traditions

There is something to be said for traditions….I’m not sure exactly what because to me traditions come with more of a sense of pride. It’s a feeling you get, all swollen up inside you, that makes you so excited and proud at the same time. Or at least that’s how I feel for most of the traditions that I have been a part of. Some things are so special that they cannot and do not need words of explanation; they can only be expressed through feelings.

I have been a part of and witnessed many traditions over the years. One in particular, I got to re-live last night: “the Schindlers trip.” Ever since we were old enough to drive ourselves, a few of my friends and I have been making trips to Schindlers, always sitting at “our” table and ordering the exact same thing to eat: order of skins and baloney burgers all around. Our names were written on the wall several years ago, and have recently been covered by a “Boulevard Brewery” sign about a year ago, permanently (and now secretly) designating that area for “our” table.

In high school we typically visited “the hill” about once every two months, but now that we’re all in school and spread out all over the map, we can only go when it fits into our schedules. Every time the door opens and the smoke of the bar fills my lungs, my heart begins to sing, knowing that I will shortly be singing my favorite songs from the juke box, trying to play pool, and chowing down on a deliciously greasy baloney burger…and more than likely, finishing off the afternoon/night with a short road trip over the “sisters” and wherever else Mamie the navigator decides to take us. The simple word “Schindlers” brings up some of the best memories that I have ever made and always makes me anticipate the next trip. Last night’s trip ended in an obvious trip of “sisters out on the sisters” (inside joke), levee riding, bed surfing, and running through a pivot. Nothing short of anything I would expect to experience on a typical Shindlers night. I guess you can take the girl out of the Bootheel, but you can’t take the Bootheel out of the girl.

I was also really happy to see some familiar faces in the smoky, little hole-in-the-wall, last night. A small group of girls from Sikeston high school were gathering as we were leaving. The thought that they might be continuing our tradition made me smile.

I cannot believe how fast summer is flying by. It seemed like it was going to last forever until July hit. Now I will be leaving for school in a short four weeks. I haven’t even been to the river yet this summer! AHH! Guess I need to get on that soon, along with moving furniture from Murray, and picking out decorations for my new room in Mississippi. I bought some throw pillows the other day, but that’s as far as I have gotten. I found a rug that I liked, but of course it was $600, so I think I’ll pass. I have learned that my latest hobby is home décor, but it is a depressing hobby because I usually find that the things I love the most are the most overly priced. That’s when inspiration strikes and I get my “I’m pretty sure I can just make that” ideas. So far I have made three pieces that I fell in love with, and saved almost $100! Yay for creativity, sewing machines, paint, and glue!

I’m so happy with the way that this summer has turned out so far and I still have one month left, that if all goes as planned, will surely top the rest of the summer by far! I love where my life is heading and can’t wait to see how it all turns out. Not that I don’t ever run into setbacks, but I always try to stay positive about life and understand that without the bad, we couldn’t appreciate the good. Resiliency and humbleness are some my favorite words to live by. I love when I can feel the joy in my bones…today is definitely a good day! Keep smiling!

Love always,

Addie

“Dating is like trying to make a meal out of leftovers. Some leftovers actually get better when they’ve had a little time to mature. But others should be thrown out right away, No matter how you try to warm them up, they’re never as good as when they were new.” –Lisa Kleypas

lessons learned

So it’s official: I am the family screw up. If anything could possibly go wrong, it will when I am present. If there is no chance for something to go wrong, a freak accident will occur just to ensure my title. I’ve locked my keys in my car so many times that my mom actually gave my friends spares in high school, I’ve been in seven car wrecks, two of which totaled the vehicle I was driving (but in my defense, not ALL of the wrecks were my fault), and I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not very “street smart,” which has been the cause of several dumb mistakes in my lifetime, but I’m working on it.

This weekend was yet another occasion to be written in the book to enstill the fact that I always cause things to go wrong. I had planned on going to a rodeo, over-nighting it, and coming back Sunday for a relaxing day at the winery with the family. Instead, my “idiocracy” took over, and I had a pretty…eventful weekend, to say the least.

Let me begin by telling you that this was the first time I had ever pulled a horse trailer by myself over the state lines so I was pretty pumped. As luck would have it, I encountered more semis than I have ever seen in my life crossing the two miniscule bridges into Kentucky and ran into some rain, but once I hit Murray, I knew the worst was over. I had passed the tests of the road and my weekend was off to a great start. Or so I thought.

The first night of the rodeo was entertaining, despite the squelching heat and one over dramatic “performer.” Unfortunately, I found myself reaching in my pocket and realized that the key to my (dad’s) truck was missing. After searching for about an hour and what felt like 10 miles worth of trails, Abby and I’s search efforts ended empty handed. The key was gone. I had no way of getting back to Murray, where I had stalled my horse and unhooked my trailer. Fortunately, I slept in Abby’s trailer with her and hitched a ride back to Murray the next morning, thank God for roommates!

Saturday morning I was tipped off that one of my neighbors from Sikeston was also entered in the rodeo, so I called him and he so graciously brought me the one and only spare to the truck. So with my truck still thirty minutes away at LBL, I left my trailer parked in Murray and loaded up in yet another friend’s trailer to get to the rodeo. Once I was there I knew I was in the clear because I had the spare key and had made it to the rodeo in time.

