As soon as I got back from helping Katie with her two girls for a little over two weeks, I washed my clothes, repacked, jumped in the car, and headed East with Clark for his annual business trip to the Carolinas. It was not a vacation. It was driving to small communities, waiting on Clark in the car, sitting in the lobby of a mill, or hanging out in the hotel while he visited the mill owners to talk about this year's cotton yield, or the market, or whatever else a cotton merchant would discuss with his client. We did get to see Clark's daughter, Casey, and her husband, and some good friends along the way, but I also managed a lost/stolen iphone4 in the process. It was pretty tough coming back to the hotel to no cell phone--not just any cell phone-- but my friend, Kathy, filled in the gap with an extra phone she had that happened to be with the same carrier as ours. It saved my life, because I was trying to keep in touch with Katie and my mom while we were on the road. Thanks, again, Kathy!
We cut our trip short about a week, because Mama was not doing well about a week into our trip. Her hip had mended nicely, but her confusion was drastically worse. I believe I had my last real conversation with her while she was in rehab, but I didn't know it at the time. .... which makes me want to scream to everybody to enjoy and love your family as much as you can as often as you can because you have today.....period. And don't think about yesterday if it was yucky, because you are not going to profit one bit from going back, rehashing, or doing the shoulda, coulda, woulda thing. Just take the good stuff and learn from the bad stuff. (I know this is sounding preachy, but I am emotional right now.)
Life is truly shorter than I imagined, and as I visit with Mama, I understand more what she meant when she told me over and over in my adult years to: "Go, Do, honey". And I hope to go and do as much as possible. There are so many things to go and do here in Memphis and where my kids and grandkids are, not to mention all the other options we have in today's world that can make a difference. It's a good thing that Clark is a "goer" and a "doer" because he's a good one to take with.........
We cut our trip short about a week, because Mama was not doing well about a week into our trip. Her hip had mended nicely, but her confusion was drastically worse. I believe I had my last real conversation with her while she was in rehab, but I didn't know it at the time. .... which makes me want to scream to everybody to enjoy and love your family as much as you can as often as you can because you have today.....period. And don't think about yesterday if it was yucky, because you are not going to profit one bit from going back, rehashing, or doing the shoulda, coulda, woulda thing. Just take the good stuff and learn from the bad stuff. (I know this is sounding preachy, but I am emotional right now.)
Life is truly shorter than I imagined, and as I visit with Mama, I understand more what she meant when she told me over and over in my adult years to: "Go, Do, honey". And I hope to go and do as much as possible. There are so many things to go and do here in Memphis and where my kids and grandkids are, not to mention all the other options we have in today's world that can make a difference. It's a good thing that Clark is a "goer" and a "doer" because he's a good one to take with.........
