I took last week off. I have the shingles, and just needed some rest. I hope everyone has a restful Labor Day!!
Clay and I went to see Respect last Friday night. The new movie about the life of Aretha Franklin. I have always loved Aretha Franklin and her greatest hits album was one of the first CDs I purchased as a teenager. I listened to the album before going to the movie and so many songs I would think “this is my favorite”, but then another would come along right after. Here is a link to the album. I really liked the movie but that is not a surprise because I also love Jennifer Hudson. The movie highlighted Aretha’s childhood, early years in her career, her rise to fame, and the battles she had with those that were close to her.
When I was in middle school, our PE class had a yearly unit on pickleball. It was probably my favorite thing I ever did in PE. I have only played one other time and I loved it then too. It’s like a mix between tennis, ping pong, and badminton. The ball is like a wiffle ball that you hit with a paddle. I secretly (but not a secret anymore) want to find a place to put a pickleball court at the new house. I am not brave (or maybe it is dumb) enough to actually speak out loud that this is getting added to the list of projects although I know everyone in my family would love it. The sport has gained popularity in the past few years and I am here for it! Here is an article that talks about its recent popularity. And here is more technical information about pickleball.
This coming week marks the 20 year anniversary of 9/11. Life goes by in the blink of an eye and this is just another example of that. I, like everyone else, remember exactly where I was when I heard what happened. Clay and I visited the 9/11 memorial when we were in New York a few years ago. Such a beautiful and somber tribute to the lives that were lost that day. I came across this article about a month ago that is a story of a family whose son was lost that day.
Everett’s favorite thing right now is balloons. He always wants to stop at Dollar General to pick up a bag. He blows them up and then comes to me and says “Tied it up Mommy”. I’ve been working on teaching him to tie them himself and he pretty much has it figured out. The last round of balloons he threw in these funny shaped ones. The look on his face just cracks me up. He is just so in love with the simplest things. It’s never a dull moment over here.
Yesterday morning, I piled into a car at 6am with my friends Amy and Rebecca to go surprise our friend Beth at the finish line of the Tupelo marathon. You won’t find many marathons in the south during the middle of summer. There are two race lengths (the marathon and 14.2 mile). Beth ran the 14.2. The race starts at 5am to beat the heat. If you’ve never been at the finish line of a big race like that, you should find one to go watch. When you watch dozens (or hundreds) of people finish something that is really HARD and they are normal everyday people, something shifts in your mind that makes you think that you can do it too. And guess what, you can do it too! All three of these women make me want to be better versions of myself. And I can promise you, I would’ve never crossed the finish line of a half marathon if it wasn’t for them going ahead of me.
