April 24, 2005. Snow showers currently in Charleston, West Virginia. Two days ago it was 85. What the hell? I was glad for the rain because it washed away a lot of the tree and grass pollen, but snow? The last time I remember any snow this late in April we ended up with 2 ft-however most was melted away the next day. Ick. I was getting used to wearing sandals again. Hell I might wear them today just for kicks. The rebel that I am.

My mom’s birthday was yesterday. The big 6 0. She does NOT look 60 at all. Barely any gray hair. Beautiful skin. Yeah she has some wrinkles but I’ve seen 40 year olds with more. We had a cookout for her by the lake-chilly and rainy but fun. Her boyfriend bought a cast-iron stove and we all stood/sat in the shelter at the picinic tables. It was fun actually. Had it not been raining I would have fished, but I didn’t feel like getting the sniffles because I was out fishing with a Tazmanian Devil kid’s fishing pole in the rain. Yes, that is my fishing pole. I need to go back to my old house and get my dad’s poles. Have someone oil them up and put the line in. Out of any country bumpkin’ kind of sports-fishing is the one I enjoy. I suppose because my dad taught me early. I was about 3-was attempting to cast and just threw the entire rod into the lake. He had to wade in after it. Now that’s a good dad. I miss him. Sometimes I lay in bed at night and wonder how things would have turned out had that fateful night, October 12, 1988 had never happened. Definitely different, but would I have gone through the same struggles and trials I have since? Those events were all part of God’s plan. This is one reason why I read the book “The Five People You Meet in Heaven”-although fiction, the premise of the book gives you a sense of peace, perhaps possibly I will learn one day why things have happened in my life. I know I am a stronger person-I learned responsibility at a very young age-yes, sometimes I fade a little on being a responsible adult, but I believe most of us do throughout our years. I know when to have fun and not take things so seriously-yet I also know when to do my work as an adult and take action. No, it isn’t easy. Sometimes I wish I was still that kid who loved to play with her dolls and Barbies, the girly girl tomboy. I could go from playing house to playing with matchbox cars in the mud in a matter of minutes. It’s silly, but since I live in the “city” now, one night late I drove out to my old house just so I could hear the frogs and the crickets and smell the clean air. That is home. You may be a thousand miles away from where you grew up, but one smell, one sound, can bring you back. Home is always in your mind, in your heart, no matter where you are in the world.

Ok, enough rambling.