Saturday I went to the Food Lion in Market Square. I didn't get but a few things (I had done my main shopping at Old Dutch)and so I went through the express line.

Right in front of me was a guy and his little boy. The guy had on cut off jeans, work boots, a muscle tee shirt and a greasy hat with greasy looking hair hanging out from under it. He had ugly tattooes on his arms, back, shoulders, and legs. All in all, he was a scraggly looking person.

The little girl checking us out was young, pretty and very polite. She said to him, "Good afternoon, sir. How are you today?" He said, "I'm fine, but you look lonesome." Her- "Pardon me?" He said again, "I said you look lonesome and I can do something about it if you'll give me your number and talk to me." She said, "I'm sorry you have that impression. I'm not lonesome, I'm busy working." He said, "But I know that after you get off, you'll be lonesome and I can fix that." In the meantime, she was busily scanning and bagging his stuff and when she finished, she told him the total. He says again, "You really look lonesome and I can help." Finally in a very exasperated tone she said, but very politely, "Sir, I work, go to school, live with my parents and have a boyfriend. I'm not lonesome!" He finally decided to give up and he and his little boy (who kept on calling him Dad) left.

After he got out of earshot, I said to the girl, "He must think he's God's gift to women". She laughed and agreed. After she totaled my stuff and I paid her, she told me to have a nice afternoon. I told her to do the same, but whatever else, "Please don't be lonesome!" She smiled and said, "Never!!"

Last year on my deck I had a hanging pot. It sat thru the spring and finally one little moss rose/rose moss poked thru and finally bloomed. It was a deep pink and it bloomed and bloomed and bloomed. Always pink. When the seed pods appeared, I'd let them ripen and then I'd pour the seeds out in the same pot.

This spring a lil rose moss poked thru; then another and another. Finally I had a pot full. The plants started getting buds and finally one bloomed. It was the same pink color from last year. Then another bloomed........yellow! Then another......white! Then another.......coral color! Then another bloomed.....a different shade of pink! What I want to know is: Why did I get all these colors from one lil pink rose moss?

If you have an answer, please let me know!

Rebecca came last Wed. Tommy was still at the beach, so I haven't seen him since the first of July. Then on Friday of last week Hayley and her friend Mike came up to go to a concert at Plan B that night.

I had met Mike last Monday when they rode up for a quick visit. He's the guy in her prom picture only now with a hair cut. Really cute, really nice acting and well behaved AND a good eater! They ended up staying until Sunday evening and he said he really liked it here, that he might just stay. I think what he liked was my front yard and all the traffic. I think he lives in the country! This is why I need a big house. So I can have bedrooms for my company when it comes. He got the front bedroom; Hayley got the den (where it's cool) and the rest of us had our usual rooms. Works out pretty well!!

I know certain people don't like to read about my babies, but, on the other hand, some do. So, here goes.

I hadn't had Anna and Brittany together for several weeks as April has been out of school. Last week I had both of them, for Monday only, and they were so glad to see each other. They played really good together and shared both their toys and their drinks and snacks.

After a while, it got quiet and they weren't playing in the den anymore, so I went to the living room where I could faintly hear their chatter. I stopped at the door and watched for a minute. Anna was laying on the sofa with her shirt up and Brittany had Emily's ipod charger, which has a flat connector. This was hooked to an old computer keyboard somehow, and Brittany was busy clicking the keys with one hand and rubbing the flat part over Anna's tummy with her other hand.

I asked,"What are you doing?". Brittany answered, "Sonogram". Me..."Is she gonna have a baby?" Brittany...."Twins, both girls!" And they kept on like this was an everyday occurence.

Both of these girls have vivid imaginations. After the sonogram, I looked and Anna had the twin doll babies up her shirt.

Me thinks one or the other or both sets of parents ought to have a baby brother or sister for these lil girls.

April told me a couple of weeks ago that there was an opening for pre school aide at Sacred Heart School where she works. She then brought me an application which I filled out and she took it back to the school.

Last Tuesday I was called for an interview which I thought went very well. The principal was very nice and we got along very well. We seemed to have the same type of humour. Ask April about that!!

The principal told me she had one more person to interview last Friday and then she would let me know something. I got a very nice letter today saying that she had offered the job to another candidate, but she would keep my application in case something else came open.

I was really hoping I would get the job because Anna is going to school this year, I don't have Savannah anymore and most weeks I don't have Brittany for the full five days because Kerri usually has her day off during the week. And I had been using that extra money to pay my phone bill and my Adelphia bill and buy groceries.

I really don't want any more babies because they are usually 8 to 10 hours a day. The job at school would only have been 4 hours a day. Then I would have had time for other stuff, like cleaning house!

