A few things about Thursday

Ooops. Missed a Wednesday post. This week is flying by, which, I guess is the result of a four day weekend.

Have I mentioned lately how much I love my job?

If you're keeping score:
I worked three days
Was off for four days
Worked five days
Was off for four days
Will work three days
Will be off for two days
Will work three days
Will be off for one day
Will work one day
Be off for two days
Work four days
Off for three days...
Work four days
Off for three days
Work four days
Off for three days...
Yeah, it's a rough life.

I just really, really love working there. I know I had to be where I was for the past ten years... it was necessary for me to start my career with Uncle Bruce. I should have avoided the two and a half years of nomading with Darby but I would have missed some valuable life lessons. Maybe I shouldn't have moved to the mountains post-Darby but I would have missed out on some awesome bonds with a community that I think I was born to be a part of... and Austin wouldn't have the foundation and opportunities he has there.
It's hard to be split between two places, one hundred miles apart, yet, I have a kid in each port and it's a huge blessing to be a real part of each of their lives. I would add in a third hometown to be near my oldest if I was a woman of means and had more energy.

My back pain today is horrible. Horrible, I tell you. I woke up with muscle spasms. I don't go to work until 11:30 today so I know I'll be ok by then. I have an appointment at 12 with a customer that I really bonded with so I want to be sure to be there "bright eyed and bushy tailed". Even if my bushy tail is attached to an aching spine.

I'm not nearly as entertained by the Democratic National Convention as I was with the Republican National Convention. I think I've been fairly transparent about my political affiliation. I came across a pin yesterday that said, "Oh, you hate Southerners, Christians and Republicans? Tell me again how open-minded and tolerant of diverse opinions you are." That's how I feel about the Democratic Party. I feel that they're accepting of everything except the things that hit closest to me. I don't feel like a point by point presentation today of everything wrong with the DNC but I will say that Debbie Wasserman Schultz finally figured out how to handle her curly hair so... props for that. Her hair has looked great over the past two days.

I have a friend who (like me) rushed into a second marriage that turned out to be nothing they thought it would be that sadly has ended quickly (like my second marriage) which makes me sad for them. We all want to be a part of something that is a happily ever after. I keep saying, "I'm so sorry" because sometimes that's all you can say. You can help them dissect the problems but really, people don't want to hear that they made a bad decision. We can only make decisions based on the evidence before us... and sometimes we're not really willing to accept the truth about people, even if we see it. The best advice I've ever received in that respect is "if someone shows you who they are, believe them - the first time".

I've also got a couple of friends who went to school with me who have reconnected with other classmates via facebook and have ended up marrying... one couple will get married this weekend. I'm all about second chances and optimism and believing that the third time's a charm or sometimes you have to kiss a lot of frogs before you find your prince, etc.

I also know, sadly, that a leopard can't change his spots. He may paint them over but eventually that paint will wash off and you'll be stuck with the same deadbeat that abandoned his kids or the same shrew that alienated her first four husbands.

Oh, how delightful and de-loverly it is to be single!

My friend Natalie ... has a book that is being released in November. I've mentioned Natalie before... she is just an awesome woman of God who lost her husband, Michael, to suicide a few years back. Michael had bi-polar disorder and sadly thought that his family would be better off without him. Their daughter Jorjann is one of my adopted nieces and I frequently feature her sweet face on my blog. To find out more about her story or her book, go to www.natalieflake.com.

Since my discovery of my Mayflower connection, I've been sort of bogged down researching that time period and the other family members on that branch of the family. Honestly, when I first signed up for ancestry.com for the two week trial, I thought I'd have my whole family tree mapped out by the end of the two weeks. It didn't take me long to realize there was simply NO WAY that would happen. Then I bit the bullet and spent the cash for the whole six months subscription thinking SURELY I would be finished by the end of that six months. Now, four months in, despite working on this project for at least an hour a day, every day, and working much more than that on other days, I realize how far I still have to go. I want to put together a genealogy book that is heavy on biographies on the interesting characters that dot my tree and notsomuch about the "begats". It's a lot, a lot of work. However, I'm a single girl without vices such as drinking, gambling, dancing, etc, so I have nothing but time on my hands (minus the 20 hours a week I work).

In this process, I found out that a friend that I went to high school with is a 12th cousin. How cool is that? And I've been able to connect with distant cousins I didn't really grow up around. Genealogy is a great way to feel connected to both the past and the present!

Anyways... those are just a few things about Thursday that I wanted to share with you this week... hope your week is zipping happily along just like mine! Love and hugs, y'all!