Okay, as I was writing the topic for this piece, I felt I was back in school again writing an essay. And as with some essays, you place a by-line on it. I just had to do it.

Plus one more thing before I start the super long (you have been warned!) entry you are about to get: I want to thank everyone for the birthday wishes in my blog and the real birthday cards I got. Now to breakdown tonight and do my Christmas and Thank You cards. I've got quite a few to do.

As I stated before I left, this trip this past weekend was to Alabama to visit the Ave Maria Grotto and Helen Keller Birthplace. The Grotto is in Cullman, AL and the birthplace, known as Ivy Green, is in Tuscumbia, AL. Also, we stayed the night in Florence, AL at the Wood Avenue Inn.

Friday night, my mother and I spent time travelling to our starting point of Augusta, GA. My mother's friend Nancy lives there. Going along with us was Nancy's friend, Patsy. As everyone joked to me this weekend, I spent time with three menopausal women and survived it. Really, it was no problem for me. After all, this was really a trip to celebrate Nancy's birthday, and I was the tagalong since it was actually my birthday. So, we got to Nancy's home and crashed for the night. Before I crashed, Nancy gave me a birthday gift of some nice Avon jewelry. It was a silver bracelet in one box. The other box had a match clip-on earrings and necklace set. Both are beautiful. I've yet to take the necklace off.

The next morning, the four of us packed the car and ate at the Waffle House at 7 AM before leaving town. Nice cozy breakfast we had. Then it was time to head to the I-20 and go on our way to Alabama. I slept half the way to Atlanta from Augusta so I didn't get to see much of the growth this corridor has has. Atlanta via I-20 is not as bad as I-75. Usually, we come into Atlanta from that road and I fear driving it. I don't think I would have had a problem driving I-20. It was about late in the 9 AM hour when we went through Atlanta and then the Alabama border isn't that far. Birmingham, here we come.

The trip to Birmingham wasn't bad, either. In Alabama, they require trucks to stay in the left lanes of the Interstates. I was dumbfounded by this since in Georgia, trucks are required to be in the right lanes of the Interstates. Just confuse me, why don't you! My mother was still driving at this point. She did all the driving this day. She probably would have let me drive but I don't like her car I didn't feel I could do it. And on this section of the trip, I spotted from the Interstate, the Talladega Superspeedway, which I laughed about. I've never been to a NASCAR event, but I've seen two of the racetracks now, being the second is Daytona every time I travel to Orlando. Finally, around noon, we get into the Birmingham area and go through it.

We made a restroom break at McDonald's/gas station in Warrior, AL. My mother got me some rabbit figurines there. That's one thing if I ever get married, my husband will have to deal with a room in a rabbit motif. We got back on the road and finally got to Cull man around 1 PM. We stopped at Cracker Barrel and had lunch. And shopped. This was a shopping weekend. My mother got a few Beanie Babies items. Two ornaments and a Beanie cat that had a date special to her as its birthday.

Finally, around two, we got to the Ave Maria Grotto. It was interesting. It felt like my party spent more time in the gift shop instead of the actual Grotto. But, it was cool. The Grotto is nothing more than the art work of a Brother Joseph that made miniatures of famous sites and building, using photos as the source, with the miniatures made of cement, rocks, marbles, broken glass, and other items he found or donated to him, place outside to view. My mother was the person that really wanted to see this. And they shopped. Nancy ended up getting me another gift here. She saw in the gift shop a rabbit figurine made out of real Alabama clay and thought of me. I didn't even know there was one in the gift shop. While they did the shopping, I went outside and sat in the peaceful, cool Alabama air, meditating.

I'm 24 and like I've doing since my 20^th birthday, wondered about my life. What its purpose? That type of thought. I don't know if I thought God would answer me at the Grotto. But then, I realized how my life is compared to others and that I am lucky. I'll land back on my feet in regards to my job. I'm in school and will one day get a degree. In what, I'll figure out later. And as for love, I'm not going to rush it. It will happen when it happens. I just have to remember what John Mayer says at the beginning of a live version of "Love Song For No One." So in a way, I guess God did answer me.

