A long weekend

Have you ever had a pair of comfy shoes? A pair of shoes you could always count on to fit and make your feet happy? How, when you put this pair of shoes on, you seemed to relax and just be one with the universe?

That's how going home has always felt to me.

Until this past weekend.

Oh, the shoes still fit just fine. They just didn't seem to have the same effect they normally do. My "home shoes" felt a little funny. I haven't been wearing them on a regular basis so they weren't as familiar as they were before. I had to shuffle some and I might have tripped a few times trying to get back into the groove of wearing them. By Sunday morning, I was ready to put them back beside the door.

What a shoe analogy, huh?

Home still feels like home....but it's not the same. I think everyone there is used to us being gone and well, we're used to being gone. My family has moved on and gotten a groove going on that really doesn't include us. It doesn't make me mad...just a little sad. I want to go there and just fall right back into how my mind wishes it to be. It can't. I go to stand in a spot that I know, to find it's been filled because of need and necessity. It's hard for me to accept that things change some times. Life doesn't wait for you to approve or disapprove. Change happens and the universe doesn't give a whit if you are a Taurus or not.

The Boy had a weekend full of issues. I'll do a post on just him (prolly tomorrow) and fill you in. Suffice it to say, my nerves were beyond shot, and for my trouble, I have a mouth full of ulcers and fever blisters going on. That's what nerves do to me when I let them take over.

I did get to see a few friends I've been missing. We got to share a meal with Chelle Friday night. Ahhh...now those shoes are never ill-fitting. We fall right back into our groove of 15 years easily. The pictures of her kitchen doesn't do it proper justice. It is gorgeous! She gave me a birthday/Christmas combo present...a pineapple lamp! Miss Hope do love her pineapple decor and accessories. I've been looking around my home trying to figure out exactly where I'm going to put that treasure. It was so good seeing her and getting to spend some quality chat time. We both agree we never have enough time to fully appreciate each other.

Saturday evening I got to spend some time with some other girlfriends. Lu, Mar, and Debbie (we shall call her Debbiecakes so as not to be confused with Neighbor Debbie). I graduated with both Lu and Debbiecakes. Mar is my long time homie clubbing partner. (Yeah, I did that scene on a regular basis. Not anymore, though. My hips might stage a revolt if I took them dancing like that again). We sat at a local Mexican restaurant (ha ha...I ate Mexican two nights in a row!) for a few hours and just had a blast catching up on our lives and digging up a few good memories. I hated to see it end as time with them is few and far between. We had to laugh at the end of the night when we kept remarking what a good time we had had. I piped up at one point and said, "And there wasn't a drop of alcohol involved!" Although, to hear us laugh, you might've thought we were sipping something!

I'm not saying it was a bad weekend at the beginning of my post. You can see fun was had. We (The Man and I) just wonder what's in store for us when he retires. Our parents seem to be aging on us and we're not happy with that one bit. I worry about my parents. He worries about his parents. We worry together about both sets. We want to be near them and help them, but we can't right now. It's hard on us being so far away, but we love where we are, too. Talk about hard, Internets! My Daddy was talking to me this weekend and I told him I felt so bad. He informed me he wasn't trying to make me feel bad, he was just telling it like it is. I can count on him to be honest and up front with me. It's a heck of a lot better than sitting in the dark.

Am I rambling enough for you, yet? Four days is a long time to be without Internet when you have a blog and like to put your thoughts down.

I get to share some pictures with you now. We took a picture Saturday night and I was going to share with you, but I had an orange shirt on and I swear to you I looked like The Great Pumpkin. You'll just have to take my word for it because I ain't showing it.

On our way up I-95, we stopped off at the Brunswick, Georgia exit to grab a bite to eat. We were shocked to see this price for gas. I thought it might have been a mistake. Nope. You know we filled up. In fact, I told The Man I'd bounce a little and get the kids to so we could fit more into every crook and crevice of the gas tank. 2.89. Wow, I can't remember when I've seen that. Oh...I was totally sending picture text messages to people to share our good fortune

If you go back and look at my November posts, you'll see a picture similar to this one. We always stop at the Steak & Shake on our way up to South Carolina for Thanksgiving. This year we don't get to go home for T'giving, so we went ahead and stopped. I know the picture isn't the greatest quality. Apparently, the sun shone for a brief moment and put a glare on a good picture.

I got The Chief involved in my picture taking, too. Guess where he works? That girl is all about her Cat Navy.

On the way back home, The Man decided to put just enough gas in the Hoe to make back to the Brunswick exit. We were all excited to see if that gas was still going to be 2.89. We were hard pressed to find that gas goodness anywhere else in our weekend travels. This is the gas station in Brunswick. What a long line of cars! Wonder why everyone is waiting in line like this???

THIS IS WHY!!!! I remember right before Katrina hit, we were paying 2.60 a gallon. Wow. That Man of mine was putting as much as he could in the Hoe. For the first time, we were able to fill up for a little over 50 bucks. Not bad, huh?


I took this picture because it was dark and it was so red and sparkly. Like a beacon in the night......"Come get gas you can afford........."

This concludes the pictures I thought to get from our weekend. It was good, yet bittersweet at times. I'm sure alot of you can understand that. Now, I'm off to get some house straight. Miss Hope is having herself a Tupperware party tomorrow night! I kid you not. I need me some new stuff!