Happy Thanksgiving 2011 everyone!
I was talking to a friend on Facebook lastnight and the word "drama" came into the conversation? Can you imagine that? Look at this picture of me as a child...there is not an ounce of drama in me! :o)
I started thinking...(oh,oh) Am I dramatic? Am I a drama queen? Well, I can't be a drama queen because the name Sally means princess, not queen. So at best, I might be a drama queen in the making, but I have to wait until the queen dies first or something like that? LOL So lets talk about drama. A few years back I was on anti-depressants. Have you ever been on them? I think they tried me on three different ones. When I told my doctor they weren't working, she upped my dose. Then I had NO emotions. Life was smooth alright, but if someone died I couldn't even feel bad. When something wonderful happened, I couldn't get excited! I missed my emotions. :o)
Here's the thing,...everyone has emotions. Some keep them to themselves, and some live out loud. Some express them. I think it's way more fun to express how I feel, than to keep quiet. If my friends don't want to hear me, they can shut me out...and some do. I like to notice all the little details in life, and think about them, and then talk about what I saw or learned. I like to experience life, and share it with others. I looked up the word Drama. Yes, I suppose I have drama in my life for sure. Drama: any situation or series of events having vivid, emotional, conflicting, or striking interest or results. I think life is a living drama to tell you the truth.
So I think I'll just keep on being who I am, and maybe someday I'll write a very dramatic book and all of you readers will buy it. :o)
I was thinking about how boring it would be to read anything I had to say if I was still on that medication. I probably wouldn't talk at all. A lot of people would have peace and quiet, but I'm not ready to be quiet yet...I have a life to live out loud.
I hope you all have, or had a very blessed Thanksgiving Day Celebration this year!
I am indeed blessed above all I could have possibly imagined. Thank you for being my friends. I love all of you. And everyone of you are different, I like that too. I learn from all of you. I'm a happy blessed woman this year.

Love to All,
Sally

The Garden of our Souls

I have been taking care of the Garden Center at my local Kroger for two summers in a row now. It's my responsibility to grow them with care, and keep them looking beautiful for the customers, so they will sell.
The weather has been very unpredictable and harsh this year. When you have plants growing all around you, inside of a tent, and outside as well...there is a lot to deal with. These poor plants were started from a seed, or a cutting and their sole purpose is to grow and look beautiful, to bring pleasure to the person that purchases them. When plants are subject to freezing cold temperatures, 40-50mph winds, rain, and extreme heat and sun...they struggle to fulfill their purpose. They freeze, and some of their leaves and branches die, the wind breaks the branches and even the leaves. The rain causes over watering and the leaves turn yellow, and with the rain comes more wind. The extreme heat burns the leaves and the flowers.
I could spend a month nurturing a plant to beauty, and one strong wind can ruin everything. When the plant gets damaged, like today with the strong winds, it breaks my heart to have to cut that whole big branch off. But here are some things I have learned about growing plants. For one thing, I have grown plants my whole life, but I grew house plants. They don't live out in the weather, and they have very little problems when they are living in a nice comfortable house with no adversity. If you find the right spot for them, they will be happy as can be and bring beauty to your home for years. Outdoor plants are a whole different story. I have had to learn, when the branches are dead, cut them off. When the leaves turn yellow or brown from the wind and the storms, cut them off. I have experiences with my plants, that even though it hurts to lose a limb, and when I have to pull all those ugly leaves off leaving the plant looking bare...it is the right thing to do, and the best thing for my plants. If I DON'T cut them off, the plant spends it's energy trying to heal or repair the damaged parts, and it stunts the new growth...or slows it down. When I take off the damaged parts,...new growth is accelerated!
To my surprise, I keep learning over and over again...that as painful as it is to cut and pull, leaving the plant looking very homely and not so pretty...if I just give it a little time and special care, the plant will grow back to it's full beauty, and usually more beautiful than it was in the first place. :o) It just takes time. When I first started my job last summer, my boss would come out to the Garden Center and mark down all the damaged stuff to get it out of the store. She thought it was worthless and nobody would want it. But this year I asked her not to do that. I opened a "Plant Hospital" in my Garden Center where I nurse them back to health and sell them for their full price! I take care of them and bring them back to their intended purpose. To look beautiful and bring pleasure and joy to their owners. Some don't make it back, but most of them do.
Today it crossed my mind how much this reminds me of my life. I have a Master Gardener. I'm so grateful that He doesn't dispose of me when my branches break and my leaves turn brown. He prunes me, as much as it might hurt him to do so, because he knows that I will become much more beautiful, and serve my purpose in this world. And I bet he makes the same sorry face when he has to do the clipping. But the storms of life break us. We need to be nurtured back to health, and it might take a little time...but when he prunes the dead or diseased things from me, the life will be forced to bring new growth and pretty new flowers.
I like Gardening. :o)

I think one of my funnest photo shoots was shooting stills for this Gypsy movie a girl named Brooke made near Dickson, TN. I have always loved movie making. The make-up, the wardrobe, the story, the acting,...all of it. The crew was a blast. All professional and fun! One afternoon while I was shooting a picture of this wagon coming toward me, I was asked to step off to the left a little because I was in the shot. So I did. In fact, I stepped over and sat down in the little field next to the dirt road. I didn't realize until the NEXT DAY that my entire back was covered in ticks! John said there must have been at least 100 as he pulled them off one by one. And now I have this story to tell. :o) I had the greatest time shooting on that set. I'll never forget it. I would love to do more!!!