Why Am I Here?

Experiencing the Honey Festival from the Other Side....

On the Other Side

I sat at my table watching the people drift by.  They barely glanced my way.  There were so many wonderful things to look at so why would they take a second look at me.  Those old feelings of shame, embarrassment, and failure began to creep into my soul.  Why did I come here? Was it really that important to share my thoughts and reach out the people passing my way? How foolish I felt compared the other bustling booths at the Honey Festival. What was even more frightening was that it was only Friday night.  I had two more days so sit at this table - two more days to sit and watch the happy families walk on by while I stared aimlessly at them.

The trip to KY had started off bad.  For the first time in my life, I had missed my plane out of Houston and had to sit for nearly two hours for the next flight.  In addition, I was so induced with my mom's conversation that I missed the Mountain Parkway exit and got lost several times. By the way, why can't they just add a dang exit for that parkway on the other side of the interstate? No wonder I felt like a failure at this point. 

Like a movie preview, memories of my past began to flash within my mind.  My eyes began to water as I recalled them all -- memories of never fitting in no matter how hard you tried.  Those same old feelings of never being good enough, smart enough, and always being shuffled to the side as if you never mattered.  I remember wanting to cry out, to have a voice, but it always seemed useless.  No would listen anyway. That was over 20 years ago and here I sat reliving those haunting memories as if they had just happened.  

I feared the rejection. Most of all, I feared annoying people, the people of Eastern KY who I have such a compassion and love for.  Perhaps they would think of me as some weird stranger who had no idea about life in the hills of KY.  It has been awhile since I have had to walk up the holler, pack water from the branch, or nearly gotten ran over crossing Main Street in Jackson.  Funny how all that comes back so naturally.  Yet I knew I was here for a reason.  I had something to share.  

Me and my Booth

Well, I am Truly happy that this was not the whole story from my Honey Festival experience. Friday night did start off awkward but by the end of the evening, I couldn't wait to run to Wal-Mart before it closed.  I just had to have more goodies to give out and improve my booth a little more.  Of course, getting my 4-H corn dog came first!  It tasted even better than I remembered alongside the ice cold Coke!! Coke is our preferred option in Texas over Pepsi.  Sorry Pepsi Lovers! :)

By Saturday, I was able to sell nearly all of my books, I Found Me, leaving only 4 books left for Sunday.  I also gave out plenty of business cards, stickers, articles, bookmarks, candy, as well as Hugs and promises of prayers to those I met.  The old feelings of rejection and sadness were long replaced with laughter, smiles, and a stronger deep compassion for my hometown.

Mike Bryant and Me (BHS Class of '88!)

By the end of the weekend, I felt sad taking down my table and sign.  Yet I knew  that I had made an accomplishment.  I had came here to serve as God's purpose.  In fact, I was able to donate two copies of my books to the Jackson Library.  Check them out if you didn't get a chance to stop by my booth! Perhaps I can attend the Honey Festival again next year!! :)

Obey God's whispering commands, those inner instincts.  Trust God!

My cousin Alonzo and Me

My cousin Gina and Me

Teach them Early about Voting!

Teach them Early about Voting!

Gearing Up for the 2010 Honey Festival

Hey Ya'll! 

When I was growing up, I use to LOVE going every year to the Honey Festival in Jackson, KY.  I use to count down the days to Labor Day so I would be out of school for the long weekend and get a chance to go to town.   I  dreamed of being a "clogger" after seeing the Jackson clogging team dance to the wonderful Bluegrass music.  I also loved eating the 4-H Booth's Corn Dogs. They were sooo yummy!

Of course the festival seemed huge to me back then as there were so many people everywhere.  My parents and I would walk around all the booths in the giant tent that was stretched out down Main Street.  We gazed at all the crafts and other neat stuff even though we couldn't afford to buy hardly any of it.  After a few years of attending the festival, my cousin Alonzo and I started a tradition of getting the ceramic Honey Bee pin with our names printed on them.  Since we rarely got to go to many places while growing up, the Honey Festival was our favorite and most exciting time of the year. Unfortunately, I haven't been to the festival in many years.

Well....I am soooo excited to announce that I - little old me - will be hosting a booth in the BIG tent at this year's 2010 Honey Festival this Labor Day weekend! Woo Hoo!! It was a blessing that I was able to make it in the booth line up.  I feel even more blessed that I will be able to provide some goodies and free articles of mine. However, if you want to save some trees and read the articles online, feel free to download a copy below.   I hope to have a few more.

