Charlie

I came home to NA today, and when I got here everybody was down for their afternoon naps…including Mama. I had an eye doctor’s appointment, so I came in and dropped stuff off before heading back out. When I came back from the doctor, Mama was up, but the kids were still in bed. I went up to my bedroom to catch up with a conference call for work. When I walked in, Anderson was sitting in his swing kicking and cooing. When he saw me he started laughing! It was so adorable. I picked him up and carried him downstairs where everybody else was awake. I handed him off to mom and came back upstairs. I checked in on Charlie who was not awake but was moving around a bit. I knew that he would be up very soon. I closed the door, went in my room (leaving the door open to see him when he got up) and logged on to the conference call. A few minutes later, I heard something in the other room, but I hadn’t heard Charlie’s door open. I went to look, and his door was open. So, I stepped farther out into the hall and saw him walk out of Mama’s room. He looked at me, grunted a uhhhh (of unhappiness), and then stepped back in Mama’s room and closed the door without saying a word. A few minutes later I saw him peeking out of the door. I made some silly faces at him and waved with silly waves. He just stared at me. So, I got up and walked into the hall. As soon as I got there, he grunted the “uhhhhhh!” and closed the door again. It was the funniest thing ever. I haven’t seen him in about a month, and he shuts the door on me. He’s so sour/sweet! He just woke up from his naps. These tend to be sour moments for anybody who isn’t Trishie (who is always who he wants immediately upon waking). What’s great about Charlie is that sometimes when he’s sour it’s often hilarious or adorable! Lauren finally came and took him downstairs to get him to fully wake up. I kept thinking he would come back up and be playful…but that was thirty minutes ago. This is where coming home with gifts gives me the upper hand.

While I was home I bought a webcam for my mother. She often keeps Charlie and Anderson. Sometimes she'll call me and try to tell me about what they are wearing, what they are doing, or the new cute phrase for the day. I decided that she needed to be able to show me some of these things. Here is Charlie singing Mrs. Suzy. However, we changed it to Miss Lucy because his dog Lucy is having puppies. Enjoy!

Red Sox Fans....ahhh, a Quirky Breed

I just got an email from Chowdaheadz* with the subject line: "Time to Support the Sox, Through Thick and Thin!" Yes, there is a seven game deficit in the AL East between first and second place. And yes, the first and second teams are (sarcastic drum roll) the Yankees and Red Sox. However, let me remind you that the Red Sox are the ones with the seven game lead!!!! Are we really in a "thin" time here? Don't get me wrong, I'm freaked out by the fact that there was a two digit deficit at the All-Star break and now it's down to 7. But I think maybe we've jumped the gun on throwing up our hands and calling this a rough patch. Kevin Kennedy said it best yesterday on The Show. The Yankees would have to play 700 ball for the rest of the season and the Red Sox play 500 ball for the rest of the season to be able to overthrow and maintain the division lead. We're playing 600 ball right now. So, yes it's getting close...but let's not jump into the Charles quite yet, my dear friends.

On a side note: with this email from chowdaheadz came a 15 percent off coupon. Great...I ordered stuff from there yesterday! Ahhhh, the bad luck...

*disclaimer: I love Chowdaheadz.com and think it's one of the best places to get great Red Sox stuff. I spend entirely too much money at chowdaheadz and born into it (the parent company) yearly.

