Today is my birthday. I am officially 23. Wow. I am 23 and I am due to have my son in almost exactly 3 months. Crazy isnt it?
I went home Friday and found that my aggarvation had increased with everyone to the point where I was about to choke someone. Jeremy did clean the house, so I other than putting away my laundry, I really didnt have any cleaning to do. But he ruined it with an attitude, and my sister and her boyfriend, who is also my friend, helped push me over my line of toleration. I ended up calling them all a$$holes and being snotty.
Saturday was the kind of day that I needed...I went to lunch with Karen and Erica and we went to the mall and just milled around, I tried on big floppy hats and movie star huge sunglasses, and it was hilarious. It rained, so, it kind of made for a good day. I went home and just spent some much needed one on one time with Jeremy which included a peaceful and nice bubblebath.
Yesterday was my party at my grandparents. My aunt put together a really nice lunch and I got a lot of birthday cards...but the highlight of the day was when I went to see Ms. Charlotte next door. She embodies the spirit of old southern women, most of who have been lost over the ages...talking to her can take you back to another time...and when I tell you some of her stories, you will understand why! She has some health issues, so, everytime we get together at my aunts and eat, we fix her and Mr. Bernard a plate. Then we send over dessert. Well, they must have been informed that it was my birthday party because they sent over a $20 bill in an envelope with Happy Birthday written on it. So, I decided to take them the dessert and thank them...I walked in, and she was so excited to see me that she says to me "I am shamed that it took $20 bucks to get you here." and I laughed and hugged her, and she told me how beautiful I am (I think her eyesights going...) and that I looked wonderful for being 6½ months pregnant. I sat down and we got to talking, and she told me how when she was in the Regency home with a massive kidney infection there was this "colored man" (her words, not mine...) and he didnt have any legs, and he would wheel himself into her room that she shared with another woman and just plain bother them. And he wasnt supposed to be there, so she kept summoning the nurses and telling him to wheel himself right back out the door, and the nurse would take him to his room...I guess he did it one too many times, and Ms. Charlotte had had enough...and he got too close to her bed, and she whaled on him with her bag...but she was laughing so hard, that I am not sure if she beat him with her bag or sprayed him with hairspray. But the point is, she beat a man with no legs in a wheelchair because he kept coming in her room...she says things like, I was like Grant at Richmond when it came to that...(Thats a Southern reference that I am guessing was popular years ago, it references Lees surrender to Grant at the end of the Civil War. I know older people used it to show that their spirit wasnt defeated...she still uses it, here in 2006!) She used that phrase because she won an argument. She told me how common her family treated her, and how she would be like Sherman burning through Atlanta, burn them up one end and down the other (yet another southern reference to the War.) But I have to tell you...she sat in her chair and she told me that she had ulcers on her legs, and she didnt have a lot of control over her bladder (vulgar isnt she??) but she'd take it, because she was alive. And not to let anyone under estimate what I can do. And her doctor told her, she had many a person to get straightened out before God was ready to take her home, and that Lucifur trembles at the sound of her name...I felt like I was in a movie...the way she was holding my hand and given me this widom and insight. She can tell me so much...lots of people like her can. They remember their childhood. They remember their parents childhood, and they remember their grandparents childhood stories. When these people are gone, so is the knowledge. But, even though she sat there, with her legs wrapped up in bandages, with her oxygen hook up near by, she laughed. She laughed loud. It was a genuine laugh. And to me, she is a beautiful Christian woman. And when she goes to meet her maker, we are going to lose a character in Ms. Charlotte.
But her words have really stuck with me...and I think thats something to be proud of.
3 comments:
That is really sweet. Your right about the knowledge that they carry and the stories that they remember. It probably made her day that you sat there and talked with her. She sounds like a hoot though.
Happy late birthday! Man you're getting old!
You are one to talk, Lorelei! You are older than me, missy!
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