God bless my America

I have a hard time writing about America. Not because of my lack of love for this great nation, but more so because I don’t know exactly how to put how I feel into words. I do this with people I love also. I don’t always come off as appreciative or sympathetic or loving or sincere as I truly am because I am so afraid that what I will say can never come close to my actual feelings. I can tell you all day how much I “love” shopping and dove hunting and Pretty Little Liars and lattes and sleeping in, because I know those things don’t care if I think twice about them. I also love words, but they can never do justice for a truly heartfelt emotion like love.

I love God. I love my family and the way I was raised. I love my hometown. I love horses and the way they communicate with and soften my soul and how being around them has bonded my family. And I love my country. Though these are pretty obvious statements, that’s about as far as I can go with them. Anything less is not enough, but any more would still not justify them enough for me.

I hope that everyone genuinely appreciates the ones they truly love today. So many have sacrificed things they love for us to be able to do so. Let this day be a reminder for every. single. day. of just how blessed we are. Cling tight to your loved ones and thank God for them every day. Cling tight to your freedom, it’s only by it that we can chase our passions and dreams and the other things we “love.” Cling tight to the land that we live on which, God willing, provides us all we need and allows us to also meet the needs of others abroad. Cling tight to your right to voice your opinion and never ever think that you don’t matter. Cling tight to your neighbor, even those that you do not love, because together we are a strong and diversified nation. We can only prosper when we learn to be a united front. Divided we fall. The United States of America is not just a country or a big plot of land sandwiched between two others. America is her people and we represent her every day in what we say and do, in the way we carry ourselves, in what we post, in what we think, in what we believe.

Being American is not always about fighting and rebellion. It’s about standing up for the little man and doing what is right. It’s not about absolute power or being better than anyone else. It’s about allowing everyone the opportunity to use their strengths where others are weak, so that we all have the chance to flourish. It’s not about pushing your thoughts on other people and angering when they disagree. It’s about finding the joy in the idea that we can all have different opinions and still thrive under one diversified governing body. It’s not about political warfare and self-defense and birth rights. It’s about understanding that we are a fallen creation that is going to face dark times and hard questions, but knowing we can get through them.

And to me, being American is owning a gun for defense, not offense. And speaking of defense, my America is about football. And the marching band. My America is going to church and believing. Believing. My America is driving to the grocery store on Sunday and waiting in line at the checkout. It’s choosing where you want to go to college. It’s a funny movie. It’s fashion trends and diet fads and apple pie moonshine. It’s freedom of expression and parents who teach their children respect- how to earn it and how to show it. It’s getting what you work for, not what you think you’re entitled to. And it’s never about settling for less that you deserve. It is chasing dreams and opportunity. Opportunity. And it doesn’t get any better.

I hope today you remember what threatened this country 12 years ago on this day. And I hope you are grateful to still call it yours. I hope you also keep everything you love in mind when considering our current situations at home and abroad. And most of all, I hope you love America like I do. But I hope you can say it much better than I.

Love always,

Addie

“The American Dream is that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement. It is a difficult dream for the European upper classes to interpret adequately, and too many of us ourselves have grown weary and mistrustful of it. It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position.” – James Truslow Adams, The Epic of America

“It is the soldier, not the reporter, who has given us freedom of the press. It is the soldier, not the poet, who has given us freedom of speech. It is the soldier, not the organizer, who gave us the freedom to demonstrate. It is the soldier, who salutes the flag, who serves beneath the flag. And whose coffin is draped by the flag, who allows the protester to burn the flag.” –Father Dennis Edward O’Brien, USMC

“Part of the American dream is to live long and die young. Only those Americans who are willing to die for their country are fit to live.” –Douglas MacArthur

normal obsessions

The royal baby (I’ll refer to him as Prince, because how cool is that?!) has arrived! I thoroughly understand the American obsession with the Royal family because we don’t have monarchies and thanks to Disney, every girl grew up wanting to be a princess. For Kate Middleton, that dream actually came true, giving the rest of us normal girls a sense that dreams really do come true. Besides, who better to admire than the people we fought so diligently to break away from? (Only kidding…)

So now the question remains: what is Prince’s name? People have been betting on it for 9 months now. Surprisingly I haven’t read much into it. I’m sure it will be a family name- and probably a very long one at that. Unlike us normal people, Prince will probably have about five names before they ever get to his last name. I didn’t know that monarchs even had a last name until I googled it about five minutes ago. I thought they just went by their first, middle, second middle, etc. names and ended it with something fun and royal like “the Duke of Cambridge”. Their last name however is obviously very English and very royal sounding…nothing as plain as Smith would do… which is why their last name is Mountbatten-Windsor. Good luck trying to teach Prince to write and pronounce that in kindergarten.

