Lucky Dorito

Have you ever had the odd nagging feeling that you forgot something?

Running through the mental checklist of…. is the iron off? is the coffee pot off? did I feed the dogs? did I respond to that very important email as I’d planned or did I just dream I responded??? am I late on some pressing bill? Hmmmm….

I hate that when something is nagging at me… elusive and vague. But there it is.

(Image credit: RPLS)

To travel the road less traveled,
does that make you stand apart from the crowd?

To travel the road less traveled,
does that make you any better or any lesser than others?

To travel the road less traveled,
does that entitle you to a sense of self to which others are not entitled?

To travel the road less traveled,
does that make you more qualified to receive the blessings of the Lord than others?

To travel the road less traveled,
would that cause your life to be MORE satisfying?

To travel the road less traveled,
will you get to your destination any faster?

Although, the following picture might very well qualify us for the “You might be a redneck if….” jokes -

it sure was fun to listen to the gales of laughter as the oscillating sprinklers hit my girls on each passing!

Happy 4th of July!

Yesterday was a heavy post for me…. and definitely thanks for your comments. I am still mulling it all over, hopefully to re-address it again later.

Tomorrow we celebrate independence of our nation - which means a family reunion in my world! My MIL picks the traditionally hottest weekend of the year to invite EVERYONE to come spend the day outside, melting in the heat and swatting at the flies… and what’s MORE crazy is that WE GO! Isn’t that funny? Oh well… it’s always fun to see everyone.

Thirteen Things I learned on my trip to Texas:

1. NEVER leave home without some butt-cream if you’ve ever had a problem with hemorrhoids. Or, even if you’ve never had a problem - you might develop one! That many hours of sitting…. are NOT a good thing. (Ummm… was that TMI?)
2. The signs on the side of the road that say SPEED LIMIT with a number on them …. evidently … not everyone is capable of READING them!
3. Do NOT stop in Hope, Arkansas (Birthplace of Bill Clinton) to use the potty at that little gas station/store to the left…. unless you wanna be grossed out beyond belief! I suggest you wear a mask and take some gloves… you’ll NOT wanna touch anything!
4. If you plan on taking a picture of the *Welcome to… each state* sign as you’re driving… know that the sign for Arkansas/Tennessee is smack dab in the MIDDLE of the bridge crossing the Mississippi River! What a stinkin CRAZY place for it! (I got it… but it wasn’t easy! lol)
5. Hot Tamales and Twizzlers are GREAT snacks while driving to ward off the sleepy-bug.
6. Red Hots work too.
7. When your friend tells you that it’s HOT in Texas - believe her!
8. We really can survive a week without cable tv. Who knew?
9. My daughters make fabulous traveling companions! I love them for that!
10. My husband will go to great lengths to show his love for me… including flying all the way to Texas and being there just long enough to eat lunch before we piled in the car to start the long-arse drive home!
11. I have panic attacks when I see spaghetti roads coming up. Thank goodness I live in small-town USA.
12. I love LOVE LOVE the big beautiful sky in Texas. Absolutely love it.
13. I have the greatest, most wonderful-est amazing friend in the world living in Texas - whom I love like a sister and can’t wait to see again already! For that reason alone - I can say… emphatically - I will go again!

Several months ago, Shannon sent me a few books on CD to listen to in the car as I travel. I had tucked them away in the china cabinet (so they wouldn’t get lost or damaged) and I sort of forgot about them. (Big surprise there, huh?) When I was packing to go to Texas to visit with her, we’d planned to each bring our wedding albums to share while we were together. Ours is on the top shelf of the china cabinet, behind glass doors, so that you can see it but it’s not exposed to dust and dog hair. When I moved it, lo and behold… there were the forgotten cd’s.

I began listening to one titled, “90 Minutes in Heaven” by Don Piper a few days ago (after we’d returned home - saving it for last because I knew I wanted to NOT be stuck in the car with the girls, trying to listen while they chatted). It’s an incredible story of the authors’ life and death experience. At the time I’m writing this, I’m about halfway through the cd’s and VERY moved by his story. I don’t know how, as a Christian, anyone can hear his story and not be at least a little moved by it.

I have thought about it a lot since I began listening this past Saturday. While I’m working, while I’m walking, while I’m just sitting…. it’s been very present on my mind. Yesterday, I posted a 10 Question Meme and the last question has been on my mind, since the moment I answered it. I don’t think it is coincidence that both things sort of *converged* at the same time.

If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates? Welcome - ya done good, kid.

I found myself having a conversation with a friend about the the story. As I said, it has remained on my mind for several days. As we were talking, another person (whom I’ve known for many years but I am hesitant to name in this forum) walked in and overheard part of the conversation.

