Cell phones

I have had the same cell phone for the last five years. Last week
it died. My husband's still worked. Sooo I waited for several
days before I asked him to go with me to see about a new plan and
phone. Little did I know that the phone carrier would not sell
me a phone without signing up for a two year plan.

When I called, they told me that I would have to choose a new
plan. I told that phone company goodbye. We then went on
an intelligence gathering trip. We took our information home
and made the decision. We knew what company, what plan, etc.,
and went to select the phone and take care of the business
part. It took us 3 1/2 hours to do the business part of it.
I don't see how the salesmen make a living if they only have
time to conduct two sales a day!

The young man was very nice, well versed in his sales spiel
and in the business transaction. It was one of those hurry up
and wait experiences.

Finally, we arrived home in the middle of a terrible wind and
rain storm, carrying our phones and materials. I do not know
much more than how to turn the thing on, but my little red
book will tell me everything I know. I hope I will have
all my special friends' numbers in the phone by next week.

Great television

Once every four years television is great. What a great cultural
event! Tremendous skill, sportsmanship and entertainment all day and
evening for two truly wonderful weeks are available to anyone who
owns a television set.

I am not a sports enthusiast, but I cannot imagine anyone on
this planet who would not enjoy watching the world's super
athletes participate in the Olympic games in China.

I do feel sorry for the people who lost their homes in order
that the Olympic sports complex could be built. I wish they
had been provided new places to live instead of just doing
whatever they could to get by.

I can't imagine what it would be like to be homeless, and
I am so thankful for that. I have had a good, safe and
prosperous life. I know there are many people in this
country and in the world who have never known that kind
of security.

Anyway, not to belabor the subject, watching those young
men and women give their all to represent their countries
successfully and well gives me a warm feeling of pride, as
well as two weeks of superb entertainment.

High School Reunion

On July 13 I will be attending my 57th high school Reunion.
These are probably the only people other than my children who
remember my dark brown hair.

I graduated from Forest (Miss.) High School in May, 1951.
I was the youngest in my class. I had my 17th birthday
in July after graduation. There were 33 students in the
graduating class of 1951 Approximately half of them have
died. Each year we seem to lose 1 or 2 more. This year,
however, there were no deaths. There has been, however,
a rash of cancer cases in both my classmates and their
spouses.

I have my tickets and am ready to fly. I am so excited
that I will get to visit with some dear friends for a
Saturday afternoon. With some it seems that we pick up
right where we left off. It is always wonderful to visit
with people whom we once were so close.

My son and his family are moving from Mississippi
to Texas in July, and that means I'll be spending
my money on airline tickets to Dallas instead of
Mississippi. It breaks my heart that I will probably
see less of Chelsea than I did when she was in Jackson.
I already feel the loss.

Surprise Birthday

My grandson Samuel has a birthday on Monday. He will be
22. Today, Saturday, we were supposed to have a surprise
party at 1:00 p.m. at Rock Springs. Yesterday the county
closed the park because of a high bacteria count.

The picnic was changed to Wekiva Springs State Park.
When my husband and I arrived, the dark clouds were
rumbling menacingly and there were no tables or grills
available. We waited for some time and one became
vacant and we grabbed it.

By this time many swimmers were getting out of the
water, the thunder and lightning frightening all
of us.

We decided to break everything down and take the
picnic back to Vicki's. When we returned home,
the storm had rained out and we had a very nice
meal of hot dogs, hamburgers, chips. etc.

Sam's comment: "This is the most stressful birthday
I've ever had."

Marla had a wonderful day. Her friend Hannah spent
the night last night and went with them and helped
with Marla today.

Marla swam, played and enjoyed every minute today.
When she finally got to eat, she had 2 hot dogs, 1
hamburger, chips, etc. That little girl can eat
more than I can. She is such a joy.

Reading Books

For over a quarter of a century I was a high school
English teacher and the thing I wanted most to teach
my students was a love and respect for books and
what they contained.