I am very very excited to be a participant at the Honey Festival and see all the people of my hometown.  Of course I will be selling copies of my book, "I Found Me", on sale for $15.  I wish I could give them away but an author's gotta break even somewhere -- right? Even if I don't sell one book, it makes me very happy that I will be able to provide some articles and talk to the hometown folk.  I have such a passion and love for my hillbilly people.  By the way, the first 10 participants who purchase my book will get a Free book bag.  I hope that you will like them!

Anyway, hope to see you there! Stop by and say hi! =) I wonder if they still sell those Honey Bee pins?

Some articles that will be available:

• Someone in Your Family Driving You Nuts?  (Alanon/Alateen Info)
• Drunk on Election Day (Election Fraud Info)

 ""You can take the Girl out of the Country, but you can't take the country out of the girl!"  

Be proud of your hillbilly heritage! I AM!

New Shoes

I Love Shoes!!

In the past couple of weeks I have been gearing up for this year's 2010 Honey Festival in my hometown of Jackson KY.  In addition to making tote bags, stickers, and a host of other various freebies for my "I Found Me" booth, I had almost forgotten the most important part, Shoes!! If you are like me, I find every excuse I can to purchase some new shoes. Thankfully Payless was having a "buy one, get one half off" sale.  My intent was to get just one pair of comfy shoes since I will being doing lots of walking around the festival. Yet how I could I miss out on a sale like that? My one pair turned into four pair of shoes.  =) Now I am stuck debating which pair to take on my trip back home?


Yet getting a pair of new shoes  was never easy to come by when I was growing up.  Getting a second pair would have been unheard of so I think I am making up for lost time! I always hated school shopping with my mom.  Not only did it mean that the summer was over but I had to be dragged to the thrift store or to Wal-Mart to get clothes.  Plus it really didn't matter what clothing or shoes I liked.  I was stuck with whatever my parents could afford and whatever my mom liked.  Of course there were arguments which I failed miserable at as she would say that when I got my own money, I could buy my own shoes. 

When my dreaded freshman year rolled around I had a few dollars saved up from selling eggs.  Like most early teens, I thought I knew it all! I was going to have a "say so" this year when we went shopping for clothes.  Wal-Mart had just opened up the year before in Jackson.  Everyone flocked to it like a fox in a hen house.  My mom and I went through the same routine just like ever year.  We bickered over the clothes she picked out and I had to try them on anyway.  I hate trying on clothes still to this day!  After coming out of the dressing room, my mom and total strangers would be conversing on whether the clothes fit right or not.  She'd make me turn around several times before I'd  have to do it all over again with another outfit.

My feet had grown quite a bit over the summer so it was hard to find shoes at Wal-Mart.  Somehow we got stuck going to a fancier store in Jackson like Rose Brothers or Dawhar's.  It was there when I first fell in love with shoes.

The year was 1984 and of course Michael Jackson, break dancing, and music videos were HOT!  My cousin Alonzo had a break dancing book and he taught me a few moves.  Naturally, a dancer at heart, I fell in love with break dancing---moon walking, popping and locking and whatever other freaky moves we learned.  Yet in all the videos, the break dancers seem to have "special shoes" that made them look like they were floating.  THOSE shoes were on Sale at the store we were at and I HAD HAD HAD to HAVE them, no matter what!! Unfortunately, the shoes only came in RED.  They had no other colors or styles.  It didn't matter to me! They were break dancing shoes!  I thought they were the most awesome, coolest shoes ever invented!

Unfortunately, even being on sale they were too expensive for my mom's taste. I begged and pleaded with her. I even gave her my egg money, which in all honesty, was probably just about $5.  The shoes were a lot more than that! She reminded me that these were the only pair of shoes I could get for the entire year.  I tuned out everything she said and thought she was mean and dumb for not wanting me to get the shoes.  Unfortunately, I got them--bright Red Cloth shoes.  Cloth shoes.  Not ideal for walking in and out of a holler for a whole year in mud, rain, snow, and ice not to mention that the soles were pretty thin as well.  They also didn't go very well with my school clothes.  I had to wear the RED shoes with Every outfit to school.

Those shoes lasted about a month or two before holes were torn into them from my walking and the rough conditions.  It didn't matter.  They were my break dancing shoes and MJ would be so proud. My pride would not let me complain much either. Thankfully my Grandma felt some sympathy for me and got me some tennis shoes from the Dollar Store later that year .

What's the moral of this story? Never buy red shoes? LOL  Nah...!  Sometimes God gives us what we want even if its not good for us.  Sometimes, like my mom, He's says "Ok...but you will have to live with the consequences."  

Choose carefully the life you want and the things you want, 

as you most often don't get a second chance!