Lately my
six-month-old puppy, Dexter, has viciously attacked socks. I find my running
and dress socks all about the house, half-dead with holes in their heads;
bleeding little trails of cotton in just about every room of my rental house in
Mobile. I'm not too sure what spurs this obsession with feet accessories among
dogs, but it must be widespread. Maybe it's a relative form of our use of
stress balls, biting fingernails and chewing gum. This morning, I found him in
the bathtub, sniffing gooey soaps and licking the walls beaded with water. It
was the first time I witnessed this, but I know it won't be the last. The
innocent, once-white socks, the water droplets in the bathtub and my dog make
up an uncommon trio that initiates my frustrating entertainment and his
instinctive animal curiosity on a Sunday morning.
We all have
awkwardly abrupt mornings from time to time with some unexpected discoveries -
a wreck on Airport Boulevard with traffic backed up when we're running late, a
cold shower because your kids who are getting ready for school this week used
all the hot water or even the occasional plop onto the wrong side of the bed.
We just want to sleepwalk to the coffeepot, the shower or perhaps the closet to
get dressed for a morning run, bike, a cup of coffee on the couch. Some people
wake-up with company (human warmth or wet kisses of a beloved pet) while others
wake to the quiet simplicity of their own thoughts. The majority of us can say
that our morning breath can be a frightening alarm clock in itself. Either way,
we typically wake out of our subconscious in the mornings, which causes us to
be a bit sensitive and timid at first, especially when the unexpectedness of
life decides to tap in at the break of dawn.
Life is
funny. It doesn't walk in a straight line or move in chronological order. It
doesn't even form directly to the paved curves in the roads. It takes the
unbeaten path, the directions that don’t follow the GPS system. Life doesn't
arrive on time or settle in perfectly. It's not a fan of convenient stores that
sell 100 percent guarantees and fairness. Life doesn't expect you while it
tends to befriend unexpected in the left field. It doesn't show off but likes
to show itself in the hardest of times. Life isn't a chair that will hold you
up when you're tired. It isn't found in plastic, metal or even glass bubbles.
Life, our
funny, tiny lives, plays in the amusement parks - on the rusty or the new
roller-coasters. Life is your favorite place in the world and your most delicious
recipe you invented on accident. It is the corner you cried in when your
parents told you about their divorce. It is your first car wreck and those
first moments that you realize you are still breathing. Life is when you found
God and found the Devil. It is when you overdraw in your checking account and
when you swallow your pride to ask for help. It is when someone you love dies
or when you talk to a loved one for the first time in a long time.
Life is
living on a tight budget to save money so you can see the world. It is figuring
out what you truly want in it. It's stepping out of your parents' shoes to find
your own, even if the shoes are mismatched for a little while. Life is being
robbed of your money but still having your health. It is knowing the core of
who you are and what makes your windmill churn the wind, your clock tick. It is
knowing what triggers the gun powder inside of you and being able to control
it. It is screaming from the tallest peak of a mountain you just climbed, a
hill you just hiked and then feeling better afterward. It is failing at
everything you try and then failing again. Life is what we do not know, what we
want to know. Life is unexpected and life is funny. Life is the death of your
socks and finding your dog in the bathtub.
I graduated college in May and am now, officially, a University of Alabama alumni who is on to bigger and better things. So what is bigger and better? Bigger than the Paul Bear Bryant Stadium that I walked by everyday for the past four years? Better than the irreplaceable college lifestyle? Lately, it's as though the bigger and the better have seemed more like unexpected situations that redefine one's sense of reality.
As a new resident of Mobile, my recent perspective has changed. This city, unknowingly, fosters the biggest heart of Southern hospitality. Growing up in Huntsville, AL, the opposite end of the state, things are a bit, well, opposite to say the least. Huntsville is quite the Metropolitan area full of people from around the world. A blend of cultures is found in the middle of it while the Southern traditions seem to seep out to the more rural parts of the city. However, in Mobile and the towns that assemble this creative jumble by the bay, there are many generations of families that have naturally honed in on what it is to be a Southerner. The hospitality is hard to escape and while the laid-back lifestyle is more than addictive. It's safe to say that I am truly re-learning my Southern ways and re-growing the roots that are rich in family get-togethers, stories of how it used to be and sightseeing of dilapidated high school hangouts.
In Tuscaloosa, during college, I biked the streets and really studied the city more than my books. I found every local original and random coffeehouse even though they were scarce. It was hard when the few unchained places closed down because of lack of business. In Mobile and across the bay, I can't get away from the authenticity that pulses throughout so many cracks and crevices of this place. From Thursday night bike rides and Tuesday night runs at the Loop to trendy, hip yet classy shops and restaurants, I am blown away by how quaint it is here. I'm digging it amidst this oil spoil and tropical storm repercussions.
Native Mobilians - thank you for the welcome and inviting me to trample on your well treaded, lived out, broken in, oak shaded streets and favorite hide-a-ways. It's far enough from where I'm from but slowly becoming where I am from. At what point will I say, "I'm from Mobile, AL?" Soon, I hope.
5:30 p.m. M. With instructor
Deanna Burkett. No preregistration necessary. Via! Health, Fitness, and
Enrichment Center, 1717 Dauphin St. 478-3311. hello2deanna@yahoo.com
ONGOING
MOONLIGHT CHASSE BALLROOM
DANCE SOCIETY
7 p.m. lessons with Omar
Farid, 7:30 p.m. dancing, first and third M. No partner necessary. Fitzpen
Place, 11247 U.S. Highway 31, Spanish Fort. 625-4258, 377-4069.
moonlightchasse.com
ONGOING
ARGENTINE TANGO LESSONS
7:30 p.m. - 9:30 p.m. T.
Southern Edge Dance Studio, 251 S. Greeno Road, Fairhope. 605-2657, 610-8902.
STARLITE BALLROOM
4674 Airport Blvd., Suite C.
341-4530. startliteballroomal.com
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