Twas the eve before New Year

MILO NEW YEAR'S POEM

Tis the eve before New Year
and all thru the land,
Folks are a' preparing
to kick up some sand.

Some folks are shopping
for fireworks and booze,
Some will spend the day
gittin' a pre-party snooze.

While me and my wawdie
were headed to town,
we schemed up a way
for a shole nuff tho-down.

"I'll git me some far-works,
a half-gallon of 'Beam!"
I thought to myself,
as I started to scheme.

Shotguns are loaded
and stood by the door,
We'll shoot 'em at midnight...
Make a helluva roar!

I'll build me a bonfire
out on the pond bank,
sit for a spell...
then have me a drank.

We'll welcome the New Year
and visit a while,
'cause the best way to party
is MILO REDNECK STYLE.

HAPPY NEW YEAR, ALL...hope you all have a great night, and please be careful! Talk to you all next week. Oh, one more thing...hangover tip. Alka-seltzer, nuff said.

Along came me...

I am a movie-lover. Usually, if I have my 'druthers, I'm stretched out on the couch after work, remote in-hand looking at what's on HBO. But, lately LMAO, I've been a lil bit busy.
A while back, the movie "Along Came Polly" was released on video, so I checked it out. The first time I watched it, I fell asleep half way thru, and never finished really watching it...ZZZZZZzzzzzz
Then back on my birthday, my dad's girlfriend got it for me as a gift. Now, some of you know me personally, and some of you know that I have started dating someone really great. Well...the guy I'm seeing noticed the movie, and said..."Oh wow...have you seen that yet?"
I'm like, "Kinda...I fell asleep and didn't see it all."
Then he said, "That friggin' movie is soooo ironic...you are Polly, she is Polly.....his situation, my situation...."
Dag! How very perfectly strange it is! Ya'll know what I mean?
Those of you who know the dealio...isn't that crazy????? The parallels between us and the movie...However, I do not dance to latin music....hip-hop maybe.
Anyway, just an observation.
New Year's Eve has slipped up on me and picked my pocket. I should have been paying closer attention...gotta get fireworks!

Mid-week stretch...

Everyone is looking forward to another "holiday" weekend...but what I am looking forward to most of all is **************FIREWORKS!***************
I love fireworks! I love the cacophany of noise, the blinding flash, the acrid smell, the heart-jumping thrill of it all. I like to watch the big fireworks displays, but am equally happy to spark a few black cats with my friends. Key entertainment for us country kids included bottlerocket and firecracker "wars"...how we survived without losing eyes and fingers, I'll never know. But it was fun, and a little dangerous...and that combo is impossible to resist.
Even now, I want to stop by one of the big tents set up locally and purchase a few hundred dollar's worth.
Doesn't make sense to blow so much money on such a short lived thrill, does it? Many people have spent much more on things that give much less pleasure. So I will buy my fireworks as normal, and shoot my shotgun in the air at midnight as usual.
I have one request for everyone...please, please, please do not drink and drive. Stay home and party, or get a DD, or a taxi! Live to see another new year.

Is my life boring?

Seems like all I ever, ever do anymore is work. I used to be a vibrant, creative part of society...now, I'm just another friggin' drone buzzing around the workplace.
I used to do things like paint, play the bass guitar, walk in the woods...
I know I'm getting older, but does that mean I have to be boring? I don't want to be busier, I want more free time to do things that stimulate my mind in a POSITIVE way. But the obligatory duties in my life take precedence, and the things that make me feel happy and alive are shelved till further notice.
I envy people who have free time to enjoy their hobbies, to live life to the fullest, to travel, to learn something new. I guess that's it...I never seem to learn anything new. It's the small-town mentality...Oooooo, don't try anything new, someone might raise and eyebrow!
I need to travel, see something new. I would really like to go back to Europe...the history and culture is unavoidable, and soooo stimulating. Hell, I would love to cross this great country I live in and see it all...by train, plane, automobile, roller blades, however.
I would really love to reach my full potential one day...
My great aunt recently passed away at the age of 94...let me say that again...94. Wow. She got her GED, went to college, travelled the world, all after he husband passed away. She was in her seventies when she did all that stuff. Incredible. She was a special lady, and we will miss her. In the shadow of her latent accomplishments, how can I just let myself be ordinary? I can't, I won't.
Need to grow, need to learn, need to change...it never stops, even if you live to be 94.

The Fall-Out

Christmas came and went...again. And I survived, again...LOL. My Christmas was very different this year than in years passed. I cooked a meal for my boyfriend's family, and met them for the the first time all in one day! It was kinda nerve-wracking at first, but it turned out fine. The whole weekend was a blur, really. So much to do, and no time to do it. But (hooray!) things are calmer at work, and we are gonna try to get outta here early this afternoon. The chaos surrounding the holidays this year has been staggering. I keep thinking that things will simplify the older I get, but it just gets crazier.
Got to see all my family...Daddy, Bob, Yvonne, Mitchell, Tammy, Randall, Chris, Aaron, Mamaw Mable. Henrietta is in Alabama seeing her girls and will be home later. My family is shrinking... I remember the days when chaos reigned. Kids running everywhere (12 in all, counting all cousins), presents stacked to the ceiling, Momma, Nanie and Mamaw cooking frantically to feed everyone. Now, it is so strange to step into the shoes my parents left behind.

