double nickel day

I never thought of it that way, until Yaya called this morning to remind me that I was 55 and wish me a happy day.  She was one of three loved ones who called me before the work clock ever clicked over to 7AM on my birthday.  Can't beat that with a stick!  While I had planned on a sleepover at BG's house tonight, we had to switch nights because the evil virus still lingers.  It looks like rain which is NOT good news for the Dyer County Fair.  That one single event has been an ever present part of my birthday heritage for as long as I can remember, which is fitting for a country gal whose parents spent every first week of September working in some capacity to make it a success.  My mother published a cookbook of recipes from her newspaper columns and home demonstration clubs and sold it to help finance the women's building at the present site.  Daddy is a past president.  Not to worry, though.  We never got special treatment on the midway or anything like that.

I worked the entrance gates for years, using the money I earned for whatever was needed at that time in my teenage years...usually gas to run around on.  It is a ritual for many people around these parts who take a week of vacation from their day job just to sell tickets and see who's coming out to wander amongst the ferris wheels and giant pumpkins.  As a young teen, I would sneak around and meet local boys in the shadows by the barns, stealing a kiss or two before returning to the fun house with all those strange mirrors and sounds.  There are beauty pageants EVERY day of the week, and lots of scurrying to and fro by fair association folks who bust their butts to make it a special event for families.  Our country could use more of that, ya know?

Back in the day, our Methodist church participated in a pastor exchange with a young minister from England.  For several months while our preacher was over there, Reginald Mallet and his family  became some of our own.  I was probably about eight at the time, give or take a year but I remember it like it was yesterday.  Reg was not only an ordained Methodist minister, but a physician as well which gave him a great perspective on ministries of healing.  Over the years he and his family have been back many times to the churches that befriended them during those visits.  He was a regular at Lake Junaluska in NC and every other place where you could find large numbers of southern Methodists hungry for guidance from a man who came from true Wesleyan roots.  His messages were always about peace, love and tolerance.  Found an an email today saying that he has passed onto the house with many mansions.

As for the dude who shall be known from this point on as "the Florida idiot" I sincerely hope that homeland security has the waterhose turned on high to blow his stupid bigoted ass out of the churchyard before he causes the end of   world peace this fragile situation that we know as our earth.  There's one in every crowd, ya know?  Big Ernie does not approve......and that's a message straight from God out of the mouth of this babe.  If I were a casting director, I would be ringing up Ed Harris right about now to play that part in an upcoming movie.  Think "Truman Show" with an evil evangelical twist.

Of course if there were no media coverage of his antics, it would be a moot point.  Something to think about? Bet your sweet ass ^j^

^j^