THE MOST IMPORTANT THING I CAN TELL YOU ABOUT AGING IS THIS: IF YOU REALLY FEEL THAT YOU WANT AN OFF-THE-SHOULDER BLOUSE AND SOME BIG BEADS AND THONG SANDALS AND A DIRNDL SKIRT AND A MAGNOLIA IN YOUR HAIR, DO IT. EVEN IF YOU'RE WRINKLED
Maya Angelou
I am sneezing this morning, but I feel fine. Sure hope it isn't a cold coming on, because that might complicate things Monday morning with chemo. I imagine that they would still give me the treatment unless I was feverish or something more serious like that.
First off, I got to see my Abby girl yesterday. I picked her up from school, and her first response to me was "Grandma, you still have hair! My, you're holding up extremely well!" Coming from a ten-year old, I couldn't have asked for a nicer complement from anybody.
Abby and I stopped at Wal-Mart on the way home, to get some leg cramp pills. Hazel had given me some of hers to try and they really work! When I asked her what the label was marked, she said, "Leg Cramp Pills!" And yup, that's what they are labeled - LEG CRAMP PILLS- so if you are having a problem with that, that's what you look for.
When we were leaving Wal-Mart, I ran into a long-time friend, Verna. As we talked, I found out that she is raising her three little grandchildren because her beloved daughter, Angie, was killed in an accident about two years ago. Now, here is another "Steel Magnolia" woman. I'm not kidding, she is a strong and brave lady and is doing something absolutely incredible by starting over, raising young children, and is not even hesitating to do the very best job she can because she loves them and wants to honor her daughter's memory.
Talked to Nina yesterday, before she dashed off to Chicago. She is always traveling, but I'm still going to try to talk her into flying west for a long week-end one of these days. You know, I think it's sunny and warm in Vegas.
Traveling with Nina has one slight draw-back. She has really long legs, and I . . . don't. Therefore, I am always running two steps behind her on my stubby stumps, while she power strides along. Once, when we were in New York, Nina had said that she sure would like to go up in the Empire State Building. One evening, when we weren't really ready to go to bed, we went out walking - in New York City - at 10:00 at night! Actually the streets were all lit up, lots of decent looking people out and about. We walked down around the corner from our hotel, and as I was trotting behind Nina, I came across a huge stone block with carving on it, in the middle of the sidewalk. I called ahead to "The Strider" and asked if she still wanted to see the ESB. Yup, she did. I just pointed in the sky and said, "this big block says that it's right here!" Well, we did go up and see the beautiful city all lit up and what a memory that view made.
We also took a late night-time walk when we were at Niagra Falls (Canadian side). Some of our fellow travels from our tour group were going to check out a night spot, and Nina and I decided to follow them. We stayed for a little while, but then left to go back to the hotel - around 11:00 at night - in a strange city - in a different country. But with her striding along confidently, no one dared to approach us. She is definitely the adventurous one and I am her lucky side-kick.
There is one time that she had to keep up with ME. In Philadelphia, we went to a historic production in some big old neat hall. I had forgotten to turn off my cellphone, so I sat on it in case it rang during the show. When we left, I forgot to grab it. When everyone on our tour was safely on the tour bus, I suddenly remembered that I had left it behind and stood up in shock, shouting, "Oh crap, I left my phone!" The guide told me to run back and get it, but the bus was leaving in five minutes. When I dashed for the door, Nina leaped up and came with me. As we ran back to the hall (wearing thong sandals or flip-flops, if you will), I matched her step for step. I'll bet a lot of people got a chuckle out of two middle-aged women raced down the street, with shoes that were snap-snap-snapping. We got to the hall, Nina whipped out her phone, dialed my number, we followed the ringing, found my phone, snap-snap-snapped our way back to the bus and collapsed. We get caught up in some crazy things, but we sure have fun!
Hey, maybe I'll run into town today and do a little shopping. I really do need an off-the-shoulder blouse, and yeah, some big beads would be nice. I'll have to figure out where the heck you buy a dirndl skirt, but we all know I have the thong sandals. As for the magnolia. . . I already have that in my friend, Verna.
GOD BLESS YOU ALL