Starting Something New...

Well, I have embarked upon something new. It's early and I'm hoping for the best...actually I am hoping for better than the best. There are always ups and downs with things, situations and people that are new to our lives, but if we hang in there we will work the shoe leather til it softens enough to accept our overflowing foot, find the perfect pairing for that fabulous lavender jacket and communicate our feeling til the cows come home, we just might get exactly what we were hoping for. Take a look at my face and know that your gurl, Tracy is happy and hopeful for the new experiences to come. I hope that whatever is going on in your life right now, puts the same kind of smile on your face. If it's not...find something that will.

It's that time again...

Well, it's that time again...when the weather begins to change, that is the first hint that it's time to prepare for the annual family talent show. This is year 22! It's hard to believe that Brittney started in the show when she was 4!!! The show has produced so many memorable performances. Most of the family has gone out of their way to bring a bit of laughter to the many coworkers, friends and extended family members that join us each year.

Sadly the timetable for this annual event is winding down. We have decided that year 25 will be our family show "swan song" and we will end our family tradition bringing back some of our favorite acts. This year will mark the first that Brittney will not be in the cast, her pregnancy will keep her on the sidelines and the lack of her presence has already been felt.

I get the same question every Friday..."What are you doing this weekend?" Until Saturday 12/17/2011 my response can only be REHEARSAL, REHEARSAL...REHEARSAL! Never in the history of my family is there more universal stretching, bones cracking and laughter than at Sunday finale rehearsal. As Brittney has opted out this year, yours truly is once again putting on her choreography hat again. WISH ME LUCK :- )

Brittney and Kalyn did a fantastic job on the finale last year. Rhythm Nation came off without a hitch. It took a minute for us all to get on the right foot and move our hips in the same direction, but we all pulled together to get it done.

I love this time of year. Busy, busy, busy...tired, tired, tired... So Much Fun!

  

Pleasant Surprises...

You all must know how much my daughter means to me. I think she is a dollbaby. She has her monents like everybody else, but she is my gurl.

Brittney has informed me that I will be holding my first grandbaby on May 8, 2012. Can you believe it??? I AM GOING TO BE SOMEONE'S GRANDMOTHER. That's a big deal. I will be affecting this child's life in big and small ways for the rest of my life. Brittney also tells me that I am her best friend and that news honors me.   

I have seen several grandmothers in action...from some I have learned things that will certainly be useful in my new "position" and from others I have learned what NOT to do.

I remember when Brittney was born and the nurse laid her on my chest and she wiggled for the first time, I fell in love instantly. I want that experience for my daughter with her new baby. Brittney wants me in the delivery room with her and filming no less!  I hope I don't talk through the whole thing. I can just imagine the vast amount of OMG's I am going to express...Brace yourselves movie goers.

Gotta go...I'll keep you informed.

Heavenly Cyn

Cynthia has been my gurl since she pulled my hair on the first day of seventh grade at Everman Jr. High. I guess she saw something in me through the ponytails, plaid skirt and the coke bottle glasses. Okay they were not quite coke bottles, but everything looks bigger in seventh grade.

Speaking of bigger, Cynthia spent the night with me during our new friendship. I thought she was great! My two older sisters were thick as theives and had no time for me, but Cynthia did. During an innocent wardrobe malfunction, my innocent eyes were introduced to Cynthia's huge knockers!!! Her boobs were the biggest boobs I'd ever seen and I lived in a house where my mother thought "we were all women" and she could move about all areas of that house in her birthday suit.

I was stunned and a little jealous by the sheer volume of them. I remember later looking down at the flatness of my own tee shirt and cursing the little raisins underneath. Maybe that's why they're not much bigger today. As I said, everything is bigger in seventh grade.