Oh well, maybe I can be like some of my relatives and start buying stuff at yardsales and re-selling it on the Trading Post or The Piedmont Shopper. Actually, I couldn't do that. I only buy stuff that I need and books to read. Oh, well.........

I was reading Cindy's latest journal entry and it brought back memories of the summer right before Keister was born.

My cousin and her family were here from Ohio and we were having a cook out at my Mom and Dad's house. Lois wasn't much of a drinker, but my aunts both liked beer and they had some and offered Lois a bottle. She drank it and then had another. We were sitting in the kitchen waiting for my mom to make the burgers so we could take them out and all of a sudden Lois leaned back in her chair and held her foot up and wiggled it, and with seeming amazement said, "Look, Goodie (me), see what it can do!" Not quite following her line of reasoning, I asked "What?" She said, "It moves with the music!" BUT......she was the only one hearing the music!

While we were out in the back yard cooking, my Aunt Lillie, who was sitting at the edge of the yard in one of those old fashioned metal porch chairs, started singing "We'll Have These Moments to Remember" and all of a sudden the chair tipped over and she was down the embankment with her beer in her face.

She really did have those moments to remember because she was reminded of that lil incident every time the family gathered after that.

Tonight at church after choir practice the pastor's wife asked if I would go down to the fellowship hall to check some Campbell soup labels that someone had given her that she thought were cut wrong. I told her that we didn't need the whole label, just the upc code, so I didn't really need to look at them. But she insisted, so I went down there with her and when I went in the door, they flipped the lights on and hollered "Happy Birthday"!

Everybody who was at church was there and I really felt embarrassed being the center of attention. Virgie had made the most beautiful B'day cake (her cakes are much prettier than the ones from the bakery and taste so good) and somebody had made lil "pigs in a blanket", chips, nuts, drinks and icecream. A regular party!!

There were also gifts: A new crock pot, a lighthouse lamp, a lighthouse clock,a beautiful candle that smells so good and a funny book, a framed set of lighthouse pictures that were made by the couple who gave them to me, a journal and address book set, beautiful computer generated cards that were so sweet and money and a check! And my B'day isn't even until Wednesday!!

Oh, to be sure everyone knew exactly how old I'm gonna be, there was a huge poster on a stand that read: Happy 70th, Maxine!

Today was my birthday. The big 7 0, although I really liked what Kaitlyn told her friend Shannon last week when Shannon asked how old I would be. Kaitlyn told her with a straight face and utterly serious that G'ma would be 49. Shannon asked if I'd had Tami when I was 2 or 3 then and Kaitlyn said, "Mama's 48, but when G'ma turned 49 she said she wasn't having anymore birthdays, so every year she's 49."

It started last night with a trip to Greensboro to get a new "do", which I love.(Also, a little color)which I also love. Then Kerri and Brittany showed up early with a gift and then Bobby came by with another bag and box. A little after 1PM, there was a loud knock at my door and when I opened it, Richard and Tommy broke into a very loud rendition of Happy Birthday which all the passers by enjoyed. A little later Keister came by with a gift and then April brought me flowers and a funny card and a gift card from Barnes & Noble.(Well, it's been ordered, will be here in a few days).

So, now I have a new phone, a new curling iron, candles, body lotion,flowers,a new flag holder for my flag pole, lots of pretty cards, many of which contained that pretty green stuff, in addition to all the gifts I got at my surprise party Sunday at church.

All in all, it's been a pretty good birthday. Thank you to everyone who helped to make it so special. I love you all!

I live my life as a parent knowing in the center of each maternal cell that I cannot protect my children from anything. Regardless of the graphic and sometimes gory visions I can conjure up in my mind, I know I can do only so much, as much as I want to guarantee both of them life without pain or even a mild inconvenience, I know I am ultimately powerless.

I can only tell them how much I love them.

I really shouldn't, but I always wait til the last minute to renew my license. Actually, I didn't really have the time until today, unless I wanted to take a girl child with me, and I don't know how that would have worked out.

Anyway, I had to go to the dentist this morning and when I took a shortcut to get back to Memorial Drive, I decided I'd stop and see how busy they were since it was the next to last day of the month. To my surprise, I went in, took a number and before I could get seated they called my number!

I went to the designated window and guess what? I got a guy who was training. He did pretty good for a while, then he got stuck and couldn't find anybody who wasn't busy to help him figure out what to do next. After a wait of about 10 minutes, some girl finally took pity on him and told him which keys to punch. After that, it went pretty fast and then he told me to go over and sit and wait for the lady to take my picture.

This evening after Kerri got here, I was showing her my new license and she looked at it and said, "This ain't you, G'ma. It's Geraldine!" Then I took a second look, and guess what? It DOES look like Geraldine!