Being a woman of the south, I seek out good southern lit but am disappointed far too often.
Following a tired pattern, many of the books I find lean heavily on southern stereotypes rather than the hard truth of today's south. Sadly, this includes some highly praised southern novels.
After receiving an advance copy of Wiley Cash's When Ghosts Come Home I stayed up way past my normal bedtime to read straight through till reaching The End.
Wiley Cash hits every note just right. Relative to the large number of books I read, I rarely give a book 5 stars. This one deserves 10.
Half way through this year, I have two literary heroes. Wiley Cash and Shawn A. Cosby .
I had to do it sooner or later.
I had been putting it off for far too long.
It was yet another "needs must" situation.
Jeans and shorts and pants and T-shirts have been living in this little dresser.
Rarely going anywhere lately because so much of what's in there no longer fits.
Past time for a lot of things to be finding new homes.
Time to admit it.
Some things just don't fit, and they ain't never gonna fit again.
I suppose I could blame it on Evil Pandemic Fairies moving in and sewing seams in my clothes . . .
But, that would be unfair to the fairies.
Something we should all remember . . .
I'm not sure I truly understood what that little phrase, "needs must", really meant until recently and it slammed home hard and fast and true. And I'm being, admittedly, childishly whiny about it. I don't care. I'll whine if I want to.
We have, like everyone, experienced "needs must" moments. Those unexpected emergencies that can't be ignored.
What do you do?
You do what needs to be done as best you're able, of course, and move on.
While I take ownership of my personal feelings of pissed off-edness about this, it's a bigger issue.
Health care cost in this country stinks.
The fact that people lose homes, go bankrupt, or ignore their health problems in The United States of America because of cost is ludicrous and, IMO, criminal.
Health care, in this particular case, includes dental care.
Donald and I are just beginning our latest adventure.
The most expensive one yet.
One that will cost more than our past three trips abroad combined.
But we will have pretty new teeth implanted.
Even with dental insurance, our out of pocket cost will be around $25,000 +.
Needs must.
This is not going to be an easy financial situation for us. But, I know we're able to do it because we've been, among other things, damned lucky.
When I hear people say something like, "well, they should have planned better", "they should have made better choices," etc. I'd like to shake them. That is not reality.
Don Barley and I have worked hard all our lives. We've worked, at times, more than one job. When I was single, there was a short period of time when I worked three jobs. And still, we've been lucky. Luckier than some who have worked harder for longer.
There will be no adventures to Paris or anywhere else for awhile.
I'll be a little upset about it, but I hope I can keep it in perspective and hope that some day, this country will come around and do the right thing for its hard working citizens in regard to health care.
Needs must.
