Cat Soup

All of you have had such good stories to tell. I will tell some from the early days. Back when you were younger. Okay - Memorable Driving Experience - When we were moving from Arizona to Tennessee we had all of our belongings in the big Penske truck which Pop was driving and I was driving the white Bonneville filled with 2 year old Blake and 2 month old Liberty. Then the fusible link in the electrical system fried and the alternator quit working on the car. We were dirt poor and could not afford to stop at a garage to get it fixed. This happened somewhere between Memphis and Jackson, TN. We ended up tying the car to the truck to tow it along, but it was not secure and it needed someone to ride in it and steer it and brake it. This was fine. Blake was riding in the car seat up in the truck with Benet and I was in the car with Baby Liberty. Until it started to rain. The electrical system was shot, remember, so the wipers were running off the battery and everything started to go downhill. We switched drivers. I was now driving the truck and Benet drove the car. I had never driven a big truck before. Then there was construction. All of the traffic was down to one skinny lane with a steep drop off cliff on one side and hardcore orange cones on the left, pouring down rain and I don't know what I am doing. I am overcorrecting all over the place, Benet is behind me being towed by a piece of rope with his head out the window because the wipers aren't working trying to see what he is doing so he doesn't smash into our truck, smash our car or go out into the oncoming traffic. Oh, and yeah, the children are awake, hungry and irritable at this point. I really felt like the pioneers going out west because we had truly put our trust in the Lord's hands at that point. We had NO CLUE what we were doing, only that we were supposed to do it. I had a severe case of white knuckles.

2) Most vivid memories of spending time together? Going to Florida for Gramma Vacations. The First Year we went to Gramma's was the year The Badgetts had kindly told me "Everything Wrong in Our Lives is All Your Fault and We Want Nothing To Do With You Ever Again." I was pregnant with Keaton (It was April of 1993 when they dropped that bomb on me) and the doctor said he was going to induce labor because of the stress. Keaton was born two weeks early and weighed 9 pounds at birth which is HUGE!!! (I get gestational diabetes and the stress really complicated it) So the first year was running away and finding my bearings. We did so much - being chased by seagulls, going to the ocean, learning about Gramma and being fussed at by her, quilting, going to the IMAX, going to the Mermaid place and going to Sea World that first year. It was awesome. We stayed two weeks that first time with Keaton as a newborn. Let me throw in a music thingy here - I listened to Guns N Roses continuously as it helped my soul that year. Following years were spent At Grammas - weeks during the summer or a week during Easter. Fun Times.

3) Favorite TV shows.... My favorite one that you don't know about is Match Game. it is hysterical. I would watch that with Esther, one of my gramma ladies I was a care-giver for. I watched it growing up too and thought it was awesome. I don't care for TV that much. It sucks my soul because I am attracted to moving pictures and will stare dazedly at it and realize I have watched a whole hour of So You Think You Can Dance or Hell's Kitchen or other such drivel when I could have read a book. I do like Hell's Kitchen though. Simpsons. yeah.

4) Movies with Family: Princess Bride, Disney Movies, Ferris Beuhler, Ten Commandments, HEATHERS, Shrek... I mean, c'mon... any of these movies we can just close our eyes and repeat the script word for word. But NOT Planet of the Apes. Liberty is right. The soundtrack is just plain horrid. Even John Cage would not take credit for it.