catching up (again)

skinnylittlepath.jpg

they say that catching-up is hard to do . . . no, that’s breaking up that’s hard to do. whatever.

best rush of 09 was brought on by . . . well, honestly, i don’t have rushes any more. not since that one unfortunate night in undergraduate school when i was drunk on life – the closest to feeling joy i can remember. for the record: there were no drugs and no alcohol involved – just a day of good things. like being asked out by an upperclassman who was easy on the eyes. getting an A on my paper. finding $20 in my wallet when i was hoping to find enough change to make $1. it was just me and happiness to the 7th degree.

maybe to the 9th.

so there i was, humming to myself in the room when my roommate got back with her little entourage of toadies pledglings. humming, laughing, saying whatever funny stuff popped into my head (and it was all pretty damn funny, if i do say so myself). “what’s wrong with her?” sniffed the condescending bitch girl from across the hall who’d just pledged a sorority. “oh i don’t know,” sniffed back my condescending bitch in the making sorority wannabe roomie. “just ignore her.”

they ignored me all right, talking about me as though being drunk on life automatically rendered me stone deaf. it took weeks for them to change the subject, and life was so miserable, i vowed to never disturb the flatlines again. it’s just too dangerous. even now, there are far too many people around here who prefer homogenization. to get a rush and show it is to risk being labeled, and the labels used around here have some more kind of everlasting glue on the back, let me tell you.

i don’t know why this college memory bubbled up. maybe it’s time to:
a) find these gals on facebook, ask them to be my fb friends, then drop them like hot potatoes (that’ll really sting ’em.).
b) learn how to have a rush and keep it to my own self. (i guess that’s possible?)
c) don my big girl panties and get over it.

~~~

best packaging has to be anything apple sells. space for only the necessary. the essentials held firmly in place to prevent jarring and breakage . . .

wish they’d create packaging for my life.

~~~

best tea of the year . . . well, since no tea has crossed these lips in the past 16 years, i’m just gonna trek down memory lane and tell you that the best tea i ever had was aunt rene’s sweet tea.

down here, when we go to a restaurant and the waiter asks what we want, we say “sweet tea” to which, more often than not, we get a “huh?” eventually followed by “we only have unsweetened tea.” let’s be real clear about this: the term “sweet tea” is NOT retarded. it is a type of tea. a particularly pleasing, desirable kind of tea. sure it’s been a while, but i can tell you this with absolute certainty: you cannot thump all the crystals to the bottom of some colorful little packet, dump it in a glass of tea, whirl it around a few times, and expect to get anything near the quality of aunt rene’s sweet tea. it’s just not gonna’ happen.

aunt rene’s tea was so good, i once gave her a big ass set of drinking glasses when it wasn’t even a holiday. (something that’s unheard of in my cheap economically-correct family.) you could get about 3/4 of a gallon in those glasses, and we’d down at least 2 refills with every meal. the woman had to make her tea in a stockpot, i tell you, it was that good. before i swore off tea, i was known to make a meal off aunt rene’s sweet tea, though i have to admit that like my children, i preferred to have aunt rene’s sweet tea with a side of her blackeyed peas and some of her crisply fried bacon for dessert.

the secret to aunt rene’s sweet tea? sugar. lots and lots and lots of sugar. added while the tea was still hot so it would dissolve. she’d stir that disappearing sugar, and once she couldn’t see it anymore, she’d up and add some more, reckoning that if you can’t see it you can’t taste it.

i guess now folks would call that wrong or unhealthy or something. i mean, we all know that sugar is on the bad-for-you list.

sure. whatever.

i just quit drinking tea cause it was staining my teeth, and i read somewhere that discolored teeth add about a decade to your real age.

yeah, i’m kidding. there’s no way i can talk about age in the same hemisphere as aunt rene cause the best thing that special woman (she was my great aunt) (and i mean that in more ways than one) ever taught me is to not ever tell ’em your age. “it’s none of their business,” she’d declare, the “damn” implied. “besides, just ’cause you can count it doesn’t mean it counts.” (she lived to be 97.5 years young.) (but who’s counting her years or the number of glasses of sweet tea she imbibed?)

best09
~~~
the stories are mine, but credit for the kindling goes to gwen bell and her best of 2009 blog challenge.
~~~

Technorati Tags:
#best09, #bestof2009

24 Comments

  1. emma

    Oh, my friend, this is so delightful and heartbreaking at once. Please, please, please take ownership of your rush! And find the people with whom to surround yourself that support it rather than fear it.

    But I’ve never understood the appeal of sweet tea. I’m all about the sun tea – tea bag, water, sunrays for steeping, ice to make it cold. And a straw.

    • whollyjeanne

      you know, emma, i think i’ve found those people right here in this blog challenge. such supportive, appreciative, friendly, fun people – i told my boy this morning that last week was like being in an altered state. and to think it was a last-minute kind of thing. best hail-mary i’ve ever thrown. thank you for your kind words.

      p.s. did i mention that he’s single?;)

  2. emma

    Oh, my friend, this is so delightful and heartbreaking at once. Please, please, please take ownership of your rush! And find the people with whom to surround yourself that support it rather than fear it.

    But I’ve never understood the appeal of sweet tea. I’m all about the sun tea – tea bag, water, sunrays for steeping, ice to make it cold. And a straw.

