Unknown Number

It's Been A Long Time...

I've always had a problem with commitment.  Didn't marry until I was 36 if that tells you anything.  No reason this blog should be any different.  But today is a new day and I'm starting again.  Isn't that the beauty of life - every day, every hour, every minute and second that you yet breathe, is an opportunity to start again.
Miss Pat
This morning I got a call from an unrecognised number.  I usually don't answer these but was feeling frisky so I did.  What a blessing.  It was my friend, Miss Pat.  Miss Pat and I met a few years ago when we started working on the same day at the local Home Depot.  She is still there.  Miss Pat is like no one I've ever met.  She's at least 6 feet tall with prestigious salt and pepper, thick, curly hair, and striking, crystalline blue eyes.  She's soon to be 70 years old and has more energy than most 20 year old men I know.  She's a veteran and has raised Arabian Stallions for competition.  She still has horses though they don't compete.  Now, she just...has them.  I mean, I don't know much about keeping horses other than it's expensive and time consuming.  But I assume that people who have them enjoy riding them or using them to work land or cattle etc.  Miss Pat does none of that.  They are just her horses and need caring for and as she hasn't found anyone she can entrust them to - that's what she does.  She once told me that's why she went back to work - to be able to provide for them.

I find her fascinating.  She can tell me stories about her childhood in Alabama and how her grandfather owned land and had many sharecroppers.  How they would kill cattle in the winter and provide enough meat for everyone on the land.  She's not afraid of snakes because her grandfather showed her how to hypnotize them by circling them and bop em on the head to kill em.  She builds and repairs fences on her land - by herself!  She can out-smoke the Marlboro man.  I've never heard her cuss. She's had a husband and a son.  She lost her son years ago.  She is what we call, 'good people'. She is honest to a fault.  Like my Aunt Polly, I know that if I ever asked Miss Pat for counsel or advice she is going to have my best interest at heart - she "ain't gon' tell you nothing wrong" as we say down here.  She's a rarity - a genuine person.  She was also a living lesson for me.  She is a Sixty-Something year old white woman raised in the Deep South, yet nothing in my spirit has ever found a note of prejudice in her.  And that's an assumption I still make...that white people (and black for that matter) of a certain age are without a doubt prejudiced.  Maybe as the times have changed, they have learned to cover it up or keep it to themselves - but undoubtedly it shows.  Miss Pat taught me that I was wrong.  She is my genuine, loving friend.

She called me this morning because we haven't spoken for some months.  I've been under the weather and as a result somewhat isolated.  It's hard for me to get around so I stay home a lot.  She's buying a house! Great news.  Wanted to share it with me. Can't wait to have me over for tea and lunch.  Can't wait for us to get together and go eat Chinese again.  She's been meaning to call and check on me but...life.  I was in bed when she called, at an hour when I should have been well out of the bed.  Her call lifted my spirits so much.  I remembered that I do have friends, and I am loved and cared for.  I've been feeling inspired ever since and just wanted to write something.  I couldn't figure out what to write about so I just went with today's events and an ode to Miss Pat who is definitely a gem in my Southern life.

I hope everyone has a Miss Pat in their life.  A friend who makes you feel good about yourself.  Who encourages and supports you, who chastises and corrects you.  I'm so glad I answered my phone.