"You can take the girl out of the city, but...."

Forgive me. I haven't been posting lately as my life has been whizzing by at warp speed. This spring (2012) I was preparing to retire. Boy was I looking forward to that day. Not that I haven't enjoyed my career as a university professor because I have. It's the greatest job on earth. Beautiful surroundings, interesting colleagues and students, exciting conferences both in and outside of the country, etc. However, since four of my grandchildren came to live with me in 2008, I have been up to my PTA with kid activities and responsibilities. Anyway, I built my home in 2004 some 50 miles from Montgomery in one direction and Auburn, Alabama, in the opposite direction. It's located in a Lake Martin development with rolling hills, lots of ponds, and four seasons, including a beautiful fall with splendid leaf colors of reds, golds, and orange from September until late October when the first cold winds start to blow through. Now mind you, I always considered myself a city girl. At the age of three my family moved to Daytona Beach, and while it was small at that time, Daytona had plenty of Yankee visitors (I myself was born in the Midwest)and even visits from famous entertainers. I recall that my best girlfriend at the time invited me to go with her to her dad's hamburger joint "Kirbys," located just outside of the Daytona 500 speedway today so that we could sit in the seats that Elvis Presley and his entourage occupied when they came to perform in Daytona Beach. He really was there with his band and his pink Cadillac. From Daytona Beach, my family moved to Winter Park, Florida, which adjoins Orlando on the north side of the city. Winter Park still is a small, compact, town, with high-end shopping where all of "the beautiful people" come to see and be seen. Orlando, on the other hand, was a small city without definition in the pre-Disney days. Nevertheless, we only had to drive a few blocks to experience great shopping and a selection of restaurants, as well as visit friends in one of the surrounding neighborhoods of suburbia Central Florida. If we needed a hospital, it was four blocks away, as were banks and other elements of suburban life. I walked to school, picking those ubiquitous closed-petal hibiscus flowers from the hedges that lined the walkway to school, because as every 11 year old in Florida knows, those flowers had the sweetest nectar at the stem. So when I accepted a position with the Auburn University system to teach one of its graduate programs that was only offered in the capital city of Alabama, Montgomery, I found myself in somewhat of a unique place. Alabama in many ways really epitomizes the "Old South." Montgomery was the first capitol of the Confederacy and its beautiful large white government buildings reflect the grace and grandeur of structures reminiscent of ancient Greece and Rome-both of which are part and parcel of our current legal system. In Alabama, one needs to know the unwritten codes of behavior in order to understand the what makes native Alabamians "tick." Alabama's southern food is rich in calories and tradition. Its people are among the most savvy when it comes to politics and business, but with a souther flair that often belies their sharpened skills of persuasion and determination to prevail in all things. When I built my home some fifty miles from both Auburn and Montgomery in seemingly "the middle of nowhere," I never dreamed that this would be the place where I would end up raising a second family. But four of my grandchildren came to live with me in 2008, just four years after my house was completed. It was a wonderment to me that folks actually chose to live in a little house or mobile home tucked away back in the rolling hills of central Alabama, which was only accessible by a narrow red-dirt road. I'm not sure today, that I truly understand what it means to grow up in a rural community, but my "kids" sure do. While I'll never lose my love of city living, the four children who came to live with me know nothing else. Rural life can be a blessing when rearing children. All four are very involved with school and after school activities. They know everyone in our one-stop-light-town and everyone knows them. It is still a place where a young boy can build a fort and walk down paths to the lake and fish with friends. As for me, it didn't hurt that I had taught (graduate school) a third of their teachers who always felt comfortable sharing the kids progress with me. Yes, rural life is good. I just wish I could have driven around the corner and picked up that gallon of milk I always seemed to need!

PROMANIA and other Frightful Experiences Grandparents Aren't Fit For!!!

Well, where do I begin. It's prom time. You know, that time of year where life is suspended for weeks on end until the dress is purchased, tux fitted, flowers ordered, and the new camera is on the charger. With two attending prom this year, my budget is "tanked." My granddaughter wants a dress that no other girl could possibly purchase much less wear to the same dance. I informed her that outside of a world-class designer her chances would be considerably reduced. I suggested that since she was a size 00, she try to find a dress that no one else could fit into. My grandson had his own ideas about what kind of a tux he should wear. I was relieved because I figured "how expensive could a rental tux be?" Wrong! It can be very expensive when the tux in question has to be all white with white patent leather shoes in order to match the dance theme--"dancing in the dark." The white ones, of course, are twice as expensive as the standard black tuxes. His first lesson in economic theory--supply and demand. More than $500 later, they were both outfitted and flowers ordered. I must say, both of my lovelies were breathtaking. Fortunately, the mother of Jake's (my grandson) date had made arrangements for a photo shoot at the Shakespeare Festival Theater. Whew! One less thing I had to do. However, I was responsible for Taylor's photo shoot. Now please understand, I didn't give her the nickname Madam Wu for no reason. Wu was called "the first woman emperor" of China for a good reason. She and Machiavelli I'm sure were kindred spirits! Taylor, or Wu as I called her at times, wanted a first-rate photo book of the occasion, but wanted to tell the photographer exactly what shots to take. Sorry Wu, it doesn't work that way. To say the least, the photo shoot was a contest of wills. In Wu's favor was the fact that the child has never taken a bad picture. God gifted her with a drop-dead gorgeous face and figure. Even her brother several years after the prom commented to me one day as we were driving, "you know Oma, Taylor is really a knockout, but when she was in sixth or seventh grade, I didn't hold out any hope for her in the looks department." Good thing that I had the car under control. Owing to the fact that Jake rarely made a favorable comment about one of his sisters, I found his words to be toooooo funny! It's been three years since that particular prom and Taylor's prom book lies on my coffee table at my home in Florida. I would give a lot just to go back in time and relive prom day with my two "babies."