A Memory from this week in 1992 - "How I Learned that Hatred is Bad, m'kay..."

Well I sure blew that little three day run... I was prepared to write about two or three different things in the past several days and haven't been able to find the time to sit down and concentrate on writing.  


On Sunday afternoon I realized it was the 20 year anniversary of  the Rodney King Verdict and the Los Angeles Riots...

My Most Traumatizing Valentine's Day Evah ...

The year was 1990... I was a Sophomore at Massac High School and I was in a rather serious 2 month and 9 day relationship with a certain fabulous looking young man who was (and still is, haha) exactly 6 months to the day older than me.

During this two months we did what most kids in their middle teens did...  he taught me how to drive a stick shift.. or tried until I almost ran his Escort off into "that deep ditch in the Round Knob curve" and we parked and made out down by the train track because there was no Harrah's Casino here then and you could do that... we spoke of our undying love for one another and the possibility of marriage and children...

These plans were all short lived though when I didn't hear from him on the night before Valentine's Day... I had a terrible feeling in the pit of my stomach that I never wanted to feel again.  Little did I know I was to feel that same terrible feeling approximately 4,583 more times before my 35th birthday...

At school on Valentine's Day, this fellow ignored any opportunity for us to talk without people around to the best of his ability and told me he would stop by my house after school so we could talk... Little did I know that years later I would find a spouse with this same 'charming', evasive quality...

I rushed home from school to freshen up and prepare myself for our chat.  I didn't have a good feeling, but with all of my teenage "moon-pie-eyed-ness" I thought maybe this feeling was nothing, everything would be fine and I would go on to marry this boy and live happily ever after...

That was not to be...  In a bit this fellow arrived at my folks' house with a chocolate Valentine's bear in hand.  He stood in the middle of my parents' living room, pitched the chocolate bear on the coffee table and said, "My mom said I needed to bring you that...  let's go outside and talk...."

I was now officially feeling more gut-wrenched than I ever had.  I'd "went with" a few boys for a week or so here and there... but this relationship had gone on for over two months!!  I couldn't believe I was witnessing it's demise... the next 45 minutes to an hour and a half is a blur of crying and throwing up in my parents' yard...

That day remains one of my most memorable Valentine's Days...  and all of these years later, that fellow and I have continued our friendship.  I messaged him on Facebook this morning to tell him "Happy 21st Anniversary of breaking up with me in my folks' yard..." and he reminded me quickly that it happened in 1990 and it's actually been 22 years... isn't it something how time flies...

As I was writing and pondering this morning I began to wonder what I wrote on Valentine's day of last year... and then I recalled I had written in the Ocho-rific Song o' the Day that day.  In addition to bringing you the link to that blog below, I want to let you know that I'm very close to having some time to focus on bringing the Ocho-rific Song o' the Day back to daily, Monday thru Friday.

Until then, I hope you'll enjoy this little diddy from this day last year....
Have a Grand and Groovy Day!
If You Liked It ~ Share It!

Please and Thanks!

12/23/2010 - "the Vault" - A Memory from this week in 2004 -

Do y'all remember the overwhelming snow storm that went through our region at Christmastime of 2004?

Well - I did that.  I prayed for it, I mean.  ( I think "prayer" is becoming a highly overused word, by the way and I'm not long from putting it in the same category as the word "religion".  I won't bore you with that today though ... you're welcome ...) I had really forgotten all about that snowstorm until I was perusing videos a few mornings ago on my friend Beau's YouTube Channel -

I watched a short video of the snow storm of '79 pieced together with some family video shot on Beau's family farm.  I don't really remember that snow storm - I was four, I should; but I don't.  I've seen pics of my brothers and me in it - and it was quite a doozie!

Now, back to 2004.

September began to creep in and the Fall chill hit the air.  I like Fall, but the idea that Winter is right behind it is absolutely sickening to me.  I detest Winter with every fiber of my being.

Anywho, it would've been bad enough just due to the time of year; but as Fall approached I found myself at 30 - living alone for the first time in my life and waiting to hear if my husband of six years had decided if he wanted a divorce.  ((*that's how I did things "then"*))

I had lived in this apartment since February of that year and the soon-to-be-former and I had been separated since February of the previous year.  We had a business together, so we had kept things on amiable terms.  In fact, when he would deliver the check covering my portion of the 'gigs'; we would occasionally sit and have a cup of java.  It was bizarre but comfy.

I see people do that now with their soon-to-be-exes and I can see my spell of it in a different perspective.

In retrospecta-vision I think it's like a baby-step in letting go of one another.

Anywho, on October 4th - my father-in-law passed away unexpectedly.  I was crushed.  We had just visited at a family get-together at the soon-to-be ex's on Saturday ... and now, on Monday ... he was gone. We'd had the best chat behind the house when I'd snuck away from public view to have a couple of ciggies.

At that point, the divorce was a pretty certain thing - just sort of looming on the horizon - so we talked very openly about things.  I learned more about men in that 30 minute conversation with that sweetheart of a man than I'd learned in my entire life.

I was absolutely beyond stunned at his passing and it admittedly put me into a bit of a tail spin.

