Sunday Rambling

Alert the media! I left the house today!
Actually, I just drove the half mile or so to the Krispy Kreme and bought doughnut holes and coffee for me and mom.
Pop made ham and cheese toast for us for breakfast but I really just wanted strong coffee and sugar.
I hope that doesn't make me seem ungrateful.
My Sunday morning KK run is pretty much the only consistent outing right now.
Would you believe that we filled my car up in Cleveland on April 6th and I'm still on that same tank of gas?
I have more than a quarter of a tank left.
To be truthful, we took another car on my last trip and I drove another car to work once.
Other than that... same tank, one month and six days.
I just renewed my pay-as-you-go phone aka my po' phone.
Every month I get a package that is unlimited texts and 240 talk minutes.
When I renewed today I had 228 minutes left for the month.
Yes, I talked on my cell phone 12 minutes this month.
But... I guess if you don't leave the house you always have a land line available.
I really just keep the cell phone for emergencies.
We don't use the landline at the mountain house much because we got the cheapest possible plan on it.
Which means that we pay by the minute on it but don't pay for incoming calls or 9-1-1.
We were sad to find out that a former neighbor passed away on Friday at age 64.
They lived first in the house facing Valley Hill Road, the smaller one.
And then moved to the one next door on the corner of Valley Hill and Sherwood Dr.
When we were kids we would get to their first house by climbing fences and going through the neighbor's yard.
Then when they moved to the corner house we just walked up the street.
You could do those kind of things back then.
Neighbors didn't mind if you went through their yard.
You didn't have to worry about walking to your friend's house.
Those houses have been vacant for years, fences torn down, weeds taking over the yards.
I grew up in a modest little neighborhood of brick ranch houses, most with three bedrooms and one bath.
Moms didn't work. Most families only had one car.
It was a simple life and some times I wished to have a two story house and my own bathroom and Gloria Vanderbilt jeans and things that a lot of kids at school had.
I didn't realize then how blessed I was to have two parents who loved each other and dinner at the kitchen table every night.
I was 8 when we moved here.
Anyways... Jeff and Shannon lost their dad on Friday and they buried him on Saturday.
My brother Jim drove down to go to the funeral.
He's good like that.
I usually avoid all activities that require sitting for an unknown quantity of time but I try to attend funerals and weddings and holidays as much as possible.
I missed this one, though.
I've been in so much pain lately that even funerals and weddings and holidays are not doable.
My brother has back pain, too, and ironically has that same extra vertebra that I have.
None of my doctors has been able to say if that's the reason that my back problems started so young and progressed so quickly.
None can say if any of this has a genetic component.
Bubba has never been obese or pregnant and has always stayed relatively active so I imagine his spine hasn't faced as much adversity as mine has.
He's also very tall, taller than me by more than a foot.
It has been said that the kids who grew up around here were exposed to jet fuel being dumped on the way to the Atlanta Airport, which is just a few miles from here.
There seems to be an unusual amount of my classmates who have had cancer or auto-immune problems.
 My mom says that she wants to see if she has that extra vertebra, too but then if she does I could blame my back problems on her, assuming that it's genetic.
I told her that I was going to blame her anyways.
Mother's Day makes me both nostalgic and grateful.
My mom and I didn't always have a good relationship.
Fighting the same battle with pain drew us closer and I'm so glad to spend every day with her.
Now that I don't have a work schedule to consider, I could be at the mountain house full time.
But I depend on my mom for things and she depends on me.
We each have bad days (and nights) occasionally.
I'm not physically able to maintain a household on my own any more.
She's uncomfortable driving sometimes.
So for now, I'm pretty much staying close to mom.
However, Austin is now out of food at the mountain house so somebody is going to have to go up there and take him some food.
Just trying to figure out what makes the most sense and factor in mom's root canal on Wednesday (where she may need someone to help with the dogs because there are thirty-eleven trips to let them in and out every day)...
And someone needs to be here to dogsit Sammy when Cody and Marquee go to Disney Thursday - ???.
And I can't drive up and back on two days back to back because of my back.
And on Saturday it's "Dam Day" for the homeowners association where we (as in other people, not me) do cleanup and repairs for the dam that makes the lake that we (as in my parents and other people) own.
So I pretty much would have to leave today to go up there and be back early Wednesday...
And then turn around and go back up there for Dam Day or be here with four dogs so mom and dad can go to Dam Day.
But almost definitely I want to be up there more.
We (as in my parents) have lived in the house on Sherwood Dr for 37 years but the mountains are home to me.
I feel like I would get out more if I were up there.
I don't know. It's too much to think about.
So y'all up there in White County, if you want to stop by the mountain house with a few packages of ramen, that would be awesome.
My eldest just called... he's actually in the State of Georgia today so he's going to be able to come see his mommy on Mother's Day!
I love it when things like that work out.
And if you look at my facebook page you will see that Cody says I'm the best mommy ever.
I probably am.
And that's what's happening today.
Love and hugs, y'all.