A good book can take the reader on fantastic journeys
to the moon and back;

Life's high Points

This past week my son and his family visited us. They
have a 2 1/2 year old little girl, Chelsea, who is very
precocious. They went to Howie in the Hills to a wedding
Friday and Saturday. Sunday was the first opportunity
the entire family had to get together.

I loved all the hustle and bustle and just having them
all in my home. It reminded me of Christmases when
we were all together.

That evening we all gathered around the big table in the
dining room. I asked my husband Dan to say the blessing.
He said that he would; we all held hands; the blessing
was over. My son said, "You said Pappaw's blessing."
My grandson Daniel mentioned another prayer. Then Chelsea,
the two year old, said "You could say this blessing."
She held her hands out; we all held hands; she said,
"God is great; God is good. Let us thank Him for our
food. By his hands we all are fed. Thank you, God,
for daily bread. Amen."

Everyone applauded her and she was very pleased with
herself. Her father and mother were so pleased they
almost cried. I can still hear that much older
sounding little voice reciting the prayer that
as a family they say together every night. Nothing
could have thrilled me any more.

I will share one more Chelsea story. The realtor was
showing the house, and Chelsea and her parents were
at a park while it was going on. I think they may
have had a picnic there. Anyway, Chelsea took some-
thing out of a wrapper and threw the wrapping away.
Her Dad said, "Chelsea, don't be a litter bug; pick
that up and put it in the trash can." She looked
at him and said, "I'm not a little bug!" He explained,
"I didn't call you a litter bug." He then explained
what a litter bug was. She looked at him and said,
I am not a little bug!"

The whole week was wonderful. Marla, six, and
Chelsea had a wonderful time together. On the last
night they were here, Marla asked for a sleepover
so that they could spend as much time as possible
together.

Now, I'll tell you about a little girl, Marla, who
sleeps all over the bed, at both ends and anywhere
in between. She lives down the street and she
is Queen here. I just wish they could both be down
the street. Instead, Chelsea and family will be
moving to Texas in July. Now we will have to fly
when we have a visit.

There have been some really wonderful days in my
life--my wedding day over 53 years ago; the births
of both my children; the births of all my grand-
children; my children's weddings. I could go on
and on, but I think it is evident that my family
is very important to me, and I love them with
all my heart.

More later.

Yard Work

Weddings

In the last two months I have attended two weddings. The two could
not have been more different.

The first wedding was held in my church late on a Sunday afternoon.
I did not have an invitation, but four of us went as wedding crashers,
I suppose. We did tell the mother of the groom that we would be there
and that we would not crash the reception. As strange as it seems,
there were two wedding crashers at the reception. In fact they were
so drunk and disorderly that the Maitland Police had to arrest them.

The wedding itself was beautiful and and moving. The bride wore the
traditional wedding gown and the groom wore his firefighter's dress
uniform. All his attendants were firefighters, but in suits and ties.

The bride had six attendants plus her sister as matron of honor.
Her niece was flower girl. There was a handsome little ring bearer
but I do not recall what relation he was to the bride and groom .

There is something special about every wedding I have ever attended.
Once I went to my cousin's wedding in Mississippi. Two of my sisters
and I attended -- once again as uninvited guests. This time, however,
the groom was the grandson of our favorite great aunt Elsie. Kenny,
the groom was a very tall young man, probably 6'4 or 5. The bride
was a beautiful 6 ft. tall red head. My parents, my sisters and I
are all medium height. At that time I was 5'4; two of my sisters were
shorter than I and Connie, my youngest sister, was two inches taller
than I.

Anyway, after the wedding we reminisced, remembering all the the guests
assembled. There were so many people in that church that we had known
and loved all our lives. When I think of weddings, I always think of
them as places where family gets together and cherished old friends
materialize.