In high school, Cynthia drifted to track and I to drill team where we gained new friends that shared our interests but still she was my gurl and I was hers. Cynthia met Rudy when she was sixteen and they are married today with two kids. I don't think I even know any men that I might have met when I was sixteen! That girl has some sticktoitiveness...(did I spell that right? :-)

Cynthia has been the glue in my life for 35 years...the constant...the rock! She knows all my hurts and secrets. She has shared in my joys and my dreams. Our lives mirror in so many ways, outside of the big boobs and the long marriage. She can understand me like no other. She has the strongest shoulder to lean on and the best laugh when tipsy.

Cynthia is my gurl, my chick and my biggest fan. I hope you all have a Cynthia in your life. We ALL deserve one.

My Life...

is much like a situation comedy. One day I will lock my keys in the car (which I never do) and the next I will leave the house with no deodorant on (who does that???). Most days I just chalk it up to one of my favorite sayings "It's in the script."

Today ends my "Birthday Week" yes, after 40 you get the whole week (my sister Kim seems to think that on your 50th...you get the WHOLE year...guess how old she is). Today was a good day. My family met for an early dinner at Sushi Axiom in Montgomery Plaza (there were 22 of us) and we had a good time. I tasted everything!

Today made up for the actual day of my birth (July 12) because that turned into a suckfest! I had dinner plans with someone I should not have trusted to keep the date and when the offer to fill in was given to the one who said he was interested...he had to check his schedule ON A TUESDAY NIGHT! When did Tuesday night become so popular for making plans?

I spent the evening of my birth commemorating it with a burrito and a Pepsi. Put your tissues away, there was a bright spot in the day. My bestest bud, Cynthia took me to a nice lunch at Schula's in the Fort Worth Sheraton. I think there were a total of six people there, so it was fairly easy to get a table.

Cynthia, my best friend of 35 years is ALWAYS there through thick and thin, ups and downs...good times and bad. She knows all mine and I know all hers, and we're taking it to the grave. She presented me with a smile, a listening ear and a hot leopard print dress! (That's my GURL!!!)

I headed home after lunch and made a stop at Dillards to see what my favorite designer had on sale. (I didn't get paid until Thursday, but I wanted to be prepared.) I tried on some of the Antonio Melani pieces and settled on a gorgeous brown dress for $159.00 (I know...). No, I didn't buy it, but I wanted to. I usually try to spend $100.00 on myself for my birthday each year and for that amount, I could purchase several things.

Well, I am going back to work tomorrow and I am not looking forward to it - knowing that it's time to move on from a position that is stunting your growth is never easy (especially in this economy) but I've got to be a big girl and be open to where God leads me (no, he won't lead me to quit this one before I have another to take it's place - don't worry).

Choosing Sushi for my dinner did get both my Mom and Kim to try it for the first time and they were big girls about it and actually liked (some of) it.

I didn't get to celebrate Brittney's birthday with her today which was a little sad. She and Juan spent her bday weekend in San Antonio, but I did get to sing "Happy Birthday" (the Stevie Wonder version of course) to her this morning.

At dinner it was mentioned that my family should have it's own reality show...move over Kardashians, here we come.

Me and my girl...Brittney

When Brittney was born and she was laid on my chest all wet and new, I had never felt so much love for any one person. She was my life. Brittney quickly grew into the cutest thing I'd ever seen, although we weren't sure upon first glance. My mother originally thought she must have been switched at birth with some project to integrate aliens with human beings.

Brittney or Pooh Bear as she was called, was loved and cherished from the beginning, her smile was infectious. Brittney is so smart, she learned to read when she was two; long before "Your Baby Can Read." (Every one's baby could read if we'd just make a concentrated effort to teach them - I just happened to be a stay at home mother on an Army base. I had nothing but time.)

Brittney and I work at the same hospital and I see her occasionally, even though she is almost twenty-six she will always hug me and kiss my cheek no matter the onlookers.

Brittney and I have come along way together. She's my kid and the apple of my eye. She is the sweetest person I know. She may not come across that way to everyone all the time, but she's mine and "Mother Knows Best."

Brittney and I have had our moments as mother and daughter but she knows I'm here and I know she's got my back. I'd want Brittney as my wing man, my teammate, and my home girl in a bar fight. (Not that I get into many bar fights, but if I did, I'd want Brittney by my side.)

