and we're back...

ok, after a two week break for r&r, i'm back on the blog-wagon. i know, i know, i promise to try and not leave you for this long with out an update ever again. think about how sad my real journal at home feels when it gets picked up after 3 months of silence on my part...

ok, ok, so the wedding was fabulous. it was a fam-fest, which was a good thing. highly entertaining is the correct wording. i also discovered the middle of nowhere. it's right on the border between mississippi and alabama, is about 250 miles long, has no cell phone service, or gas stations.

mia and archie's wedding was very nice, except for the giant woman in the little tiny bathing suit who walked by, not once but twice. seriously, why do people insist on squeezing size 24 asses into size 12 bathing suits? my uncle ed and i were talking about it, and he says "did you see that ole gal walking by? hell, it got dark for a minute, didn't it?" she was huge. and quite proud. geeze oh man. so the kids got married in the shadow of one of the largest asses i have ever personally seen. even bigger than mine. way bigger. and then we went to the party. it was very nice, as well.

along the way, i had a lot of time by myself in the car to think and listen to music. i'd like to tell you that i got a lot of things sorted out, but why would i lie? i'd like to tell you that i spent time thinking about world peace, how to eliminate world debt, and whether or not i really can spare 72 cents a day to sponsor a sally struthers kid, but why would i lie? no, i mostly thought about what good cd mixes i make, whether or not i should have packed one more pair of flip flops, if i needed a new shade of powder and concealer for the summer months, and whether or not i could rationalize getting a romance novel on tape at the next cracker barrel i passed, whether or not i will get married, which is totally relevant since i'm the last unmarried cousin of marriageable age on that side of the family, and two of the cousins on that side are already having babies with wild abandon, what names i think my soon-to-arrive niece or nephew should be called (i also called niece/nephew's parents several times to relay new and fun ideas). i also thought about why i like the beach so much, why i have trouble dealing with confrontation, and why i am feeling like poop about leaving a job i really don't like anymore.

here are some answers i came up with: 1) i do make very good cd mixes. i need to make more of them. i should do soundtracks for movies. 2) i packed the exact right amount of flip flops. i just wish i had remembered to pick up my black bamboo pair from the wedding house. goodbye cute black flip-flops. we had some good times. 3) i probably do need a new powder and concealer for the summer months, but only if i intend on maintaining a tan all summer long. 4) in order to take myself remotely seriously, i decided not to check out the romance novel on tape at cracker barrell. instead, i made myself listen to rush limbaugh and sean hannity and not swear out loud. additionally, see answer #1. 5) skip it, it's totally irrelevant. i'm fabulous regardless. 6) i am voting for stella for a girl and will for a boy. 7) i like the beach because i remember what a nice time we had as a family when i was little. 8) i have trouble dealing with confrontation because i have a horrible fear of being wrong and not being able to fix a situation. confrontation shuts me right down, so that instead of being able to effect change in a postive way, i just lay down and quit. not good, not good at all. there is much to do on that avenue of my life. i'll keep you posted. just don't pick a fight with me, ok? 9) i feel like poop about leaving because endings suck, because i know some people will be mad at me for leaving too soon, for leaving too late, or for leaving at all. i still have no idea what i'm going to be doing after july 31st, and that scares me to death and back again. i feel like poop about leaving because i know that where i work is about to go through a major transition, and i just can't be there any longer to help out. i'm just done. i can make it til july because i want to do that. because i want to finish what i started and do what i said i would do. i want to go on mission trips, because they are my favorite things in the whole wide world, and i don't want that taken away from me, or from the kids. blah.

i also had two fabulous ideas that i think will merit a marketing campaign. these are even better than give-a-shit, the vitamin supplement for people who could just care less.

1) jiffy lube should start offering a foley service for people who are going on long car trips. i could have made that trip in about 8 hours without bathroom stops.

2) i want to do a photo book (like a coffee table book) of bathroom graffiti from all over the country. it would be amazing. to whom would i pitch this idea? any takers?

that's about it. gigantic congrats to archie and mia. thanks for having me along. and gigantic thanks to pedro and inez, the official corporate sponsors of rachel's alabama adventure.

mil besos--r