Not gonna lie, I was really crossing my fingers for a little princess, but I’m sure Prince will be just as dashing as his parents and just as fun as his Uncle Harry. Can I be his godmother? And I was also very glad that he arrived at a decent time of day so that I didn’t have to pull an all-nighter like I did in college to watch the Royal Wedding. (Ok, but seriously I probably wouldn’t have pulled an all-nighter to wait for the announcement of a baby that I will never meet. Watching the wedding was worth it but somehow waiting up just to hear a Royal crier make an announcement didn’t sound appeasing. Not to mention that in college, my body was trained to run on no sleep, but now that I have a job and a real-time schedule, I’m more of an in-bed-by-10-at-the-latest kind of gal.—But for the record I would, however break my schedule to watch another wedding of Royal or Kardashian magnitude on any given day. Yes, I’m that girl. Slightly obsessed.)

Is anyone else shocked at how quickly summer is passing by or am I just getting old? It’s almost August for crying out loud! I feel like say this every summer…but such is life. And what a difference in this summer and last. First of all rain, rain, rain. It rain an inch last week and is currently raining now. Not so bad since hardly any one down here irrigates and most crops are laid by at the moment. But the boys back home are singing a different story. Spence sent me a picture from the field last night after they got- wait for it…4 INCHES of rain the night before last. And guess what, they’re supposed to get more today. So instead of pumping water into the fields, they’re retracing all their previous steps and pumping water off. Fun fun. Compared to last summer which was one of the worst drought seasons ever with the some of the highest crop prices…God sure does have a sense of humor.

Another difference in last summer and this summer is my lack of tan-ness. Direct quote from my mother last weekend: “Wow, this is the palest I’ve ever seen you this time of year!” Thanks….I am becoming more cautious of sun damage after finding a few wrinkles on my face and my dad having skin samples sent off to be tested. So I catch rays when I can but am not exactly the sun goddess that I used to be. Instead, I now resort to sunless tanners- they stink, but they work. And to me, the cost of stench is much easier to pay than other potential costs.

Speaking of wrinkles, did you know that sleeping on your face (stomach and side sleepers) can cause wrinkles!? Engineers have built a pillow with a hole cut out so that only your ear, jaw, and hairline take the pressure, leaving your precious face unharmed from the ruthless wrinkle causing pillow while you snooze all night. While this may sound ridiculous, I have been overly aware of the way my cheeks smush into my pillow, creating an obsession of caution when I’m trying to sleep. The past few nights I have spent a good 3-5 minutes situating myself just so that my face feels as little smush as possible. “Prevention is key”…but somehow I still wake up looking like the Nightmare before Christmas every morning. Maybe I should just accept the fact that raisin skin is worth a good night’s sleep on a smushy, fluffy pillow (no matter how contradicting that sounds). Right…?

Last but not least, I would just like you to know that I fried my first ever batch of green tomatoes last night. And they were awesome. I also used my potato cutter to make my first batch (okay, actually the second because my first attempt was an utter fail) of homemade French fries. I’m becoming a decent gardener and cook while living down here- Mississippi makes me sustainable, and it feels so good. I posted a picture of the fried, unhealthy, goodness-es on my Instagram (another one of my obsessions) with the hasttag #BHGsummer in hopes of winning the weekly contest that Better Homes and Gardens is hosting all summer long. So far, they haven’t “liked” my photo…but it’s only Tuesday…there is still time. They’re probably just too busy gushing over Prince to notice me at the moment…

Stay hopeful my friends. Enjoy the summer and the rain. And remember that Jiminy Cricket was right when he said “dreams come true”.

