"Mary's Song (Oh My My My)"

She said, I was seven and you were nine
I looked at you like the stars that shined
In the sky, the pretty lights
And our daddies used to joke about the two of us
Growing up and falling in love and our mamas smiled
And rolled their eyes and said oh my my my

Take me back to the house in the backyard tree
Said you'd beat me up, you were bigger than me
You never did, you never did
Take me back when our world was one block wide
I dared you to kiss me and ran when you tried
Just two kids, you and I...
Oh my my my my

Well, I was sixteen when suddenly
I wasn't that little girl you used to see
But your eyes still shined like pretty lights
And our daddies used to joke about the two of us
They never believed we'd really fall in love
And our mamas smiled and rolled their eyes
And said oh my my my...

Take me back to the creek beds we turned up
Two A.M. riding in your truck and all I need is you next to me
Take me back to the time we had our very first fight
The slamming of doors instead of kissing goodnight
You stayed outside till the morning light
Oh my my my my

A few years had gone and come around
We were sitting at our favorite spot in town
And you looked at me, got down on one knee

Take me back to the time when we walked down the aisle
Our whole town came and our mamas cried
You said I do and I did too
Take me home where we met so many years before
We'll rock our babies on that very front porch
After all this time, you and I

I'll be eighty-seven; you'll be eighty-nine
I'll still look at you like the stars that shine
In the sky, oh my my my...

My Daughter the Poet

Who Knew!  I am a writer…..I always have been.  I have been journaling and blogging for so many years.  I don't let anyone read my journals, in fact, my family is under very STRICT rules that when I die, they are to burn ALL my journals.  It isn't for any eyes buy mine and Gods.  However, in them there are some decent writings, poems, etc which I am trying to gather up and put in one place so that they have a chance of surviving me.  I digress….

Rae is VERY private.  She writes ALL the time and has since she was little.  And she will never allow me to read any of it.  Nor will she sing for me (she has the voice of an angel).  I'm not sure why, I attribute it to keeping her distance at nearly 17 from "mom" and finding her own way.  However, the other night she asked me if I wanted to read her poems….there were maybe a dozen.  Um, HELL YEA I want to read them.  And I did.  I was FLOORED.  She truly is a talented poet and I do NOT say that because she is my daughter.  I say that because it is a gift the Lord has CLEARLY given her for expressing herself, which she does not do on a regular basis.  You rarely get loud laughter nor do you see many tears.  Rae rides down the middle of the street pretty much all of the time.  But I felt that AT LEAST two of them warranted posting.  Here is one.

HOPE, PEACE, STRENGTH

Hope.

That is what You give.

Hope of another day

Not a day to fail,

But to learn and  be forgiven.

Peace.

That is what You give.

Peace in all hardships,

Not for immediate end,

But to learn and lean on You.

Strength.

That is what You give.

Strength to move mountains,

Not alone;

But by Your Name.

Hope.  Peace.  Strength.

That is what You give.

Not so we can conquer all,

But so we can live for You.

That moved me so deeply inside.  She also was baptized in the Holy Spirit last weekend and has made a decision to NOT read a mandatory book in the public school system as it swears continually and uses the Lords name in vain.  Today she will explain herself and ask for a different book.  If the teacher refuses, I have given her permission to not read the book and fail the assignments.  Hard decisions for a 16 year old to make, but she has such a tender spirit for the Lord, how could I NOT back her with the book?  So that was one of two poems I asked permission to print.  The other will come later.  I am SO proud of the young lady she has become.  And oh how she loves Jesus!

Until next time…...

SPLAT!

why ANY hair product would be named "SPLAT"......wonder no more.  Raechyl had a blue section of hair underneath.  It was fading, as blue always does.  So she decided she wanted it pink for October, Breast Cancer Awareness Month.....very admirable.  So we went out and got "SPLAT".

And that is where the mess.....um....I mean story begins.  She HAD to have it done TODAY.....I wanted to wait a few days until she had more time and was less stressed out, but NO.....HAD to be today.  OK......I'm hair savvy.  I read the box, nixed the bleach as her hair had been bleached to put the blue in.  So I took out the pink (NEON pink) and put the gloves on and made sure NOT to get it on anything as it was very clear that it stains everything....especially the skin!

So I got my gloves on, sectioned the hair (like the "professional" I am) and away we went.  At first we were fine, then the more I put on, the messier it got...some dropping on the floor resulting in a panicked scream, "ADAM!  HELP!!!!!"  So as he was scrubbing the tiles, I was dropping more and more hot pink dye EVERYWHERE....including the poor kids neck, shoulder and arm.....but what's a girl to do but to go on.  Once the dye was on the hair (amongst other places) I bagged the hair in an attempt to minimize the damage.  Then I went to work scrubbing the skin....and I DO mean scrubbing.  Scrubbing to the point that it became difficult to determine which was the dye and what was skin discolored from the scrubbing.  And worst yet was that it wasn't coming off...so in my infinite wisdom I decided laundry bleach should do the trick.  So again, I scrubbed the already burned skin with laundry bleach to no avail.  Then as a last ditch effort I took the hair bleach that the package came with, mixed it up and layered it on the skin.  Now at this point, Raechyl was running around the kitchen in circles SCREAMING that it was burning and to get it off....so I did.  And I did so by, yes you guessed it, scrubbing it off.  All this was a useless effort as NONE of it worked.  It has been two weeks now.  The dye has faded to a barely visible shade of lavender, but that pink on her skin is going strong.  She is thankful it is cold here as she has worn long sleeves since and also has not worn her hair up.

As I see it, I was doing what mom's do.....help your kids.  However, this experience changed Raechyl, and perhaps forever.  She has made a definitive declaration that she will NEVER dye her hair again.  She is "DONE" with dying hair....black, blue, pink - she doesn't care if she turns grey at the age of 17.....she will NEVER do color on her hair again - poor thing.

 As I see it, I am simply keeping a future therapist employed.  By the time I get done with them, they will be good for AT LEAST a few years of therapy.

Look, my parents kept a therapist employed for nearly ten years, the least I could do is keep a future therapist employed, keeping the generational expectations fulfilled.

Until next time....