Big Doin's!

It was a big day in Moon Land today. Jessie, Lily, Rachel, Liz Sparks, and I were all set to get pedicures this morning. Liz was excited. She told me that the last pedicure she got was for the wedding of a friend. She thought about it for a second and then she said, "And her son is about to graduate high school."
So it's been about seventeen years for her. I whooped with laughter. 
Of course it turned out that Jessie could not come. Not only did August test positive for strep, so did Levon although he wasn't showing symptoms. So they were both home from school although both were feeling pretty darn good. 
Here's what they looked like after Liz took them some chocolate chip, pecan cookies. 

Before I met up with the ladies, I took my leftover turkey soup and last night's eggplant parmesan for the Weatherford's to eat. I gave the boys a quick hello and August asked me what I was doing there. "Bringing you some food," I said. 

"What kind?" he asked. 
I told him and he said, "I won't like that," and I said, "And that does not bother me in the least."
He gave me a hug anyway. 

It looked like Lily might not make it today either. Maggie and Gibson are both home from school with icky coughs but Lauren offered to stay with them. Lauren is...the best.

So we got our magical massaging chairs with foot baths and chose our colors. I opted for a rather violet-hued pink today, instead of my usual dark red but Liz liked the red one. Lily got sparkly green and gold and Rachel got a sparkly bronze, I think we'd call it. We felt so fancy. The tiny lady who did my pedicure was the sweetest thing. She would look at me over her mask with the most caring expression like, "Is this good? Is this?" And I praised her over and over. She reminded me a little of the nurse who took care of me after I had the kidney stone blasting procedure who seemed to view me as a cherished grandmother. She treated me with such tenderness. I would adopt either one of them in a heartbeat. 

Lily went home right after we finished up at the nail salon and Liz and Rachel and I went to lunch at a new Peruvian place nearby. It was fun and lovely, too. 

Isn't Rachel beautiful? 

And doesn't Liz look like a movie star in her sunglasses? 

Yes. Yes she does. We all three got sandwiches and what was called "pumpkin soup." The soup tasted entirely of cheese in our opinions but who could complain about that? It was delicious! 

We talked and laughed and there may have even been a tear or two (I mean, I WAS there) and when lunch was over I thanked Rachel for hanging out with her elders. She's as sweet as she is pretty. 

And then I went to a kitchen supply store to get cheesecloth and it turned out that the guy working there is someone I knew back in the olden, olden days. He and his wife were good friends with my darling Sue-Sue. We caught up and he seems to be great. Says his wife has just retired after teaching for 47 years and is now volunteering in the same school and taking a Master Gardening class. 

Some people really do not know how to relax. 

And their daughter is about to get her PhD. So they are well and it was good to see him, good to hear such fine things. 

Then on to Costco where I bought a giant bottle of spiced rum because of course you can't buy a small bottle of anything at Costco. That's what I plan to soak the cheesecloth in before I wrap the fruitcakes in it, and then cover them tightly with aluminum foil. I now have enough spiced rum to make fruitcakes well into the next decade.

So that was my big day. I've really not felt great today. I hope with all of my heart that I'm not coming down with strep and I'm probably not. Lord knows I've been exposed to it quite a few times in the past year and haven't gotten it. Seems like I'm always getting a little sick at fruit-cake making time. Another fine holiday tradition. 

I have not gotten any more of the horrid spammy comments since I started comment moderation but in a way, that disturbs me because it seems that perhaps whoever was making the comments actually does read the blog and knows that they wouldn't get through. I don't know. I'm going to be a good hippie and say, "I'm just not going to give that a lot of energy," and soon I'll take comment moderation off and see what happens then. I think that for people who always moderate, it's no big deal to do but I am so used to not having to do it that it seems like a bit of a pain in the ass to me. I'm not complaining. What blogger does not live for comments? And honestly, it's more of a disturbance in my holy and proscribed daily routine than a bother. 
Man, the rut I'm in is so deep that I have to look up to see bottom. 
I cannot take credit for that line. When I lived in Winter Haven, our across-the-street neighbor was a woman named Wilma who was country-born and country-bred and she had some terrific phrases. The one I just quoted was something she said once about a person who was in a deep depression and it went more like, "He's so down he's looking up to see bottom."

I'm not sure I've ever heard a more accurate description of depression. I have never forgotten it. And when I think about it, I also remember a friend of mine whom I loved so very dearly who got completely hooked on meth (or was it crack?) and one time, when we were talking honestly, he said, "Mary, people always say you have to reach bottom before you can get better but what they don't know is that there is no bottom. Every time you think you get there, it just goes lower down."

Phew. 

He did later get off drugs and was doing well and his joy in life was enormous. And then...he had a cardiac event that killed him instantly. He is sorely missed by many and will always be.

You know what? It's really hard to be a human. That's one of the things Liz and Rachel and I talked about today. 

Let us ponder that and remember to be open to the possibility that most of us are doing the very best we can, no matter what it looks like from the outside. 

Carry on.

Love...Ms. Moon