AmyCrews.com

“When I Grow Up”

Amy — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 23:08:43 +0000

When I was just nine years old, I realized that it was time for me to start planning for my future by deciding on a career path. My 4th grade teacher, the wonderful Mrs. Joyce Rudd, told me that she expected to turn on her television one day and see me reporting the news. At that point, I decided that I would be the next Connie Chung. I’m still not really clear as to why I chose Connie Chung… at any rate, I changed my career path countless times after that, and may change it a few more times in the future.
I was also in the 4th grade when I first learned about being really mean to people. As a child, you are told by your parents that making fun of other children is wrong. If you are one of the unfortunate children who gets picked on (and let’s face it, we are all in that position at one time or another), you know that one of the reasons that it is wrong to pick on others is that it hurts them. But when you are a child, you sometimes look at being mean as a self defense mechanism. If people are being hurting you, shouldn’t you be able to hurt them in return? And worse, some children view bullying as a self preservation method.
I was picked on in elementary school… and junior high school… and high school. But most of the bullying that I endured during elementary school was the typical stuff. I had Coke-bottle glasses, frizzy hair and rabbit teeth, which for a nine year old sharing a classroom with 19 other nine year olds, can be pretty traumatizing. So imagine my delight when we were told that a new student would be joining our class! I always looked at new students as potential new friends.
At first I really thought about befriending Samantha. She was very nice, and had moved to our town from a much smaller town in Arkansas. But soon I noticed the other kids in my class making fun of her and snickering about her “inferior” clothing. She wore jeans that were a brand we had never heard of, and all of her socks were tie-dyed. Basically, we just made fun of her because she was different. So at that point, I ventured down a dark road. I decided that if the other students were going to be mean to Samantha, I would lead the bullying campaign. My reasoning was this: If I could keep their attention on her, they would leave me alone. Soon I had the class rallying around me, as I made each school day for her a total nightmare. I left mean notes in her locker, and prank called her at home. I would even gather with little groups of catty girls (as many girls are at nine) to pretend to be her friends, only to share her secrets (that she had confided to her new “friends”) to everyone in the classroom. I am ashamed to say that I was finally happy to go to school.
Over the years, I have often wondered about Samantha. I have even looked for her on Facebook so that I could finally apologize for my cruelty. As an adult, I realize that my actions were a direct result of my own insecurities, and I am truly sorry for making any human being feel so low. Of course, as the world often works, it all came back on me later in high school when I was stalked and harassed by some of the very people who had once helped me harass Samantha. Go figure. But such is life, and we were all children then. That didn’t excuse what we did, but most of us became adults later on and said our apologies.
Growing older and being an adult are two different things. Being an adult doesn’t have to mean losing your child-like spirit. It doesn’t mean that you can never fly a kite, ride a roller coaster or buy yourself a Lego set again. Being a happy adult means that you can still make time to play and to enjoy your family. Of course, we all grow older, and there is nothing that any of us can do (despite sometimes desperate measures) to prevent that. Being an adult, one could argue, is optional. As a child, I couldn’t wait to “grow up” and be wise. I wanted to be able to answer the questions that I’d often ask my elders. I wanted to be able to make my own decisions about important things, and in my young mind, the three most important things to me were where to live, where to travel and what time to go to bed. I just knew that one day; adulthood would afford me the right to make those decisions for myself. And of course, it did, but that is a story for another day.
What I didn’t know about being an adult is the responsibility that comes with the role. And when I say “responsibility”, I am not talking about working, paying bills, raising children or any of the other responsibilities that most people associate with being “grown”. When I “responsibility”, I am talking about the responsibility that you have to be a good human being. I believe that God puts each and every one of us on this planet for a reason. I believe that He loves all of us, and wants us to love one another. And because of those beliefs, I feel strongly that it is our responsibility not only as adults, but as human beings, to be kind and respectful to others. We are all human, and so we all fail, probably more than any of us would admit.
I feel blessed to have learned of this great responsibility, and saddened for those who have not, and never will. They are people who we all know. They are colleagues, family members and some may even be your friends. Sometimes they are open about their feelings, and sometimes they are much more subtle. Eventually though, often with only one comment, their true colors are revealed to be quite ugly. I do understand their pain, as I felt it once long ago when I was a little goofy looking loud mouth 4th grader. I have the faint memory of how great it felt to get a laugh at the expense of someone else’s pain. I also recall, quite clearly, how lonely and sad it felt to look at the agonizing expression on the face of the one I’d assaulted.
I’m so thankful that I know better than to take pleasure from someone else’s misfortune. It is a sick and cruel thing to do. I’m also happy to know that I’m not running around as a “grown up” doing the same heartless things I did as a very immature nine year-old child. I’m still fairly young, and look forward to seeing where life will take me. Wherever life does take me, I hope to surround myself with other “responsible” people who genuinely care about their fellow man.
If you are one of those people who has grown older, but still hasn’t taken on the responsibility of trying to be a good human being, maybe you should take a good long look in the mirror. Maybe you should ask yourself why you take such pleasure in inflicting pain on other people. Could it be that you are hurting as well? Could it be that you are simply lost and being fueled by your own insecurities? Perhaps, but you should know that one day, those whom you hurt will forget the pain that you caused. But your pain, your pain will go on until you address the reasons for it. If you are one of those people, I encourage you to get help. Life is much too short to be so miserable.
As for me, I guess I made adulthood after all. I live in Florida, my favorite state in the nation. I travel to some pretty great, and some pretty not so great places, but I do get to make the decision about where I go. And well, I’m still battling with the bedtime issue, but ultimately, I make myself go to bed early when I absolutely have to. And most importantly, to me anyway, I would rather make someone smile than make someone cry.

