Mother's Day is Sunday Y'all...Don't Forget!

It’s been an incredibly long week. It’s an interesting feeling when the tone of a town completely changes and you can literally feel it in the air. Each fall, the collective population of Tuscaloosa gathers together in excitement with the feeling of football in the midst. It’s something you can inhale, smell and almost taste. Usually, this is the only time when we are all connected, when we are going through the same layer and progression of emotions and it’s kind of awesome…there is a reason that the SEC is known as the best conference (at least to us) because you can feel it in your bones here. Those are moments of happiness. The last 9 days, as a collective, we’ve experienced a different barrage of emotional stages. We’ve all experienced fear for ourselves, our homes and our families, sorrow for those who lost loved ones, those who lost everything they own and for the loss of the neighborhoods, businesses and areas we all know, and finally, we’ve felt inspiration and hope gained from the thousands of people so willing to give their time, money and efforts to restoring our cities and the other cities affected. For those of us who survived the storms unscathed, we have felt the need to reach out and do something, to bury the guilt we feel for our immense blessings and the anger we have for the minor inconveniences we’ve faced…our community needs more than that…they need our complete attention and dedication. I can’t speak for other towns but I think they will agree that if you want to experience these bundle of emotions, all you have to do is drive through, see the devastation, see those who barely escaped the path of the storm, see those working hard to restore their lives. Things are already improving, a lot of rubble has been moved and people are being provided for and I want to help as much as I can. A friend gave me this quote from our mayor, Walt Maddox (who has done an AMAZING job), “From the very beginning, I've said we will not let the tornadoes define us. We'll let our determination to overcome ... be what Americans remember us by…” I couldn’t have said it better myself. Thanks to everyone for all of their support for our community. I hope I don’t disappoint myself or my community by slacking in my small role for the relief efforts but I have to say…it’s not easy to do that…all you have to do is drive down one of the main roads in Tuscaloosa and you will run into a neighborhood or area that was hit and there is no way you can forget.

Ok-now that I’ve said all that, I will tell you that I weighed Thursday morning instead of this morning because I celebrated Cinco de Mayo yesterday. I was up around a pound…maybe a few ounces less. Honestly, I’m not at all surprised…I’ve been slacking on the weekends so it stands to reason that I was up a little. I ate too much last night and next week is “birthday week,” so I am not going to get on a scale until the morning of May 19th. This way, I will have several days of being good layered in with the days I’m going to eat too much. I will get a chance to see where I’m at before I go to the beach. My goal is to be about 1 pound less than my lowest weight before I go to New York. That gives me a little over 3 weeks after the beach to get back in the groove and lose anything I will have gained and then maybe even a pound more. As long as I am perfectly strict on the days that I need to be, I should be OK but that’s easier said than done.



I went up to Birmingham Tuesday night to celebrate Jordan’s birthday and this is a picture from that night. It’s kind of ridiculous how many pictures Jordan and I have in this EXACT pose. I think we should challenge ourselves to be more creative from now on…oh well. We had a nice dinner and that’s all that matters. I also had a good time last night with a couple friends. We decided we would be better served enjoying Cinco de Mayo inside our apartment rather than gallivanting our celebratory tails around town…it’s a little too soon for all that but I have to say it was a nice distraction. It was the first time we all sort of got together and enjoyed each other’s company and allowed ourselves to let the conversation stray from the tornado damage. I had way too much yummy food but if you put chips and salsa in front of me and don’t limit me to 12 chips…it’s on.

This weekend, I have a lot of cleaning to do and errands to run, I hope to volunteer some and maybe go to the driving range since I haven’t been in FOREVER. Also, I am going to cook dinner for my Mom, Oma and the rest of the family…



I hope my mom knows how much I appreciate her. I want both of my parents to know that I love them and when I saw them Wednesday night, alive and unharmed, I realized how important each person in my family is to me. I don’t deserve the life I have. I am usually a pretty good gift giver but this year, as much as it pains me, I am pinching pennies (to put it mildly) and I can’t do the things I want to do for them…give them the mother’s day and father’s day gifts that they deserve. Right now, I can’t afford to do anything as I’m scraping every dollar so I can go be young and obnoxiously uninhibited in New York. I have nicer, more fun gifts planned for their birthdays that I hope I am able to do…I know that they are just happy to have me around but one of these days, when I write my best seller…I want to be able to take care of them…until then…I hope dinner, a hug and a card will do. Love you Mom!!!

Have a wonderful weekend!

If you still have her, give your mom a hug!

Bye!

“I don’t know where I’m at
I’m standing at the back
And I’m tired of waiting
Waiting here in line, hoping that I’ll find what I’ve been chasing.

I shot for the sky
I’m stuck on the ground
So why do I try, I know I’m gonna to fall down
I thought I could fly, so why did I drown?
Never know why it’s coming down, down, down.

Not ready to let go
Cause then I'd never know
What I could be missing
But I’m missing way too much
So when do I give up what I’ve been wishing for.

I shot for the sky
I’m stuck on the ground
So why do I try, I know I’m gonna to fall down
I thought I could fly, so why did I drown?
Never know why it’s coming down, down, down.
Oh I am going down, down, down
Can’t find another way around
And I don’t want to hear the sound, of losing what I never found.” Down-Jason Walker