The Older I Get

"The Older I get the more I think you only get a minute, better live while you're in it, cause it's gone in a blink.  And the older I get the truer it is.  It's the people you love, not the money and stuff that makes you rich."  Alan Jackson

 I've always been one to "fly by the seat of my pants" taking chances when I shouldn't and living in the moment.  The older I get the more I think about those things.  Had I been more like my sisters and followed ALL the rules how would that changed my life as it is.  Would I have been any wiser, probably not because I went to the same school they did and I even graduated "thank you Jesus" from Brenau University.  Whoopeee, yeah me at 52 years old I'm a college graduate.  But maybe, just maybe, if  I were more like them I could be retired, or married 30+ years like most of them and maybe have a little more money.  But as I'm writing this, I'm thinking OK so what if I had been more of a rule follower, with my personality would it matter?  Again, I don't think so because I'm just a rowdy individual with a gypsy soul.  Now ya'll figure that one out.  LOL

"Funny how it feels I'm just getting to my best years yet."  This sorta makes me giggle because I always thought my best years were in my forties.  How in the world can I be getting my best years at 60+ years old?  My hair is graying (unless you know my hairdresser), my bones ache, I make three or four trips to bathroom EVERY night and it takes a dadgum crane to get out of bed every morning.  What's worse is EVERYTHING and I mean everything isn't in the same place it was 20 years ago and where in the world did this extra 20 pounds come from. They call it a muffin top but I don't remember eating that many muffins, but it could be the cheetos.

Fewer friends?  Nope, I still have the same friends I've had for years.  I may have lost a few because I voted but Trump, but the way I see that, they weren't true friends.  They're the ones that wouldn't have my back and they certainly wouldn't be there if I needed them in a crisis.  To those friends who have been there forever, thank you from the bottom of my heart.  The older I get the better I am at knowing when to give and when to just not give a damn.  So for those that don't like my presidential choice I guess I didn't lose any sleep or give a damn.  Crap, did I write that out loud?  LOL  Probably gonna lose a few more friends over that but oh well.

"I don't mind all the lines from all the times I've laughed and cried, souvenirs and little signs of the life I've lived."   If I could find the fountain of youth, I might take a sip or two, just to erase a few wrinkles but the wrinkles left are the survival lines of my life.  Each line holding a story, a laugh or a memory.  Besides that if I sipped away all my wrinkles I would look like everyone else and we all know that ain't gonna happen.

Lesson for today?  Don't worry about the wrinkles!!!  Wrinkles mean you laughed, grey hair means you cared and scars mean you lived!  If you have wrinkles on your brow don't take them away, laugh some more and for the love of Peter, Paul & Mary, don't let them be written on the heart and wrinkle the soul.  The spirit should never grow old.   Let's pray longer and be more thankful!  Thankful for the life we've had and the life we're still living.

    Love to all,
    Sweet Southern Sass

 

Chances Are

"Chances are I took the wrong turn every time I had a turn to make and I guess I broke my own heart every chance I had a heart to break.  And it seems I spent my whole life wishin' on the same unlucky star."  Lee Ann Womack

Ok ya'll go ahead and admit it we've all made a wrong turn now and then, but dang I've made so many wrong turns, my road is as crooked as a dog's hind leg as my daddy says.  LOL  I'm always wishin' on an unlucky star thinking it's the next big thing.  Yeah I will admit, I'm a dreamer but if you can't dream then what the heck.

"As I watch you 'across the barroom I wonder what my chances are."  This brings to mind a story about a friend of mine from long years ago.  He was the best looking man this side of Texas and he knew it.  Because he was so into himself, I was determined I would at least get a dance.  Well, it took a few times, but I got the dance and we became good friends.  He was my go to person when I needed a date and bless his heart, I sure did make him look good.  He told me once he didn't have a choice being my friend because I wouldn't leave him alone.

Like most every heart has a story.  Mine may have a few more scars than most but it's a heart that has loved and lost, tried and failed, and lived a little too far outside the box sometimes and wished I hadn't the next day.  Michael Jordan once said "I can accept failure, everyone fails at something, but I can't accept not trying."  Thank you Michael Jordan for those words of wisdom because now I don't feel so bad about those things that most people think are failures.  I've decided they weren't failures, they were just life experiences that I learned from and moved on.

"I have watched the world go by, hand in hand and wondered why I'm still alone."  I'm sure all us single ladies have asked this question, me being one of them.  I've been there, done that and I have the wedding dress to prove it but at the end of the day I still ask the question.   If you ask him (him being the ex-husband)  he would tell you it's MY fault and my story on a good day is it's ALL HIS fault.  Now that I am a mature adult (ya'll quit laughing) maybe it wasn't either, it just didn't work.  Maybe  the keeper of the stars didn't have a hand in it on the day HE crossed his heart to make all my dreams come true.  Maybe the storms were too rough, the love and laughter weren't for a lifetime and now he's gone.  Gone like a freight train, gone like yesterday, gone like a '59 Cadillac...He's gone, gone, gone.

Lesson for today?  I think today it will be to never give up. Just because you feel you've failed at something that didn't work out, doesn't mean you're a failure.  It doesn't mean you have a big L on your forehead, it just means you had a life experience that might not have been the best.  Let's just file it away in file 13, chalk it up to life experiences and move on.  Just let it be gone like a freight train, gone like a '59 Cadillac, just GONE, GONE, GONE.

    Love to all
   Sweet Southern Sass

Happy New Year

"Happy New Year, Happy New Year.  Let's raise a glass, here's to you dear.  Now I was hoping that I'd find you here, just to wish you a Happy New Year.:"  Kid Rock

2017 is over and 2018 is here. I decided to bring in the New Year at home last night.  Not because I didn't have places to go, but because I was tired from seeing my friends play music on Thursday AND Friday. Reflecting on 2017 I have been both sad and happy.  Sad that I've lost two Aunts, several classmates from school and too many friends.  One thing for sure I'm happy that I made it another year and for the most part it was a good year.

It was a good year that I still have a job, a place to live and my family are all close enough we can still eat at my mom's on Sunday's.  My mom reminded me last night this time last year she was in the hospital having a stent but she got home in time for New Year's Day with her family.  We laughed because she said I let the collards ruin.  The truth is SHE left them in the sink and because she wasn't there to make sure they were OK, they spoiled.  So ME to the rescue.  LOL, now that's funny just writing it.   We didn't have the fresh collards from her garden but we had collards (the bag kind from Kroger) and the main thing is my mama was home from the hospital to tell me how to cook them.  They may not have been as good as my mama's but we were all there together and that my friends is a blessing.  One that I will always remember.  Well now that my mama reminded me.

This is a short post because my mama didn't have to go to the hospital this year, my daddy is feeling better, the Georgia Bulldogs are playing in the Rose bowl and I've got to get a move on.  I've got to get to my mama's house because we're having the REAL collards from her garden, black eye peas and cornbread.  But the biggest reason I gotta get going is because my family is waiting on me to get there so we can begin the New Year like it should be.  TOGETHER as family. If y'all hear craziness coming from somewhere close it's just us yelling at the TV because my one brother things Oklahoma is going to win and the rest of us KNOW Georgia is going to win and play Clemson in the championship.  Now when this happens, of course we will need another party because my nephew went to Clemson and most of us will be pulling for Georgia so the only way I can described this family get together is a "house divided."

Lesson today?  Spend time with your family.  It doesn't have to be a special day, just make it a special day because you're together.  I know we will today and hopefully many more in the New Year.

       Happy New Year,
        Love to all!!!
         Sweet Southern Sass