    • whollyjeanne

      you know, emma, i think i’ve found those people right here in this blog challenge. such supportive, appreciative, friendly, fun people – i told my boy this morning that last week was like being in an altered state. and to think it was a last-minute kind of thing. best hail-mary i’ve ever thrown. thank you for your kind words.

      p.s. did i mention that he’s single?;)

  3. Square-Peg Karen

    The “catching up…breaking up’ line cracked me up! I’m with Emma on the ownership of your rush thing – darn darn, that must’ve hurt! But NOW you can surround yourself with folks who “get” it…you’re delightful – I can’t imagine anyone wanting to turn your lights down – shine, sweetie!
    There was just a recent Fluent Self post (http://www.fluentself.com/blog/biggification/re-explaining-right-people/) where Havi explains about your just right people…you might like the post! Hope you find tons of them – you deserve that!!

    • whollyjeanne

      karen, i’m clicking on that link just as soon as i hit “submit” – thanks for sharing it. like i told emma, i do think i’ve found the just right people (love that term) here in this blog challenge, and you two are at the tip top of that list.

  4. Square-Peg Karen

    The “catching up…breaking up’ line cracked me up! I’m with Emma on the ownership of your rush thing – darn darn, that must’ve hurt! But NOW you can surround yourself with folks who “get” it…you’re delightful – I can’t imagine anyone wanting to turn your lights down – shine, sweetie!
    There was just a recent Fluent Self post (http://www.fluentself.com/blog/biggification/re-explaining-right-people/) where Havi explains about your just right people…you might like the post! Hope you find tons of them – you deserve that!!

    • whollyjeanne

      karen, i’m clicking on that link just as soon as i hit “submit” – thanks for sharing it. like i told emma, i do think i’ve found the just right people (love that term) here in this blog challenge, and you two are at the tip top of that list.

  5. Alana

    Ditto on what emma and karen said. And thank you for playing catch up too – makes me feel better about my own game 🙂

    • whollyjeanne

      you’ll notice it’s friday, and i’m only caught up to wednesday. not sure i can call that “caught up” with a straight face, but i’m gonna’ do it anyway.

  6. Alana

    Ditto on what emma and karen said. And thank you for playing catch up too – makes me feel better about my own game 🙂

    • whollyjeanne

      you’ll notice it’s friday, and i’m only caught up to wednesday. not sure i can call that “caught up” with a straight face, but i’m gonna’ do it anyway.

  7. Kate T.W.

    Before facebook there was no verb to unfriend. I never would have imagine friend and the un-word unfriend turning into verbs. Your college memories prompt me to unfriend those girls in my head for you right now. Done. We are no longer friends. Great post, and also a great post by Havi, although I do think that facebook can be a bit like… junior high. 😉

    • whollyjeanne

      isn’t havi’s post a good one? right on target. i think my just right people are on twitter.

  8. Kate T.W.

    Before facebook there was no verb to unfriend. I never would have imagine friend and the un-word unfriend turning into verbs. Your college memories prompt me to unfriend those girls in my head for you right now. Done. We are no longer friends. Great post, and also a great post by Havi, although I do think that facebook can be a bit like… junior high. 😉

    • whollyjeanne

      isn’t havi’s post a good one? right on target. i think my just right people are on twitter.

  9. TheWordWire

    It’s such a terrible shame women are so mean to each other sometimes. I really don’t get it, but I think it has something to do with jealousy, if you ask me. It’s too scary for those “homogenized” girls to step outside of some pre-described box. You deserve to feel happy to the ninth degree all the time — and that’s probably a much better revenge than facebook unfriending (though that could be a good rush too.)

    • whollyjeanne

      woman’s inhumanity to woman is indeed an ugly thing. i once stitched a piece, and whenever i’d tell people what it was, they’d shrink and walk away. it’s not a pretty thing, that’s true. i think you’re spot-on right about the fear.

  10. TheWordWire

    It’s such a terrible shame women are so mean to each other sometimes. I really don’t get it, but I think it has something to do with jealousy, if you ask me. It’s too scary for those “homogenized” girls to step outside of some pre-described box. You deserve to feel happy to the ninth degree all the time — and that’s probably a much better revenge than facebook unfriending (though that could be a good rush too.)

    • whollyjeanne

      woman’s inhumanity to woman is indeed an ugly thing. i once stitched a piece, and whenever i’d tell people what it was, they’d shrink and walk away. it’s not a pretty thing, that’s true. i think you’re spot-on right about the fear.

  11. Shannon Clattenburg

    Hello fellow best of 09 challenger.

    I have made it my personal commitment to comment on any blog discovered through the Gwen Bell Best of 09 Challenge, that i feel moved by.

    And so hear i am officially declaring my ‘move-ness’. I love the title of your blog! It concures up wonderful thoughts of back in the day when our [or at least mine] hearts were still free, and honest, and exposed. Without any fear of criticism.

    I also wanted to join the other commenter’s in encouraging you to get your rush on! And share it. Share it with the world. Or at least with other best 09 peeps, because those type of people are right here.

    Best of luck to you in 2010!

    • whollyjeanne

      what say we peel off the layers and take our hearts back to that time, shannon? thanks for the comment – am headed to your place right now. look forward to our paths crossing more this year.

  12. Shannon Clattenburg

    Hello fellow best of 09 challenger.

    I have made it my personal commitment to comment on any blog discovered through the Gwen Bell Best of 09 Challenge, that i feel moved by.

    And so hear i am officially declaring my ‘move-ness’. I love the title of your blog! It concures up wonderful thoughts of back in the day when our [or at least mine] hearts were still free, and honest, and exposed. Without any fear of criticism.

    I also wanted to join the other commenter’s in encouraging you to get your rush on! And share it. Share it with the world. Or at least with other best 09 peeps, because those type of people are right here.

    Best of luck to you in 2010!

    • whollyjeanne

      what say we peel off the layers and take our hearts back to that time, shannon? thanks for the comment – am headed to your place right now. look forward to our paths crossing more this year.

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