The second wedding we attended was just last weekend. The bride looked
like a princess; everything was perfect. Her parents spared no expense.
Parked outside the church was an off white Rolls Royce wrapped in a
great big white ribbon with a huge bow. That car was a hint of what
was to come.

I have never seen such opulence as was there. The reception was
a sit down dinner at the Citrus Club. The food was magnificent.
I am sure the entire wedding had a price tag of somewhere between
Fifty and One Hundred Thousand dollars. All I could of was, "Why
didn't they give the money to the kids and let them have a down
payment on a house?"

I suppose this shows my practical frugality. The whole evening
was perfect insofar as the bride and groom were concerned. Why
should I stick my nose into their business?

Anyway, I relived that evening for several days; I even made a
couple of new friends there.

Travel wth friends

Just three days after we returned home from the reunion,
we embarked on an 8 day cruise to the Caribbean. We
departed from Port Canaveral on Saturday on the the ship
Glory.

On Sunday we visited Nassau. We left the ship and walked a
bit, but we were unimpressed. It seemed to be a typical
tourist trap. We enjoyed exploring the ship that day.

Our ship was huge, having 11 decks. It is a floating "summer
camp" for adults. Guests can shop, gamble, play the slots,
attend classes, see Las Vegas type shows or simply sit
and people watch. Actually just sitting and observing the human
show was very interesting.

I think the most maddening part of the cruise was when we
arrived at St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. We had been told
to to report to a certain room at a certain time corresponding
to the exact activity we were going to do on the island. We
went on time, waited for a half hour and no Customs officials
appeared. To make a long story short, we ended in a line of
people wound in and out of rooms, corridors and hallways,
literally several thousand people.

People seem to always disappoint me. Some middle aged man
and his four companions stepped in front of me and I said, "Sir,
you cannot cut in line. You must go to the end of the line just
like we did." His retort was that I could not tell him what to
do and he wpuld stand anywhere he x*x pleased. However, he did
leave us and go somewhere else to get in
line.

St. Thomas is lovely. The water is a beautiful aqua blue and
when we got into the deeper water, it changed into the most
beautiful sapphire blue imaginable. I could look at it for
hours. In fact, I did spend quite some time just watching the
beautiful blue water.

My friend Jura and I left our spouses to their own devices
and we explored the dock area. There must have been twenty
jewelry stores with exorbitant prices. Of course, if one is
truly interested in buying gems, she must play the bargaining
game.

The island has a coastline that extends for less than half a mile
before it becomes mountainous. All the homes are nestled
in little niches cut into the sides of the mountains--more like
tall hills. In some spots the homes were close together and
in others far apart. We would see tiny little houses snuggled
up to very large ones. Some were located next to what seemed
to be large resorts.

The fun came in the late evening, when the light disappeared
and all the lights in the area came on. It looked like it was
decorated with lights in various colors. The little homes
were gone and the lights were the only way we could tell
that the houses were there. I would not have missed that
sight for anything.

It took us 14 hours to reach St. Maarten, one side of which
was French and one the Netherlands. Our ship docked on
the Netherlands side. They warned us to be prepared for
a nude beach if we went to the French side to sightsee.
Several people went over, forgot the warning and were shocked
to see everyone on the beach without clothes.

We took a tour of St. Maarten, rode on a sightseeing tour
up to the top of the mountain and then back to one of the
world's best beaches, according to the Travel Channel.
I think the sand on the beach at St. Armands Key, Sarasota,
Florida is just as wonderful. As you walk that beach the
sand crunches like fine, dry snow. It's great fun to walk
in it. So, of course, was St. Maarten's.

After the outing Dan and I crashed in our cabin and slept
through dinner. We had to go to deck 9 (maybe 10?) to
eat at the buffet there. The food is very good but
there is so much of it, one has a tendency to overeat.

Nowhere have I had better food than in the formal dining
room. The portions are small, but every meal was a
diner's delight. The best cruise ship food I have ever had
was on this ship. It was easy not to overeat and to control
our portions when we ate in the dining room. No one ever
has to go hungry on a cruise ship.

