I miss you, Chris Russell...

When I opened my eyes this morning, today’s date popped in my head. June 27. Today is the birthday of Chris Russell, the smartest guy I have ever known.



I grew up in a small Methodist church where it seemed like EVERYONE but my family were descendants of the Wallace family. Well, it didn’t just seem that way - they really were! Even though I wasn’t a Wallace, I *felt* like I was. In my mind all the Wallace cousins were my cousins too. Chris was one of my Wallace cousins, although he loved to point out that I wasn’t really related. He used to tell me that when I got invited to Christmas Eve, he’d accept me as a cousin. He also used to stab me in the ribs with a pencil during church, just to try to get me to make a noise. (He knew that the hardest spanking I ever got was because I talked in church). He was the first person who ever said to me “You like seafood?”… then he opened his mouth (which was full of food) and said “See? Food!”. Yuck. I actually have a picture of him doing that, but my scanner is broken so I can’t put it on here.  (For this, you should be thankful, because it's gross)


When I was in 8th grade and he was a junior, I BEGGED him to take me to prom. He just looked at me like I had lost my mind. I really, really, really wanted to go to prom and he didn’t have a date yet so it made perfect sense to me. I am usually very persuasive and can talk my way into (or out of) most anything, but he was immune to my charms.


After Chris graduated from high school and went to Auburn, we started corresponding through letters. We continued that all through his Auburn years, and even after he went to Virginia Tech. Most of his letters were funny, with him either making fun of me about something, or laced with the typical Chris sarcasm that he was so good at. Most people who have IQs as high as Chris are so smart that they don’t have a whole lot of common sense or very normal sense of humor. He had both. He called me “Miss Danville” and got an especially good laugh when he found out I was dating a boy named “Willard”. For two years, he would ask about my love life and if I was still dating Dillard Hillard Willard. I remember him telling me about Tracy. He knew from the very beginning that she was “the one”. I saw a different side of him when he wrote about Tracy.


As happens with most childhood/adolescent friendships, we drifted apart once we hit adult life. We both married and had children, and our paths didn’t cross as often as they once did.


The day of Chris’ accident is as fresh in my mind as if it happened yesterday. I was on my way to the beach when my mom called. She said a tree had fallen on Chris and he was hurt bad. I was travelling with about my family and some of Willard’s family, so there was about a dozen of us. I didn’t want to ask them to turn around, plus I knew there was nothing I could do, so we went on the beach. I hardly slept a wink because I kept thinking about him and wondering how he was doing. I called my mom first thing the next morning and she told me he had died. It hit me like a ton of bricks. He was so GOOD. I immediately started questioning God and wondering WHY HIM?!? I made the decision not to come back for the funeral and it’s one that I will forever regret. I didn’t get to say goodbye and I guess I just kind of pretended it didn’t happen. For MONTHS after his death, I thought I saw Chris at red lights, at Wal-Mart, etc. I would do a double take and realize it was just some random person with hair similar to Chris’ or features similar to his. I started thinking he was mad at me and was going to haunt me for not coming to his funeral! One day I was driving down Johnson Chapel Road and decided to see (for the first time) where he was buried. I stopped and had myself a good little cry. I guess since I missed the funeral, I never had closure. I needed to say goodbye in my own way. I was a few months late, but I said goodbye that day to my old friend. 


When I read “Heaven Is For Real” a couple of months ago, Chris was one of the first people I thought of. I don’t know if Jesus allows you to do the “seafood” trick in Heaven, but if He does, I’m looking forward to seeing it.


I miss you, Chris Russell.

And I think MY life is crazy...

I can’t believe Victor threw Diane out of the back of an ambulance. Wow. She did deserve it, though. While she was married to Victor, she was sleeping with his son, Nicholas. It had to be weird for Nick. She was his stepmother on two previous occasions, as well as his ex-stepfather’s (Jack) wife once (or twice) too. She now lives with Nick’s half-brother, Adam, who grew up blind on a farm with a really sweet mom, but somehow turned into Satan. Adam is mourning this “love of his life”, Sharon, who he thinks was killed in a car accident after she escaped from jail for a murder she didn’t commit. Sharon used to be married to Nick (twice) and she was involved with Jack too. Come to think of it, Nick and Jack apparently have very similar taste in women. They’ve both been involved or married to Sharon, Phyllis, and Diane. During Nick’s informative years, Jack was married to Nick’s mom, so I guess maybe that’s why they have so much in common? Anyway, I digress… Sharon did not really die in that car crash. She was car-jacked and the woman who stole her car actually died. She was burned and not identifiable, but Adam recognized the big diamond ring she was wearing and identified her as Sharon. Who needs dental records…


Sharon is living in a barn, working as a hired hand for a H-O-T veterinarian. He has no clue who she is but he knows she’s running from something. All I know is that she colored her hair with some cheap drug store color at least two months ago and it still looks awesome. I don’t know what brand it was, but I wish I did!!!

