One Hell Of An Amen

So I haven’t written anything new in about a year. Not sure why, just haven’t. I started this one last year while listening to a local songwriter sing this song he wrote and made me start thinking about my friends who had died way too young. So buckle up, y’all know this gonna be a good one for two reasons. One because I haven’t written in a while and two because I’m talking about my friends. 

“Preacher said he died too young over there totin’ that gun for Uncle Sam and our freedom.” Brantley Gilbert “One Hell Of a Amen”. I haven’t known anyone that I can think of that died in war but I know plenty that have fought for my freedom. I can’t imagine how parents feel seeing their child go off to war not knowing if they would return or not. My daddy was in the Korean War but Lord have mercy that was a hundred years ago. Just kidding but after all my daddy is old. I had never asked daddy much about his time in the Army but a couple of weeks ago something started us talking about it. It was very interesting the things he told us about where he was, how long he was at different stations and how homesick he was. I can’t imagine seeing my son leave for the service and I certainly can’t imagine seeing him off to war. So for all those mothers who have been in those shoes you have to be just as strong as those soldiers off to war and I thank you. I thank you for your sons/daughter sacrifice for my freedom. To those mothers/parents that have received that folded flag, bless you and thank you that your child sacrificed his life for my freedom. 

“Doctor said he ain’t got long. He just smiled said bring it on. Well if you think I’m scared you got me all wrong. No, a little cancer can’t break me. My heart’s right and I believe. Naw he never gave up said the good Lord’s waitin’. That’s the only way to go, rightin’ the good fight til the good Lord calls you home. So be well friend ‘til I see you again. Yeah this is our last goodbye It’s a hell of an amen.” 

I have lost lots of friends to cancer and it just SUCKS!!! Yes that may be a harsh word but it SUCKS. 

I’ve written about this friend many times, but as Mr. Mike sung this song on Sunday the tears came. Yep I’ve heard this song a million times but this time it brought on a whole new meaning. This time he reminded me once again how strong my friend Andrew was in his fight with cancer. He never gave up and he never quit fightin.’ So many times he would have to cancel plans but that was OK because as soon as he was feeling better, he was right back at it again. Right back at enjoying life the best he good, right back at making me laugh and most importantly right back loving his family and spending as much time with them as he could and of course flying that dadgum Tennessee flag. The last few days I’m not sure he knew we were at the hospital but it didn’t matter to me. I wanted to be there because he would have done that for me. The one regret I have is the day he called and I missed the phone call. The call that I had prayed I would never hear and that was his time was nearing the end. His message I will forever remember when he said the doctors had called his family in and he wanted me to know. OMG when I heard the message I went straight to the hospital. I’ve never been so happy to see this man still smiling. Still talking that I got to hear that voice one more time. The wink from him that will always, always be the best wink EVER. I’m pretty sure this song was written after my friend had passed away but I can just hear him if he could speak to me today say… that was one hell of an amen! One hell of an amen to his life and how he lived it, one hell of an amen to his family that saw him so courageous and I can really hear him that he has a grandson and twins on the way. He would be such a good grandpa. And what would tickle me more is me calling him grandpa. So in spirit of my friend and this song…that’s one hell of an amen.

 LESSON TODAY? As usual I don’t have a clue but let’s just go with whatever you do in life make sure you would say it’s “ONE HELL OF AN AMEN”. Do good, be kind and I don’t care if you’re my age which is about 60ish respect your mama and daddy if you’re lucky enough to still have them. I want the person speaking at my funeral to say…”If Sherry could speak to us right now about her life, I know she would say “that was one hell of an amen.”

My Foundation Is Solid

"I don't own nothin' new.  I might look like a mess to you, but I'm solid.  You may think I'm way too chill but get it done, got my daddy's will.  And I'll always keep a promise.:  Eric Church

OK ya'll hold on, it's gonna be more than any 8 second ride.  Isn't that a song?  Oh well either way this song has been stuck in my mind a few days so I might as well write something about it.  So here goes.

