Reflections – Page 146 – I'll Call It Like I See It

Experience the Power of a G.I.R.L.!

Sunday afternoon, the 9th. of April, 2017 was an absolutely gorgeous spring day in downtown Columbia, South Carolina. The weather was perfect with temperatures in the mid 70s and cloudless blue skies. It was a great day to be outdoors which is where thousands of people gathered on Main Street to celebrate the good times of bringing the NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship trophy home to the University of South Carolina with a ticker-tape parade minus the ticker-tape.

Yahoo – we party!! Pretty and I were there as were our Gay Boys Basketball Buddies and #1 Fan Gamecock Matt. Without realizing where we were sitting, Pretty plopped our small folding chairs right next to a local TV news team which was covering the parade so not only did we have great seats, we also were interviewed by a TV newsman and once again made local news. (That interview can be viewed on social media if anyone is curious.)

We watched every car carrying VIPs, every motorcycle, a live rooster (Sir Spur, the Gamecock) riding in a small driver-less motorized vehicle, a deputy sheriff on a real big horse, A’ja Wilson’s DJ brother playing festive music, dancing troupes, Cocky the Gamecock mascot and tons of floats – green ones, red ones, silver ones, gold ones – truly any color imaginable in the midst of a caravan of colors as they passed by us on Main Street which was their route to the State Capitol grounds for the closing ceremonies.

I love a parade – Pretty will vouch for me. I just love a parade. But I particularly love a parade that celebrates women and their achievements. I took 129 pictures at the parade and worked on them last night while Pretty was talking on her cell phone with the Apple Help person for two hours trying to figure out how to make her Mac happy again. Poor Pretty.

As I cropped and re-cropped the images, I was struck by the power these basketball heroes gave to the little girls, teenage girls, grown-up women and yes, even us eat-up-with-elderly older women as we celebrated their victories in one grand final gesture of appreciation.

If I could, I would put all of these images in my post today, but alas, I know that’s asking for a lot of attention which won’t happen. So, as a compromise, I’m choosing my favorites.

The G.I.R.L. Power float

Bring the babies, too – even when they nod off

It’s a Family Affair

(photo courtesy of Pretty)

Dancing in the streets

Women on motorcycles –

rev ’em up, Sisters!

I spy Cocky!!

Gamecock Legend Sheila Foster is jubilant…

other basketball alumni enjoy the ride with her

Our Heroes: The Stars of the Show

Kaela Davis, A’ja Wilson and Allisha Gray

These girls and the team made basketball history

Coach Dawn Staley high above the crowds

where a true basketball Queen belongs

along with the Team that made her the Queen

I’m afraid I was too short to see the action on the Capitol steps as the parade came to an end, but that was okay. I found my sights away from the stage.

This little girl had a bird’s eye view

This one did, too

a Pretty face in the crowd

taking a break to tie her shoes

a teenager tweeting her pics

an older woman rode her bike to celebrate

Gamecock colors – complete with pom poms

These girls are champions, too

Which one of these girls will be our next Congresswoman, Olympic medalist, astronaut, teacher, preacher, policewoman, Forbes 500 CEO, President of the United States? The mind races with the possibilities for their futures…and for ours…because we’ve experienced the magic of G.I.R.L. power today.

Whew! We are exhausted – time for us to ease on down the road to Casa de Canterbury where we should be p-a-c-k-i-n-g instead of partying. Oh, well. You only go around once.

Go Gamecocks!!

Pretty and our parade chairs heading home

it’s a wrap for this unforgettable season

April 10, 2017

The Hereafter – Grimes County Style

Changing flowers in Fairview Cemetery today

for Granny Selma’s parents

and for my dad, mom and their parents

(my friend Tinabeth came to help)

Tinabeth trimmed the crepe myrtles…

while I arranged the flowers

(and Pretty took pictures)

Spike and Charly ran so fast that the

Hounds couldn’t catch ’em

Hey, where are our names?

The view from our family plot is truly fair

When Pretty and I got to the cemetery this morning, there was a note under a stone at our grave that read Sheila, here’s my phone number. Call me. It was signed by Warren Wood and dated 03-28-17. I picked up my cell phone and gave him a call.

Warren was one of my favorite people when I was growing up. He lived up the dirt road from us, played basketball on my dad’s high school team, and usually sat with me every Friday night at the Richards Cafe where his mother made the best hamburgers ever. I called him, and he said he was still in the area at his house in Anderson and would meet me at the cemetery – which he did. I hadn’t seen Warren in 60 years, but we have kept in contact since my first book Deep in the Heart was published in 2007. Wow. Such a great visit.

His parents are near mine

Being in the old familiar places with old familiar friends was a highlight of our trip to Montgomery and Grimes Counties for the past two days, but tomorrow it’s time to say goodbye to family and friends once more as we turn north toward Dallas and our Final Four destination.

