In the last few years, I have changed. Not in the ways that everyone changes as they get older and outgrow things. I mean that I have made such a change in myself as a person that others have noticed, and have begun telling me. I have been told that I am much less of a control freak, that I am not as angry all the time, I am calmer and happier and more content in general. There are several things that I could attribute this to, but I won’t bore you with all those details. I know that the addition of fitness in my life, having Handy Fellow around, this blog, and also dropping a lot of negative people and energy has made all the difference. I have even been able to stop with the lists that used to run my whole existence. I had a constant list of things to do, places that I was supposed to go or call. In a way it was a running tally to me of all the things that I was failing at. If I didn’t finish the things on that list in the time that I thought I should have, then I somehow wasn’t doing things right. And that certainly meant that other people would notice. I stopped caring about that shit too-what people thought about how I was living.
The reason that this is coming to mind currently is due to an amazing visit that I just had with my family. More specifically my sister, brother in law and nephew from North Carolina. They were travelling to Key West, and stopped in Jacksonville along the way! Well originally the weekend we had talked about, turned out to be when Hank Williams Jr was playing in nearby St Augustine. I put in for the nights off work that they would be here. And then I was denied two out of three of them. To say that I was really upset would be an understatement. So I talked to my sister, and she said they had changed their plans to match up with my actual weekend off! So while I was happy that they were coming when I could spend time with them I was bummed that we were going to miss Hank Jr (yes I am aware I have seen him several times). Little did I know, things were actually being put into motion for me. The Universe knew what it was doing. Do any of you out there believe in fate? In the weeks leading up to their visit, I started to. Things all came together in what culminated as an amazing few days for me.
My Family started their travels in the morning of Good Friday, and encountered some HEAVY traffic. I even joked with my sister that I hoped she wouldn’t need a she-wee in her car! If you don’t know what that is..go ahead and look it up..thank me later. They were getting to me, just really slowly. Even though I had worked the night before I was so excited I had trouble sleeping that morning. Finally late that night they got here and we quickly went to get some food! I took them to a local taco place and we shared laughs food and some margaritas for me and my sis. We went back to my place and even though my nephew had joked that we were going to party all night long, it was soon bedtime for him and my bro in law; while my sister and I stayed up a few more hours talking and laughing on my screen porch. In the morning, I knew I wanted to show them some of what Jacksonville Florida is about so I took them to Maple Street Biscuit Company for breakfast, and then to the Riverside Arts Market! We had a great time walking around and seeing all the sights, I ran into a few friends, and we grabbed some samples of things. Then we walked up and saw a crowd around one booth and went to investigate. Soon enough, my sister was custom painting her own silk scarf. It was seriously neat to watch, and she even let me drop some of the paint on it!!
We headed back to the house, my brother in law and I went to the grocery store and then something happened that I didn’t think I would ever have expected. It was gin martini time. My sister recently came across the gin martini and wanted me to try one with her. So she mixed some up.. and then more..and then more. We were tipsy. We were tipsy and singing along with the Oak Ridge boys. Loudly and off key. This would not really be that huge of a deal if my favorite Handy Fellow was not on his way to meet my family for the first time ever. Turns out, everything was fine, and just as he normally does he just went with it. He is after all pretty used to my shenanigans! We had a great night, good conversation and I am so glad they were all able to meet and put a face with all the stories they hear from me about each other. The night was fun, the barbeque tasty, and I would love to get us all together again soon. After watching a Jaws movie, my sister and I were back to sipping drinks on the screen porch, and we went all out. We drank gin and juice ya’ll. Like, that’s serious business. We talked, we laughed, we shared memories that made us cry, and then made each other laugh again. We also were apparently not that good at whispering. We went to bed at an ungodly hour, and had to spend a few hours recouping on the couch and chaise after eating a delicious breakfast my brother in law made us (mad props to him, especially after finding the orange juice on the porch).
Then, as if in some sort of Easter Miracle, my sister was up and running, and in the kitchen making a meal of food for dinner. Her recipe called for putting the oven on like 500 and something degrees and we filled my whole apartment with smoke but that chicken was so dang good! We sat down to dinner and then watched Harry Potter movies. To have a living room full of family was amazing. My nephew and I even dyed some faux eggs that my sister had brought with them. Easter was a blast, and in the morning we went to another Jacksonville fave-Metro Diner! After our meal we said goodbyes for them to hit the road, but they weren’t too sad since I knew they would be making their way back through on the way home.
