By Patti Parish-Kaminski, Publisher
Who knew they named a wine after me?
Someone thought it was a great idea to give me a birthday gift with a moniker that supposedly defined me: Troublemaker. Now I’m not saying who that particular someone was, but his first name is Mr. and his last name ends in S K I….
I’d like to tell y’all I didn’t drink it, that I protested the very inference, but I think too much of y’all to tell you a fib. I drank it. I drank it all.
While sipping on the namesake negus, I commenced to ponder. Y’all know the type of pondering you do when you make another trip around the sun. Reflecting on accomplishments, dreams, random thoughts, to do lists that still have items left to do – y’all know the drill.
I was feeling a bit dissatisfied with myself for all the things I felt I should have done over the past year. The quick move over a year ago and relocation to Green Acres just about did me in, so my list of accomplishments was slim over the past 12 months. I was beating myself up pretty good, and for some reason, a road trip I embarked on several years ago sprang to my mind. It involved fav of mine who has since gone on to his heavenly home. I wondered if it was divine intervention putting this on my heart and in my head as the message was clear: attitude.
Hurricane Harvey had wreaked havoc on South Texas, and not wanting to deal with the horrific hurricane, I had left Fort Bend and headed to the Hill Country. Of course, I promptly moved in with Lisa Ann. Mr. Kaminski stayed to care for all things Kaminski in the county. I did not want to risk being without electricity in a very humid and wet August, the potential situation not complementary of my hair and all.
We were only a day or so into our impromptu vacay, when a mission arose, a serious one. Rockport had been hit and hit hard, and Poppy, refusing to leave the ranch, had Mama and Peggy there with him in what I deemed was complete misery. Poppy being Lisa Ann’s daddy. No electricity in the August heat, no water, no stores or restaurants open, devastation everywhere in South Texas. It was pretty grim.
Lisa Ann woke me in the morning with our mission: We had to go extract Peggy from the chaos. Now Peggy is Lisa Ann’s special needs aunt, and she couldn’t comprehend their predicament. She was having trouble adjusting without any creature comforts and just needed out.
Lisa Ann and I prepared for our mission. We put two cases of water in the car, I had a significant amount of cash from when I fled Fort Bend and Lisa Ann had her glock.
“If we run into trouble, and we can’t bribe them with water or cash, we’ll just shoot them,” I declared. “We’re good.”
I informed Mr. Kaminski of the impending mission. Having friends in Refugio and knowing the situation of the area where we were going, he was less than thrilled.
What we saw on our trip south was horrific. The news coverage really didn’t do justice to the complete devastation of our beloved state and our people.
There were dead cattle on the sides of the roads. Downed power lines that Lisa Ann promptly drove over. Houses, businesses, light poles demolished. Abandoned cars. It was devastation like I had never seen.
We arrived at the ranch, and the horror continued. Dead birds littered the ground. Pieces of the roof were in the yard, trees were uprooted, and it was hot, really, really hot. The humidity took your breath away.
Mama and Peggy were spent – done and spent. We walked through the house to the back porch, and there sat Poppy next to a cooler and a rifle, a huge smile on his face.
“Here’s my girls,” he exclaimed as we walked in giving us big hugs. “I’ve chilled some champagne for us.”
I was floored. In the middle of mass destruction, Poppy had prepared for our arrival with all the pomp and circumstance as if nothing was amiss. And with a smile!
We drank our champagne, had a lovely conversation and Poppy expressed how blessed we all were to be sitting on the porch drinking champagne. Now that, porch sitters, is an attitude adjustment.
I believe I’ll take a lesson from Poppy this birthday and work on my attitude finding the good, the positive, the blessings in every day. See y’all next week – on the porch!
Patti Parish-Kaminski
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