Kansas

I was born in Tulsa, we moved to Texas, then to Georgia. In Georgia we lived in Marietta, then another house in Marietta, then to Acworth. I then, on with Joe, I moved to Atlanta, then Fairburn, on to Cartersville, back to Marietta, to Woodstock, Cumming, then finally to where we are now Dahlonega. Some of you have moved a lot more than that. But, to me that is a lot! It's funny though, if someone asks me where I am from I say Kansas. lol I honestly have never lived there. But, that is where my family is from and most of them still are. My Dad moved us to Georgia for work but I don't think they ever really intended on staying or they were just in denial. We all still talk about "moving back" I'm not sure it will ever happen but, it's a nice dream. I call Kansas home for many reasons. During all those moves, all the different places, all the concrete towns with their walmarts that look just like the town before, all the changes here, I can go back to one house on Poplar Street in Wellington Kansas and open the cabinet over the coffee pot and my little juice glass with Dopey on it sits. I can walk out the back door and there's a tree that I climbed 4 feet off the ground up in and thought I was stuck and wailed wanting someone to get me down. I can go back inside and go to the living room where a box of paper dolls that I have played with all my life still sits. I can go out to the garage and get in an old truck that my grandfather once drove and I can drive to town and get carry out pizza that we thought for years didn't deliver only to find out it does but gram thought it was silly to pay the $2 delivery fee when we could just get it ourselves. Silly us! I can take a LEFT at that pizza place and drive past the co-op that my Grandfather and now my Uncle has sold grain at, turn around and keep going and the houses start vanishing to a old building that is a small radio station where my Dad used to work, down some rural roads that various members of my family have driven countless times to an old farm that in my mind hasn't ever changed. There's a garden out back we picked vegetables in, there's a silo out front my sister climbed but i was too chicken, there's a big metal shed where you can surely find some relatives of mine working on some machinery. Go back out to the rural route I drove in on and take a left down a ways is a house my cousin now lives in, before that my grandparents lived. Back into town past the prettiest flat land you will ever see, is a church my parents got married in, Bella was dedicated, some of the best Christmases I can remember happened and 3 of my grandparents funerals were held. you can also pass an auditorium where my Dad's band once played. All the changes in my life good and bad and in between I can always count on those things. Depended on them to be there. As I get older the people and places I have depended on so much are fading. There is nothing I can do to stop it. there are people not sitting in their chairs like they always were when I walked in the door, there is land that no longer has a family name on the deed and I know within time my dopey cup will be gone, too. But, I will always call Kansas home.

A couple of random things

I read on someone else's blog that they weren't sure if anyone read it. I have felt a little silly writing a blog. Almost like, "why do I think what I have to say is so important?" But, I read other people's blogs. I think it's so fun to read other people's stories and a great way to keep up with friends. I also went back and read through my own posts and love it. It was like a little scrapbook. there were things I had forgotten about and some things I just enjoyed reading and remembering again. So, een if no one is reading it I will write it for me.

So I know I said I was going to come back to my blog....

I kinda let that drop didn't I? lol Well, I ment well.
We had a wonderful Christmas and i hope anyone who might still read my blog did ,too!
We had a great New year. we went caving with some friends and family. i love caving! it was one of several great things joe brougt to the table that is our relationship. lol Seriously, I can't imagine not caving.
But, with the New year somehow I buy into the hype and reflect on last year and think about what I did wrong and how I can change it. Isn't that what resolutions really are? I am actually pretty okay. I mean there are things I want to do differently and change. (my big rear end that I am sitting on is one. where did that come from?) But, all in all, I think I had a pretty kick ass year last year. One of my very favorite things to do is travel. I hate being still or stagnant and i got to do a lot of traveling. I had some pretty scary health stuff, but I pulled through with help of great Dr.s and amazing friends and family. I also made a bunch of new friends this year and held on to some friends that are near and dear to me. And best of all we made it another year. If you think about it, that's the best thing of all..we made it another year.
Which brings me to the next thing. my birthday is comming up and yes I am getting older. i am really really okay with that. I mean isn't that the point! lol But, recently people (well, one really) has been focused on where they are in life vs how old they are and what they have to show for it. For sure, i would like to be rich, and there are things that I haven't accomplished and probably never will. (I don't think I am going to win an oscars or have a commercial I am in played during the super bowl at this point. I mean you never know. But, i doubt it.) i guess I judge things differently. AS long as my family is happy, the people around me are happy, I am really okay. I used to have all these high expectations on what I was going to do with my life. I still do sometimes. Hmm.. that sounds weird. i still expect a lot out of life and strive for things and set goals. But, I am not crushed if I am not suoper rich and famous or something. i love being a Mom and wife. my goals are more about my family and their happiness than they are about what kind of car i drive or how big my house is. Okay, I was all riled up when i started writing this. But, I have kinda simmered down and lost steam. lol so, whatever..Happy New year!