Love always,

“And so with the sunshine and the great bursts of leaves growing on the trees, just as things grow in fast movies, I had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer.”  – F. Scott Fitzgerald

pretend it’s Friday. mostly because it’s Monday, again.

I wrote this last Friday with every intention of posting it…until I looked at the clock and realized that I only had time to hit “save” before rushing out the door and making it to my haircut a few minutes late.

Today is a good day. I woke up unusually happy, had an amazing cup of coffee, our office still smells like crawfish from the grower meeting/appreciation dinner last night, and I just got a free pork loin- the whole loin, like the entire length of a grown, huge pig! (Not sure what I’m going to do with it all, but hey, free food!) Oh and I’m wearing my henna-elephant-looking shirt with pink pants. Sounds ugly…and it might be, but it makes me smile. I feel like this is a good weekend to go on an adventure. Not sure exactly what and where, but it just feels like one of those “kill a Saturday without actually killing anything” kind of weekends. I’m excited though I don’t know why…Fortunately, Mamie is on her way here now and is a great partner in crime for trips/adventures/weird stuff. We will probably end up in a strange hole-in-the-wall coffee shop instead because we are old ladies in 20-something bodies, but either way, we will have a time!

Here is one of the places that I want to go to soon…maybe not this weekend since it’s several hours away and Mamie is already driving 4 hours just to get here:

 

The Windsor Ruins

Windsor Ruins are the columns left standing from a huge mansion that was constructed near Port Gibson, MS in 1861. Though it’s said that the mansion never reached completion, it housed both Confederate and Union soldiers during the war. After the war it was used for large parties and was burned down in 1890 when a guest’s careless cigar was dropped. The mansion housed over 25 rooms, each with their own fire place, and a 4^th floor that held an observatory room that overlooked the plantation and river. It cost the family around $175,000 to build, which is nearly $4.5 million today. After the house burned, the family donated the ruins to the state and it is now on the National Historic Register. There are still bricks left in the rubble pile that are good for the taking, so I’m told. (So of course, I want one.)

Speaking of history, I will be the first to tell you that I love school. I know, it’s weird. Most people can’t wait to get out of school and get to college, and then get out of college and get a real job. (Though most want to go back to college as soon as the real world sinks in.) I thought that it was just the college lifestyle that I have been missing so much, but as it turns out, it’s the classes. I came to this realization after the ridiculous amount excitement that struck me when I discovered that the W (Mississippi University for Women- though it’s open for men now too) is offering life enrichment classes. I could go back to college except for the fact that I’m broke and will be paying off student loans forever as it is, and I don’t feel like writing a dissertation to get another degree. But enrichment classes are in my price range! I missed the deadline for the spring semester classes so I’m crossing my fingers that they offer them again in the summer. If not, I’ll be anxiously awaiting fall!

There’s your fun and fashion (my outfit) for today.

Has anyone else seen the knock-off Girl Scout cookies that are being sold in grocery stores everywhere?! Coming from a lifetime-member of the Girl Scouts, I am personally offended that someone else is ripping off our specialty. On the other hand, I’m excited that I can now get them year round!

And speaking of grocery store finds, check out this giant can of tuna that we found! I didn’t even know they sold these in regular stores. I figured you’d have to order a can this size!

 

Biggest Tuna Can Ever…and a lovely model 🙂

And there’s your food from Wednesday that I missed….

Happy 2^nd birthday to the baby girl who showed us all the God still works miracles. From 14 ounces at 4 months premature, to 17 whopping pounds, she has come a long way. She couldn’t open her eyes when she first got here, but as she learned to open hers, she taught us to open our own as well. I love you so much baby Henley, and can’t wait to watch you grown into an amazing and beautiful woman just like your momma!

Wishing everyone an adventurous weekend. Only one week until Gin Show and 5 days until I try to convince Alex to take me to the Josh Abbot concert in Starkvegas. Get excited!

Also, go read Gone Girl if you like suspense stories. It was weird, but I liked it.

Love always,

Addie

“You know when they have a fishing show on TV? They catch the fish and then they let it go. They don’t want to eat the fish, they just want to make it late for something.”- Mitch Hedberg