WHAT? Are you kidding me?

Amy — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 17:40:11 +0000

So I was checking my messages and posts, and saw the REALLY interesting post from “How I lost 30 lbs…”. I’m guessing that he/she thinks that I am going to go to their site and see how I too can lose 30 lbs in 30 days without a diet. Of course if I did that, I would weigh about 90 lbs and look like a 14 year old anorexic girl, and I’m not sure if that look is for me. I don’t have any mystical 30 day diet plan, but I can tell you this, if you’d quit eating the McDonald’s diet of high fructose corn syrup, you probably wouldn’t be carrying around that extra 300 lbs on your 5′2″ frame! And speaking of extra weight, I am loving the More To Love show! I have never watched any of the Bachelor or Bachelorette shows, so this whole “finding a spouse” type of show is pretty new to me. I have my favorites, and I am going to be mad if he doesn’t choose one of them. I can’t believe they keep making them wear swimsuits either! And I thought we had it bad in the Big Brother house!

In other news, I recently took my first trip to the Florida Keys, and I LOVE them! Sugar Plum is already talking about taking another trip down there in a few months, and I REALLY want to go back. I love the idea of just packing up everything I own and moving to a new town. There is a big problem with this idea however. Five years ago, I had the SAME idea. So I packed up all of my belongings, and moved 600 miles away from what was then home to a little town where I didn’t know a soul… well I barely knew maybe 3 souls. So anyway, I’m not they type of person who can live in a community without being involved, so it didn’t take me very long to become a “local”. And now, all of the sudden, I want to do it again! I wish that Plum had a job that would require us to relocate every few years. I get bored easily, and I would love the excitement of moving to a new place… again.

I watched Big Brother last night, and I have to say that I was glad to see Jessie go. Now on to Chima and Natalie! And what in the Hell was with that shirt?! Are you kidding me? REALLY? Needless to say, it caused me to have nightmares!

Well, it is time once again to start planning the Port St. Joe Junior Miss Program. This year I have a great co-chair, Ashley Payne, and we are looking forward to yet another great program. I think the theme this year is going to be “On Broadway” so that I can use show tunes and do the opening number to “One” from a Chorus Line! I can’t wait!!!!

Well What Now?

Amy — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 21:36:40 +0000

I’m bored! Plum had computer issues today. When most people have computer issues, they call their local tech support guy who comes over and fixes the problem for $100 bucks per hour. It’s no big deal… that is just part of it. Oh, but not Sweet Sugar Plum. He has this motto about not paying people to do the things that you can do yourself. I, of course, do not subscribe to this motto, and firmly believe that in order to help stimulate the economy, you must pay people to wash your car, clean your house, paint your nails, etc…

Anyway, Plum wakes up today and decides that he is going to take his entire computer apart, fix it, clean it, and put it back together. Now keep in mind that I had already planned on going to Panama Shitty for sushi and a movie tonight, and this whole taking apart the computer scheme sounded like something that would take hours. Well since we like to sleep late, our daylight hours are quite limited, so if the Panama plan was going to work, we would have roughly 4 hours of day before we would have to head west. After digging around unplugging power strips, I got my first view at the inside of a Mac computer. It looked pretty intimidating to me, but Plum immediately starting explaining what every part is and how it works. Since I was much more interested in making a low-carb mushroom and Vidalia pizza, I left him with his technology. So about 2 and 1/2 hours later, he gets everything all back up and running in perfect condition, and tells me that he would rather wait and go to Panama on a different day. I should have seen it coming a mile away! We just went to Panama last week, and honestly it is too ugly to look at more than twice a month. I don’t know if you have ever been to Panama City, Florida, but I’m going to guess you haven’t. You may be one of the thousands who have been to a Panama City Beach spring break, but Panama City proper is across the bridge to the east. It has to be one of the most poorly designed municipalities in all of America. An average Panama Shitty street is best described as follows:

Lot 1 – Bubba’s Dilapidated Auto Body Shop – there are 17 rusted out old broken down 1970’s model cars scattered throughout the 2 acre plot with an old 700 square foot concrete block “office” and 3 rusted metal garages filled with greasy equipment. Lot 2 (next door) – Residential Dwelling – 2500 square foot 3 year-old brick home with nice landscaping, an attached 2 car garage, big front porch and a wood fence around the rear portion of the lot. Lot 3 – Sounds of Freedom First Agape New Mt. Zion Revolutionary Nondenominational Church – Nice large stucco church with a few large metal buildings attached (for extra Sunday school space), and a large well landscaped parking lot. Lot 4 – Booger and Tina’s Trailer of Dreams – A rusted 1968 model single wide manufactured home with dead bushes littering the yard of dirt, and 5 large dogs on chains in the front yard. There is no driveway, but there are 2 old dirty muscle cars parked randomly in front of the dwelling along with 2 old pick-up trucks, 1 new burgundy and gold supped up pick-up truck with a “Go Noles” bumper sticker on the rear window, and 1 small aluminum boat on a rusted boat trailer. Lot 5 – Starbucks Coffee. Lot 6 – Paper Mill. So as you can see, there is no zoning, and thus no separation of residential, commercial, industrial and special use properties, and really no separation of neighborhoods. The whole place looks like one big dump with an unimaginable amount of TRAFFIC! There are cars EVERYWHERE! You may have noticed that the word “rusted” showed up many times during my lengthy description. Salt air has a way of making things rust at a swift pace, so unless you rinse everything down with fresh water on a regular basis, anything left in the salt air will rust quickly. I always say, “They should just tear the whole place down and start from scratch.” So… at the end of the day I am sitting at my computer wondering what I am going to do with the rest of my Friday afternoon, and more importantly, what am I going to do with my Friday night? I thought about going out in front of my house to look for scallops… but I’m not in the mood to get all salty and sandy this late in the day. Plum just informed me that we are going to go out in the boat tomorrow on another big scallop hunt, so I guess I can wait until then to deal with the salt water. I know there is live music at the Goat tonight, so Madame Mayor may have to make an appearance!

Click on the thumbnail below to view Booger & Tina’s bathroom!

What do I think?

Amy — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 18:13:41 +0000

I think I’m going to keep watching… even though Jesse is back in and not one of the other three. I was really pulling for ALL 3 of the others, and I have to say maybe I was pulling a little harder for Cowboy. Michael is my friend, and we have chatted on the phone many times. He is such a sweet guy with a great big heart, and I would have really enjoyed watching him this season. I’m still not getting Laura’s excuse for not holding on in the game. She claimed that she didn’t want people to view her as a threat. Really? But you would have won an extra player for your team, and you would have been guaranteed safety for one week. That doesn’t make a whole lot of sense… Anyway, I hope they find a cure for that shrunken head disease that Jesse has. Poor thing.

Yet Again…

Amy — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 22:06:33 +0000

I will be watching Big Brother yet again this year. I’m pretty excited about it. My husband Don (also known as “Sweet Sugar Plum”), is not a fan of Big Brother, although I think last season he enjoyed it more than he will admit. He has never even seen season 3, but honestly I don’t think I want him to!

In other news, I have been having terrible nightmares recently. I think it may have something to do with my watching way too much FOX News. Last night I had a dream about brightly colored snakes. They attacked me one at a time, and I kept running to try to avoid them. After sustaining several bites, I made it to the phone to call 911. The 911 operator informed me that the new Obama socialized healthcare program was forced to cut back on emergency services, and that they would try to send an ambulance within 4-6 hours. It was pretty bad!

So it is hurricane season, but I have yet to see the first tropical depression in my area. I know this will sound insensitive and immature, but I live in Florida, and hurricanes don’t scare me! My house has been flooded 3 times (that we know of), and I feel pretty good about the concrete block stucco until a storm reaches Cat 4 or Cat 5 status. Sugar Plum on the other hand insists on going down with the ship. He likes to say, “I have a scuba tank and surf board. I’m not leaving!” I know, these are the people that have to be airlifted off of their roofs for being idiots, but I think I could make him change his mind if push came to shove.

I had a fabulous time at the Haughty Heron last evening. There was a big crowd and plenty to discuss, so a good time was had by all! I had a interesting discussion with Coach McDonald about the local academic atmosphere, and he assured me that the Port St. Joe School is a fine learning institution. I still worry about sending a child to a school that focuses primarily on athletics and passing one standardized test per year, but I guess we’ll just have to home school after school. I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it!

I am staying at home tonight to watch Big Brother, but I think that Plum and I may drive over to Panama Shitty for date night tomorrow night to eat sushi and watch Ice Age 3 in 3-D. Have fun!

Big Brother 11!

Amy — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 19:32:40 +0000

The premiere is tonight! Hot dang! Stay tuned!