Always 17 in your hometown

Funny how some things change and others stay exactly the same. Going back home last night to the visitation for Ms. B's mom at the funeral home and once I get past Kennedale and all the development there, I go down the back roads that I travelled as a teenager. I passed the street where Chad (who comments here often) grew up. I think his mom still lives there. Got on the old business highway and once I headed toward Mansfield, nothing had changed for a long stretch. Still the old junk car yards and the infamous Bisbee Baptist Church. I laughed hysterically at this. In junior high, we had a youth leader who would promise us a grand prize of a round trip ticket to Bisbee, Texas, if we won whatever game we were playing. Bisbee probably has a population of less than 100 and is about 5 miles from Kennedale. Too funny. I stumbled back into my high school years. Once into Mansfield, there was so much development, it was weird. Then, there was the "old" part of town that I remember and there was the funeral home. The dad of one of my childhood friends is running the funeral home now and we visited for a little bit. My friend whose mom died earlier this year was there when I arrived. That was really sweet of her to drive across town, but I think she knows how hard it is to lose your mom and wanted to be there for her. Ms. B still has the same funny mannerisms that made her a student favorite in high school and I suddenly felt 17 again. I felt awkward. I didn't know what to say. I mean, what do you say to someone in that situation? I worried about her because she just had surgery and doted on her a bit to rest, but aside from that, I felt really useless. I just hoped that being there was enough.

Driving out of there, I relied on my instincts of knowing where intersecting highways were even though I hadn't travelled these roads in years. I was in BFE for a while before finally getting back to the civilization of Arlington. I met LabKat in Grapevine and we had dinner and a drink before going to Barnes and Noble for a cup of coffee and a search of the calendars and books. She gave me a gift card for my birthday, but they didn't have what I was looking for initially. So, I may use it to buy a penguins calendar. I picked up some Christmas presents for the kids and found a few other things I may get later. Was just sort of weird that the Christmas music was already being played.

Today, I'm meeting my mom to go to the funeral. Then, we're going to eat and shop. I'll be missing Pickle's soccer game for the funeral. Army of Dad and I were going to go out tonight, but our sitter fell through. So, I don't get a birthday outing, but such is life when you're a mom. One of my dear friends told me yesterday that her husband left her and it suddenly made me grateful for the stupid shit that AoD and I fight about. Felt bad for bitching about AoD to her with the crap she is putting up with. Everything is relative, isn't it? My life is pretty damn good and I don't even know it. Ok, maybe I do now.