The Gift

. . . or the shining, or whatever you want to call it, can come in different forms but the presentiment isn't always clear until after the fact, sometimes not even then. The messages can come in the form of a dream. Other times they can be nagging little voices in your head. They can come in broad daylight or the dead of night. I don't know how we get premonitions or cryptic messages but I do know they are real.

My grandmother and aunt had dreams that were eerily prophetic. My grandmother tried to warn my uncle about having a wreck. He was a truck driver. She told him about her dream. She said her mother came for him in her dream. Then she proceeded to describe the scene of the wreck. My uncle wouldn't listen. My aunt had a dream about her grandmother, my grandmother's mother,  coming for her husband, too. My grandmother had cautioned Jimmy the day before he died but he still died.

I dreamed about my cousin dying and the date of her death was emblazoned in my mind until right before the date and suddenly I forgot all about it. When she died I realized the significance of the date. I've had a few ominous dreams before, but never a live encounter until a friend died and I had an eerie encounter with him that I will never forget.

My husband, Gary, and I went on vacation at Daytona Beach. We were walking on the boardwalk when I saw a tall guy leaning up against the rail talking to a bunch of girls and guys standing around him. I told Gary that it looked like Joel Driggers, and I was dragging him over there to talk to him. Gary knew Joel from Dalton High School and he kept saying 'that's not Joel' but I wouldn't listen and kept getting closer and closer. I got within a few feet of the guy before I realized that Gary was right and it wasn't really Joel. It certainly did look like him until I got upon him! That was long before cell phones so I didn't talk to anyone until I got home. The minute we got home from vacation my mother came to meet us and told me that Joel had killed himself. I will always believe that Joel wanted to say goodbye and that is how he did it. I saw him about the same time he died. So, that is my ghost story.

I've never had a good premonition like winning the lottery on anything cool like that. My dreams are usually vague and mysterious, full of symbolism. The encounter on the boardwalk was truly strange and a once in a lifetime experience. It was even better than a dream. It was real and I was awake

As Always

PIO 

Party Down Yall

I must have been a socially awkward teenager because my mother got it into her head one time that I should have a party and invite all my friends. I looked at her like she had grown two heads. Was she crazy? I didn't have lots of friends. I only had a couple of close friends and I didn't know anything about throwing a party. I think Moma was worried about me because I wasn't a social butterfly and she wanted to help me make friends. So we decided to have a party.

I told my two friends, and they told their two friends, and they told their two friends, and so on and so forth until everyone wanted to come to the party. My cousins, Randy and Mike, lived next door so all their friends wanted to come, too. Before long we had a crowd.

We played spin the bottle and I remember walking around the house with a boy named Joel. He kissed me. When we walked on around the house we came upon my dog, Rip. Rip was a German Shepard. We had him chained up at the corner of the house. He jumped at Joel and barked. Rip scared Joel to death. I should have taken note of that.*  All the boys had to maneuver past Rip to circle the house. It still didn't deter the boys from playing the game.

I felt nauseous the next day and blamed it on the kiss. I decided not to kiss any more boys.

I went into my bedroom during the party and caught a bunch of girls dousing themselves in my huge bottle of Ambush cologne that my mother had bought me. They were having so much fun they didn't care.

Daddy had piled an old dog house next to the creek to burn when it got dark for a fire. He had hooked the trailer to the tractor and piled hay on it for a hay ride. Daddy drove the tractor around the neighborhood and let the kids ride on it until everyone had an opportunity to go on the hayride.

The boys hung out around the fire together. Daddy tried to get them to roast marshmallows or hot dogs over the fire but they all refused. They didn't want to cook their food over a dirty old dog house even if it was on fire.

Everyone seemed to be having fun except for me and Moma. I was so busy making sure there was food and snacks for everyone and helping Moma keep everything clean that I didn't really have much time to enjoy my own party. While everyone was wandering around talking and laughing I was busy in the house. I started to realize that having a party wasn't as much fun as it sounded.

Moma had parked her Chevrolet Impala in the yard in front of the living room. There was a power pole in the front yard, too. We watched Bobby rare back and sling his RC cola bottle toward the creek. At least, I think that was what he was trying to do. The RC bottle hit the wood power pole and ricocheted sideways into  the windshield, causing it to shatter, then bounce towards the living room window. It barely missed.

Bobby started apologizing over and over again. Moma and I were worried about how Daddy would take it. We sat on the carport talking about the accident and wondering what he would say. When he came home Moma told him about the boy and the RC bottle. She said she was surprised because he didn't get upset about it. He said it could have been worse. He seemed to enjoy the party. 

They got the windshield fixed. The funny thing is, the RC bottle didn't even break. I wouldn't want to get hit over the head with one. They're tough.

