I Feel … OLD!

Despite the seemingly obvious implication of the title, you are not about to read a dreaded list of whining and gripping from some old lady who is having a bad day (though I COULD tell you about my popping knees, my stiff back, and aching joints ect., if you want to give me a minute or 10 – just kidding!). No, I am talking about the ancient feel of my latest excursion with the kiddos.


After much debate and the flip of a coin, this hen and her brood of two, along with a friend and her daughter, decided we would head east to the lovely coastal town of Charleston, South Carolina. Why there? Well, when you have two extreme kids, one being a very busy, imaginative child interested in “what’s next”, and the other who only wants to relax at the beach and is so laid back you have to check their pulse occasionally to make sure they’re still alive, you learn to plan around two very different ends of the spectrum when attempting to entertain individual interests. Charleston, however, proved to be the perfect place for both!

After a 9 ½ hour drive, two sudden, hail-pounding thunderstorms (and a beautiful double rainbow – wow – which excited us, but not as extremely as the guy on You Tube!), the 4,000th answer to “where are we now” followed by the standard “how much longer”, and a bout of extreme quizzical musing over the time zones and why our phones hadn’t changed yet and then suddenly they did, we finally arrived at the hotel. We unloaded, checked in, then ATTEMPTED to grab supper (story w/in itself). Once settled, we crafted a somewhat casual itinerary for the days ahead. One day at the beach, the next downtown, another at a military site.

Beach day – PERFECT!! Town exploration day– (wore my butt out walking, but) BEAUTIFUL AND SO COOL! Military appreciation day – EXTREMELY EDUCATIONAL AND HUMBLING!

That evening, while making our way down the moonlit lane back to our car from the picturesque lighthouse we had just visited (which was a little disappointing simply because we thought we’d be able to walk right up to it – nope – it was out in the middle of the water – AND it was dark!), I made an observation, “Is it just me, or does this place feel OLD?” Surely, our earlier trek through historic downtown had oozed into my brain and set the tone for the feeling that seemed to pervade the present air. (Or was it just old, musty, ocean
air.)

Told you it was a LONG WAY out there!  (Sorry for the dates on the pics - dufus, here, tried something new with the camera - yep, she knows how to remove it, just thought for some "old lady" moment that it would be nice to have the date printed on there!  Lesson learned!)

This was in no way made with disrespect, but simply out of the awareness of the history that ran deep along the beaches, the buildings, the streets, the stories we had experienced throughout the day. My friend must’ve understood my cognizance – she nodded with the same look on her face that twisted mine. Though there was a breeze, the night was strangely stale, in a very inexplicable way.

I have been to both the coast of Florida and Mississippi. I have seen those beaches and the cities and life that surround and pulse throughout them (not to an extensive degree, but enough to make an intelligent comparison). Having now experienced a day or two on this coast, there were palpable differences. As I looked around the palmetto-lined, sandy path, I wondered how many other people had walked this beach before us. Pirates who may have landed on the very beaches we had just strolled, couples who may have snuck here to steal a little time listening to the moonlit music of the tide, soldiers who had occupied ships sailing around this very shoreline – all these flash-bulbed through my mind. The tale of Blackbeard having stayed in the dungeon that we toured earlier in the day must’ve gone to my head (and stuck in my imagination like pepper on the front tooth of a first date).

Have you ever been to a place like that? A place that you could literally FEEL, where you could BREATH IN the history, the surroundings? Having a pretty vivid imagination can sometimes prove to be negative; but in cases like this, it can prove to create a beautiful landscape for the actual past that helped shape our early history. How fortunate I am to have been able to take my children to such a place and learn with them about some of the people, places, and events that painted the history of our land, our nation.  I guess that's the kind of "agedness"  I don't mind "feeling".

What a Horrible Girl Am I?