During the week of the funeral, the potentially-soon-to-be-ex informed me that he did - in fact - want a divorce.  It was a very long night of standing in the funeral home, wanting to say - "Oh, by the way - I won't be seeing you at Thanksgiving and Christmas ... We're getting a divorce. It's been wonderful knowing you though .... buh-bye...."  Not to mention the overall trauma of the sudden passing of the father-in-law.  It was a terrible time.

We were cordial though ... we were cordial until the very end ... and that didn't happen until years later ...

As Thanksgiving came, I was beyond depressed and increasingly exhausted; yet "insomniatic".  I was working for a local radio station and my numbers were sinking like the Titanic and so was I.  The sales manager was calling me in for counsel on a weekly basis, as was the GM, G.

I'll skip Thanksgiving night altogether - because that nearly did me in - as we skipped ahead to Christmas, every day becoming more and more of a blur.  I realized I couldn't "do Christmas".  I told my mom I couldn't "do Christmas".  That idea didn't seem to jive with her.  I told her that I really wouldn't be attending "the family Christmas" that year and my suggestion was that she start praying for a blizzard - because that's what I was going to do.

Here and there - throughout December, I would occasionally think about Christmas.  Under my breath, I would mutter; "Please God, for the sake of my mother let us have a blizzard...".

A few days before Christmas Eve ... as I passed through the living room - the weather forecaster mentioned a very strong chance for nearly debilitating wintry precipitation.  Normally when that happens I go into a little grumpy fit ... (as aforementioned, I detest Winter) ... but this time I stopped dead in my tracks.  As I turned around and walked back into the living room.  My mouth dropped open as I listened to the forecast advise that it's very possible this snow storm could "postpone" Christmas for our area.

Christmas was delayed that year - and I hadn't thought of that era (now called "the Black Christmas of '04" by myself and the friends who helped me live through it) until I saw the slide show on Beau's YouTube Channel.

Thank you, Beau - for having that on your YouTube Channel and starting the unlocking of my vault. :)

August 16th, 1977 - A memory from the nucleus of my noggin...

As I read my mom's blog this morning, she recalled her memories of this day in 1977.  As I read her words, they tickled something in the back of my brain and I realized that I too had a memory of this day in 1977; though I was only three.



Picture it ... Massac County ... 1977 ... Fidget Comer was grilling on the patio, no doubt in her apron and I was close at hand; as I usually was ... assisting :)   Just inside the screen door, the phone jingled.  ((By the way, do y'all remember what a jingling phone sounds like?  Such a pleasant sound in comparison to the beepers, buzzers and songs that we have on our phones now...anywho, I digress...)) Mom sent me in to answer the phone and on the other end was my aunt insisting that I get Mom immediately and tell her Elvis was dead.  I started for the screen door as Mom finished flipping whatever was on the grill and came inside. I handed her the phone and told her Elvis had died. 


The only thing I remember after that is the ensuing confusion when my Auntie directed Mom to find the station currently playing Mr. Bojangles, as that's the one she'd heard the shocking news on.  Mom's never been up to speed on current music ... and I guess this must have also been true in 1977.  ((Bob Dylan, my apologies....:) ))



As a kid... I was a pretty huge Elvis fan for a phase. I was from the "camp" ((...although I never went to camp :) )) in the late 80's who believed Elvis faked his death in 1977 and was still alive.  I never really bought into Kalamazoo, but I felt then and still do that enough intriguing points have been raised over the years to suggest that it was a very strong possibility.



As a side note, it was on this date in 1962 that Ringo Starr took over for Pete Best as drummer of the Beatles ... which brings me to this; it must be quite a statement of this "neck of the woods" that I can remember the death of Elvis Presley in 1977; but can't remember the death of John Lennon in 1980.



Ahhh .... Life in the Heartland ....

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-A Snack for your Noggin-
-Other things that have happened on August 16th-

2005 –
West Caribbean Airways Flight 708 crashes near Machiques, Venezuela, killing the 160 aboard.

1987 –
A McDonnell Douglas MD-82 carrying Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes on take-off from Detroit Metropolitan Airport in Romulus, Michigan (Detroit), killing 155 passengers and crew. The sole survivor is four-year-old Cecelia Cichan.


1960 –
Joseph Kittinger parachutes from a balloon over New Mexico at 102,800 feet (31,300 m), setting three records that still stand today: High-altitude jump, free-fall, and highest speed by a human without an aircraft.

1954 –
The first edition of Sports Illustrated is published.


1930 –
The first color sound cartoon, called Fiddlesticks, is made by Ub Iwerks.


1920 –
Ray Chapman of the Cleveland Indians is hit on the head by a fastball thrown by Carl Mays of the New York Yankees, and dies early the next day. To date, Chapman is the second player to die from injuries sustained in a Major League Baseball game, the first being Doc Powers in 1909.


1868 –
Arica, Peru (now Chile) is devastated by a tsunami that follows a magnitude 8.5 earthquake in the Peru-Chile Trench off the coast. The earthquake and tsunami kill an estimated 25,000 people in Arica and perhaps 70,000 people in all.