I don't drive a new car and I look a mess way more days than not but that's just how I roll.  I've had new cars driven right off the show room floor and the one I'm thinking about right now didn't last or work any better than the used one I have right now.  It was a brand new T-top Corvette that was the hot diggity damn and I drove the wheels off that thing but would I consider it solid?  Heck no.  Didn't own it 6 months and the alternator went out on it, right on my way home and in the dark.  Yep, it surely did so there you go, not the best car for being dependable but I sure did look good in it.  Oh but it did make me look a hot mess 'cause I always had the t-tops out so imagine this.  Me, young and a hott mess with wind blown hair that looked like I just woke up.  Yeah, ya'll get the picture.

It's a big world out there and every day I hear or read something trying to convince me to try this or that.  It's the best thing since slice bread, this diet, this meal plan or this exercise program.  I've probably tried half of them and so far I haven't seen any pounds shed and I don't look 20 years younger because I used this miracle cream for 14 days and look 10 years younger.  Hells bells, if that stuff  gonna erase years, I want more than 10.  Heck, take me back to about 40.  Now y'all figure how many that is.

"Everybody wants me to think like they do.  Put my faith in somethin' new.  But this old school is tried and true, it's solid."  I had this conversation with an old friend of mine just last night.  We were talking about the business we're in and how it's changed.  I've been in this business 20+ years and in those 20+ years, the business has gone to being done on computers, to paperless and now working at home.  All that sounds great and wonderful but what if those computers go down?  Well, today ours did...company wide.  So we sat all day not able to do anything.  That's Ok with me 'cause I did a lot of posting on FB, twitter & instagram but that stuff didn't get my job done.  

I'm going to skip right to the last verse of this song that talks about the long road to Mama & daddy's house.  Well today is the first time in my life I can EVER remember not going to my mama's on Sunday because something is going on in this country keeping us from it.  There are Sunday's when some of us can't come because we're sick, we're out of town or whatever reason but today it's because we're all guarantined at our own house.  We decided yesterday to be cautious because some of us work at the hospital, some of us have been to work every day and some have been out and about.  Me?  I went to work every day and I've been to the local Kroger twice so Nurse sister said stay home.  

Well as cautious as I was trying to be, I picked up stuff for mama at the local Kroger so when I took it to her I said mama I'm not coming in.  Her response?  "It'll be alright".  Well alrighty then if mama said it, then it's gonna be alright.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it.  LOL   I took the groceries in and sat down with her at the table to eat the nuggets I brought and we talked about everything going on. I stayed maybe an hour and when I was leaving I said mama you spray the Lysol and wipe down the table where I was eating.  I might as well been talking to the wind because she left right behind me to take the trash off.  LORD help that woman.  I tried to get her to let me take it but nothing having it but her to take it.  She said there wouldn't be anybody at the trash dump.  Again it'll be alright.

 We take care of each other most of the time any way but in times like these we do it even more.  This foundation my friends is built because of my mama and daddy.  Their work ethics, their love for their family and most importantly their words of wisdom that makes us realize where our foundation is and that is HOME!!!!  Nothing like the road to mama and daddy's, nothing like lunch on Sunday's there and nothing like the love of family. But today we will have to show them that love on the phone 'cause we can't go home.  Bon Jovi's song "who says you can't go home?"  well today we can't go home which makes me so sad but maybe if we're careful this week we can go home next Sunday.  Lord I sure do hope so. 

LESSON TODAY?  As usual who really knows but I'm just gonna start with if your parents are still living, take that road that may be less traveled to their house.  Take a minute and remember YOUR foundation.

Is it something you're strong in or is it something that might be not so strong because of things that may have caused that foundation to crack a bit.  If this be the case, stop a minute and think what you can do to

repair it.  People in times like these we need our families.  Make that foundation strong and take the time
to check on your family.  Don't just text them - make a call, hear their voice because you may not get that chance tomorrow.

