Pretty In Pink!

This morning I was multi-tasking, which is not easy to do for someone as old as I am. I used to be able to do five or six things at once, but sadly those days are long gone and so are a lot of other things like: my looks, my vision, my teeth, and now my memory has started playing tricks on me. Heck, I'm lucky if I can make it into my office down the hallway without forgetting why I went in there in the first place! Sorry for getting sidetracked, let me tell you what I was doing this morning.

While I was working out with Leslie walking my six fast miles, I started reminiscing about my childhood family vacations. They were so much fun! One summer vacation my parents took all four of us kids, planted tightly in the backseat of their giant Buick and drove us all the way up to Minnesota and back. The best part of that trip was going to the Paul Bunyon Park, somewhere up north. Unbeknownst to Ronnie and me, my parents gave the cashier our names when they purchased the six tickets to let us go inside the theme park. When we entered, Paul Bunyon, a giagantic, cemented version of a man holding a really big fake ax said, "Welcome Ronnie and Nancy from Fort Worth, Texas!" That was a great vacation! Ronnie and I bragged about it for over a year and I guess that I am still bragging about it.

Then Mom and Dad got "The Camping Itch" for the next four years, and I got "the mosquito itch." They bought a light yellow colored 1960 Chevy Impala station wagon for those four fun filled, two-week-long vacations up in Roaring River National Park in Missouri. Those were great vacations. I rode horses, hiked, fished and swam in the cold river with my family, when I wasn't sitting on a stool by the campfire, scratching at the hundreds of mosquito bites that I got on each trip up there in the Ozarks.

 For some reason, no one else in my family had a problem with the menacing mosquitos but me. When I would whine about all of the bites, Ronnie would tease me about it and laugh behind my parents back, as they put some kind of pink lotion on me and took turns telling me, "The reason that the mosquitos love you more than anybody else in our family is because you are so sweet." So, I tried being mean, but it didn't work at all, it just got me into trouble with my parents for being a pill. Minus those mosquito bites and being pink all over, those were four of my favorite family vacations.

Near the end of my six miles, I realized that I was starting to get really depressed. I was missing my parents so much and all of  the fun times that I had with my family. I realized I was spiraling into the "classic holiday depression hole," so when I was done walking with Leslie, I put on my jacket and went outside, in my sweats, to see what was going on and thank goodness I did!

I found Ellen, Eileen and Tony in Ruth Buzzi and Chuck's pen and in no time flat I was smiling and laughing, again! We talked about our dogs, Kinky and Mr. Magoo, Julia Child getting adopted, Eileen's new fancy sports car, Susan Boyle and how much we love her singing. Then they told me about being best horseback riding buddies back in Mississippi over thirty years ago. Then their lives took them elsewhere and they got out of touch with each other until recently. "We were at a meeting in Borne, and I kept thinking that woman over there sure looks like Ellen," Eileen said. After the meeting they reconnected and they are now best friends in Kerrville!

As we were laughing about it and the odds of both of them winding up in Kerrville, Lisa and Matt walked up with Honey and Baxter. The five of us had a fun visit, then Matt and Lisa took off to return the happy dogs back to their pen, so they could walk some more of our lucky dogs!

On my way back to the trailer I realized I no longer had the holiday blues. Thanks to our dogs and our wonderful volunteers I was happy and smiling, again!

This afternoon Tony came into the kitchen with his computer to show me a video of Smilin' Jack chasing tennis balls in the surf with Fiona! Kelly took the video of Pete playing with their dogs and it made me smile and tear up with happiness! Pete & Kelly and I are working on how to get the video to me, because I cannot wait to share it with all of y'all! You're gonna love it even though it will put a happy tear in your eye!

Y'all have a great evening!

P.S. One last thing about getting old, your eyelashes don't actually fall out, they just seem to disappear!