Jumble Of September

 Sister, Sister, Dearest Sister. 

 One week and eight years or an eternity between us. Another birthday of mine when you couldn't call me. Another birthday of yours when I couldn't call you. Eight years and one week... Nixon for me, Reagan for you... The 70's for me, the 80's for you. And now? It's you and Momma, and Dad, too? I swear I hate this decade. The 2020's can go sit on a hot coal as far as I am concerned. That evil lowlife thief who stole you, stole them from me. Damn this decade with its pandemics and its lock-downs, with its cruel politics that pale before the even greater cruelty of war. What has this decade given but heartache, loneliness, and loss? All while the talkers of this world preach and preach in talking point gibberish. Politics overshadows humanity. Statistics eclipse lives. Can't you see, universe? Just why I feel this way? Too many lives are trivialized, and too much humanity gets reduced to just a check box on a stale sheet of paper, maybe a few numbers in a database, someone to influence, someone to convince, an email to spam, a follow-up phone number. And in the end, after all the noise, after all that posturing, what good have they really done? This is why I hate empty words, no matter whose mouths speak them.  This is why I hate politics and political speak.

 

I have not been able to get my mind together for this whole month of September, Birthdays, missing loved ones, Monster Hurricanes, and one hell of a financial crunch to boot... So, here are a few random, scattered thoughts, during the different phases of this longest short month... At least long for me. If they seem a bit disconnected, they're just being true to form. 

One Wish. I can't express how much it means to me. It has touched my heart and it was all that I needed. You thought of me and that makes me happy. I know it might seem silly, but I need that sort of thing from the people I hold so dear. I guess I have just been lonely, missing my parents, missing my baby sister. Birthdays can be so empty without the people I love. 

I might have some side work, hopefully. It seems my one job just isn't covering the bills, so I've got to do something. I could go back into surveying and make good deal more money, but it's the having to spend weeknights in some motel instead of home that I really don't want to do. A side job of some kind is the other possible answer. Fridays, weekends, maybe a night, here and there. Something. This inflation is killing me, man. 40 hours a week and I'm still falling short, every damn thing under the sun going up except my pay. I like my job, but my employer is the biggest cheapskate ever. How do they expect people to live? It's kind of hard to do the whole two income thing when there's only one of me. Not to downplay the experience of others, 'Cause I know life ain't easy for none of us... But can we st least skip the damn hurricane this year? You know, maybe give me enough time to save up to get rid of that giant tree with that long menacing limb? Yeah. That was the plan.... Not to say we're the only ones who were affected in a majorly bad way, but it seems my family's bad run of luck started with Michael back in '18 and these damned 20's sure haven't changed my point of view. How about a nice upper level wind to dissipate that storm so that nobody anywhere has to deal with this? You know it's something when a lifelong Florida dude says, "Damn." Oh well, the track of this monster has shifted east, so I think we're going to miss the worst of it, but they're closing the plant tomorrow, for the rest of the week, Tropical storm winds for my area. In a bit of a coincidence, Marsha's birthday is also tomorrow. So, guess I'll be home, watching the wind and the rain and thinking about my baby sister... Actually in a parallel universe, I would still be thinking about her. Tallahassee seems to be right in the middle. Actually, I would rather be in a universe where I had to worry, rather in this one where I don't. I guess my thoughts are weird like that. What I do have to worry is these bills and a short paycheck for this week, which sure ain't good for me. I can't afford these bills on a full week, much less a short week. And.... I still haven't heard back on the side job. Yep, these next few months are going to suck. That is, unless I can find a way to bring in more cashola. 40 hours at this cheapskate cooperation just ain't cutting the mustard. Something's gotta give, sooner or later. Deficit spending is for governments and not people. 

In a little store called Kay's Corner, back in Chipley 1.0, there was this little sign by the cash register. On the sign, there was a cartoon lady with a pitchfork, a tail, and one wicked grin. "Helen Waite is our credit manager. If you want credit, go to Helen Waite." Anyone else remember that sign? What was Chipley 1.0? I hear you asking? Very well, allow me to illuminate: Darth Plagueis was a Dark Lord Of The Sith, so powerful and so wise.... Oops, wrong story. Long long ago, in a time called the 1980s, there was Chipley 1.0. There was the Dairy Dip, where my Dad took me for ice cream. Next to that was the Chipley Motel swimming pool where my mother taught me to swim. Down that street a bit was the real Chipley High School. I should know. That's where my sisters and I graduated. Marsha's being the last class to do so. I could also mention the Vance Theater, Watford Drugs, or Hay's Barber shop. Across town was Cook's Fried Chicken And Pizza, where I remember my whole family going there. Pizza Hut was actually in Harrell Square, sandwiched along with Radio Shack between the Winn Dixie and TG&Y. And if memory serves, in the earliest part of.the decade, you had to go to Marianna if you wanted McDonalds. Town absolutely ended at Harrell Square. Beyond that was woods and fields, with a house here and there. Two lane Highway 77, except for right at the interstate. No Wally World, no red lights, yadda Yoda. Oh and Harrell Square was the hangout for the high school kids. That, my friends, is what I call Chipley 1.0, gone but not forgotten.