Come Oil or High Water

Jody and I are on our family vacation on the same weekend in June, in the same Condo unit, with the same view of the beach in Perdido, Florida as we have had for over 10 years. But this year it is apparent that something is different, there are not half of the people here and there are men in little green vest with orange helmets and yellow rubber shoes running up and down the beach in dune buggies, carrying bags that are empty.
The oil is out there it is approximately 5 miles out in the Gulf, surrounding us, but
we don't see it, not yet anyway. Down the beach from us it is reported that there is
oil on the beaches, I am curious enough to drive down sometime soon to see it, as I have promised myself to bring some home.

But for now, Jody and I are cooking a big pot of Seafood Gumbo and I have plans to get
all the makings together for a huge sandcastle building tomorrow. I was worried that the little babies would destroy it like they have a tendency to do, but not one of the little ones will put their toes in the sand, so I think we are safe.

Off on vacation

Yes, the ole family is heading to Gulf Shores - to a location in Perdido Key, Florida with as good aview of the Gulf of Mexico as any. True, the sand is not as white and the ocean is not as blue as Destin, but a good family spot for 70 family members to congregate and visit.

This year we have a slight complication...the oil. I am convinced that the oil is really not a problem, not for this family who have gathered before hurricanes and seaweed that could strangle you, or jellyfish, the worst of the group.

I am determined to turn this disaster into something good. Here we have all this motor oil swimming around in the ocean - its too bad we can't scoop it up and sell it. Its got to be good for something! I worked at Motor Parts Company on Washington Street in small town Yazoo City, MS. too long and I know there is always a use for greasy stuff.
I'm taking my dawn dishwashing detergent too, just in case of an unfortunate occurrence like getting that black stuff on my pretty red toenails - now that would be a disaster.

not now

Every time I turn on the computer it reminds me of updates that need installing. There are only two answers," o.k." and "not now". I wish everything in life had those two answers. The computer on occasions will offer as an answer, "never ask this again".


I love to select "not now", I think that maybe that could be the best answer of all times. I know it is usually a perfect answer for me, because I am never really ready to select "o.k." or "never ask this again". Not now. It is so easy, and quick. If only I could say that as often as I select it on the computer screen. But in real life, not now, is usually not a good answer, it is not what others want to hear and so I say O.K
when sometimes what I really want to say is "never ask this again."

Things that no one can "make better"

Ellen's Mammaw is dying. She is in Hospice and got the call that her grandmother would probably die on the weekend. Ellen is her Grandmother's little girl and always will be.
And there is nothing she can do. This is the part of life that really stinks. I'm sorry but it does, it stinks. There is nothing about it that is easy for anyone, except for maybe Mammaw. She is old and She is ready to leave this world and be where she has always planned on being - heaven.

We will know and we will welcome it one day, at least that is my hope. I will never forget a passage by Willa Cather in her book "My Antonia" that I embrace as a wonderful description of dying. This is what it says:

"I sat down in the middle of the garden, where snakes could scarcely approach unseen, and leaned my back against a warm yellow pumpkin...I kept as still as I could. Nothing happened. I did not expect anything to happen. I was something that lay under the sun and felt it, like the pumpkins, and I did not want to be anything more. I was entirely happy. Perhaps we feel like that when we die and become a part of something entire, whether it is sun and air, or goodness and knowledge. At any rate, that is happiness: to be dissolved into something complete and great. When it comes to one, it comes as naturally as sleep."

And with that vision in my mind, I will go to bed with prayers that Ellen's Mammaw will
feel happy and complete and warm like a little boy laying under the sun with his back against a big pumpkin in a field, or a little girl in a field of daisies, or friends laying in the grass watching two kites playing in the sky.