Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe

Instead of Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe, for me it was fried eggs and biscuits at the Cleveland Country Cafe.... best breakfast I've had in a very long time. I bought a newspaper and enjoyed my coffee and eggs medium well, chicken tenders, biscuit and gravy... mmm! There was this sweet boy named Cody who was the waiter and he was charming all the old ladies... asking about when they had their hair done and such. He may have been a little light in his loafers but you know I'm partial to sweet guys *wink*. I think half the town passed through there while I was having breakfast... and it's only a mile or so from my house. I could walk if I was feeling industrious... although we're in a little valley so the walk up the hill would be a bit strenuous.

My furniture is ON the way! Bubba just called and he is also getting a tv stand and tv for me! How awesome is that? I moved the books that were in that big pile to the bookshelf in my room (a little plastic one from walmart) and to my dressing table.

We have decided that we will be leaving for Jacksonville around 8am tomorrow. We're taking A.T.'s van and should be able to get the things I want/need without any trouble. Cody and his girlfriend Marquee are going with us. It's sort of a trade-off - we sacrifice a little space to have more help. A.T.'s boyfriend is paying for our hotel room... yet another person who has helped make My New Life possible. I'm humbled and touched and amazed at the genuine goodness of mankind... even people I've never met...

It's amazing to me to realize how much "what happened to me" has affected others... and how people process such things so differently. There were those who rushed immediately to my side... and those who are just now starting to speak up and say, "I hope you're alright now". Both are so valuable to me... and both groups had important roles to play in my life. I'm learning more about how those events affected the people in my world and am acutely aware of my responsibility to those who love me to be safe, happy and healthy. I'm also sort of reconstructing events to be able to know what triggers there were and how to know if I'm ever in trouble like that again. We all have regrets... and in the same way that I'm healing from my wounds, the people I love are healing from those "what if's".

The truth is that people don't know what to do when someone around them is suffering. Sometimes people don't recognize the suffering. Sometimes people don't realize how deep it is. I kept up a really good front.... kept up appearances... until the last week or so when things were just crumbling around me to the extent that I could no longer cope. I think we have a tendency to say nothing rather than risk saying the wrong thing. And there was nobody who could give me what I needed in those last days because I was beyond reach at that point. The only thing that could have logically been done was to put me in the hospital before anything happened... but we just weren't in a position to be proactive in that way. I needed to work. We thought I'd pull out of it. It just didn't happen.

I say all of that only to say this: you never know what may be happening in the hearts and minds of those you come in contact with. You never know if the kind word you speak may be the spark they need to be able to carry on. I would have collapsed sooner had A.T. not come to visit in June and Jim and Angie in July and Cody in August. That extra bit of love and attention got me through what would have otherwise been a dismal summer. When you ask, "How are you?" Listen to the answer. Make it not just a greeting but an invitation. And by all means, if you feel things slipping away from you and you don't know who else to talk to, talk to me. I understand. I won't have all the answers but I know where to get them!

*hugs*