Reflections From a Country Girl

Carrie Underwood sings a song about mistakes she made that started when she told a man she didn’t know here name at a bar one night. It’s a cute little some with some potentially serious complications. In it, she wakes up the next morning with a ring on her  left hand finger in Las Vegas.  

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This is Mother’s Day….2008.  It’s the first Mother’s Day without my mother.  She died in March after living a long and relatively happy life. 

I admit to being a bit sad that she is not here today.  After all, she was the best mother anyone could have.  

I was sitting in the doctor’s office yesterday for my checkup and was thumbing through a  magazine when I saw an article about someone who had distanced herself from her mother for three years before she died.  If her description of her relationship with her mother was true, she needed to do just that. 

It was sad, however, that she had not been able to have a decent relationship with her mother.  We all deserve that. 

In most cases, when I have dealt with troubled mother/child relationships in the past, I remind the child that the parent is doing the best she can do at the time.  

I was reminded in the article yesterday that there are some instances where a mother is not able to function as a parent effectively.  In those rare cases, it is better for the child not to have anything to do with the parent because it becomes a detriment to their well-being.  

My wish for you today is that you have a respectful relationship with your parents.  If at all possible, particularly remember your mother today…if it is just a call. You don’t have to do anything fancy or expensive to remind her you love her. Sometimes just letting her know you remember her is enough.  Life is just too short not to.  

~ Joellen

I have always taken an airplane when I travel if at all possible.  This time, I am driving to NYC to pick up my son and his belongings.  I set out on this adventure early Sunday morning.  

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Imperfections…we see them all the time.  We all have them. 

With reality television these days, millions of people can see mistakes happen instantly.  There was a man this past week on Dancing With the Stars – where an arm weakened in the middle of a dance routine and an injury disabled him.Then there was a young and very talented singer on American Idol who literally has to start her song all over again.  Fans were forgiving and showed there support through their votes to keep both of these on at least one more week. 

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It’s been crazy these last six months.  The stress has been much more than normal, though I am a master at making it look like I am taking things in stride without changing my pace at all. 

It wasn’t a surprise when I told those closest to me I was going away for some time to “regroup”.  I had planned on taking a trip to New Jersey to visit some friends and to take a quick trip from there into NYC to see my son while he is working on a film in Brooklyn.  

“That’s not relaxing…” I said to myself. 

So, I decided to go from one extreme to another and head to the mountains of Tennessee. Like Glenn Miller said in his song, Going to the Country, I decided to “leave the city put my troubles behind.”

I decided to go to Possum Trot.

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