I know this guy who is good friends with Earl Hamner, the creator of "The Waltons". Ya'll remember them, right? My friend shared with me that he had talked with Mr. Hamner this weekend and asked him how today's economy compared to the Great Depression. "No comparison" was his reply. He went on to comment that people living in this day and time in our country don't know how good they've got it. I must say, sometimes I don't. My parents were born in '31 and '33 respectively right smack in the middle of the whole ordeal. Without a doubt, I know from whence I come because they've told me about it from their unique perspectives.

Things were simpler then. Survival depended on planning ahead in faith and the kindness of others who were doing well that day. What's mine is yours and all that. As the American economy boomed during the fifties and sixties a movement was born that involved a whole bunch of nekkid swimming up in New York. Oh, and peace and love too :) There was a war on and those hippies were tired of seeing their friends and family come back from 'nam shellshocked and addicted. Some folks finally said no more, and the rest is history.

That we have let the "war on terror persist" for this long makes me sick when I consider the number of people, including Iraqis, who have lost their lives because we need oil to get to the job to earn the big bucks to pay for the toys that we bought on credit just because we wanted them. Right.Damn.Now. I'm as guilty as anybody else and when I think about the amount of time I spent away from my child while she was growing up just to earn a buck, I feel like sending her a sympathy card or takin' her on a cruise or something. Me and her Dad both worked our asses off to buy things that are mostly gone. She and I are partners now in every sense of the word. It makes puttin' up with her fourteen year old moody self somehow worth all the doors that got slammed in my face. She is a survivor which is all we ever wanted for her. Do I hear an amen?

This is the part of summer where I begin to lose my love affair with growing things because, well. Dammit it's hot out there. That patio up at the kudzu bar is the perfect spot to stretch out when the weather's nice but July means hunkering down under the AC and it's pretty loud in there what with all the domino slapping and karyokeein' and such. The plants are still alive in the shady corner though :)

No wild horses or fightin' dogs today. Maybe tomorrow.

^j^