There She Blows

This evening my friend Michaele was in town. She needed an outfit for an event she has coming up, so we met up at the mall for dinner and shopping. She was planning on staying at a hotel, but I insisted she save her money and stay with me. After we ate dinner and found the perfect outfit, we headed out for my apartment. (Let me also add that I did not buy a single thing other than dinner...impressive, I know!) We were driving down 285 around 7:30. For those who don't know, 285 is the highway that goes around Atlanta. It's by far the busiest road in Atlanta, and nobody drives slowly. Traffic was still pretty bad from the rush hour, but I was contently listening to the Red Sox game. Iwas driving extra carefully because Michaele didn't know where I live. We got about three exits away from my apartment and all of a sudden I hear this horrible noise that sounds like a plane is landing on my car. I think the car in front of me has had a blow out. Then I realize it's my car making the noise. As I start to make my way through the six lanes of traffic between me and the side of the interstate, I do a double take to make sure my car hadn't slipped into neutral. It was a sound similar to the sound my car would make in college when Jonathan would throw it in neutral while I was driving just to freak me out. However, my car was perfectly in drive. Michaele kept setting up picks to let me over one lane at a time. I finally arrived on the side of the interstate. I got out of my car and went to look at my front tire. It looked like Freddy Crougar had attacked it from the inside out! There was a huge slash about every inch and a half! I was so happy that Michaele was with me; she knew exactly what to do. We walked down the road a bit because we saw a rescue truck ahead. But once we got about half way there, he drove off. We went back and called GDOT. They were trying to figure out where we were when the truck from before came around. They are called Hero trucks. The guy's name was Denny and he changed my tire and put air in my spare. I was fishing through my purse to put together a tip for him. He saw me and asked me what I was doing. I said, "Getting money out." He said, "For who?!" I said, "For YOU!" He said he couldn't take any money because he worked for the government. I asked if he couldn't take even a tip. He said no. Finally I asked if he could take hugs. He said those he could take. After he finished, I hugged him and then he stopped traffic to let us out. We made it home safely, and tomorrow I'll be buying a new tire and having the others checked.

Red Sox in Atlanta

Molly and I have made a habit of going to see the Red Sox once a year. The original plan was to rotate between Boston and Atlanta every other year. However, this year (because of my lack of funds) we did another year in Atlanta. Every year Molly and I wonder if the trip can be as good as the last. Over the past few years, every trip has been pepperred with these moments of pure euphoria. We keep thinking, at some point this good luck has got to run out. Luckily, it did not run out this year. We had tickets to all three of the games in Atlanta (of course). Here's a little bit about each game.

Game 1: We arrived late because traffic was horrendous...even by Atlanta's standards. We get there in the top of the second. Our seats were amazing! For the first game, Curt Schilling was pitching. We cheered our hearts out (even in the rain), but our boys apparently left the bats in Boston. We lost the game. From the get-go we had a bad feeling about the night, and as all Red Sox fans know...bad feelings can't be good. (we sox fans are a superstitious bunch).

Game 2: Pure Euphoria

We arrived very early for this game. Our seats were in the outfield right by the score board. They would be Atlanta's equivalent of the Green Monster. This time we carried signs. The front said: Souther Girls (heart) The Sox! The back said: Libby, Molly and Wally (heart) Don and Remy! Needless to say our sign was a huge hit. We were sitting right by the cameras. Because we had pro-Sox signs, they put us on NESN (New England Sports Network...for you non-sox fans. It was the Boston station). We won the game complete with an unbelievable jumping catch by Pedroia and a impossible diving catch by Coco! We were surrounded by a good mix of Sox and Brave fans. It kept the atmosphere entertaining and exciting. There was a downpour of rain which caused about an hour rain delay. We stuck it out, though. Pretty much our whole section stayed until the end of the game! It was great! We came home and immediately pulled up mlb.tv. However, they only had the Braves broadcast station. Luckily, a sweet Sox fan from New England recorded the replay of the game and sent it to me. Molly and I open and close the game dancing and cheering with our signs. They show both sides, and it was AWESOME!

Game 3: We had great seats for this game as well. We were about 20 rows up right between Home plate and the visitor dug out. My friend, Angela, also gave us tickets to the 755 club. It's Atlanta's posh club for VIPs. We went up there before the game and watched batting practice from there. We ate dinner up there with a group of men who had flown in from Boston for the game. It's always interesting to meet new people. I think they were floored by how much we knew about the Sox. They quickly learned we weren't any bandwagon fans. After batting practice we took Wally and headed down to our seats. We cheered, danced, sang, and laughed our way all the way to another victory! Oh, and there was a fight RIGHT in front of us. This drunk Braves fan had started it up with a Red Sox fan. I'm not for sure what lead up to the weak and embarrasing exchange of blows, but it was hilarious. Even better was the dude in front of us who turned around and said, "That's why they stop selling beer in the 7th." It was great!

We had a blast. Here are some pics from the weekend. I'll label some...some are self explanatory.

This is a purse I "made." By "made" I mean sewed the patch onto. Wally is getting ready for the game.

Here we are in the 755 club (which we kept saying like Chris Rock and cracking up!). The first pic is Molly and me; the second one is Wally!

Big Papi!

Molly's Tek!

