compliments with a side order of relief

The same ol' thing can get dull to any of us, even of us who love a good rut. They have been some changes in my life since I decided to stop spitting hatred toward Missouri and started to look for the good. I admit at first I sunk into some of those great Missouri pit holes a time or four, but eventually I learned about myself.

Of course the reason I came back to Springfield was for my 2 kids. Mostly for my daughter's sake because it was getting grim that she would live in a hospital setting the rest of her life. She was regular at Lakeland and Cox North for some time. She was even sent to Nevada (for those of you who do not live in MO it's pronounced na-va-da here, it's a city here) in a hospital setting. The last draw was she was sent to a above class 4 facility in Waynesville. Even there she was not doing well. She got in fights and one girl really gave her a good fight after my daughter called her the "N" word. So I moved from a much larger city to good ol' Springfield. At first being here for the kids was plenty, but there are times you want to be more than a parent. A whole person is a wonderful thing. So I threw myself into my book, was a good idea in some ways yet I went to dark places doing so.

So what brought me out of the dark? At the time I was barely 40 and it was my mother who gave it to me straight. "It doesn't matter how you feel, you excepted those children and now you are going to do what you set out to do. If your bored, you have a camera. Go out and take pictures of things that aren't Colorado" were the words that still ring in me.

Nevertheless, my daughter improved and is doing quite well now. She has hit a point where she's ready to leave the past behind and see what she can give. She's signing up to volunteer at the zoo. During all this my son, the prodigal son, is doing well except being lazy toward school. When his sister became a permanent part of his life once more, he found himself living with 2 women. Been there, done that. His biggest problem is his past also, but his is living with a violent sister. This is now coming out of him toward his sister & mother. His mother was married to a man who hit her so, as you can imagine she does not deal well with this. This brings the boy to my couch. Which in returns me to sharing space. I'm a selfish lover of my area. I love it dearly, yet I admit I love the kid more. I still hope for a negotiation of both parties to happen where I can regain the things I want also.

OK, why the title above. I get to that here. I left group a little early because I knew my girlfriend was waiting to take me to Apple Butter Days in this one town called Vernon. I do not like apple butter, but I love her. We went and I met her brother and his long time girlfriend with her family. By the way my mom is one of 12 & I hate large gatherings of people you have to talk to. Never mind, I love her. We went up to the square where everything was happening with her son and his girlfriend. It was alright, I found a little Sylvester tapestry to add to my Sly collection. I did see plenty of photo opportunities for another time when there would be less going on. I grew up in a small town so I know what photos of some the the things I saw would mean to me. There was a booth of a guy selling framed photographs that he took. I thought some were really good. My girlfriend said that my pictures were 10 times better than his and pointed out one cost $160. See mentioned a photo I took and said that it was way better than the one the one with the bib price tag. I tried to put the pic on, hopefully I did it right.

After this was all done I went home and could not my 3-ring binder of finished stories. It seems my girlfriend's son has borrowed them. The second compliment. The next day I took my kids to the nature center and had a great time. My daughter was snapping pictures along with me and every time I took a shot of something, she stood at the same place and took one too. There's the 3rd. I stopped at Tammy's (my girlfriend) work to talk to her for awhile. After that my daughter went home and my son & I went home. Ah, time for the computer. The last compliment came from someone who is published about a story I wrote. That one made me give a thankful smile.

So the side order of relief. I made it through everything above.