Teenage parties are not going to turn out well. It doesn't matter how well you think you have things planned. Some idiot is going to do something to show everybody else he is the biggest idiot and something's going to get broke, or set on fire, or blown up. That's probably why I didn't want to have any more parties.

Well, Moma did talk me into having a pajama party one time . . . .

*Love on the Run, January 2011


AS ALWAYS PIO

Ronnie and Donnie

My mother used to tell me stories about when she lived in Louisiana for a while when she was young. She lived with her cousin's family and helped babysit. They had twin boys that looked alike but their personalities were as different at night and day. Moma told me about Ronnie and Donnie running around and playing when she took them to the university to fly kites. She also told me how cute they were when they got tricycles for Christmas. Ronnie would immediately jump on his trike to ride but Donnie would flip his trike over and try to take it apart. Maybe it's the other way around.  I'm not sure.

I hated Ronnie and Donnie, and I didn't even know them. I was jealous of them for knowing my momma when she was young and fun. I don't remember momma running around flying kites and playing with me. Since Ronnie and Donnie were such a thorn in my side it seems odd to me that my life has led along those paths.

My first official boyfriend was a boy I met when I started to school at Valley Point. We rode the school bus together. I remember watching him talk and laugh and flash his big beautiful smile and I was smitten. He liked me. He talked to me and was so sweet and funny that I couldn't help falling for him.

When Moma got wind of my little crush, she made a big deal about it. I don't remember if I wanted to give Ronnie a present for Christmas or Valentine, or if Moma suggested it, but I started giving Ronnie presents. I became so predictable that Ronnie started giving me cards and small gifts in return. This went on for two years and some kids began to tease me for having a crush on Ronnie. I realized that I was being silly and nobody else was giving people gifts like that. I quit giving Ronnie gifts and tried to hide my feelings. I started wondering if Ronnie really wanted to give me those gifts or if his mother was making him give me something so I wouldn't get my feelings hurt. I didn't want a pity gift.

By the time we were in high school, Ronnie appeared to have forgotten about me, but I didn't forget about him. I watched him and saw that he was growing up to be a handsome and friendly young man. Although I had many other crushes in between I still had a soft spot in my heart for him because he was so sweet. When he started dating a classmate, I thought she wasn't worthy of him.  

My second crush was Joel, the fleet-foot runner. We were in the first grade together. I didn't give him presents but I did like to sit close to him and talk to him. Moma said she came to pick me up from class one day and looked in the little window in the door. She said I was sitting in a tiny little wooden chair leaning it back and talking up a storm to my classmates. She said my panties were shining. So much for modesty. And, so much for thinking I was shy in the first grade. It sounds like I was the class tease.

I usually tried to keep my feelings to myself but I would develop these huge crushes every spring. By the time I was in the third grade I developed a huge crush on a friend named Chris. He was cute with big dark eyes and dark hair. He lived near my cousin's and I got to see him when I visited them. He was a couple of days older than me and we started competing with one another.

One time we decide to have a foot race. Since we were in town we had paved streets to run on. My  cousins lived on Jones street but there was a little used road that went up a hill nearby. Chris and I were going to race each other down the paved road. Donna and Butch were supposed to judge the winner.

We started running down the hill, picking up speed, and couldn't slow down. Suddenly, a car came up Jones street and saw us kids racing into the road. Instead of slamming on his breaks, he swerved towards us and stopped in the middle of the road. Chris swerved one way, and I swerved the other. I ran into the undergrowth at the corner of the road and grabbed the concrete street sign. (Remember those?)

I was huffing and puffing and my heart was beating like a drum. I looked at the man in the car and he smiled at me, then reversed his car, and drove on up the road. He scared the crap out of us to teach us a lesson, I guess. Chris and I were lucky we weren't run over. Chris and I liked each other until I went to camp that summer. When I came back he told he that he met a girl at the swimming pool and she was skinny. Thanks for that little zing. I wasn't fat. I was just, sort of, chubby.

When you're young you can't imagine where your life will lead. Along the way I've had lots of bumps and bruises but my life has led me in a circle. I ended up with a Donnie, after all. My Donnie is a sweetie, too. He may be getting old and crotchety sometimes but he can't hold a candle to me. Bless his heart, he has to put up with me. That would make anybody crotchety.

I have a good and kind husband who thinks I am crazy sometimes but he still loves me. I know because he told me so. That counts for something. Half the time he doesn't have a clue what I am talking about, and the other half of the time he can't hear what I am saying. He's always worked around machinery and his hearing isn't real good. Either that, or he's just ignoring me. Hey! Men. You have to watch them.

As Always

PIO