Good Monday Afternoon!

Monday!

Glory!

I had a very good weekend. How about you?

And Monday, the BEST day of the week is here. Yes it is.

My weekend. It was a good one. I had a writers group meeting on the faaaaaaar east side, some 40 miles from my house. So you KNOW I have to get my mind right to drive that far. Honestly, my hat's off to all those who are have to drive 40 miles to work or home. That's an  80 mile round trip every day. Heck, if you're making a 50 mile round trip... that's a lot going on.

I have learned something: when I have to drive that far, I BEST make sure that I get gas the day before. Better yet, I need to do whatever I need to do before that morning. That way I can just jump in the car and go without a bunch of stopping. That wasn't the case this time.  Lucy Jr. need gas. And I needed to find an ATM for cash. This all took me some extra 20 minutes of time. So, even with leaving the house at 9:00 am, I didn't get to the place until 10:15 am. Lesson learned. I so look forward to the meeting. If it starts at 10:00 am, I need to be there by 9:45 am.

Everyone is so NICE. I just like being around such nice people. It is such a dream.

Mrs. J. published a story in an anthology, and she was nice enough to autograph her story.

That's that bootleg right there. Go to the parking lot, grab a book out the trunk, and sign it. Period.

I like Mrs. J. Everytime she sees me, she runs up on me and gives me a big ol' hug. Several times. Such a sweet lady. I've learned so many life lessons from her.

After this meeting, some of us went out to lunch at Longhorn Steakhouse. I haven't been there in at least 20 years. I don't usually go out to lunch or even stick around on that side of the city because I'm usually preoccupied with getting back to my side of town. Especially if there is construction (one time, it took me 2 hours to get home. I was caught behind some paving. Yikes!) But this time, I hung out. I had a nice time. And the three folks I had lunch had amazing life stories.

I paid for our lunch. That didn't go over too well. But it was an offering of sorts. I'm so glad that they allowed me to join their writing group, even though I don't write Christian fiction. However, I think I write my own spiritual inspirational personal stories well in a nonfiction manner, and it gave me the courage to turn in something from blog for their anthology. So I'm happy for that. It gives me the courage to convert more blog entries into stories.

We said our good-byes, and I made the interesting decision to go to the Farmer's market... I say interesting because it was on a Saturday. Everybody and their Mama was up in that camp.

This store is located in a town that has the highest number of ethnic groups. And they cater to these people. This is the place where I've learned there's truly a plethora of fruits and veggies in the world.

The first time I went was back in 1990. I lived in the city, and would always pass while riding the public bus home. A classmate of mine lived out that way and we stopped in on the way home (this was her usual). We didn't have much money around that time, but we could buy a whole loaf of fresh made french for $1.00  Two feet of french bread lasted a long time, so that was a good deal. Now, some 25 years later, a loaf is $3.99.  Inflation is a mutha, ya'll.

Still, the same amount of people in the place. Crowded like a club on a Saturday night!

I bought groceries and went on home. Kentucky and I watched a couple of movies that night: Pastor Brown and Weird Science. (Imagine my O_o when she said she'd never seen Weird Science).

Sunday was a quiet day.  I've been trying to catch up with the chick I stalk like crazy, my  favorite author

writing mentor, that ol' Tayari. I haven'ttalked to her all summer, so I've been stalker stanning her something crazy on Words with Friends (Call me, Celie!).

I'm not a bag of nerves when I talk to her anymore. In the beginning, I was so starstruck by her, my favorite author in the world, that I made extra sure to be on my best behavior. That meant no busted english or wrong answers to questions. But after so many years, she gets the REAL LadyLee. I've gone from Hello when she calls to "Whassup Celie, Whatcha want, man!" LOL.

So we had a chance to talk. She has been rehabbing a busted shoulder, so we were laughing and half crying about that. I know what it's like to be in recovery and realize how foul it feels to take bodyparts for granted. Plus, she has such great stories to tell. And I expressed my angst over my sister leaving me. And she listened and consoled.

Tayari has to be one of my favorite people to converse with. We're only a few months apart in age and we are both SWATS chickens, so we get along very well. We've been friends for some 10 years now, and that's about the time needed to understand and accept people's arc. In other words, she deals well with my unique ways nicely.(Yes, that's a good word... unique).

But this chick is the most giving person I've ever met. Just generous to no fault, to the point where I fight the air with my fists as she tells me stories of some of her generosity, and I'm holler"See Man, I wanna give and sow on that level!"  She does stuff that's just her... automatic. THAT'S where I want to be. I've been working on it for close to 20 years. I've got a long way to go. And besides that, my already genius IQ increases by 1 point when I talk to her.

She's such a great writing mentor. But this is the first time in a long time that we didn't talk about writing. Too bad, because I need for her to read something. Humph. Glad to talk to her anyhow!

Much more went on this weekend. Too much to talk about in this post. But what I'm truly appreciate is that this has been a month already that I've had a chance to sit back and listen to the unique stories... stories of people's lives. To look at people, you never know they are dealing with certain issues. You never know the things they have overcome to get and be where they are. And my prayers this weekend, and this morning evening, were "Thank you Lord for allowing me to listen to people's stories."  I appreciate just understanding just one more layer of a person. I've even spent the month writing down those stories and how I felt about them... and how  they helped me.

Song of the Week. Uh, this is indicative of the many stories I've heard this month. Stories of the People. (Hey that's a good title for a book of short stories, hmm). "Creep" by Radiohead.



There's nothing like good grundge music, honey. Nothing like it!

That's it for me! We are moving fast towards the end of  sweepstakes! I HOPE I can get some 40-50 posts up. That would mean  4 to 5 $100 gift cards available. How LOVELY would that be? Very lovely indeed. So don't be surprised if you see 2 or 3 posts a day.

I have not been able to do all I want to do. And my spiritual posts wipe me out for some reason. And I think they are too... deep for ya'll. I promise though, some months from now, you will remember them and say, "Oh, NOW I get what she was talking about." Plus, I catalog posts here in a certain way so I can go back and look them up... just to encourage myself. There are ovoer 2000 posts here. That's a lot of encouraging!

Comment to win. Check back often. May be 2 or 3 posts per day. Don't worry, they may (or may not be). We're up to 32 posts. I should easily be able to make 40 posts. And I will push to 50 if possible. However many the number, it's up to YOU  to comment. The more comments, the more chances there are to win. Laura seems to be gunning hard. And wouldn't it be nice if folks won multiple cards? OH JOY!! Talking about buying some groceries and panties at the Wal-marts.

GLORY!!

Have a great week...

Not by default, but by design and on purpose!!