Happy Birthday!!!

Hello People!

How the heck are you doing? Summer is here and that means schools out, vacations, traveling playing outside and HEAT! Lots of HEAT!!! It seems to be getting hotter up here in the mountains, I don't remember it being this hot when I was little and outside running around playing....BUT in that same token I would rather have the heat than 6 feet of snow!!!! Snow will be here soon enough I am sure, as a matter of fact it was snowing here in May!

June is my birthday month and I am sure that my friends look forward to it coming if for no other reason than for me to shut up announcing my birthday! In my family there are SIX kids and all my sisters and brothers were born in September, within a two week period of each other. My oldest sister and brother are the same age for two or three days! But what does birthday mean anyway??? An annual celebration of the birth of a living thing...that is my guesstimate of what it means....I couldn't get the dictionary to pull up. I make a big to do about my birthday each year since I have gotten older because when I was little it was mostly forgotten. I guess when you have five other kids in one month to remember, it is easy to forget the odd one out. BUT that doesn't make it right. Everyone deserves a celebration at least once a year if not more often.

ANYWAY birthdays are also a time to reflect on another year gone, and the possibility of another year of things to come. I am knocking on half a century and in looking back at my life I can't see what I have accomplished? Half a CENTURY that sounds old when you say it out loud.... DAMN! Anyway...since I have been BLESSED to be here so many years I think it is about time I figure out some things. Remember those Infinity commercials with the guy from Fantasy Island, asking the question, where does this road lead? Why are we here? Do you know where you are going to? I think that last question was a lyric from a Diana Ross song....Valley of the Dolls theme or something. Does anybody have the answer to these questions whether the questions are philosophical or otherwise? I have been trying to figure out my purpose in life, another thing I have been bugging my friends about. My friends tolerate a lot from me now that I think about it, but that's just me!

My birthday has come and gone so now I have another year to make things happen. According to my goals my book should be almost ready for publishing and I should be completely back into shape. I have been told by doctors that the weight I was in High School and throughout my twenties and early thirties was not actually a healthy weight. My BMI (Body Mass Index) was in the unhealthy range....oddly enough though when I went to modeling school they told me I was overweight. Let that be a lesson to all you girls out there idolizing models they are UNHEALTHY and you should NOT want to look like them it is not healthy. SO instead of shooting for the weight I was back then I am aiming for the low end of the spectrum on the BMI scale.

I hope by this time next year I have figured out what I am doing and why I am here. I hope that the book is where it is suppose to be and that I am healthy. I hope the same for those of you who are reading this blog. I hope that you are healthy, happy and exactly where you want to be. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!

See ya when I see ya!

Peace! Mattie

Happy Father's Day

Hello People!

I know...I know I am slacking on my blogging....I can't seem to get motivated but my intention is to do better. SO how is everyone? I hope this blog finds you well and that you all had a wonderful Father's Day hopefully you still have your fathers around to celebrate with...sadly that is not the case for me!!!

ANYWAY since it is Father's Day I thought I would jot down a few memories I have of my dad. One of the things we put in the obituary for my dad was that he worked at the same job for 35 or 38 years and never once called in sick. Talk about a serious work ethic or at least a determination to make sure his children were taken care of....I don't recall my dad taking time off work other than for vacations with the family and we would travel to Texas every summer. My dad's parents lived in Texas but not just Texas they lived in Southeast Texas which meant we had to drive across the ENTIRE State of Texas to get to their house. INSANE! A station wagon full of kids (there are six (6) of us) and two adults plus luggage for all eight people! My mom also packed food for us to eat along the way as my dad did not believe in stopping at restaurants or hotels when we traveled, it was a 24 hour trip and we drove straight through.

Before we started going to Texas for summer vacation I remember my dad taking us to see the sights in the area in which we lived. We would pack up a picnic lunch and take off in the car, all 8 of us, and go to places like Petrified Forrest, Meteor Crater, Sunset Crater, the Grand Canyon, etc. I am sure that each kid has a different memory of these trips, my oldest sister likes to tell the story of how my parents tried to get rid of us kids by telling us to "back up...back up...back up" as we stood on the edge of the Grand Canyon to take a picture. I don't recall that happening but I do remember seeing the Grand Canyon on several occasions and I appreciate the fact that I saw it then, versus seeing it now. When we were little I remember as we were driving up to the Grand Canyon there were places you could pull off and see the canyon before you got to the area where you were required to pay to get it. Kind of like on the Brady Bunch when they went to the Grand Canyon and as they were driving up to the park you could see the canyon. Nowadays, the park is overrun with buildings and there is a train that runs right up to the lodge and it just seems so busy there now. I remember when we went when I was little it seemed there was lots of open areas....rangers to tell you about the park and it was quiet. On my last trip to the Canyon I could hear Native American music being played, CROWDS of people....long lines no where to park.....and it was HOT! Gary, my sister and I ventured down a little ways on the path that you can hike down into the canyon, even though I have been there many times I have never walked down into the Canyon not even a few steps. We went for my birthday a few years ago and we went maybe a quarter mile in and then we turned around. It was really hot and my sister just stopped walking...I mean STOPPED! No matter what we did we couldn't get her to move any further and when we tried she would jerk/pull away...and since the walking area is kind of narrow and the edge is right there I was thinking....THIS IS NOT GOOD! We finally persuaded her to move by putting her arms around our shoulders and basically carrying her out...I was thinking if she falls or we can't get her out of her my mom is going to be MAD. BUT I bet my dad is laughing at this entire picture.

My dad had a good sense of humor and he would LOVED music and doing a corny dance with his thumbs pointing up in the air....I often wish he was here still but in his later days he had to go to dialysis three days a week, which progressed into almost a everyday thing. He hated that machine and being poked by needles. That is no way to live and definitely no way to die! BUT before the machine and the needles....I can see my dad, big and tall STRONG. My dad was very slow to anger but when he got mad.....LOOK OUT!!!

I remember one time my dad was eating some cantaloupe which he had poured quite a bit of salt on...I was home sick from school that day and when my dad had got the cantaloupe and starting shaking the salt my mom started in on him about it...my dad told my mom that it was his cantaloupe and he would eat it how he wanted, my mom said "you are going to choke on all that salt!" and she went into the bathroom...my dad started eating the cantaloupe and watching Andy Griffin...all of a sudden I am not sure if he started to laugh or what happened but before you know it he was on his knees choking....my mom came running out of the bathroom with her pants down around her ankles yelling..."DAMN IT CECIL I TOLD YOU, YOU WERE GOING TO CHOKE!!!" As she is saying this she is beating my dad in his back and yelling....my dad finally catches his breathe and says, "Waterhead stop hitting me!" I was scared when my dad was choking but when he was finally able to speak I was relieved like I could finally breathe too!

Now when I think about this story I find it funny cause I just picture my mom with her pants down around her ankles yelling and beating my dad in his back, instead of seeing my dad on his knees gasping for air! Crazy what things you remember about your parents or people in general. I remember my dad talking us on trips whether it was to go sightseeing around the area we lived or to Texas. I also remember one of our neighbors always hitting me and running (Thelma)....another one being chased by the Principal almost everyday and being told to go home (Al)!

BUT good or bad I hope you were able to spend sometime either remembering or spending time with your father this Father's Day....before you know it sadly memories are all you will have left!

See ya when I see ya!

Peace! Mattie