So, as we left the Grotto to head to Florence, Nancy gave me the rabbit. Florence is about 2 hours away from Cullman but it's on the other side of the Tennessee River from Tuscumbia. Nancy got us a couple of rooms at the beautiful Wood Avenue Inn. My mother and I shared a room and Nancy had a room with Patsy. I had one of the best nights of sleep there. The bed was nice and cozy, and soft. I didn't want to leave the bed. But we had to so we could visit Ivy Green.

Now, for those that have never been to this part of the country, it's an interesting place for a Geography buff like me. Florence is in Lauderdale County, north of the Tennessee River. Across the river, is Colbert County, home of the towns of Tuscumbia, Sheffield, and Muscles Shoals. They call the area the Shoals area. All four towns/cities are on top of each other. You don't know which town you're in unless you know what side of the river you are on and if there is a sign near you telling you where you are. We killed time at a Rite-Aid and McDonald's in Sheffield. At the Rite-Aid, you looked down the street and could see into Tuscumbia.

Nancy was working on postcards to send her friends and remarked how people she grew up with lived in Decatur, AL. We drove by Decatur on our way from the Grotto to Inn the night before. My mother found this out and made Nancy call her friends to let them know she was in Alabama and maybe they would like to get together at Ivy Green to see Nancy. Well, they where thrilled about this and drove to the Rite-Aid to meet us. So, our party grew by two more ladies to visit Ivy Green.

Ivy Green is small but it was, for lack of another word, interesting and educational. However, we all felt our tour guide was annoyed by us. She didn't show us the kitchen building, the side cottage, and the carriage house outside the home on the grounds. She didn't go upstairs to tell us about the history of the rooms there. Someone suggested she may have been ill, which could have been true. Yet, we just didn't like the tour. She never said anything about Helen attending Radcliffe! That was probably the sticking point for me. But, we did see and learn a bit more about Helen Keller. And, we saw the famous pump!

So, after the Ivy Green tour, either Nancy or her friends suggested we head to Decatur and have coffee with them. My mother agreed to it, knowing seeing these life long friends of Nancy meant something to her. Nancy joined her friends and Patsy stayed with us to get rest on the way to Decatur. Two things I observed on this trip. One, the side of the road was littered. It wasn't your paper cups and hamburger wrappers you usually see. The litter was cotton. Cotton plants were all over the side of the road, with cotton in them. It was a site and my mother joked about stopping and taking some cotton. And in Town Creek, I believe or just outside of it, we saw a swarm of birds in a field. It may have been a quarter acre of birds there. My mother remarked it was a scene from The Birds.

It was nearing dark when we got to Decatur. While at Jimmy Nell's home (Jimmy Nell being the mother friend of Nancy's), all the "adults" sat talking and listening to my mother and Jimmy Nell playing piano. I did sit and talk for a bit but I saw a globe and road atlas in the home and spent most of the time there looking at them. My quark, yes, but I do enjoy staring at a map and just seeing the layout of a state and spotting cities and towns I've heard of before and remembering where they are. We also had a Pizza Hut dinner while in Decatur. One pizza was sausage and pepperoni for me and the other pizza was Hawaiian pizza. I told them I wouldn't have minded if they got both pizzas in Hawaiian.

Finally, around 6 PM last night, it was dark and we needed to get on the road. I volunteered to drive at this point. Nancy and Patsy couldn't drive and my mother had done all the other driving. I felt she needed a rest. So, we stopped by the Wal-Mart on the way out of Decatur so Nancy could get yarn. That's her quark. I drove from Jimmy Nell's home all the way to the Talladega area. I nearly got into a collision getting back onto I-65 South from a stop at a gas station. My mother's car has very bad blind spots and the car I could I sideswiped was in a blind spot. Other then that and scaring my mother around some trucks, I think I did well. In the Talladega, passengers needed a potty break, or "tinkle tinkle" as the joke in the car was, so we stopped at a McDonald's. I handed the car over to my mother to make the rest of the trip. Across a business driveway was a gas station that happened to have a replica of a Sterling Marlin race car. My dad is a NASCAR fan and he happens to like #40. I finished off our film taking photos of this car for my father. I then called him on the phone and he seemed interested in seeing them

