Nothing is better than a day at the beach!
I get excited when we go over the bridge to the Island!
Ohh, the warm Gulf water cradles me like amniotic fluid...
the smell of the sea...we roll down the windows to see who can smell the salt first.
white sands like sugar...
It's always home to me.
At least once each trip , I say, "we live in Paradise".
I don't generally write about news topics.
I write about positive things
Things I want to remember
I certainly want to forget the twisted face of the pathetic man who killed 32 people at Virginia Tech.
But I have to say this.
All the talk...
Who should have known.....
What should have been done......
Is futile.
If he was not allowed by law to walk into a store and purchase an instrument designed for nothing but killling people,
He could have been crazy all day long
And those people would be with their friends and family today.
I also want to add, that as an elementary teacher, I can name ,right off the top of my head, three children I fear may hurt someone one day.
They are being helped as much as possible in a school setting.
I am afraid their parents have guns, so I don't say too much.
I wonder if they will be able to purchase a firearm one day.
I wonder if I will see their picture on the news.
When I see this shooter's image
All across the media
I feel he got what he wanted at last.
The man who never spoke was heard.
I wonder who else is watching...lonely...sick
saying "32, that's a record."
And we know what records are made for.
So, here I am, one of the luckiest people on earth.
I have had 45 spring breaks and I am still here to tell the tale.
We went camping with my BIL and SIL , David and Judy,my nephews, Justin and Kelley and their wives,Kathy and Kim and Justin and Kims kids, Stone and Jake, who are Irish twins at 12 and 13, Autumn Rose and George Landon, (yes, people in the south really do have 2 first names) also Irish twins at 1 and 2 , plus Allan the middle child , who is 7.
We staye dup all night around the fire, laughing and talking.
It rained and it got cold but the feeling of family and the copious amount of beer kept us warm and happy.
Spring always makes me happy....
I feel like a pioneer
I have made it through another winter!
Now, it's Spring Break
JazzFest
Camping
Beachtime
We are happy here on the Porch.
My friend, Stacey, BIL Patrick and SIL Eileen , Karen and Victoria came to help us dye eggs.
Some background here...
Stacey is one of the infamous Lagoonatics from Bay St Louis, MS.
Patrick is the man you want on your side, (also known as Bianca if you read the strange tale of Bianca Patrick)
He has been flying back and forth to Dallas at least once a month to care for an old friend who is dying with cancer.
He also cared for his dad in his last days, helped take care ofTom's sister before she passed, and was his mom's caregiver until her death.
He is ever cheerful, always joking, always comes when I call.
He is one of my heroes.
Eileen is one of the bonus gifts I got when I married Tom.
She is the go-to person for the whole family.
Need a baby-sitter?
Aunt Eileen
Need sugarless gum for your husbands Easter basket?
Eileen.
And it's a BIG family!
This is the way Karen came into my life...
Caitlin put up a sign at a local store, advertising that she would babysit.
Victoria came to our house.
It had been so long since I had a 7 year old to play with, that I quite took over Caitlin's job.
Tom and I became her grandparents.
Boy, Mariah is relieved now that the pressure is off of her!
We soon brought her mom Karen into our circle.
She is my ally and partner in good times and bad, but the bad is never too bad when you have a friend right up the road.
Karen is from Brazil and speaks excellent English with a beautiful accent.
Sometimes slang and "southernisms" confuse her.
For months, when she and Tori would come to pick me up Tori would be in the front seat and I would say,"I call Shotgun!" and Tori would get in the back.
Finally, Karen said"WHAT does that mean?"
I was astounded, "Some person gets into your car yelling shotgun at you for months and you are just now asking?What ,did you think I'd shoot out your tires?"
So I had to explain the wild west movies when the cowboys are riding on the top of the stagecoach, one drives and one rides next to him to shoot the bad guys.
Hence, riding next to the driver is the shotgun position....
Guess it didn't translate well!
We use a lot of weird sayings on the Porch.
We have these ancient home movies (the kind made with a big projector that are jerky and a little too fast) of little 4 year old Tom in his suspenders riding a pig
yes, a pig
why would anyone do that to a baby?
well, he is on the pig, the pig runs real fast and he is in the mud
here they come again
run run run splat...
in the mud
Aghast, I said,"did you like it?"
"Hell,no, I didn't like it. The pig didnt' like it, the farmer didn't like it, the farmer's wife didn't like it, nobody liked it!"
So a particularly bad night is one when we all" rode the pig."
there's another one....
Jack, our giant black dog, sleeps with us.
We cuddle him
One night, Tom sleepily looks over and says,"I think we got the wrong end of the dog this time."
So here's a happy spring to all of you from the people of the Porch,
wishing you call shotgun all the way home,
hoping you dont have to ride the pig
and never get the wrong end of the dog.