The first three days the sea was very rough, the wind blew
incessantly. Many people were seasick. The first trip we
made on the Glory we felt anything. One would think we
were docked, the ship was so steady. Not so the'
first several days of this trip. Those waves crashing on
the hull of the ship came up ten, twenty feet. They were
wonderful to watch but not so good on the stomachs of
some of the passengers.

The one thing I missed was not seeing a fish. The only
one was the one I saw in a sea gull's mouth as it was
fishing on the sea below my window. I was hoping to
see dolphins, sharks or something.

When we first moved to Florida, people would tell us
that the two greatest days in life would be the day
we bought a boat and the day we sold it. They were
absolutely correct.

I feel a little bit that way about cruises. You are so
excited to get away to the beautiful tropics and oh,
so glad to return to home port. After a while, Dan
and I tired of all the food and were happy to be back
home where food is not quite so plentiful.

I recommend cruising to anyone needing to get away.
It's great not to have to wrestle with the luggage;
they do all of that for you. You get to stay in the
same room all the week--no packing and unpacking
like we do when we travel in the car.

Reunions

It has been several months since I have written. Many things happened
during the interim. Now I am back and anxious to get back in the
blogging mode.

This past April my husband and I attended his 198th Tank Battalion
National GuardUnit that was activated during the Korean conflict
in the early 1950's. We attended last year's reunion and, at that time
they decided that since their numbers were so low-- many have died--
they would meet each year so they could have as much contact as
possible in the years left to them.

This event was held at Lake Tia-O-Khata (the spelling may not be
exactly correct), a beautiful lake located in Louisville, Mississippi.
I'm not sure whether I am writing about the reunion or about the
beautiful state of Mississippi. The state is beautiful and so are the
people.

Of course, I am a bit prejudiced because I was born and raised in
the Magnolia State. My roots go deep and I am always happy to
return.

As I sat at my table and looked at the weathered and aged
members of that special group of American veterans, I under-
stood what those men represented--an elite group of fighting
men enjoying the camaraderie just reminiscing
about the many things they had shared.

The commander of the group was the late G. V. Sonny Mont-
gomery from Meridian, Mississippi, who was also a member
of the United States House of Representatives for more than
thirty years. There were many others in that group who were
extremely successful individuals, educators, lawyers, college
administrators and others. I was simply a distaff member
of the group, as were all the other wives.

There were no female members of that company. Back then there
weren't too many ladies in the service. Today's armed services are
so very different.

For many years, the lake and its restaurant and hotel have been a vital
part of the life of the city of Louisville, pronounced Lewis-ville.
The city is a small country town where everyone knows everyone
else. It was difficult to find a recognizable city center, but
there were a number of businesses we could see as we drove around.

The first time I attended a reunion of this group, I met many folks
who knew my sister and brother-in-law. After that I felt like I fit in
fairly well. At most school reunions, the spouse of the "graduate" is
bored. In fact, my husband and I agreed several years ago to stay
home when one of us had a school reunion.

I graduated from Forest (Miss.) High School. There were only 37
of us, and now I think there are only about 16 left. I lost my best
friend from high school two years ago, and it hurts when I attend
the reunion now. Something is just missing and I can't find a way
to fill that void.

Lake Tia-O-Khata is very unusual in many ways. The people of
Mississippi are unusual. On the last day we were there, we left
the maids cleaning our room, so I just took my little jewelry
case with me to the dining room. Of course, being so absent
minded, I left it on the chair next to me in the dining room.
About half an hour later I missed it, walked across the street
and into the restaurant back to the table where I sat and there
was the little black case with my favorite jewelry in it on the
chair where I left it.

A little later, my husband and I were talking and I said, "Only in
Mississippi would that little case still be where I left it. I will
always have a good feeling about that place. Actually, I will always
have a good feeling about and love almost everything about
Mississippi. I am so glad I have relatives still there.