Except for one last stop in Madison for gas, the trip home was uneventful except for seeing a car turned over on West bound I-20 east of Atlanta. Many cars on that side of the road stopped to help and traffic started to back up. I hold the people in that accident are ok. Once in the Augusta area, we took a shortcut on a new road that starts in Columbia County at I-20 and cuts into Richmond County across the street from Gate #1 at Ft. Gordon. To make it back to Nancy's as fast as she could, we took that way. The young MP at the gate for some reason, reminded me of Lance Bass of *NSYNC. And then to boot, the three menopausal women were flirting with him. And he was playing back to them!

We got into Nancy's home around 2:30 and collapsed. Nancy and Patsy had to work today and my mother and I made the trip back home. But all in all, it was a wonderful and memorable trip. I enjoyed it. And that's how I spent my 24^th birthday!

Finally, as Misbah requested, it's the Monday Mission:

1. Do you get sick very often? What illness do you find that you've had most frequently? I don't get sick, often. But my most common illness is Herpes Simplix I. In other words, cold sores. They pop up, like one did on the way home from Augusta, when I'm worn out.

2. I know a man who flat out refuses to go to the Doctor's office. You'd need an ambulance to get him near a hospital. Not me, I'd rather go as soon as I feel sick so I can get better. Do you mind going to see the Doctor when you get sick? Do you know anyone who just refuses to go to a Doctor when they get ill? Any idea why they are like that? When I had pneumonia, I didn't want to go to the doctor and these days, I still don't. But it's better to nip everything in the bud early.

3. How about visiting the Dentist? Do you go get a check-up every 6 months? Or do you dread going? Well, going to the dentist costs an arm and a leg and I can't spare that. I haven't had my teeth cleaned in over a year. But, since I'm a student at Armstrong, I can get a free dental cleaning after the New Year. I plan on doing it.

4. I've heard about a diet pill called "Thermolift" that allegedly gives you quite an energy rush (oh boy mentioning this will surely bring us all a ton of Google hits won't it?). Although I've thought about getting some of these pill for the times I need a boost, I'm probably not going to take the plunge. Have you ever taken any diet pills, energy pills or energy drinks? How did they make you feel? Do you still take them? How come? I took one Metabo-something 3 years ago. I was shaking and it scared the crap out of me. I didn't take another one. The only "energy pills" that I take now is a Centrum a day. And the only thin

5. Have you heard about "Gastric Bypass" surgery that many celebrities are doing to loose weight? (The process reduces the size of your stomach to facilitate weight loss) What are your thoughts on this procedure? Would you ever consider it? How would you feel if a relative were to decide to undergo the procedure? I could never do it. As for someone I know doing it, I would support them.

6. What do you think the opposite sex needs to experience to fully understand what it is like to be your gender? They can spend a weekend traveling all over Alabama with three menopausal women! Just spend a day in a woman's shoes.

7. And to lighten things up a bit before we go...What's the most worthless gadget, infomercial item or "looked like a bargain" item you have ever purchased or owned? I can't think of an answer. Oh wait, in 1995, when Grandpa was in Jacksonville and he had a heart attack, my mother and my cousin's first wife, Emily, went to a K-mart going out of business. Michael and my father were busy with Grandma, so my mother and Emily found ways to kill time. The K-mart trip was one thing. The K-mart had a deal. One buggy, filled with anything you placed into was $25.00 So, my mother and Emily spent $25.00 on a cart. I got a replacement NKOTB puzzle for the one the movers killed when we moved to Savannah. Plus I got a few other NKOTB items. But the one thing that sticks out the most from this cart deal where the numerous replacement bike brakes. To this day, I might find one of those bike brakes still in its packaging!

BONUS: Why can't every day be like Christmas? I know this is a song lyric but I don't know the song. But if Christmas was everyday, it would lose its meaning and wouldn't be fun anymore!

Santa can you hear me? \ I have been so good this year \ And all I want is one thing \ Tell me my true love is here

Now I'll never get that song out of my head!

Posted by Shawn at December 9, 2002 3:38 PM in General, Monday Mission.