Love to all,
Sweet Southern Sass

 

Yard Sale

“Cardboard sign says yard sale, real estate sign says sold, family picnic table holds all that it can hold. On the grass and on the sidewalk, there must be half the town.  Ain't it funny how a broken home can bring the prices down.  They're sortin’ through what's left of you and me, paying yard sale  prices for each golden memory.”  Sammy Kershaw

Hearing this song made me thing of a yard sale I had MANY years ago after my divorce. Y’all know  I do lots of things before I think, so this was no different.  Remember the wedding pictures?  No groom?  The missing groom of course is going to be the blunt of this one too.   So hold on, it’s gonna be an eight second ride or a 15 minute read.

You see, the groom was a cowboy which meant I had lots of Wrangler jeans, Roper boots in every color and a dad gum $500 Stetson hat that I wore to leave in after the wedding.  Well from this previous sentence I don’t have to tell you all this stuff was put in the yard sale.  Yep, that $500 Stetson hat SOLD…right there on the front lawn of my friend’s house $50 and all those
 boots…GONE!  Just like that my entire married life…leaving in a bag.

While I’m standing there bagging up all those things from my closet, of course it brought back lots of memories, some good and some bad.  The hardest thing was these people I didn’t even know was about to be wearing MY clothes and MY $300 Stetson hat that I loved.  I wonder how many of these things I’ve passed on the street and didn’t even know they were mine from a previous life.

Writing this I’m trying to think if I have anything left that I didn’t put in that yard sale from this time in my life.  I can only think of one think and that’s the dang wedding dress.  Now why in the world would I keep it?  For sure I’m never going to fit in it again, I don’t have a daughter that would ever wear it again, so why is it still hanging in my closet?  To answer that question, I have no idea, other than I loved my dress.  It was a most beautiful, off the shoulder, size 2 dress that I paid entirely too much for, but I loved it.  Every now and then I get it out just to see if I can fit in it, but as we all know, it ain’t happening in this life time.  I did use the train to make my daughter in law the veil for her wedding.  I hesitated a few days since my marriage didn’t last, but thankfully it didn’t jinx her, they have been married 15 years this year. YEAH!!! The spell is broken. LOL

LESSON TODAY: If life hasn’t dealt you the best cards in the deck, don’t dwell on it, put the crap in a yard sale and sell it at yard sale prices.  Life ain’t always fair, and things don’t work out the way we planned, but there’s no use to dwell on the past.  Any way you’re not living there anymore so go ahead, bag it all up, let it go and start living in the present.  After all, yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift of God, which is why we call it the present.  So go ahead and live it to the fullest.


   LOVE TO ALL,
Sweet Southern Sass

God & My Girlfriend's

I know he was made just for me, two hearts that fit perfectly, he gives me love-more than enough.  But way before he came along there was somebody else making me strong.  There is no doubt I'd be nothing
without God and my girlfriends."  Reba McEntire

This idea was given to me by one of my best friends this past weekend while at a Sweetheart Ball.  I've posted before there are six of us ladies that have been best friends for 40 years.  Three of us were at the ball this weekend and had the most wonderful time.  While we were talking about this song, she said you know two things for sure we can count on is God and our girlfriends or "Birds" in our case.  Keep in mind she's married and she can count on her husband but there's just a difference in counting on your husband and counting on your girlfriends.

In my mind, a husband makes a vow for better or worse, rich or poor, and whatever the rest is, but a girlfriend doesn't make any vows, doesn't put anything in writing or sign a license...we just are there for each other through thick and thin, better or worse  but more importantly during the good and bad.   We're always there making the other stronger, lifting each other up and over and over we're there for each other.

The six of us through our 40 years of friendship have been single, married, divorced, had children but together we're all standing strong through these sad and happy times.   All of us haven't been divorced and all of us haven't had children, but for sure at one time or another we have been single and married.  I may have been at more than one wedding for one of us, but who's counting.  I've been to two of my own.  LOL  The most joyous occasions of course we've had fun and many laughs, but then there are the sad times when parents have been lost, and yes those were hard times, but the girlfriends were there first and the last to leave.

