The death of "the circle".............

It's actually quite sad. I remember when they tore down "the circle". I cried like a part of me was being ripped from my tiny hands. It hurt. It truly hurt. "The circle" had been the home to so many wonderful things and significant things in my life. When the bull dozer went back there.....the first thing they did was tear up our "circle". We all wept. Someone had sold the land so that a neighborhood could be built back there. One of the lots included the pond that Paige and I always went too. That was hard. Something we had taken as our own, something we made as our own......never really realizing that it could all be taken away in a moments notice.......was demolished before our very eyes. Wow....I'm remembering it.....it was so heart breaking.

Things I get enjoyment from.............things I would miss if they were taken away.......

So I gave someone close to me a little "project". It went something like this - Write down all the things, big or small, that you get enjoyment from......and all the things you would miss if they were taken away....if you feel stressed - write down "why".

It's a pretty good assignment - so I decided to do it as well.

The person I was talking to finds it hard to find the positives when there are negatives. And - sometimes it is hard, but I guarantee there are so many things to be thankful for that if you write them down....it will help you remember these things. All too often we focus on the negative and forget about the beautiful things.......all too often.

When you have a really nice moment.....take it in....all that it is....the smells, the sounds...what you see - Take a picture in your mind. You will remember it. About 7 or 8 years ago, I remember I was eating crawfish on a blanket under a tree by the LSU lakes. The temperature was great, the wind was blowing, the sun was shining.....I remember feeling the breeze across my face and right then and there I knew this was a moment I would want to remember. I looked up through the tree and all the rays of sun were shining through, lighting up each leaf as the wind made them all dance. I closed my eyes and soaked it up for a moment. I can still picture it exactly.

Hmmmm.......let me see if I can think of other random things like that.

Ohhhh - here is one. It's a smell. You know that squirrelly smell? The smell little kids get when they have been playing outside? That reminds me of being a kid. My cousins and I use to play outside all the time. I'm talking, wake up, get dressed, get locked outside with an igloo full of kool-aid for the rest of the day. It was pure heaven. We lived in a pecan orchard. It was a dead end street that ended with a huge circle and then as far as you could see was fields. It was truly beautiful. Each family had a four-wheeler, so all of us kids would gather them all up and head on to "the circle". I remember having many heart to hearts with my best friend while walking to "the circle". There big gates up that were suppose to keep people out I think, but we just sat on them and hung on them, then drove our four-wheelers around them! I remember going back to those fields and shooting skeet with my dad, well, I pulled the string. In the very back of the field - there was a big beautiful pond. Sometimes we would get a blanket, toss it on the four-wheeler and just lay out in the field and look at the clouds. Sometimes we would go as fast as we could without falling off......sometimes we fell. Most of the times, my best friend and I, went to the pond and fished all day long. Now, I can't remember any deep conversations......but I remember always being wrapped up in those moments. Just Paige and I. A bag of hot dogs and a couple fishing poles. One day a huuuuuge tree fell over into the pond, almost like a bridge......we would go out to end and dangle our legs and just fish and hangout.

I enjoy having those memories, and I miss those moments and am so thankful that I ever had them.

I could write about my childhood, life in the country......for days on end.

We would ride our four-wheelers sooooooooo fast! Stopping off on the side to eat a muscadine here or there, sometimes we would go exploring in the woods to seek out something neat.

Pecans - I am thankful for pecans b/c they have beautiful memories for me too! I'm telling you, when you are locked out the house all day, you learn to live off the land! haha

Muscadines and Pecans and whatever was in Nannie's garden and kool-aid.

Paige and I spent an entire summer it seemed like, picking up pecans (b/c you could sell them) and bagging them. We worked so hard. Finally........it was time to turn them in. We were so excited to see how much our work paid off. Boy, were we let down......$6.00 is what we got!!!!!!!!!!!! hahha! Okay, I'm getting side tracked. I'm going to write more about stories from my childhood!