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.”

Plain old covers and Walls

You know what I’ve been thinking lately? It really is hard to judge a book by its cover. Some of the best books ever written have dated, simple, solid color covers binding them together. How are we supposed to judge that when there’s not even a picture to depict something that has to do with the plot? Or what about the books that have subtle “symbols” on the cover that you can’t quite understand until after you’ve read the book? Or the one’s whose cover doesn’t at all match what you envisioned in your head while reading the book? Maybe that’s just how society is evolving. Used to, people didn’t need a certain color or picture on the front of a book to convince them to read it. They read out of sheer enjoyment and curiosity. Not that people don’t still do that, but more and more I think we find ourselves literally judging what we want off of reviews from other people’s opinions or simply by the outward appearance that someone else created in their mind. How do you possibly deem that a self-made decision? Two people can look at the exact same object and see two totally different things. I’m not saying that we shouldn’t take other people’s word into consideration, but we do need to start weaning ourselves from the attitudes that are being fed to us by today’s society.

Ok, that intro led me to the meat of my discussion for today: don’t judge a book, don’t judge a person. There’s an old saying that we’ve all heard, “don’t judge another person until you have walked in their shoes.” As I was sitting in the McDonald’s drive-thru last night at 2:00 am, I never realized that to be more true. For example, do you think that the man working the window dreamed of growing up to work the McDonald’s night shift? Probably not. (I can’t honestly say that it would be a bad job, because I’m sure that it can be very entertaining at times to meet all the “forth-mealers” in their nightly endeavors, and if the man truly loves his job, who am I to say he doesn’t? The man could have been a road kill clean-up staff member for all I care, as long as that’s what truly makes him happy.) But the drive-thru window man didn’t look happy at all. Tiredness had overtaken him and he honestly looked a little sad, which initially could have been mistaken for rudeness, and also really put a damper on my Happy Meal.

Some people have tough lives. I don’t know why I was blessed enough to be dealt a good hand (Lord knows I don’t deserve it), but it always makes me think twice about those who didn’t quite get the “luck of the draw.” Some people are able to overcome their struggles and humble themselves, while others never even try to fight the battle because they feel like they have lost before they ever get started.

So when you run into a person that’s mean, dirty, quite, or simply working a job that you wouldn’t have chosen for yourself, remember, you don ‘t know where they’ve been and what they’ve had to endure. Battles and triumphs make us stronger, but they can also cause walls to be put up. When you judge a person without knowing or taking into consideration their story, you are not taking advantage of a life lesson. We can all learn something from each other.

Next time you’re out, take a moment to “people watch.” You’d be amazed at what you can gain from actually getting a glimpse inside someone’s life instead of taking one quick glance and shutting them out.

What have you learned from your neighbors today?

Love always,

Addie

“Your neighbor’s vision is as true for him as your own vision is true for you.” -Miguel de Unamuno