About two months ago, I thought about writing a blog about the warning I got while driving on the interstate. I was driving a lonely stretch of nothing between the desert of west Texas and the Piney Woods of east Texas, and I was pulled over for doing 73.4 miles per hour in a 70 zone. I wasn't even sure he was pulling me over because my speedometer said 71mph. (I have since discovered that my speedometer is off by 2mph - checked it with my Garmin.) Anyway, he was totally nice, and I was totally nervous, as always. He asked where I was going, asked if there was an emergency and then reminded me that the speed limit was 70. I saw 7 cop cars within 30 minutes of that incident, and I saw 2 other people being pulled over. Evidently they were making a concerted effort to crack down on all those speeders in the desert! Personally, I was glad he had pulled me over. And I hope I still would have been glad had I gotten a ticket. It is reassuring to know that laws mean something. Don't you ever feel like so many of our laws are pointless because they are never enforced?? I am happy to report that I have been driving the speed limit (two under, according to my speedometer) ever since then. This may not be a big deal for you, but it is a total mindset shift for me.
About a month ago, I thought about blogging about my visit to my great-grandmother's grave on her 109th birthday. I know that she is not there and that she is in heaven and not some spirit inhabiting the cemetery in which her body is buried, but I still think there is something very special about visiting the graves of people you love. And not only special, but important. It's important to recognize the people who have had an impact on your life and to take time to honor them. Grandmommy was a godly, loving, determined woman. She raised my grandmother to love Jesus, who raised my mother to love Jesus who helped raise me to love Jesus - what a heritage! So Grandmother and I took advantage of the free day we had to drive over to her grave and put some flowers there. And I took supplies to clean hers and Granddaddy's headstones while we were there. It was lovely. And I love that I got to do it with Grandmother.
About two weeks ago I thought about blogging about my trip to Austin (are we sensing a trend here?). Went there to meet up with some friends who were visiting from New York. Love, love, love the Texas Capitol Building! Love the star in the middle of the dome, love the crazy echo you can hear when you stand in the middle of the rotunda, love the State Troopers wearing their cowboy hats while doing security checks. (Speaking of security checks, I also love that you can still take your concealed gun into the building if you have a license for it. Thank you for treating us like sane, responsible adults, State of Texas.)
Not sure if anything blog-book worthy has happened since then. Oh, my great-aunt, Grandmother's sister, came to visit for a few days. It was wonderful to hear them talking together. And while she was here, we went to a fundraiser dinner for David Simpson, the guy running for representation of our district on the state level. I like him so much! He is a family man and business guy who felt God calling him to go into politics to make a difference. Check out his website so you can fall in love with him, too! :)
Oh, one more thing! I watched the movies "Babies" a couple of days ago.
Delightfully wonderful! It's a documentary about four babies from four different countries, and it follows them from birth to when they take their first steps. Ahhhh! I loved it! Watching babies learn is so interesting! And seeing the different parenting styles was also really interesting. I think they must have asked the parents to let them film the babies for 30-minute uninterrupted spans of time or something because there is a whole lot of baby and not a lot of parents (not any narration or commentary, either). But that makes it really neat because you get to know the personalities of these babies. It is really well done - you will come out of it with a favorite of the four, I promise! :) (I don't mean there's one that will be everyone's favorite; I'm just saying, the babies are so different, and characterized so well, that you will just naturally identify with one of them.)Okay, that is all for now. If you stuck through to the end, well done! I will try not to write a book next time.
JJ - Thank you for your recent post! I loved it. You love Texas a little too much for my comfort sometimes... :) But, I wanted to ask you where you got the movie for Babies. I wanted to see it, but of course, it was not at the red box last time, I checked, but I looked online and saw that they do carry it. Thanks for the reminder! I loved seeing you this weekend. I love getting to see you every few months or so!
ReplyDeleteDid I tell you I finally watched it? It was so cute! Unfortunately, I think the most memorable moment of the film (the moment that has stuck with me the most) was when the African momma wiped her baby's bottom on her leg and then scraped the excrement off with a dried corn cob. That really summed it all up - the lack of development and progress there, but also the lack of irrational worry about germs and cleanliness that Western mothers often suffer from. It was interesting to think that those cultures are continuing, despite practices like that. Maybe not flourishing, but not dying from lack of hand sanitizer. :)
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