It was an action packed weekend, the kind that leaves you wondering if the weekend was too long, or too short. I live by the adage, if you walk into work Monday morning with sore muscles, at least you know you are alive. You feel it in your bones. A little ibuprofen takes care of a lot of that.

Friday night I went out dancing with some friends. We went to this little redneck country bar. That in itself is usually it’s own form of entertainment. I rarely go to bars. I’m not a teatottler or a prohibitionist by any means. They just aren’t places that I frequent.

My beverage of choice is coffee even in places like that. I have this obsessive thing to be in strict control of my faculties at all times, so I avoid the effects of “lobotomy in a bottle”. Young, old, this usually ends up with side orders of “loud and obnoxious” as well. I went there to dance, and dance I did.

In any dance setting there are always a couple or two that really know how to get their groove thang on. They are poetry in motion and a joy to watch. Sadly, that isn’t the majority. Especially among the hounds. They have the appearance of epileptics in the through of a seizure. Their buddies Jim (Beam) and Jack (Daniels) tell them they are Fred Astaire or Usher. Whatever makes them feel secure, you know?

The band wasn’t terribly horrid and the crowd was not awful even at 10:00 pm. There is that saying, everyone’s a 2 at 10:00 (pm) and a 10 at 2:00 (am). I went to one little redneck dive in a neighboring state and was instantly pegged as being someone from “out of town”. When the bartender was asked how she knew this, her reply was, “Your too clean to be from around here”. I have been spotted as a tourist due to speech, license plates, ect. It’s the only time that personal hygiene was a dead give away. And no, this was NOT in a southern state. (Even at 2:00 (am) the best one could hope for from the locals was a 4 1/4, and that was according to THEIR standards!)

The two youngest pups of my clan had plans for Saturday, so Caits and I had a “girls day out”. We went to a small near-by town and went window shopping in the antique stores then headed for the big city and spent the rest of the day in the mall. We visited the shops, got temporary Japanese symbol tattoos (to freak the Nana & Paw Paw out) and guy watched while we sipped cappuccinos at the little coffee shop. It was a day of two wild and crazy girls set loose on the town.

We talked about so many things. Our relationships with our children (and our parents) evolve over time. Caits is at an age, where I can talk to her differently than I could when she was five. She is a young woman. At one point she laughed and said, “I can’t believe you are telling me these things. If I had known this time would come, I would have been more patient.”

When they were little, my kids thought I was darn near close to being Mother Theresa. They no longer see me that way. I am much more human to them now. That’s exactly what I need to be. I laugh, I cry, I make mistakes. They still see me as the strongest person they know. Which is also exactly who I need to be.

Last week a friend and I were discussing kayaking. We both have always wanted to try it, but haven’t. I said, “girl, we need to not talk about it, we need to just DO it!” Neither one of us have ever kayaked, but hey, we are vixens, how hard can it be? So, we decided, there’s no time like the present and that’s how we spent Sunday afternoon.

Leisurely kayaking down a small river.

It was so peaceful. Due to the area being plagued with drought, the river is low and there were a couple of times that we had to kayak around sand bars and fallen trees. We were quite smug about the fact that we arrived at the pick-up area fifteen minutes ahead of schedule. We now consider ourselves experienced kayakers and we are fairly certain that we are ready for some white water kayaking.

These days in the sun, with family, friends, loved ones, are the ones that make us feel alive. Life is an adventure to be experienced and savored. Each day is a gift.

Big ones or small ones, with a companion or alone, may You find an adventure, in each and every day.

Til next time... Love, sassy v

© sassy vixen1 2005

"Live Like You Were Dyin'" ~ Tim McGraw

He said I was in my early 40's,
With a lot of life before me,
And a moment came that stopped me on a dime.
I spent most of the next days, lookin' at the x-rays,
Talkin' 'bout the options and talkin' 'bout sweet time.
Asked him when it sank in, that this might really be the real end.
How's it hit ya, when you get that kind of news.
Man what ya do.
And he says,

[Chorus]

I went sky divin',
I went rocky mountain climbin',
I went 2.7 seconds on a bull named Fumanchu.
And I loved deeper,
And I spoke sweeter,
And I gave forgiveness I've been denying,
And he said someday I hope you get the chance,
To live like you were dyin'.

He said I was finally the husband,
That most the time I wasn't.
And I became a friend a friend would like to have.
And all of a sudden goin' fishing,
Wasn't such an imposition.
And I went three times that year I lost my dad.
Well I finally read the good book,
And I took a good long hard look at what I'd do
If I could do it all again.
And then.

[Chorus]

Like tomorrow was a gift and you've got eternity
To think about what you do with it,
What could you do with it, what can
I do with it, what would I do with it.

[Chorus]
Sky divin',
I went rocky mountain climbin',
I went 2.7 seconds on a bull named Fumanchu.
And I loved deeper,
And I spoke sweeter,
And I watched an eagle as it was flyin'.
And he said someday I hope you get the chance,
To live like you were dyin'.

To live like you were dyin'.
To live like you were dyin'.
To live like you were dyin'.
To live like you were dyin'.