Down the road…

I’m revisiting this post from one of my tour stops last month.  It was one of my favorites, since it brought up some great memories.

I’m not a big traveler.  I mean, I’d like to be, I’d like to be toodling around in a giant Winnebago or flying off to exotic locales like ones I read about.  But my very blue collar world doesn’t include scenarios like that.  I’ve only really been on a few big trips in my life.

A big vacation when I was in the fourth grade brought me to the Grand Canyon and all up the West Coast.  I’ve been scuba diving in Grand Cayman and Cozumel and Honduras.  I’ve been to London.  I’ve been skiing in Taos, NM.  All of those things were in my twenties.  And I went to Vegas for my honeymoon.  That about sums up my travelling portfolio.

But one trip that wasn’t a vacation, stands out in my head as life altering.

When my daughter was five, her dad and I called it quits.  We were living in Colorado at the time, a beautiful, majestic place.  Also rivaling California for expensive living.  I couldn’t afford to live there on my own, and I didn’t want to.  It was time to move back home.  To Texas.  To family.

The small town I was going back to would be very different from what I was leaving behind.  I knew that.  I knew I was making the conscious choice to raise my daughter in an entirely different lifestyle.  She would be a blue-collar Texas girl, like I was.  So my dad and my brother rented a uHaul truck and drove the 2-day stretch to come help me pack up everything I owned, and we left.

I remember looking in the rearview mirror with tears in my eyes as I watched the big rock formation in Castle Rock, Colorado disappear around a bend.

I knew I’d never be back.  I felt the loss as I drove through mountain passes and little picturesque towns.  I looked at my daughter, coloring in a Barbie coloring book, who really wasn’t old enough to register what she was leaving behind, and both celebrated that fact and regretted it.

I got to spend precious moments with my dad, that I didn’t really realize was precious at the time.  We stopped and ate at little mom and pop diners along the way, and stayed at the tiniest roach motel I’ve ever seen…lol…  I remember pulling up finally, at the end of the second day, into my mother’s driveway.  Thinking:  “I’m finally home” and “Oh my God, what have I done” at the very same time.  I had no house, no job, no security for my daughter other than a support system of family.  I got us there two weeks before Kindergarten started, so she’d start in one place and not have to move in the middle.

One month later, I found a rent house and a job in the very same day.  And five years later my dad died…with my mom to follow eight months after that.  My choice gave my daughter a chance to know them, hang out with them almost daily.  She has deep rooted memories that I wish could have lasted longer but at least they are there.  She’s 17 now, and remembers certain activities with them vividly.

I still miss Colorado sometimes, but I’ve been here for twelve years now, have remarried into a wonderful family and have fully reinstated my Texas drawl and attitude.  It’s home again.

Do you have a trip that changed your life in some way?  Share!

I want to be as good a person as my dog thinks I am…

My best friend in Dallas lost one of her best friends this week.  Her sweet dog, Roxie had to be put down because of a bleeding tumor that was causing her to go down fast, and with alot of pain.   My friend is struggling with Roxie’s absence, and it got me thinking about our furry family members and how important they are in our lives.  So I thought I’d do a little tribute to them, and invite you to do the same with yours.

Here is Roxie in better days, and what a sweetheart she was…

They have another dog, a golden retriever, Gracie, who is blissfully ignorant about most things in life…lol…but is also full of sweetness and love and thinks she’s a lapdog.  And also thinks she belongs on a pool float with a drink…

Here’s my old lady dog, Ruby, who lives for Sonic runs so that she can snatch tater tots.

   

So tell me about your babies!!!!   

And dear sweet Roxie…I will miss you dearly.  Hope you’re having fun up there with Josie and Honey.  

RIP sweet girl.

Nobody puts Baby in a corner….

I’m recycling a post from my blog tour earlier this month, since it was fun to play with.   Enjoy!

So let’s chat about some of our favorite movie or book couples of all time.  Actually most of these are movies, but that’s what came to mind.

Titanic – Jack and Rose – How much did you cry when Jack gave up his place on the—plank?  Whatever it was, I was yelling, “There’s fifty others floating around, fool!”  And then what tears when Rose pried Jack’s frozen fingers from hers and let him go, saying, “I’ll never let go.”  I blubbered like a baby.  Every time I’ve seen it.

Gone With The Wind – Scarlett and Rhett – A smart-mouthed woman and an arrogant man that can’t get enough of her no matter how many times he tries to walk away.  “Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn.”

When Harry Met Sally – Harry and Sally – Women and men can’t just be friends, at least not in the movies, and not when it’s hysterical Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan.  Finally realizing their love over “Auld Lang Syne”.  And then there was that café scene where Sally proves the math that every woman knows.  Every woman has done it, and every man swears it’s never happened to them.  Go figure that one.

Rocky – Rocky and Adrian – “Adriaaaaaaaan!”  Enough said.

Tarzan – Tarzan and Jane – Who doesn’t love a story about a proper lady turned primal by a jungle man?  “Tarzan love Jane.”

Grease – Danny and Sandy – “Summer Lovin….he got friendly holdin’ my haaannnnd.”  “She got friendly…down in the saaannnnd.”  Yeah, Danny, really?  But nothing like a boy who’s willing to change his whole identity for her, while she does the same.  Awwwwww…

Forrest Gump – Forrest and Jenny – “My momma said life is like a box of chocolates…you never know what you’re gonna get.”  Forrest spends his whole life accidentally falling into fortune, while following the love of his life in one way or another.  She’s all he wants, even when she ditches him, time and time again.  And even when she’s dying.  That’s true love.

Dirty Dancing – Baby and Johnny – I saved this one for last.  “Nobody puts Baby in a corner.”  Oh dear God, who didn’t melt all over the floor on that one?  Wealthy girl meets poor boy and defies Daddy to be with her Johnny.  We miss you Patrick.

Okay!  So tell me more.  Who did I miss?  What are your favorite couples????

I want to be the Grasshopper…

It’s been a month of crazy for me, how about you?  LOL. 

April 3rd was the release of my debut novel THE REASON IS YOU, I had guest authors giving away books, a blog tour kicked off, a cover reveal for BEFORE AND EVER SINCE, and now I’m trying to pull my brain back together.  Between promoting REASON, working my day job, and this weekend’s spiritual retreat, I feel very stretched….

Ever feel like that?   I probably really need that retreat.  LOL!!

But it’s all been good.  I’m very blessed.  And in looking back on past posts over the last six months, I’ve noticed a large trend of anxiety and harried stressed posts on my part.  Hmmm, not sure I’m happy about that.    Clearly, I need to find a calmness. 

I think I would find that in a maid.

You see, other than cloning, which probably wouldn’t be reasonable…and quitting the day job, which wouldn’t be possible…  a maid that would have my house clean and sparkly when I get home from the day job…would be like Xanadu to me.

Do you hear the music?  I can’t even imagine.

Being able to just come home and sit down to write, while looking around inhaling “clean”.

*sound of record scratching*

Okay, back to reality.  But on the upside, when I post again in two weeks sans retreat… I should be full of peace and love and serenity.  Till then, grasshopper…

Your worst date…ever… LOL!!

We’ve all had them.  We may be all settled in and comfy now…

but once upon a time we weren’t.  And there are many many ways for a date to go terrrrrrribly wrong.  Sometimes it’s the situation–the location-

…the ambiance.

 

Sometimes it’s the guy.

 

Sometimes it may all LOOK good,

but it’s that creep factor that worms under your skin telling you that maybe you need to accidentally get that phone call.

 

LOL — mine was when I was 17.  I’ll tell you mine when you tell me yours…