Hodgepodge

Wow, that was a busy weekend! Besides having to work all day Saturday, I went to the homeplace and spent some time with my family. Here are some random highlights from the last few days:

• I saw my very first lightning bug (or firefly if you prefer) of the season on Friday night. Not only did I see him, but I also caught him and cupped him in my hand for a moment. I love it when they light up! I love lightning bugs because they remind me of my childhood. Back in the day my parents always took me to the same place in the mountains and every night we would go out to this big hill and catch lightning bugs. We’d put them in a jar (punching holes in the top, of course) and then we’d let them go the next morning. Ah, the memories.

• On Saturday, someone remarked to me that I was dressed like Ellen Degeneres. I have not yet figured out if this was meant to be a compliment or not. I guess it depends on the person making the comment. I like her style of dress, but I’ve never exactly considered it my style of dress. Of course, my style mostly depends on whatever’s on the clearance rack at the store. Fashion is not my passion.

• I had to take photographs of graduation for the school I work at, and I got to hear Pomp and Circumstance while they were all marching in. It took me back to the three times I myself have marched in to that prestigious music. It was nice to be able to hear the music without having to go back for yet another degree myself.

• I visited my grandmother yesterday and she showed me the autograph book she had when she graduated from high school. I guess it’s sort of the equivalent of the signatures people get in their yearbooks now, but they didn’t have yearbooks back then. The book was from 1936, and it was in pretty good condition to be so old. It was really neat to read all the comments her friends wrote to her. A lot used poetry (they seem much more culturally aware than people are these days) and others just wrote funny things. One of her friends mentioned some sort of incident revolving around the statement, “Ruth, I want a tater,” and it piqued my curiosity. I tried to get the story out of my grandmother but she wouldn’t divulge all the details. Others wrote about her winning smile and quiet demeanor—it was kind of cool to get a glimpse of what she was like 70 years ago.

• Finally, it’s deadline week for me. That either means you won’t hear much more out of me this week or you’ll hear a lot from me (it might be my preferred method of procrastination- who knows?). I guess we’ll see.