Potatoes and ALL the Good Gossip

I often write of growing up in a small town and the things that make my family fabulous. This is no exception. In my family when one of us is involved in something that means everyone else is too, from weddings, to babies, to Family Home Evenings, to prom and even sports. Believe it or not that is the way it is for most families in our neck of the woods. When we go to Arminda's volleyball games we see the families of most of the other girls there too and we've become a close little group. Sometimes when one mama has to leave early she will leave money for her daughter with my mama and things like that. It takes a village to raise a child and our little area is no different. The thing that I love the most though is the gossip. Being the good Christian people that we are we like to share good news as it comes. I couldn't help but notice that us southern women often take the command to 'bear one anothers burdens' a bit literally and because we don't want to be the only one 'bearing burdens' we share it with the rest of our circle. Everyone needs a little help sometimes. Arminda is a senior this year and during the playoffs for volleyball we had many Saturday tournaments. We would bring food and snacks for the team and during breaks they could munch on whatever they liked. That way they didn't have to worry about leaving to find food and being late for the next game and those that didn't have money for that would still get to eat. On one such Saturday we packed up early in the morning and headed over to Jackson County. We were playing Sneads. Me and Mama got there early and I was minding my own business about 4 or 5 bleachers from the 'mother hens'. I could still hear bits and pieces of the 'burden bearing' going on but I was busy trying to get all the video equipment in order to film the movie stars. I was sitting their thinking about how much I wanted to be anywhere but there at the moment and I over heard one of the mama's say, "And y'all know that they have 10 pound bags of potatoes on sale at the Pig for a dollar. I got two when I picked up the snacks for the girls this morning" This was followed by a chorus of all the families that could really use some extra groceries. One of the mama's said that she would swing by and pick some up for her neighbors because she new they were having a hard time. Another was going to take some to the church for a community dinner they were hosting. And yet another was going to fix some and take them to a family who had just lost a father. Needless to say I was humbled. My thoughts changed from how I could get out of there sooner to how I could use 10 pounds of potatoes to help someone else. While I am sure that there was a fair amount of gossip added in, these ladies embodied the southern spirit that I am trying so hard to refine. I want to find ways to help those that I know in my community need a little love in their lives. These women, who had difficulties of their own ranging from sick parents to unemployment, were finding ways to help others. That is what this life is all about. Southern or not, we are all Heavenly Fathers children and as such are charged with helping one another on our journey back to him. I am so honored to have been taught by women who love their Heavenly Father and try to help any way they can. By sharing emotional burdens or 10 pound bags of potatoes, to Him, it is the same.

Merry #@$#%! Christmas

Aunt Randy has a way of making up sayings that stick in our family. One of which is Merry *@#$ Christmas! Which is only brought out when all of the holiday stress has arrived and things are not very merry any more. We all experience it and she just has a way with words that makes us all laugh. We had a Merry *@&# Christmas experience this year with meeting Santa Clause. Santa Clause is a new experience for every little kid and some do better than others. As a small child I am told that I never met a stranger and the Santa experience for me, was a good one. This year Elijah and Kristina decided to take Jarah to met Santa. We made a big family trip out of it, combined with the annual trip to look at Christmas lights in Tallahassee. Daddy, Mama, Arminda and Justin came by grandma's in town to pick me up and they had Jarah. Elijah and Kristina had gone to shopping earlier and we were meeting them at the mall to do the whole Santa thing. While waiting in line we noticed a little girl just ahead of us that had down syndrome and the sweetest smile I think heavenly father ever created. If any of you know my daddy you will understand how sensitive he is where children are concerned, especially special children. He was holding Jarah and she was playing with her little hairbrush, putting it in his shirt pocket and taking it back out, over and over again. Well one time she dropped it and it slide across the floor to the feet of the special little girl. She looked at daddy and he reached down to pick it up, like anyone would and her father made the statement to her, "See there you should have picked that up. Santa doesn't come to mean little children". It flew all over daddy! He was so mad. The precious little girl had done nothing wrong and she was just watching daddy and Jarah play. Daddy turned around and relayed the story to the rest of us. He was made clear through! He looked at me and said, "I felt like telling him that Santa doesn't come to Daddy's who have broken jaws." Now I know that my daddy would never hurt a fly, unless it was over something as special to him as children are but that day I think if he had been alone he just may have taught that man what being mean really is! I love my daddy for many reasons and this is one of them. He loves children. He loves us completely and without bias. He has always spoiled us and made us each and every one feel special. Daddy kept his cool until we finally got our turn to see Santa. Jarah wanted nothing to do with him. The picture is pretty explanatory of her position. After we got over the trauma of Santa Claus we went to see the lights and finally made our way home. When asked how she felt about Santa Jarah eventually said, "He's a good boy." We really did have a good time and a great start to our Merry Christmas. Maybe we will have better luck with Santa next year.