These ladies I talked about above are my BEST friends, but I have other partners in crime that I love as well.  They are the Thelma to my Louise or the Louise to my Thelma whichever it may be, the cream to my coffee and the sugar in my sweet tea.  LOL, that's  a lotta craziness up in these friendships but I don't know any other way to describe these girlfriends of mine.  We go to a lot of concerts, Nashville is a given every ear and there are lots of stuff in between.  Most of these ladies are co-workers or former co-workers so needless to say there are lots of stories we can tell... good and bad.  But as ya'll know, whatever happens wherever we are, stays where we are or was or will be.

The one thing all these girlfriends of mine and me have in common is that we all believe in God and we have him front and center in our lives.  We may not always act like it and I'm sure God and our guardian angels shake their heads and wonder what the world were they thinking.  But the one thing I know and all my girlfriends know , is there is no way any of us are or will ever be perfect, so that's why we're glad God is a forgiving God.  Sometimes I wonder if I'm running out of forgiveness times because I'm every day having to ask for it.  But from what I know, I don't think you run out of times because we all know God is always forgiving if we just ask.  And trust me... I have asked plenty of times.

I do want to throw in one more thing since I'm talking about forgiveness.   I try not to only ask or pray for things, I always, always thank him for answered prayers.  Heck, there have been many times I've thanked him for unanswered prayers.  Sometimes he may have to hit me in the head that I notice it's him, but sooner or later I will recognize that was a God wink or a knock, knock it's God and I will stop and thank him.  Yes, I'm sure ya'll are thinking this lady for real has gone crazy, but when it comes to God and how I believe, there ain't nothing crazy about what I think and how I know he's answered more prayers and protected me more times than I can count on everyone's fingers and toes.  Now ya'll figure that one out.

LESSON:   Today is if you have girlfriends like I do, whether they be your BESTEST ones or your partner in crime ones,  take time and enjoy your friendship.  Give them a call, NOT A TEXT, spend a few minutes to just catch up.  Heck if it's like me when I call one of mine, it will turn into an hour or at least many minutes.  People don't take the time these days to enjoy life, so do that soon.  Get your Thelma, Louise, partner in crime, best friends whatever you want to call them and have some fun.   One more thing... don't forget to thank God every day for waking up and especially remember to thank him for those answered prayers and if you're like me, thank him for the unanswered ones.
LOVE TO ALL... Sweet Southern Sass

Love You Long Time

OK y'all I don't have a song for this one right yet, but this idea came to me yesterday when I was on the radio with my favorite morning DJ Kathy.  Almost together we said "love you long time."  This just stuck in my head all day yesterday so here you go the reasons it stuck.

The first time I heard these words "love you long time" I had gone to a customer's house to get the paper work signed for him to get a mortgage for his house.  I knew this guy a long time so I was comfortable meeting him at his shop right there at his house.  Of course we talked about anything and everything except mortgages, but that's what I loved about my job at the time.  I treated my customer's like family and wanted them to trust me that I was doing the right thing for them.  After visiting for a while and getting the paper work signed I hugged him and started to leave.  As I was leaving I heard him say something but didn't exactly know what it was.  When I got in the car I thought to self, did he just say he loved me?  I know, what's not to love, but did he say that for real?

Long story short on this, several years later, my friend was killed in an accident.  I went to the funeral service and one of his good friends was a speaker.  Of course he told many stories that made us laugh because that's what my friend was all about.  But at the end he told the story that every time my friend left from visiting someone, he would say "love you long time."  I almost fell off the pew.  I said to self again...that's exactly what he said to me that day.   Thinking back to that visit, I believe it was the last time I saw him, so hearing those words "love you long time" made that visit even more special.  Special that he would say that to me as I left.  So my friend....Love you long time.

Y'all may not can think of someone you've loved long time, but besides my family I have several.  Three of my best guy friends I've known almost 40 years.  Two of them I see regularly, one I haven't seen since he left Georgia about 30+ years ago, but we have stayed in touch by phone all these years.   My four best friends, or the Birds as we like to call ourselves, I've known right at 40 years also.  Then there are my two best friends from high school, well we're going on 50 years knowing each other.  Crap, that makes them old.  LOL   With all this being said,  I've loved long time lots of people that have been a very big part of my life for lots of years.  Many years of special people that I will love long time.