OMG – Cain is alive!! That’s so awesome. Him and Lily are the cutest couple. I hope they can work it out. I know she’s having a hard time trusting him, but I mean… she needs to understand that he was only lying about his family and his past to protect her. The Australia mob is a force to be reckoned with. He had no way of knowing that his father would appear in Genoa City and marry the women who once believed she was Cain’s mother (she wasn’t - long story), much less bring Cain’s IDENTICAL TWIN brother (that no one knew about) with him! All to pull off an elaborate kidnapping of Cain and Lily’s twins so that they could live in Australia and carry on the mobster way of life. Everybody thought Cain was killed on the church steps on his way to Malcolm and Sophia’s wedding, but it was really the evil twin, Caleb. Oh, by the way, Malcolm and Sophia are pregnant! Well, kinda. Sophia is definitely pregnant, but Malcolm’s brother, Neil, *might* be the father. We don’t know for sure, but the baby has some kind of blood issue so I have a feeling we’ll know soon! This is very coincidental because years ago when Neil and Drucilla were married, Drucilla slept with Malcolm and it was subsequently revealed that Malcolm was the father of Lily. So, in a nutshell, Malcolm slept with Neil’s wife and fathered a child – and now Neil has slept with Malcolm’s wife… and probably fathered a child. In Neil’s defense, Malcolm and Sophia weren’t actually MARRIED yet. Just engaged.

I’m out of time now, so I won’t go into the rest of the town. I do want to say that I’m sad the courts took baby Lucy away from Victoria and Billy and gave her to hateful Phyllis. Motherhood definitely agreed with Victoria. She combed her hair more in the 5 months that she had Lucy that she EVER did before!! Oh, and I have one random prediction… I predict that Noah’s new friend, Hunter, will turn out to be Tucker’s “son”. I know, I know… Hunter is a girl. I suspect that Tucker never met his “son”… only assumed it was a boy because he found out the child was named Hunter. Random prediction, I know, but I got a gut feeling.  And stranger things have happened...

Deadbeat blogger...

I apologize to my followers (all 4 of you) for not blogging recently. I blame it on several factors – the heat and the current chaotic state of life being two of those. I think the biggest problem is that I ran out of my hormone prescription. If you don’t think that is a big deal, then you’re either a man or you have ovaries that function. I am not qualified to explain the connection between estrogen and brain activity, but I promise you that there is one. The crazy things that happen in my daily life don’t seem nearly as cute or funny when my hormones are unbalanced. There’s definitely a direct connection between estrogen and things like patience, humor, and general likeability. I should probably take this opportunity to apologize to the old man at the ball field who yelled at Carson and sent me into “it’s-a-good-thing-you’re-old-or-else-I’d-kick-your-butt mode, and to the bratty little boy at VBS who pushed my buttons to the point that I was speaking through gritted teeth, and to my poor children who truly DO deserve to be grounded but accuse me of being hormonal every time I try to discipline them, and to scores of other people who annoyed me without even realizing they were doing it which prompted me to either talk about them behind their backs or think evil thoughts about them. (I am not, however, apologizing for my blog about extreme couponers. Hormones or not, I stand by my opinion on that!)


My prescription is now been filled (Willard even picked up the prescription, which speaks VOLUMES in itself), and I’m back in the world of happiness and humor. :)

Ideally, I’d like to blog at least a couple times a week, but I sometimes struggle with a subject. If you’d like to suggest a subject for me, either comment here or on Facebook. NOTE: The Sharpley Road incident WILL NOT be blogged about. I enjoy blogging about my family and our daily life, but I would be open to other subjects if they are fun and I have an opinion about them.

Cats, zebras, pigs, blankets and lingerie...

After months of being MIA, we found Gigi's "Izzy" yesterday.  Izzy is a stuffed kitty cat that Gigi has slept with since she was less than a year old.  Somehow Izzy got to Momar's house and I guess Momar didn't realize that she needed to send her home.  Gigi was soooo excited that we found her, and carried her around all day yesterday.  She napped easier yesterday and went to bed easier last night, which I attribute to Izzy! 

Izzy

Finding Izzy got me to thinking about security blankets and such.  Until then, I hadn't realized that ALL my kids had some sort of security animal/blanket when they were younger. 

Yuri sleeps with three things... a Zebra that Pam Shelton got her for her 2nd birthday, a Piglet that Karlie bought for herself but gave to Yuri when she fell in love with it, and a pink doggie. 

Karlie never really had an animal.  She preferred her "blankee".  She rotated between a yellow thermal blanket with silky fringe, and a pink one with no fringe.  She wasn't attached until she was about 18 months old.  I got out the baby blankets and the pacifiers so her and Haley could play baby dolls.  Karlie walked in the den a little bit later with a paci in her mouth and a blanket slung over her shoulder.  It took FOREVER (like years!) to get either one of them away from her.

Oh, I think I said all my kids had some sort of security blanket/animal when they were younger.  I need to correct that... Haley Rae STILL sleeps with hers and it goes on vacation, to camp, etc. every year.  She sleeps with a stuffed pig with a piece of my old lingerie wrapped around it.  She didn't realize she was sleeping with my lingerie until a couple of years ago and she was pretty freaked about it, but not freaked enough to let it go.  The pig is nasty and stinks but she won't let me wash it because she's afraid he'll lose his stuffing. 

Haley's stinky pig

Hunter's first security item was a little blue cloth baby doll that we called "Mr. Bill".  He slept with Mr. Bill until he was 4 or 5, and I then I guess he realized it wasn't cool to sleep with dolls.  After that, he started sleeping with all his "jungle friends".  I would walk in his room at night and barely be able to find him under all the animals.  I actually have a picture of him and Jacob Fields asleep in the pile of animals.  I'll have to find that picture and upload it to Facebook - ha!  I finally had to tell him to pick ONE animal.  He zoned in on one he called "Fur Ball".

Fur Ball