There really is a Santa, I think?

Holiday time means chaos for me...while most people are happily cruising thru the season, I'm working my butt off. I'm not complaining, it's great to have a job. But lawdy, do I need a break!
I have now purchased exactly 3 presents......yeah that's ALL. I LOVE Christmas, but after attending umpteen open houses, and eating 45 and a half pounds of refreshments, I'm (literally) fed up. I'm tired of all the chit-chat, the pageantry, the blah blah blah...even I have developed a severe case of perma-grin from all the well wishing.
I am not a scrooge by any stretch, but does anyone else out there feel me? I think the "Christmas" mentality should stretch throughout the whole dang year. Why do so many folks think that the holidays are the only time when people need good cheer?
Just how many times will I hear, "Are you ready for Christmas?"
"Hell yes, I'm ready! I was born ready, so let's get on with it."
For me, Christmas will never regain it's former luster. Gone are the days when I really, truly believed that there was a true St. Nick...I could have sworn I heard his sleigh bells over the house at Myrtle and Neal's (my grandparents) on Christmas eve. Gone also is the innocence that accompanied me through my childhood holidays. I'm all grown up now, and very, very jaded. But I love to go back in time, in my mind, and relive those exceptionally joyous moments that have stuck in my mind like sugarplums. Life was filled with simple things...parents, cousins, playtime and tons of love. Now all that has been traded for stress, deadlines, responsibilities, and lonliness. That's right, lonliness. It is a sobering thing to wake up one day and realize you aren't a kid anymore! It is a very lonely feeling. No more parents to get your back, you have to get it yourself. I have so many great friends and loving family. But I long for those days when all I had to do was get up out of bed, get dressed, and hit the yard! No bills to pay, no job to attend...and the only problem solving that had to be done was to figure out which ditch contained the most crawfish.

Happy Holidays, Crappy Holidays

Don't think I'm a Scrooge...but the older I get, the holidays become more of a remembrance than a celebration. This had been an odd year for me anyway. I have had many emotional ups and downs, from meeting the person I thought was my soulmate only to find out I was wrong, to dealing with yet another year filled with regret over bad decisions. Things are better now, but as I look back over the past year, what have I accomplished?
I spent most of this year obsessing over a relationship that never actually existed. What a waste of my time and energy! After all the hard lessons I have learned about life, love, divorce, etc., I can't believe that I was still so naive. I guess I am the eteranal optimist...the glass half full girl....the one who just flat refuses to give up on love. I entrusted someone with my heart when I shouldn't have. I believed the half-truths of a selfish, superficial, scandalous male because I thought I didn't deserve any better. I envisioned myself alone, 30 years from now, and it scared me to death.
Ladies...please let me pass on some sound advice to you. If you are struggling with a bad relationship, if have NO relationship, if you have the best relationship...doesn't matter. These truths, and I emphasize TRUTHS, have been tried and tested by yours truly.
BEING ALONE IS BETTER THAN BEING WITH THE WRONG PERSON. Trust me, I know personally. I am a 35 year old woman, with no husband, no kids, no family of my own. But I'm HAPPY...because I finally know just how much I'm worth. I'm not on some feminist kick, and this isn't something I read out of some corny self help book. Until you are truly content with who YOU are, you can never have fulfilling exchange with another person... be it a boyfriend, girlfriend, family, boss.
DON'T LET ANYONE STEAL YOUR JOY. Happiness is incidental, joy is a CHOICE. My heart may be breaking this Christmas because I miss my mom, or my brother...but I still have JOY inside for the memories they have left behind for me. I may wake up tomorrow and have a terrible day, but no one will touch my joy. No man is worth losing it over, and no true friend would ever try to rob me of it. If you have friends that bring you down, shuck them off. Keep your joy guarded like the crown jewels...if you do, you'll find out how far it will go pulling your through in tough times.
NEVER QUIT PULLING. My dad, over the years, has endured a LOT of trials and heartache. And over the years, I have gone to him many, many times for advice. Without fail, he always says to me, "Baby, keep on pulling." What does he mean? Simply, don't give up. To quote Ice Cube, "life ain't a sprint, it's a marathon"...actually, it's more like a cross-country steeplechase. Your gonna get knocked down, trampled underfoot, and someone will try to wipe their boots on your back. But consider this. If you are always on the move, going forward, they won't be able to. If someone says something ugly to you, shuck it off. If you feel crunchy for whatever reason, hold your head up. My dad always says, "There ain't no one on this earth any better than me." He's not being arrogant, he's giving himself a shot of self-confidence.