LESSON TODAY:  Who knows where I'm going with this one, but if you are lucky enough to have friends like I've mentioned and you've loved them long time, don't let that slip away.  It's so easy to get busy with your own life and not make the time to keep your special friends long time.  You may not be able to get together with them, but with all the modern technology we have today, surely there is some way to keep in touch.  I got 'em all, tweeter (as I call it), instagram, facepage (as someone called it on TV today) and then there is the trusty phone and even better...go visit, even if it's just a few minutes.

I mentioned in the first paragraph I didn't have a song but I would find one.  Well, as promised, here you go.
This song, Love You 'Til I'm Gone , written by my friend Larry Scroggs, is perfect for this post because it says I'll do my best to love you 'til I'm gone.   Well hell's bells, is that not the same as "love you long time?"
Works for me so 'til next time...LOVE YOU LONG TIME!!!

Happy New Year 2019

"I'll quite smokin', I'll quit eatin,' I'm not jokin', I'll quit cursin', I'll quit drinkin', I'll be a better person, but tonight I'm thinkin'..."
Kid Rock - Happy New Year

Well hell's bells that's a  whole lotta quitin' going on in Kid Rock's song so I left it blank on what I'm thinkin' 'cause that's what I want y'all to think about.

I'm sure we all make those "New Year's Resolutions" but seriously how many do you keep?  I'm reading over the ones Kid Rock wrote about and thankfully I don't have to worry about any of those except eatin'.  Of course we all want to be a better person and I'm no different, but I may have to think on this one  'cause I think I'm pretty awesome as is.

I haven't really thought about any New Year's Resolutions for this coming year 2019 but the one thing I've said a million times since Thanksgiving is that I HAVE to get back to eating right.  Lord have mercy I've eat enough to sink a battle ship if I jumped on board.  So with that being said, come January 2, yes that's not a typo I'm not starting my "diet" until after the New Year Day because my mama will be cooking all the New Year stuff and I plan to eat as much as I can.  Yep, we will have collards, black eye peas, cornbread, mashed potatoes and I'm sure more desserts than I need.

Writing this I'm thinking back on 2018 and for the most part it's been a good year.  It's also had it's sad times as I've lost several class mates and family members that left us way too soon.  Things are just that...things, and they can be replaced but friends and family is something that can't be replaced.  Not only do I think about the ones I lost in 2018 but I think about the ones I've lost in previous years.  I miss them all but every New Year I remember the last one I spent with my friend Andrew.

Many years since my divorce I spent New Year's Eve alone, but this particular year I asked my friend Andrew to go to a friends party with me.  Keep in mind he could have spent his night with many other friends, but he chose me.   You may ask why was this such a special person to spend it with, well hold on just a minute 'cause you know  I'm about to tell you.  LOL  You see, Andrew had cancer and he knew this might be his last New Year's Eve, so that's why it was even more special.  We had such a good time and he fit right in with all my friends that he didn't even know.   Not knowing many of the people didn't bother him because he always knew the right thing to do and say.  He was just that kind of person.  One that could make you feel like a million bucks by just smiling.  We laughed so hard at the crazy games we played, we ate 'til we couldn't eat any more and of course we welcomed in the New Year with a toast, a hug and knowing me I probably sneaked a kiss.

LESSON TODAY:  As it turned out, that New Year with Andrew was his last one and probably the last one I didn't spend alone.  That New Year's Eve will forever be etched in my mind and heart for more reasons than one, but most importantly because I got to spend it with with my special friend.  I'm thinking as I'm writing exactly what my lesson for y'all will be, so let's just go with y'all taking a minute and remember your favorite New Year's Eve.  Did you spend it with someone special?  Was it family?  friends?  Just close your eyes and remember what made it so special. Whatever that reason is, I want you to take that into the new year 2019.  Don't worry about making resolutions, that we probably won't keep past January, just go into the new year with a smile on your face and love in your heart.  Make this new year 2019 your best at whatever you do 'cause I'm thinking if you go into the New Year with a smile on your face and love in your heart you will be a much better person for it.

  HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
  Sweet Southern Sass

Somebody's Hero

"She's never pulled anybody from a burning building.  She's never rocked central park to a half a million fans screaming out her name, she's never hit a shot to win the game.  She's never left her footprints on the moon.  She's never made a solo hot air balloon ride around the world, no, she's just your everyday average girl but she's somebody's hero."  Jamie O'Neal

Lord have mercy that's a lot she's never done and this is so true for my sister Sharon, but it doesn't matter to me that she hasn't done these things...she's MY hero.  Yep, you got that right, MY HERO.

I started this post a couple of weeks ago when my sister was sent to the ER and couldn't attend my niece's wedding in NC.  She was diagnosed with a compression fracture a while back and now they got to figure out why.   We were already on our way to the wedding when her daughter called us so it was a whole lot of crying.  Then we had just gotten our hair all did and makeup on when my sister herself called us.  Well, the flood gates opened again.  You see us girls are really close and when somethings wrong with one, it takes us all to get the other better.  Come on now, you know what I'm talking about.  We have to be there for support and this day we weren't there, so it made it even harder.

This song was definitely written about my sister because every verse is about how this somebody's hero is taking care of others.  That is so my sister.  She has three children, two boys and one girl.  When her daughter got married, there were more tears than Carter has little liver pills as my mama says.  Not because my sister was sad but because her baby girl would be leaving and moving to Charlotte.  It hurt to let her go, but when that baby girl walked down the aisle and looked back at my sister with that smile, my sister knew she was that baby girls  hero.  Now about seven years later, they are back in Georgia, thank goodness and my niece has two daughters who love their mimi very much.

Now about those two boys.  Yes they both are married and the baby boy has two kids of his own, but he still likes to sit in his mama's lap, even at 20+ years old.  I can promise you when she's fixed and he can sit in her lap again, it will be the first thing he does.   The oldest son is married too.  He may not sit in his mama's lap but he gets just as much love because he sings for his mama.  She tells me she taught him everything he knows, but I really think his talent came from me.  LOL   They may be grown with their own family but they still need their mama and that makes her their hero too.

I'm sure if I asked either of my sister's kids they would tell me she's their hero just as much as she is mine.  I'm sure that is true, but since this is my blog, I'm gonna make this hero all mine so I can tell you why.   She calls me every morning on her way to work.  Some mornings she's happy, laughing about any and everything.  Some mornings she just needs to vent about whatever so if that be the case, she probably gonna be getting out of her car at work still on a roll.  We laugh all the time it takes her 30 minutes to tell you bye and there are some mornings it takes at least 10 for sure.

Since this ER visit I hear the fear in her voice and I can tell she's doing all she can to hold it together.  I wish she would just realize she doesn't have to hold it together for me.  I mean I'm the big sister and that's what big sister's do.   I want to be her rock when she feels she can't be strong any more, I want to be able to listen to her without giving any advise, I want to let her cry if she wants to and her feel that I'm doing my best to hold it together for her and not cry.

My sister may be the little sis to me, but with her struggles these past years dealing with the big C word and now just wondering if it's back again, she's more than a little sis.  She's not "Somebody's Hero, she's mine.

LESSON TODAY:  This was a long post but since I started writing this we got the news my sister's biopsy was negative for cancer so now we start the treatment process for the fracture.  So my lesson today is that if you have a sister or family member that may be going through a rough time, be there for them.  You may be miles apart but there are ways other than in person you can help.  Pick up the phone, check on them and for the love of  Peter, Paul and Mary visit if you can.  Tell her you love her, tell her why sh'es special to you and if you're lucky enough to have a sister like mine that's your hero, you don't have to write about it like I have, just let her know.  Tell her how much you love her and be there for her!!!   Let her know she's your hero.


LOVE TO ALL,
Sweet Southern Sass