He proceeded to tell me that…. in his opinion, there is nothing after death. No heaven. No hell. No form of consciousness in the least… when you die, that is IT. Nada, zip, zilch.

I was shocked. I know many of us have different beliefs - I don’t expect everyone to believe EXACTLY what I believe. But…. I don’t know how I never KNEW that this particular person didn’t believe in heaven and hell. I suppose, because… in my mind - it’s synonymous with believing in Christ. So…. does that mean he doesn’t believe in Christ? I don’t know. And, I’m ashamed to admit… I was too stunned to ask him. I didn’t know how to ask without creating a big ole’ theological discussion that might not be appropriate for the place we were at during the moment.

I’ve been beating myself up ever since over it. I missed the opportunity to share my belief in Christ with this person. It may never change his opinion… but what if it could?

I have always shied away from theological discussions because …. well. I don’t know why. I love the Lord and the many blessings He has given me… and I am quick to praise and turn to Him in prayer. But… it’s a very personal thing to me in many ways. I just don’t have the gift of evangelism.

Today, I pray for the Lord to present me with the same opportunity again, if it be in His will. I am prepared to handle the situation better. As long as I have Him in my corner, I can do it.

Once again, I’m borrowing great blog material from Michelle over at Bleeding Espresso. She has the coolest things! Thanks Michelle!

1. What is your favorite word? Gobsmacked
2. What is your least favorite word? Bored
3. What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally? Seeing someone that ENJOYS life - and all it has to offer along the way
   
4. What turns you off? Confrontation
5. What is your favorite curse word? Chucha (I just like the way it rolls off the tongue so easily more than anything)
   
6. What sound or noise do you love? Rain on a tin roof or windows
   
7. What sound or noise do you hate? Fighting
8. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt? Interior design
9. What profession would you not like to do? Construction worker on high-rise buildings
   
10. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates? Welcome - ya done good, kid.
    

Memory Lane Monday takes us back to 1992. My hubby and I were in the relatively early dating days. I suppose I should make sure you know that my hubby and I never actually lived in the same town until after we’d gotten married. We dated for almost 4 years - all long-distance. We talked on the phone a LOT and cherished our time together.

I would drive to his home in south-eastern Georgia at least once a month to spend a weekend… or as many days as I could spare. At some point that summer, we decided to take a few days and make a little “road trip” together to Jacksonville, Fl, where my sister Lina and her family were living at the time.

We stayed overnight with them a night or two and decided since we were so close, to make a day trip over to St. Augustine (the oldest settled city in the United States). There were lots of little shops in the old part of town (as best I remember, that is) and we were going to spend the day sightseeing and window-shopping.

We found ourselves in a little shop bursting at the seams with Christmas items (in the middle of summer) and we were just looking around. It was a very narrow shop, with every square inch of space filled - items on display both on the tables and on the walls. While we were looking around, out of the corner of my eye, I see my hubby wander up closely on my right-hand side. I reached out my right arm and wrapped it around his waist, without looking up at him.

Almost simultaneously… I felt a tap on my left shoulder. I looked to the left and saw my hubby standing there looking at me.

Huh? Wait… that means…… if HE is there on my left … then WHO do I have my right arm wrapped around?????

I whipped my head to the right and SOME OTHER MAN was there and MY ARM was wrapped around HIM!

GASP! SHRIEK! HOLY MOLY!!!

Well, color me EMBARRASSED!!

The man was looking at me in surprise and I immediately jerked my arm away and started apologizing while turning 15 shades of red! I was stammering and stuttering, trying to explain. (Really, how does one explain that??) My hubby started laughing at my major faux-pas, saying “You gotta watch her” to the man … adding to my embarrassment. I didn’t think it was remotely funny at the time because I was SO stinkin embarrassed but now, with the passage of a lot of years… I can laugh about it. Needless to say, My hubby has NEVER let me live it down.

It’s one of his favorite stories to tell people. It kinda cracks me up too though… so, I don’t mind.

In my defense, I’ll tell you that out of the corner of my eye, when the man walked up closely - I could see his white t-shirt (which was the color my hubby was also wearing) and he came up and stood VERY close to me - invading my *bubble* of personal space. So…. I just assumed it was my hubby because usually people do NOT do that. Yep… you know what they say about when you assume things, right?

I love the smell of Bull Farts in the morning!

Could you guess what it means?

