's Dislike Fridays. How's Thursday for you? Skipping this coming Thursday, of course.

Here's the disclaimer - I'm not going to include Dawn and the children in my lists. You all know how much I ADORE them and if I go ahead with this disclaimer then I won't feel that annoying pang of guilt every time I don't mention them and you guys won't have to vomit in your laps every Thursday which may lead to it being known as Throw Up Thursday which is not becoming in the least. Oh! And I'm limiting myself to a list of 12 today and 5 every Thursday hereafter. Skipping this coming Thursday, of course.

OK? Here goes.


Things that make me feel rich:

1. Our fabulous camera that we refer to as "the asset."

2. My poetry books by obscure authors.

3. Organic anything - especially fruit and soaps.

4. My grandmother's silver.

5. Going out on a date. At night. Without children.

6. My twice yearly haircut at the fancy salon.

7. Yearly Membership passes - for anywhere or anything.

8. New Crocs with carefully chosen Jibbitz.

9. Opening a good bottle of wine and pouring perfectly for Dawn who doesn't care.

10. Netflix

11. Buying a new pair of orange-handled scissors with which to cut whatever I want without irritation.

12. Dawn's collection of rocks, shells and trinkets from far and wide.

Can't Stop Laughing!

I just read this on the Catholic News Agency website. These are the last few lines of an article that started out being about President Obama declaring June to be LGBT Pride Month.

Last Friday, the Baghdad Embassy employee association hosted a Gay Pride Theme Party at an employee pub. A flyer for the event, reposted on the Washington Post's website, encouraged attendees to “dress in drag or as a gay icon.”

A State Department source told the Washington Times that the party “throws gasoline on the fire” of Islamic insurgency and strengthens the perception that America is promoting decadence.

Perk Up, Jude