Quacking up

 

I dreamt about Joey early this morning. I haven't dreamed about him over this past year as much as I expected to. In any case, it's not a mystery why I did now. Thursday, we were at Wal-Mart, two of my daughters, my grand-daughter, the chief and I, and in the next check out line, there was a fella who looked so much like Joey that my heart skipped a beat! It wasn't just me...all of  us looked at each other, sending eye signals. It was eerie, I tell you. My inner dialog went something like this: "Joey! Wait, that can't be Joey. I wish that was Joey! Does anyone else think that he looks like Joey? Yep, they do. He looks like Joey. Wish it was Joey."  So it's no wonder that he has been on my mind more than usual, a year plus post mortem. What I dreamed is that zombie-Joey(and by zombie, I don't mean a flesh eating zombie, I mean "zombie" in the sense that his body was there but his essence was absent) was at my Dad's funeral, and then there was a tornado.  I don't really know why the tornado was there, but it was! Needless to say, I woke up with a gloom-cloud over my head!

     The past five weeks of summer school was insane! Wall-to-wall algebra with some English squeezed into the corners! So glad that's over with! By some miracle, I passed my final in math and ended the class with a B! I don't know about English yet. Those grades haven't posted. I'm pretty sure that that grade won't be lower than a B. While my first two essays only earned a "C", the next two were "B"s, and don't know yet about the last two, but I feel pretty good about them. I did very well in the grammar portion of the class. That whole thing was so intense, and then was abruptly over with....I don't really know what to do with myself now!

     I can tell you that I gained a wee bit of weight back over that 5 weeks! At the time, I just didn't care! I was far too busy trying to pass math and write essays to concern myself with nutrition and fitness. We ate a lot of pizza and convenience food, I can tell you that! But now that my awareness isn't otherwise occupied, i'm feeling pretty bummed about it! Time for carb rehab! Again.

    Independence Day has come and gone! I was glad that the Chief was home, and our duckies were all here.  In days gone by, the 4th of July was our most gloriously celebrated holiday! Myself, my siblings and our families (and often, other extended family)would gather at mom and dad's, and there was food galore, the annual flag cake, and a massive fireworks display from the road in front of the house. (A perk of living in small town, USA!) The men took turns helping the kids light fireworks, and the whole thing was wrapped up with hundreds and hundreds of sparkles, with other neighborhood children joining in. Now, our family is so spread out, and our children are mostly grown. There are a few of us missing...my brother in law who passed away about 5 years ago, and Joey, and now my dad...things just aren't the same anymore!  This year, we had lots of food, and it was a pleasant family day.  We went and bought a ton of fireworks...and then found out that NO fireworks, including sparklers and fountains, were legal within town limits! Bummer, that! I don't know what we are supposed to do with all of these fireworks now!

    And that, my friends, brings us to today!

 

Quack!