Go Gamecocks!!!

March 31, 2017

The Three Little Huss Brothers and How They Grew

Worsham Street looks much the same as it did when we lived there from 2010 – 2014, but that’s about all that does in our little town of Montgomery, Texas which is growing, growing, growing. We had wonderful visits with some of the Little Women of Worsham Street and, of course, a memorable encounter with the Fabulous Huss Brothers.

Dwight and George start a project after school

Pretty gets involved – stirring putty for a

Star Wars mold

Dwight discovers new Star Wars candy container

for his Mini M&Ms

Oscar is almost as tall as Miss Sheila…

but still young enough to be happy to see her

The Fabulous Huss Brothers in 2014

Our Worsham Street visits are always too short, we missed seeing some of our friends…but we will save them for another time when we return to Texas. We always do.

March 29, 2017

SHOW ME YOUR FOURS!!! GO COCKS!!!

Okay, my daddy always told me, She who tooteth not her own horn, the same shall not be tooteth. Here’s my horn, and I’m tooting it today…

GAMECOCK MEN AND WOMEN

BASKETBALL TEAMS

IN THE MIDDLE OF MARCH MADNESS!!

GO COCKS!!

Gamecock basketball fans can’t figure out where to make their Final Four reservations this week – the men are going west to Phoenix and the women to Dallas for the final weekend of March Madness in 2017. Question: How much “madness” can the University of South Carolina stand in one wild, wacky, wonderful basketball year? And the answer is Ding, Ding, Ding the Daily Double – both teams are Regional Road Warriors and Winners.

As PJ Dozier said at the Welcome Home celebration for the men in Columbia Sunday at the Colonial Life Arena, Gamecock Fans, Show me your Fours!

The names Sindarius Thornwell, Notice, Silva, Dozier, A’ja Wilson, Davis, Gray, Cuevas-Moore, Harris, Cliney are household words in the homes of South Carolina fans who revere the round ball and will now take their deserved places in Gamecock basketball lore as they have led their respective teams into the record books for the school and the SEC as well.

A’ja Wilson – 1st Team All American

Congratulations to # 22 A’ja Wilson, the junior from Hopkins, South Carolina who was named to the All American 1st Team. The honor couldn’t be more well-deserved because Wilson has been not only the spark plug for the spirit of the team but also the checkered flag- waver to help her team stay focused to cross the finish line of every game this season whether on the bench or on the game floor. This girl has spunk, and I love spunk. You go, girl.

Last night Pretty and I plus our dogs Spike and Charly who had been rescued from the Doggie Day (and night) Care in New Orleans stayed in Patchatoula, Louisiana off I-10 to see if our women were Final Four bound. And so they are, and so we will continue our love affair with Coach Dawn Staley and her team and turn west toward Texas to make sure we are there to support them in person this final weekend of the season.

Whatever the scoreboard says in Dallas or in Phoenix, our young women and men are winners and for us personally have provided more than enough entertainment to lift our family from a self-absorbed political pity party we have had since November. For that, we say a huge thank you and good luck in the next games.

P.S. I couldn’t believe we would leave New Orleans without once hearing When the Saints Go Marching In and Sunday night at the very last possible minute, a wedding party parade outside our hotel had a very loud band playing the song while everyone danced in the streets. Magical moment. Memory Maker, as Granny Selma would have surely said.

New Orleans version of a wedding party

Pretty documented it for us

Say goodbye, New Orleans and Hello, Big D, little a, double l, as.

March 28, 2017

Do You Know the Way to…Tuskegee?

The trip between Atlanta, Georgia and Montgomery, Alabama on I-85 is one Pretty and I have made at least a gazillion times in our years of wandering back and forth between Texas and South Carolina. We have our favorite welcome centers, rest areas, cheap gas prices with freshest candy bars convenience stores, and I am always impressed when Pretty remembers the exact location of a Zoe’s restaurant in every town that has one.

Between Auburn and Montgomery, however, there is a road sign we always pass that says Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site next exit. The conversation usually goes Hey, we need to see that, but we don’t have time. We’ll do it later.

“Later” finally showed up yesterday on our trip to New Orleans.

During WWII more than 10,000 African-American men and women worked at Moton Field to train military aviators, both pilots and bombers, for the war. The military at that time was still racially segregated, but patriotism was not.

Pretty, Spike and Charly survey Moton field

The dogs and I sent Pretty to tour the actual hangars and bring us up to date on the history, so she gets credit for the interior photos.

Red Tails the nickname for Tuskegee fighters

The airmen were educated in town at what was then known as the Tuskegee Institute and transported by bus every day to Moton Field which is a few miles from downtown. We followed that route from the National Historical Site to have a look at Tuskegee University today.