My barrel run was decent, though it could have been better, and I ended up placing in the ribbon roping. Maybe the weekend was going to turn out well after all. Think again. The people that I hauled to the rodeo with wanted to camp out so once again I slept in Abby’s trailer, but this time I had a horse to deal with for the night. So we tied them all to a piggot line for lack of stalls and hit the sack. The next morning, however, wasn’t so pleasant.  During the night, my horse had been brutally beaten by another horse on the line. Great.

I finally made it back to Sikeston in one piece- call me road warrior! Got Smoke all cleaned up and headed to the winery with the fam. FINALLY, my weekend started looking up. John D. Hale and Matt Stell wooed us all as we ate, drank, and danced through the night by a beautiful sunset over the lake. It can’t get much better than that.

But I guess only small town people can appreciate certain things- As I was reveling in the moment, I noticed a girl who looked a little out of place, for lack of better words. I asked where she was from and she said Birmingham. I’m pretty sure that she found the whole engagement a little too “redneck” for herself, but I was too delighted in the way that my seemingly awful weekend had turned out so well, to care what she thought of us. A little culture shock is good every now and then, right?

Anyways, I learned several life lessons this weekend. At least there is chance for something good out of every setback. Here’s what I learned: don’t tie your horse to a piggot line over night, don’t ride horses with a key in your pocket, in fact just leave the key hidden somewhere on the vehicle, don’t ever miss out on an opportunity to spend time with friends and family because they can make the worst situations a little better, and don’t underestimate how comfortable a couch in a horse trailer can be when you need sleep.

If we learn from our mistakes, I should be genius by now. Fortunately, my parents still have Spence to depend on. I am not so proud to say that I have definitely broken the barriers and made life “pie” for him. If he is able to make me look good, then congratulations because that would be quite an accomplishment- but let’s all hope that he doesn’t follow in my footsteps!

Shout out to everyone who helped me out this weekend: Abby, Zack, Casey, Turk, Jeff, Tina, and Mr. Wrye! Yall were great! And special thanks to Abby who always reminds me that I CAN DO IT, just act like you’re John Wayne!

See you soon.

Love always,

Addie

“Always aim for the standing ovation.”

feeling alive

First of all, let me make a shout out to Katie and Mamie: thank you for dragging me out of the house for a night of much needed craziness. I get into bad habits of getting off work and going home to do more work because I feel obligated. As stupid as this sounds, I actually told Mamie that I wouldn’t be able to go with them because I needed to mow the yard. Yes the yard needs a trimming, but since my parents have been gone on vacation, I have done nothing but clean house, wash dishes, keep up the laundry, water plants, and feed animals just because I felt like it. What is wrong with me? Obligations are ok until they begin to take over your life. Fortunately I got a “sign”: the mower was out of gas. So instead of falling into my newly developed routine, we loaded up in grannies car and hit the highway. I saw one of the worst movies ever made, ate disappointing custard thanks to the consistency of peanut butter (haha), found some stellar shades at Walgreens (of all places!), and laughed my a** off! Best night in a while.

I also learned some amazing secret agent moves from Cameron Diaz, as well as learning how to be a complete idiot and mess up everything that I possibly can. Thank goodness for Tom Cruise’s super sly self and everything falling into place just in the nick of time- saved the plot! Unfortunately it wasn’t enough to save the movie from being placed on my “never watch again” list.

Here’s another much needed shout out: I am not a Kentuckian and never will be, however, Murray KY will always be close to my heart. But that is not enough to mold me into a UK fan. Blue is not my color (neither is orange, but that’s beside the point), I think the fact that I lived in Wildcat nation during the UK2K absolutely did me in. By the end of last semester, if I had heard one more person talk about UK, I probably would have exploded. Kentucky people love their cats—props to them for that, but I’m not a fan. Nevertheless, I have friends that are die-hards, so this one is for you: congrats to the UK basketball team for making NBA history. That’s all I’m going to say. No need for overkill. Speaking of overkill, please no more John Wall dances for a while, ok? Thanks.

Back to last night. There’s just something about rolling the windows down and singing at the top of your lungs to a CD you found from high school. Even when the CD was over, the radio somehow knew exactly what to play. I was really “feeling” again. We get so caught up in the day to day routines that we forget to do things for ourselves. Sounds cliché but it’s true. Consistency is good to a point, but when you lose yourself, it’s not worth it. Good or bad, you have to feel things–raw emotion to stir your soul, and to remind you that you’re still alive. Bursting out a song that is so relative to your life at the moment while you breathe in the 80 mph summer wind, knowing that your hair will be a tangled mess in 2.5 seconds…complete joy.

And in case you didn’t know, there’s a difference in joy and happiness. Happiness comes from material things and can be taken away. Joy in an internal thing that can’t be taken or given, it must be found. Best part about it: it’s contagious. Last night wasn’t happiness, but joy. So thanks again for the contagiousness.

Well TGIF! I have been looking forward to this weekend since Sunday; it’s going to be a good one. Hope you all have a good weekend as well. Be careful, wear your seatbelts, and don’t drink and drive. And remember, only you can help prevent forest fires. Haha! Now, go out and find your joy, then spread the wealth.

Love always,

Addie

“When you’re young, your whole life is about the pursuit of fun. Then, you grow up and learn to be cautious. You could break a bone or a heart. You look before you leap and sometimes you don’t leap at all because there’s not always someone there to catch you. And in life, there’s no safety net. When did it stop being fun and start being scary?” –Sex and the City