Over the next week, I had to work three days and then the other three I was off. I am sometimes really busy in my off time, but this has become something I enjoy. This particular week included a Yelp Elite game night with some of my besties (shout out to the shit crown crew) and also some times with Handy Fellow. The game night was really fun! I had never been to the location it was held at before and with complimentary food drinks and games-whats not to love! There is something about these events that always makes us feel like kids in a candy store, and even more so this time with the arcade full of lights in front of us.
Before I knew it my Fam squad was coming back to town! I worked Friday, and they were planning to arrive on Saturday, and I also had plans to meet up with my Yelp squad to go to One Spark, which is a large festival with creators, inventions , and local food and drink with live entertainment. Well. Little did we know, the wonderful Florida weather would send torrential down pours upon our city. That day was disgusting. And as happens with every other storm, this made traffic terrible. All the while I was making my travels downtown, I was getting constant texts from the group I was meeting up with. Updates of their where abouts, the amount of traffic they were hitting, and then…the news came. One Spark was cancelled. We really have no idea why since the venue was indoors. But soon there we all were making impromptu plans and meeting up at a local brewery that we love. We were all a little water logged but still in good spirits, and also the addition of some nice cold beers didn’t hurt! While we were there laughing and talking we also ran into someone else we knew and went into peels of laughter and hugs all over again. These are my people. We just roll with whatever comes, and we always have a great time!
It turns out the good time was heading to another location for some, but with my phone totally dead and no way of knowing if my family was safe, and here in Jax or not; I had to get home! Don’t worry y’all, I DID give them a key so that in case of a missed arrival they could still get in. It seems that I only missed them by 30 minutes or so, and when I came home I was greeted by my brother in law! My sister and nephew had taken Waylon my tiny side kick for a walk cause he was a little barky, even though my sister noted that he didn’t react at all when they came in the door. That tells me that my boy knows and loves them well enough to be comfortable with them coming in the house with out me. We spent some time catching up again and I got to hear all about their vacation and take some silly pictures on my couch. My sister and I ended the night again with some beers on the screen porch and then she turned in to rest up for the trip in the morning. When we all woke up that Sunday, it was a little sadder of a tone, as we knew this was actually goodbye, not just see you in a week. I will never get used to that. If you think you do pretty well with good byes, try it with someone that you really love. I went back to bed, kinda blue.
With the idea of fate, listen to this. Remember I was super bummed that I wasn’t going to see Hank Williams Jr (again)? Well in the few days before my sister came, I was sleeping and got a message from my treadmill loving pal at work that there were tickets available and he knew I liked country music…did I want them. The tickets were to see DWIGHT YOAKAM!! I have loved him for years and had never seen him. But I worked that day, so I was sad. Well at my job, if you can find someone to trade shifts with you, the supervisors are ok with that. So I had tickets, and soon enough I had found someone that didn’t mind trading the night with me. I was going to see Dwight Yoakam, and next I started talking to someone about a fun shirt to wear!! The concert was so so good, and I was ecstatic to be given these awesome seats for free from the Sheriff’s Office. Charles Esten, from the show Nashville was one of the opening acts and he was really good, and then the man himself came out. Some artists talk between songs, or take a little break..not Dwight. He did some tribute songs to Merle Haggard, and then pumped out song after song, hit after hit. He shook and shimmied in those tight jeans and played his heart out for us. And when the show was over, he came back out and sang one more. I screamed, I sang, I danced, I may have cried. Fate put me in the right place at the right time.
What I’m getting at here folks is that there’s really no way of knowing what life has in store for me. I have made some good solid changes to my life in the last three years or so, and for that reason I feel like I have been able to enjoy more and see more. Hard work and discipline might have made me a better person in some ways; but letting loose and just letting things happen, that has also made all the difference. As fate would have it, this month has been shaping up to be really amazing, and I have some more adventures up my sleeve-just you wait and see!
Diaries of Suzy Doozer 
Looks like you have a wonderful close-knit family. I am glad you are getting more out of life, that is what life is all about.
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