In Another Castle, Tho!

Hi, Everyone!

So, I was on the phone with my Uncle Ronnie this morning, and I was telling him how I am looking forward to my summer vacation, but I have Summer School to contend with at the moment. Uncle Ronnie chuckled and said, “All you need is for that little mushroom dude to come out and say to you: ‘Thank you, Mario… but our princess is in another castle.’”

While I do realize that I wasn’t even so much as an afterthought when Super Mario Brothers came out, I am aware of the reference. Besides, Uncle Ronnie still has his original Nintendo, and I used to play him from time to time… hahaha! Anyway, I understand Uncle Ronnie’s analogy, and why he compared Mario’s search of the fair Princess Toadstool to my much anticipated return to my hometown, especially with so much going on back home. Notwithstanding my friend Becky Morgan experiencing the prom she never had (thanks in part to my cousin Calvin), I am to understand that Gramma Jewel has brand-new neighbors. And I have it on good authority that one of those new neighbors is a teacher at Sapp Elementary. Talk about six degrees of separation—Gramma Jewel is a volunteer nurse up at Sapp Elementary, and her other neighbor Mr. D is a kindergarten teacher up there... I’m tellin’ y’all—the irony is deliciously beautiful (and beautifully delicious)!

And y’all just know that Gramma Jewel and the rest of her neighbors have pitched in to officially welcome the new neighbors to Sapphire Street. Of course, the topper is Gramma Jewel’s super delicious strawberry seven-up cake!

Also, Cousin Calvin will be graduating from Cal State Long Beach on Wednesday, May 22, and y’all know how much I would love to be there, but seeing as how I’m “in another castle” known as Bearcat Country, I gotta miss it. As disappointed as I am, I will at least get him a graduation card and mail it to him.

So much going on in Southern Cali, and I’ve got to miss it! Oh, well—it’s not like I didn’t know what to expect when I accepted admission at Rust College. I knew the rules going into this thing, and then too, I was the one boldly professing that “I’ll go if I have to go by myself.”

I’m not saying that those words have come back to bite me—I’m merely speaking as an individual who is lonesome for her hometown. However, if Gramma Jewel has taught me anything (and she has taught me a helluva lot), it’s that this too shall pass.

Well, I guess I’d better close this blog for today. Until Monday, y’all have a good rest-of-the-weekend.

Hugs & Kisses,
Natasha