Random thought of the day

A long long time ago in a far away galaxy I was a kid. And I had a mother who was nothing like me. I know I know, it's the daughter that's nothing like the mother. Stay with me, I'll get there.


I grew up outside of a small podunk "town" with only one stop sign, two gas stations, a community center, elementary school, and two trailer parks. We had to borrow the zip code from a real town 12 miles away. The elementary school started combining grades when I was in the fifth grade because there were so few of us. There were 15 kids in the fourth and fifth grade combined.

[Johnny B Good]

The house I grew up on was only on three acres, but was surrounded by mostly farms and woods. I had an on again off again step-brother that couldn't stand me and the feeling was mutual. I spent my free time running through the woods, riding my horse, camping with my bestest buddy, or swimming in the pool. I wanted at least 10 pets, but satisfied my pet need by playing with snakes and frogs. I hated wearing dresses and once I was old enough to put my foot down about what I wore, I didn't own any. I was a jeans and t-shirt kind of gal from the start. I went through a phase one year in middle school when I wanted to be girly enough to wear makeup. But I knew nothing about putting it on so looked more like Bozo the Clown instead of Farah Faucett. Most of my friends were boys. Needless to say, I was never a cheerleader.

[Don't Give Me No Lines and keep your hands to yourself]

During this time my mom was the embodiment of girly. She wore makeup from the time she got out of the shower to the time she went to bed. She wore nice clothes every day. Her nails were perfect and she had regular manicure and hair appointments every month. She wanted nothing to do with dogs, but we were allowed a cat and had one small terrier for a short time that I was told went to a nice farm to live. Uh huh. I had to have been switched at birth. Whenever I'd bring that up she'd reply with "Oh no, you're definitely my kid. You came out ass first and have been causing me grief ever since." Don't hold back mom, tell me how your really feel.

[Sweet Home Alabama]

My mom tried really hard to turn me into a girl. She bought me pink and yellow girly clothes -- back then jeans didn't come in pink or yellow. My bedroom was originally painted pink. I rebelled by getting my bedroom painted in khaki. She'd by me jewelry which I promptly lost. And sometimes I gave in. I agreed to get my ears pierced, then let the holes grow back in a few weeks later (I did eventually pierce them again myself with an ice cube and needle. All for the sake of a boy named Billy). I think my mom finally gave up on turning me into a girl the day she admitted that I really might have been switched at birth because I obviously had way to much tom boy in me.

[Freebird]

Years after I had moved out she and my step-father got divorced after something like 25 years. My mother met another man, fell in love, moved to Texas, and started raising goats. No kidding, check out her out-of-date website (get on that mom): http://buttingheadsranch.biz/ . My mother gets just as dirty and grimy now as I do with my horses. She has dirt under her nails and no longer whines about it if one breaks, and she hasn't had a manicure in years. She lets her hair grow for several months before cutting or coloring it. The nice clothes have been shoved into boxes and thrown into storage. She rarely wears jewelry or makeup anymore. And you know what? She looks better.

So my mother has grown up to be just like me. :)

[Hippie Hippie Shake?]



If you're wondering why there are song titles littering this post it's because one of our neighbors owns a local bar and they are either having a party at their house or they're auditioning a band for their bar. These are the songs that have serenaded me as I sit in the dark on the porch and type up this post. The band sucks. Bring back the crickets and bullfrogs.