Turkey Lurkey

How do you get all the kids together for a photo?

You turn o

n the four wheeler and rev the engine. They'll come running.

I LOVE Thanksgiving. And this

Thanksgiving was just fantastic!!

Most of my aunts and uncles live on the same 20 acre plot of land (with cousins filling in some of the empty spots) and between these homes is a pavilion in which everyone far and wide may gather. I love family!! I love the food!! I love the little kids playing all over the place!! Of course Pappy Jack brought some Turkey and ham from the restaurant.

Nana has fired herself from making rolls but found some rolls at the store easy enough to just heat up. Though not authentic Nana rolls, these

were fantastic!

I love my life.

This is certainly how Thanksgiving should be. I was so surrounded by love I thought I might burst. Love. Thats what I'm thankful for. Love motivates me to get out of bed in the morning. I love the world. I love my family. I love my life. Love changes everything. It makes even the hardest times more bearable. Love whoever and whatever you possibly can and life becomes more meaningful and whole.

I would spend more time writing, but I'd rather be chilling in the living room with

my cousins and aunts. But I really enjoyed my thanksgiving so I'll leave you with a few photos of my day.

To late

You missed it. The turkey rush is over and now Wright's is closed for Thanksgiving. My uncle made over 200 turkeys last week and yesterday we unloaded those suckers. There was only one person who ordered a turkey and didn't pick it up. Everyone has been warning me about the stresses of this day but honestly, I loved it. Maybe it would have been worse if they didn't have everything so well organized.There were so many people there, in front of the counter AND behind it. Boredom got pushed, kicked and shoved to the back of the line and by the time the line died down, we had locked the doors. Such a good day! It was maybe less wonderful for one poor soul who had gone through the drive thru and had driven his car over this really steep curb next to the drive thru. Apparently some people think it is a lot shallower than it really is. Well, eventually a tow truck came. And someone had to pay for it. I come from a very generous family; and even when they don't have much to give, they always give as much as they can (sometimes entirely too much to people who really don't deserve it). But my uncle decided to pay for this mans service... in Jambalaya. That's right. Instead of a tow truck fee, that man's car was towed out of that spot by the power of a greasy gallon of Dirty Rice. Only in Vidor...
Only in Vidor....
1. can a man drive through the Tobacco store drive thru on his lawn mower.
2. can someone go through a drive thru on their electric wheelchair (which they have been driving all over the street) with a child on their lap to boot.
3. can a guy feel even somewhat comfortable wearing a pro KKK t-shirt in public. (That guy should have had that shirt ripped from his back. Idiot. He wouldn't have felt comfortable if he had known what I was thinking)
4. would someone have to look at their genealogy records before going on a date because chances are good that they are about to date their cousin.

Welcome to Vidor.

One of those days

I enjoy experiences that could make for an interesting story. Today was just "one of those days" that wasn't terribly bad or anything, but most of my little stories from today make it sound bad. It wasn't. It was just one of those days.
1. This morning I locked myself out of my Nana's house and had to play hide and go seek with the spare key. She moves its hiding spot regularly, so this was quite the chore. Long story short, I had to fight through a thorn bush, an army of fire ants and a lizard (which left its wriggling tail behind)
2. A woman called me at the pharmacy asking if he had any Phenergan with Codine. You can buy Phenergan without the Codine, but druggies have somehow found a way to make the codine into some kind of recreational drug. We hadn't been able to supply it for a few months so I was shocked to find that we did in fact have it. But then we couldn't fill it because of who her Dr. is. It's not that her doctor isn't legit, but he specializes in control meds and the DEA just wont let us fill for his practice. Well I informed her of this only to be met with the words "You. Are. Lying." She basically went off on me telling me how legit her doctor is. All I could say was that "No I'm not. I'm sure your doctor is great, but we just can't fill his prescriptions." "If you don't want to fill for me, just say it. Don't lie to me." Click. Really? Are you really going to just call me a liar? Are you five? It was just comical because I was the kind of kid who, when asked if I had brushed my teeth, I lied and said yes, but couldn't fall asleep before confessing the whole thing to my mom and finally brushing my teeth. I seriously can't lie. So her blunt accusation was... ridiculous.
3. At the restaurant I was working the drive through window and this woman ordered a plate lunch and then one little 99cent cup of green beans and the same size cup (free) of BBQ sauce. Well I got distracted and forgot all about the green beans and the BBQ sauce and when I handed it to the lady she basically freaked out so I apologized and went to get the rest of the stuff but then I realized I didn't ring out the beans with the order so I apologized again and told her what had happened. I haven't really been in a situation like this so I just went with the side of me that asked her to pay the 1.07 that I initially forgot to charge her. She went on and on about how it was all my fault and how I shouldn't charge her. Of course once she said it out loud I realized she was right, but it didn't make her tone or her words any less hurtful. And I think that perhaps when I realize how wrong I am, that is maybe when I am the loneliest. Because at that point its like I don't even have an advocate in myself. So that part really sucked but at the same time it was way good.
There is something exhilarating about rising above the initial instinct to let anger or sadness dominate my actions. That lady was ticked at me and I used my agency to enjoy the moment and wish her a good evening. By "enjoy" the moment, I mean I was way excited to have something relatively interesting to blog about later. See, there is something positive in just about every moment ;-) I could have let those crappy moments ruin my day... but they didn't. My day was pretty darn good. But the good parts aren't really interesting enough to highlight. Best part of my day: going to institute and playing tennis after. Woot woot.

Are you ready to lose control?

Our goal was to climb. Just hike up the mountain and bask in the glow of a beautiful day. Katrina and I had some of our best talks climbing up that mountain. I was having a ball just running down some of the steeper slopes but I always had to wait for her at the bottom because her motto was "Don't run. You WILL fall." I really didn't mind the wait though. And when she told me how she really admired my ability to just lose control and run down the slopes, well I wanted to show her just how fast I really could go. So I turned to her and said, with more fate involved than I knew at that moment, "ARE YOU READY TO LOSE CONTROL!!" (Seriously, who says that?) And proceeded to sprint down the steepest, longest slope yet. I was going SO FAST. And it was about halfway through this slope that I realized that gravity wanted to go faster than my feet did. I knew it was coming, but once I hit that little dip... BIFF!! I slid maybe 5 feet on my thigh. Dust went EVERYWHERE. Easily the funnest moment of that week. Katrina found me laughing uncontrollably and so together we contemplated the meaning of my words "lose control." All of my life I have been a generally cautious person, unwilling to take risks or disturb the peace. Well, to make a long story short (don't worry I'll fill you in on the long boring details little bits at a time) my life isn't really like that anymore.