Let's Discuss

Jessie, Liz Sparks, and I all met for lunch today at a Thai restaurant that I ate at once a million years ago, Jessie has never eaten at before, and Liz says she ate there once with a husband but she wasn't sure which. 
She's only had two but you know how these things sort of blur together. 

I love Tom Kha soup. I mean- it is one of my favorite things to eat in this whole world and by all rights I should grow some damn lemongrass. I grew some at the last house where we lived and it got big enough to be an ornamental. 
Or maybe I should just go to Thai restaurants more often. 

It was so good for me to crawl out of Lloyd and meet up with women. I feel like Jessie is a crone-in-training when she's with me and one of my friends. And of course, that would usually be either Liz or Lis. I think all of my kids used to enjoy hanging out with my friends when they came over. I know Hank did. He'd be as quiet as a mouse so that I wouldn't notice him and send him to bed. I'm sure he got quite an education. I did used to have a wide circle of extremely diverse friends. 

But now of course, Jessie isn't just a little child listening with big eyes to crazy grown-up talk, but a grown woman herself and when she talks about a problem with child behavior or how it feels to be a mother and a wife, I think, or at least I hope, that we can ease her mind a little. 
"Oh, I remember when my boys..."
Say's Liz. 
"Oh, I remember when you kids..."
I say. 

And look! We all survived! 
Quite possibly by the skin of our teeth in some instances but survive we did and so did our children.

So that was a splendid lunch and although the Tom Kha soup wasn't the best I'd ever had, it was still delicious and I enjoyed every drop of it. The restaurant is a small and barely noticeable place in a strip mall on one of Tallahassee's main thoroughfares. But as you can see from the picture, it's charming. I especially loved the chair drapes.

Liz showed us pictures and told us stories of people she knows whose houses were completely trashed by the tornados. It's still so unbelievable to me. I have not driven through the areas that were so hard hit and so to me, it's like a dream of a rumor. Something you'd see on TV. 
Liz said that one of her friends had something like three trees fall on her house who said that they just laid down very quietly. 
Whoa. Whenever a tree has fallen here, there are sounds associated with it that I am far more familiar with than I'd like to be. First there's a sound like a giant rip as the tree gives up a huge part of itself, and then a slight hesitation, followed by a swish and a crash and I have felt the ground shake. 
But I've never been in the same place as a tornado taking down trees and I hope I never am. 

After lunch I went to the library and then to Publix, and Mr. Moon came home from Tom's fairly soon after I got home. He had planned on going to the river and I was going to go with him but he'd gotten into some poison ivy and so wanted to take a good shower to see if he could wash off some of the oils before they could do their evil work. By the time he was done with that, he was ready to sit down in his chair and we'll go to the river another time. Soon, I hope. He also has gotten ticks and chiggers working over there and yet, he remains cheerful. He is by god going to get that tiny house on that property and get it tied down and hooked up. Every day brings new hurdles to overcome but as Mr. Moon's daddy used to say, "Ain't no hill too high for a stepper." 
Or something like that. 
He tells me stories about Tom's stubbornness that I cannot believe he can tolerate. And he just laughs. I'd be gone in five minutes. 
As I told Jessie today, in the past week I have realized two things about her daddy.
1. He is far more patient and persistent than I realized and, 
2. He loves a project more than I could ever have imagined. 
And this is a project with a purpose. It's not just fixing up an old car or making a folding table. He is doing something that will allow Tom to keep on living where he wants and in improved circumstances. 
I know I keep praising him but he has seriously gone far and above what probably 99% of us would do in these circumstances. 
He's not walking on water or turning water into wine yet. Trust me. But he's proving his mettle and that's for sure. 

So that's about it from Lloyd. Tomorrow I'm going to go get my hair trimmed by our darling Melissa. That woman is so popular that getting an appointment with her is on the same level of difficulty as getting an appointment with the Pope. I could have just gone to some regular hair-hacker but seeing Melissa is worth the wait. I am looking forward to that. She and her husband's house was hit hard and I know she'll have a lot to tell me while she's getting rid of at least eight inches of my hair which is ridiculously long. I'm pretty sure it's longer than it was during covid. 

I better go cook supper for that paragon of manhood and loyalty I'm married to. That's about the least I can do. And probably the most I will do as well. 

Love...Ms. Moon