No, I am not Little Jack Horner's horrid little sister, or stuck my thumb in any weird places like the middle of a pie (is it just me or is that weird - I mean, have you really read any of these nursery rhymes) but I have been very neglectful lately, and I apologize!  (Hope someone actually cares that I feel neglectful...and co-dependant enough to actually apologize and think you might care that I think you care! Ok - enough!) 
I was given an award by a very special fellow blogger - Mr. Cal over in the Cave!  Yes, that's right, my neighbor to the North is a great guy and decided to give this particular "Sunshine Award" to myself and some very awesome fellow lady bloggers (you should check them out if you haven't already).  I wanted to FINALLY tell him how much I appreciate the kind and thoughtful sentiment.  I will be sure to post it (cause ya know most of us love these things - gettin' and givin' 'em).  I am determined to create one and, EVENTUALLY, get around to handing them out, myself, dadgumit!  (Love that word - along with "flitter".  Go on, try it.  I dare you!  Next time you get outdone with something, yell, "FLITTER!"  Just don't say, "FRITTER," or you may have some things to explain like why you yell out random foods! Or you may get surrounded by a bunch of hungry neighbors or co-workers.  We've all experienced that one before, not good.)
I do thank you, Cal, and want to tell you how I laugh at and love some of the bits of wisdom you pass on daily!  (Wish I could get a "Num Num" care package of some of the ones you post (chocolate strawberries, um hum) as a complimentary treat (hint, hint), but I guess I shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth, huh? LOL!)  Seriously, all the best to you, buddy!  And my sincerest apology for the lateness of this entry but wanting you to know how much it is appreciated, moreover!

My White Whale!

So why haven’t I written in a while, you may ask (or may not even give a toot!)? Hopefully, the following will give a glimpse as to what had me preoccupied over the last couple of months.
This entry is in no way intended to be a book review, so please don’t abandon ship (pardon the pun) after the first sentence or two. To divulge a little about myself, I enjoy reading. I enjoy reading a lot. I don’t get to busy myself with this indulgent hobby as often as I’d like. Nor do I have a particular genre of literature (or music or food or anything, for that matter) that I follow with passion. My usual habit is to not read for a while; then, I suddenly punish myself by piling on a mass of books from the rush of desire that has built and is crashing upon my rigid shore of deficiency. Not good … many a noble man has gone down when hit from behind by those briny, roaring walls of desire! (Yeah, right!)  Consequently, I often find myself entangled by word-laden kelp.  Hit hard by a whale of a desire to catch up, I, of course pick out the most challenging (boring) books I can find.  One reason for this is to try and read as many of the "classics" as possible.  Even though I had the opportunity to read a couple of them in high school and college, I still always felt somewhat of a DUFUS because of the lack of being able to understand so many of the references and allusions written about or mentioned in many of my college lit classes.  I felt...deprived!
Having been “out to sea” with my latest book and neglecting my poor blog, I felt I must explain my absence (like anyone gives a patooty). Care to guess, with ALL THE HINTS, just what classic I have tackled as of late? That’s right (or – nope, sorry, wrong answer, depending on your response)! Moby Dick, Herman Melville’s sea sick sentiment of the whaling industry. OK, so “sea sick” might be a little too strong. Never-the-less, thus became my nightly ritual: lie down, set alarm for next morning, pick up copy of classic literary masterpiece (ball and chain), and read until my eyes fell heavy with complete exhaustion (boredom) which took all of a couple of pages (1 page), bob head at least 4 times (waking with confusion), then relinquish the battle. Therefore, what would’ve taken the average novel completion time of a couple of weeks, took me more like two to three months. Depressing.
Though the experience, itself, did not strip me of an actual appendage, leaving me hunting the monster (novel) that was getting the best of me (as Moby took Ahab's leg); I was left with a feeling of complete exhaustion as if I had survived a shipwreck. On a lighter note, I also came away with a greater respect and knowledge of the whaling industry of Melville’s time (actually, I feel more like a guest at that hotel chain that promises you get a better deal through them and leave a wiser person!). I feel as if I could go a’whaling now!  Not that I'd want to...it was really rather gross!  I am proud to have gotten this one classic under my belt, so to say, and no longer stare at it on my “to read” list. I’m no longer chasing my white whale; I have captured (and killed) the poor thing! Unlike the anguished Ahab, poor bugger, I have returned to shore in one piece without sacrificing my whole ship, crew, and soul in the process (although I did notice that my kids were begging for food out by the road and their clothes looked a bit "shabby" the other day)! So, yeah, you know it’s comin’ - just call me…..Ishmael (the tortured reader)!