Erin and Philip - Halloween 1985?
She looks like they'd just been fighting.
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She looks like they'd just been fighting.
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It was approximately the same year the above picture was taken when this next story took place. The kids and I have always had a special connection. We've known what the other was thinking too many times to be a coincidence. Still do. Erin, especially, has been sensitive to things no one else feels or sees. More so than me or Philip, or their dad. If she feels something, I pay attention.
There's a certain route we take when we come home from Birmingham or anywhere we drive Highway 280 north of town. This route is a back way, but much shorter. It's in a very rural area. Although highly populated, it's dark, but pretty well traveled and safe for the most part. However, there have been serious accidents and maybe even a shooting or stabbing. I have a vague recollection of someone getting shot or stabbed sometime in the past 30 years, but I could have made that up. One quick turn off that road and you can have any drug you desire. Since this particular road is traveled by everyone who lives on this side of town - which includes the mucky-mucks - and most of the families living there are decent, hard working folks, we feel completely safe during the day and reasonably safe at night.
This particular night, the kids and I were coming home from shopping in Birmingham. As we neared the turn off 280, the thought ran through my head not to go that way, but I thought I was just tired and imagining things. Because I was tired, I was going to take the short cut as usual and not listen to my intuition. Just then, Erin said, "Let's don't go that way tonight, Mommy." Well, that was all it took. If both of us had the same feeling, I wasn't about to take any risk.
I often wonder what would have happened? Would a car have crossed over to our side of the road? Would a dog have run out in front of us, causing me to swerve and hit a light pole? Would we have been hit by a stray bullet? Would the three of us still be here today? And whole in body? Or was Erin just picking up on my thoughts and the trip would have been uneventful? Just something else we won't know in this lifetime.
Tomorrow: I Knew They Were Going To Die
(I promise to get to the real ghost stories this week.)
There's a certain route we take when we come home from Birmingham or anywhere we drive Highway 280 north of town. This route is a back way, but much shorter. It's in a very rural area. Although highly populated, it's dark, but pretty well traveled and safe for the most part. However, there have been serious accidents and maybe even a shooting or stabbing. I have a vague recollection of someone getting shot or stabbed sometime in the past 30 years, but I could have made that up. One quick turn off that road and you can have any drug you desire. Since this particular road is traveled by everyone who lives on this side of town - which includes the mucky-mucks - and most of the families living there are decent, hard working folks, we feel completely safe during the day and reasonably safe at night.
This particular night, the kids and I were coming home from shopping in Birmingham. As we neared the turn off 280, the thought ran through my head not to go that way, but I thought I was just tired and imagining things. Because I was tired, I was going to take the short cut as usual and not listen to my intuition. Just then, Erin said, "Let's don't go that way tonight, Mommy." Well, that was all it took. If both of us had the same feeling, I wasn't about to take any risk.
I often wonder what would have happened? Would a car have crossed over to our side of the road? Would a dog have run out in front of us, causing me to swerve and hit a light pole? Would we have been hit by a stray bullet? Would the three of us still be here today? And whole in body? Or was Erin just picking up on my thoughts and the trip would have been uneventful? Just something else we won't know in this lifetime.
Tomorrow: I Knew They Were Going To Die
(I promise to get to the real ghost stories this week.)
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Meg at Meggie's Stuff was kind enough to think of me for the You Make Me Smile Award! I've got a busy day ahead of me today, so I'll work on passing it along sometime in the next few days.
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I've been entertaining the thought of changing my business name from Snapdragon Antiques to something more.... I don't know.... more funky? Was it Kim who visited a shop called Vintage? And Deb's Curious Sofa is a great name. If I'm ever going to change it, nows the time. Before I'm famous. (Insert a grin and a giggle here. Oh, who am I kidding? A hardy guffaw would be more appropriate.) I've used that name for the past six or seven years, but don't know how well I'm associated with it. Nobody who shop's my booth knows it. Only eBayers, the occasional web site shopper and my blog friends. I've not promoted the web site properly to have any faithful shoppers and I offer such diverse things on eBay, I'm pretty sure I don't have lots of people who watch my auctions and besides, I've kept, and use, my original user ID, ivorytklr. I only have the Snapdragon Antiques graphic in the auction description.
So what do you think? Should I change the name? I have nothing in mind. Another thing is trying to find a logo to go along with snapdragons. Good appealing pictures of snapdragons are extremely hard to find and I have a very limited imagination when it comes to that kind of thing. I see such cool logos out there. Many of you have great ones! Mine is so dinky. I'm not at all happy with it. And hiring someone else to come up with something is totally out of the question.
So what do you think? Should I change the name? I have nothing in mind. Another thing is trying to find a logo to go along with snapdragons. Good appealing pictures of snapdragons are extremely hard to find and I have a very limited imagination when it comes to that kind of thing. I see such cool logos out there. Many of you have great ones! Mine is so dinky. I'm not at all happy with it. And hiring someone else to come up with something is totally out of the question.
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I think I'll paint the baseboards at the shop today.
Ta - as I see in the English novels I read. Or is that used as thank you instead of goodbye? I'm so confused.
Ta - as I see in the English novels I read. Or is that used as thank you instead of goodbye? I'm so confused.
