Well, I'm back from all of my this and that. 

My trip to market in Atlanta was fruitful for the stores but, oh, so exhausting.  I must just be getting older or something because it laid me out flat for several days.  Market induces a level of tiredness which is unmatched by most anything else.....with the possible exceptions of childbirth and fighting forest fires.  It's just 11 or 12 non-stop hours per day of walking and shopping as fast as you can.  Making quick decisions on what you think will sell in your store and what won't.  It's just down right physically and mentally draining.

(As a note of interest, I have to mention that my Sanuk yoga slings were, by far, the most comfortable footwear selection I've made to date for any market trip.  Get yourself some.) 

There was this young lady who looked so familiar to me and she took my order in one of the showrooms.  Then, I remembered.......oh, yeah she used to be one of my dependents!  Now, working with her own money!  (Insert Handel's "Hallelujah")  Proud mama moment.      
My friend, Jean, and I shared a hotel room along with her daughter, Mary Barrett.  They're both a hoot and I enjoyed them so much.  Jean has an interior design business here in town and was shopping for clients.  And here's small town Mississippi for you- Jean and I have known each other since high school when we belonged to the same social service club.  Our daughters ended up rooming together in college.  Jean's mother-in-law is one of my very favorite people and customers.  And she and my mother knew each other when they were in college.  People are connected in all sorts of ways in the South.  If we don't know you, we know your mama or your cousin......or someone in your family likely has a connection to someone in ours someway, somehow.  It's just the southern way and I love that about us down here. 

Carson got home from his trip to Boston the day before I got home from Atlanta.  He was gone for 10 days.  On a church bus.  From Mississippi to Boston and back again.  Our music minister, David, plans an awesome trip for the teenagers every year on which his patience obviously abounds.  I told him that those who drive other people's children across the country are deserving of their own beatitude.  I don't know what they should inherit, but blessed are those who drive church vans full of urchins, who are of no blood relation, over large swaths of the continent......like as in 2,800 miles.  Blessed are they, indeed.   
So, while Carson was gone, Davis and I purchased his first vehicle. I don't know why we waited until he was out of town but it's just how it happened.  I did text Carson from the dealership for some limited input...."Car or truck?"  He steered us toward the trucks and we took it from there.  I'm sure nothing could have been more frightening for him than knowing that his vehicle coolness level was in the hands of us, Joni and Davis.  When he got home, though, he seemed overjoyed with our choice.