Welty House

I first encountered her at a family gathering where I joined Mama, Papa Daddy, Stella Rondo, Uncle Rondo and Shirley T before Sister moved to the Post Office on Independence Day. It was in my first encounter that I began to feel a bond unlike any I had ever felt before. Over the years as my love for Eudora Welty and her literature grew that bond became stronger. I began to realize that bond came from seeing myself in her stories and seeing my life in her life outside of her stories. She was a woman who loved her home, and no matter where she traveled or how long away she stayed, home for her was always Mississippi. She wrote about both the ugly side and the beautiful side of Mississippi. She was a woman who surrounded herself with friends and family; she listened to the stories that life presented and told those stories with beauty and language that only she knew how to use. The more I meet of Welty the more I fall in love with her. In life there are always those few loves that define a person, and Eudora Welty and her work are two of mine.
Today I visited Miss Welty's house. I had driven by her house in nostalgia on my way to her lying in state after she died. There were flowers lying on the front steps where her many fans had come to pay their respects. Today was the first time I placed my feet on the worn path of her home. As I entered the house and the door closed behind me chills ran over me. I was overly pleased to see that the museum curators left books lying on the couch and various chairs. Every picture of Eudora Welty that I've seen showed in the background books covering any surface possible. I wanted to sit in the chair from which she gave many an interview, and I wanted to drink tea while looking out over her garden. As a tourist, the guides refused me both of those pleasures, but they provided many more. I stood and looked over at the desk where she wrote daily. I saw the cubby-holed dresser where Welty placed correspondences and that inspired Laurel to pull out her mother's old letters in the Optimist's Daughter. I heard the stories I've read or heard thousands of times about how witty and clever and charming Welty was. I imagined myself walking in as a friend of Welty's, sitting on the couch next to her favorite chair while she offered me a glass of Makers. I put myself in the shoes of women I inspire to be like --those who came before me in my field -- and had the chance to not only meet but get to know Miss Welty.
Today's journey to the intimate world of Welty only intensified my love for her. I am resigned to the fact that I'll never be able to write like her -- for few can. I'm content spending my life getting to know better the woman who so beautifully and truthfully portrayed this place that I too call home. Her writing never ceases to speak to me, motivate me, move me, or impress me, and her life never ceases to inspire me. There are several reasons why people study certain writers, and there are many reasons why I chose Welty. Yet for me, at the heart of every reason lies that bond that began upon first reading "Why I Live at the P. O." and continues to grow stronger with every encounter I have with Miss Welty.

That is what I wrote when I first went to tour Eudora Welty's house a year ago. This summer, I was able to volunteer at the house. I spent about six weeks helping out at the house. I gave tours to visitors, cataloged her family photos, learned about the garden, and spent hours walking through her home. It was beyond belief for me. Throught the time I was there, I never had a moment where I took for granted where I was. I still got chills or a surge of jittery excitement every time I walked into her house and then again when I walked into the bedroom. I only got scolded once for touching things. The house has been left so that you feel like you are in a friend's home. I went to grab a book off the shelf before realizing I wasn't supposed to touch things. I think the most amazing thing about my time at the Welty house was the people that I met. The house is run by Welty's neice, Mary Alice White (who is president of the Eudora Welty Foundation). The other workers at the house were some of the nicest people I've ever met.

I strongly encourage you to check out the house if you are in Jackson. Tours are given of the garden and the house on Wednesday through Friday. You can check out the website to make reservations or to take a virtual tour of the house.

Welcome

Hey everyone. I've got several blogs in the works that I'll be posting soon. Also, I'm going to bring some of my favorite blogs from myspace on over. That way it looks like I've been on blogspot much longer than 10 minutes.

Crewsism: It's a term I came up with while doing graduate work at Mississippi College. It basically describes a moment or experience that is typical of things that happen to me. They are often hilarious and/or bizarre. They are always things that would only happen to me. I decided to name the blog this because I found it fitting. I may be changing the name as we go, but we'll stick with this for now.

As the page says, this will be a place where I post funny stories that occur in the day to day activities of my fairly sedentary life. I'll include stories about teaching, writing, thinking. There will be times when I will post more philosophical pieces. As always, please feel free to share in the comments section. Other things to know about me are: I'm an avid Red Sox fan and hard core lover of all things Mississippi. My family and friends are the most amazing people in the world. I have an intense faith in God and a desire to grow closer to Him each day. He carries me more than I realize, and I love that. I hope you enjoy your time here. I'm sure I'll enjoy sharing my Crewsisms.