Her values are strong and she knows what she wants and what she doesn't...and what she doesn't want, she will not be talked into it. Brittney will respect you until you give her reason not to, and even then she will give you the benefit of the doubt and a second chance.

It's not everyday you get to publicly praise your kid for just being a great person, so today I will take the opportunity to tell you all how lucky I am to be Brittney's mother.

Literary Oops...

Oh horror of horrors...I just noticed that the name of my blog is spelled wrong! Can you believe it? A writer misspelling a word. How ridiculously ironic! I am usually so good about making sure that all my product is at it's best before I present it to anyone. I will do all I can do to get it corrected. Hopefully Google Tech Support is easy to reach and cooperative.

Let me introduce myself...

Hello and welcome to Tracy's Epiphany. I am a forty-six year old mother of a grown up (Yea...don't you just love when they grow up?) I have been married and divorced once (Yea...don't you just love when the divorce becomes final?) I am single at the moment, although I am not doing that very effectively. I am not taking some cool pottery or hip hop dance class, I am not learning a new language or taking flying lessons with all my free time. Don't get me wrong, I do get out there, but I'm not yet the pottery making,hip hop dancer who speaks French to the control tower as I am rolling down the tarmac.

I am an unpublished author of my first novel (you'll be reading more about that...I promise.) The book "Once Upon A Time in Heaven" is a fictional account of my death and arrival in Heaven. What I see, do and experience there is pretty cool. I am hoping to find an agent and a publisher that will give my "baby" the attention it deserves. Those of you that are avid prayers and well wishers, please add your faith to mine in this, and if you know anyone in book publishing - let a girl know.

I have a pretty large and decent family (not everyone can say that their family is large AND decent, so I am blessed) I will introduce them as the blog progresses. I of course have a mother...let's call her Jean (okay, yes...that's her name :-) I have two sisters, Kim and Debbie. There are amazingly enough TWO fathers (one of which I found out about and met at thirty nine years of age - you'll learn more about them both later) I have a daughter, Brittney and a best friend of thirty years, Cynthia. Cynthia is my partner in crime, in tears and in laughter...she is the best. (You'll be hearing much more about her.)

I work as an Administrative Assistant at a hospital. I have been assisting someone the majority of my adult life. Frankly, I am looking for someone to assist me! I have a host of friends I share my time with, some intimately, most not. Most of my close friends are male as women (sorry sistas, but you know it's true) can be back stabbing, jealous bitches. (Of course, this does not mean...you :-) I love people and consider them one of God's best creations. I do have a problem with nonsense ridden, common sense lacking knuckle heads. (Was that too harsh, or do you know exactly what I'm talking about?) I am seemingly well like as I have not yet heard differently and I'm clueless as to if I have any "haters" as they have yet to step to me and admit the fact. I think God has worked on me in a way can be liked my most and offend few.

When I considered opening this blog, I tried to figure out exactly what I wanted to blog about...what did I want to say? I realized that I wanted to say a little about EVERYTHING that I have experienced or am experiencing at the moment. I have been told that I have a lot to say on any given subject and have, on more than one occasion been asked to "land the plane."

When I chose the word "Epiphany" in the the title of this blog, I was compelled to find out it's exact meaning (I thought I knew what it meant, but I had to be sure). The dictionary had about four meanings for the word and this one fit best for the needs of this blog..."a sudden, intuitive perception of or insight into the reality or essential meaning of something, usually initiated by some simple, homely, or commonplace occurrence or experience."

As most do, I will blog about what going on in my life and those in it, of course attempting not to disparage anyone. I will blog on topics such as: Love and Relationships, Dating, Families, Fashion, Style, Manners and Etiquette and even "Affairs" of the Heart.

I will take you along with me as I roam the halls of the school we call planet Earth and we'll see if I graduate with honors or if I'm held back by my own silly choices. Wish me luck as I do the same for you.