I seriously hoped that part of the noises I heard in my van on the way to Texas were truly JUST IN MY HEAD… because there were certainly times I was STRESSING a wee bit (heavy traffic, chattering girls, lots of sudden braking and … do NOT even get me started on the spaghetti roads!) but…. it was NOT. I pretty much parked when I arrived and didn’t move my van again until it was time to leave - riding in Shannon’s car all week (which means she did all the driving!:) )

But…. long before I ever got to Austin and the airport - I heard it. As a matter of fact, by the time we stopped at the gas station in a neighboring town to gas up my van (and buy a *Bull Farts* candle that smelled divine) before heading out - I heard it. Just knowing Shannon was nearby and that my hubby would be with me soon - was enough to make me feel better about it though. So… I just put the petal to the metal and kept going.

Those of you that know me, know I have a bit of anxiety at times… like that glorious experience at the IMAX theater last year in Huntsville, Alabama - at the Space and Rocket Center. (All that ginormous movie playing on a dome-type screen, all around me… just about made me hyperventilate for some bizarre reason…. actually, it was a cross between hyperventilating or throwing up. I didn’t know which it was going to be but I just about lost it there that day. That was truly the FIRST ever anxiety attack (or whatever you want to call it) I’ve ever had and I prayed that it would be my last but, sadly that is not the case. Had my husband not been there to talk me through it, I seriously don’t know what would have happened.)

So fast forward to this trip: I have realized over the past year that there are a few other things that make me a little anxious but nothing that I can’t handle. Or…. so I thought.

The biggest challenge for me comes from things *height* related… I’ve always been very uncomfortable with heights - ladders, bleachers, can’t look out the window from a high-rise building, just stuff like that. (But that didn’t stop my hubby from talking me into a parasailing ride above Cancun on our honeymoon! I told him afterwards he couldn’t complain about all those fingernail gouges in his arm because he KNEW I was going to be freaking out a little!) But… driving through Dallas, when I reached what I call the *spaghetti roads* which is where all the various highways overlap and turn this way and that to get you to your connecting highway. This is not my picture but I found it online to show you what I mean:

Image credited to: www.flickr.com/photos/borkazoid/77869337/

Ok, so…. picture me driving along, stressing a wee bit already because of the sheer volume of traffic (I am such a small-town girl nowadays) and off in the distance, I see this coming up. I also know I’m looking for a different highway so I assume I might possibly be on one of these things and I began to break out in a sweat. I was gripping the steering wheel so hard it’s a wonder it didn’t snap in two! As I started across one… it was curving under another and over one…. I was chanting in my head *just look at the road… just look at the road… just look at the road* telling myself to NOT look over to the side and see DOWN… because I knew that would be too much! My heart was racing, I was sweating and shaking and part of my head was screaming STOP STOP STOP … (umm…. yeah right. Like I could just STOP right there on the highway???) I thought of two other blogging women from that area and I started telling myself, *Joisey and Kat drive this every day.. I can do this. Joisey and Kat drive this every day… I can do this.* So that thought, coupled with forcing myself to NOT divert my eyes from the little patch of road just in front of the van are what got me through there. Now, in reality, I have NO stinkin idea of Joisey and Kat have to maneuver those roads in their daily commute to work but just telling myself they did certainly helped!

Sheesh. I realize this makes me sound like a nutcase (or a *nutbob* as Luby calls it) but it was truly nerve-wracking for me. Undoubtably the worst part of the whole trip. Well, until I got to Austin a few hours later. There were more *spaghetti roads* to navigate. But… I did it.

It makes me wonder, from a practical side - is anxiety something that continues to build? Affecting more and more areas of your life? I really have no idea - I’ve driven all over the place, including multiple foreign countries and this was certainly a first and totally unexpected. Do any of you have similar issues and any suggestions for me?

Needless to say, my hubby drove through all that junk on the way home! Hallelujah! He has a meeting in San Antonio next summer so… we’ll be making the drive again. And meeting up with Shannon again then too. Love having something to look forward to!

PS. He thinks that the noise is somehow related to our *brakes*… lovely. So glad I didn’t know that or I might really have been anxious! lol

We drove Thursday from Austin to just north of Dallas and spent the night. My hubby had been up since shortly after 3 am to get to the airport on time for his flight to Austin, so needless to say - he was pretty exhausted. Friday we were back on the road by 7:45am and headed home. We rolled in about 9pm! A seriously LONG drive!

My odometer as I pulled in my driveway…. that’s 18.4 you see… meaning it rolled around from a thousand already! 1018.4 miles from the gas station in La Grange Texas (where I filled up just before heading to Austin to pick up my hubby) to my driveway!

But…. it was worth every single mile of it to spend a week with Shannon and Madison! I’d do it again… just… not today! Or… next week. Actually… we might fly next time!