Monday, August 22, 2016

The South I live and work in....

I swaney
I swigger
I hope my never
I hope my die
Great day in the morning
Well, I swaney to my time
Awwww shawww
Well, he never
Dad blameit
Dadgum
And don't you know, Bless Pete she went and.....

Gerry and I were naming all the things we heard our parents and grandparents say as we were growing up. Added to Gerry's list was "GERALD ALAN", that meant he was in trouble.

My grandmother would say I swigger to keep from cursing. Later when she got dementia s.h.i.t. was her favorite word to say.  My mom will use all of these phrases in one sitting if you stay put long enough. She can't say "yes I saw the moon", if you mention the moon, she will tell you about Betty Earl, her neighbor in High Point, and how one night walking home from the baseball game they got in the car with these boys and the boys took them over to the Hot Shop for a milkshake and they saw Carlos, the boy from Mexico and he said there was a full moon.... there is a story to go with every single damn moment no matter how small. Sometimes I call and I can sit for 45 minutes and never say more than uh huh.....

I don't know where this is going except some mind vomit from too many days on the road and too many nights in a hotel room. I have worked two back to back 70 hour weeks. I reset a store in Virginia Beach last week, it was 100 degrees outside and 120 inside, the AC didn't work. The AC has been broken in the last four stores I have worked in. The store in Va Beach had a large foam board poster up along one wall. I took it down and discovered a wall rotten with mold and holes where the AC had leaked water down the wall, from as far back as the manager figured, 8 years..... sigh. Such a week.  I worked with one guy a couple of weeks ago that was a brilliant kid, dropped out of high school three days before he was to graduate, said it just felt like bullshit to him, so he works on trucks. He loves a truck. I worked with a guy that got out of jail and was given a chance at a job, he is walking a thin line where trouble, I know, calls him to come on over. He was the most interesting person I met all week, I really liked him. We are in the same tribe. Not that I ever did anything close to getting me put in jail, but I know that feeling of going one way when everyone else is heading the other.

These guys I am with every day are kindred spirits. I know these boys. Their kind work like my daddy worked. Dirty fingernails, sweat on their brow, clothes soaked with perspiration. These are working men. Blue Collar. Not well educated, many of them, but they have good down to earth common sense. They don't look at their iPhones all day, they don't stop for a mocha latte. They drink a Mountain Dew, eat a biscuit and get to work. At lunch they warm something up they brought from home, or they run down to the store and get a ham sandwich. They start at 7am and they go home at 7pm, 6 days a week. They get Sundays off.  They have my utmost respect.

This job is making me stronger, physically and mentally. My boss pushes in a gentle but firm way and I do things that I don't think I can do, I come out on the other side and I have done that thing. I didn't think I would get through last week. I knew the stores and I knew the work ahead of me. But it got done. I got an email from the district manager saying this was my best work yet and that I was amazing. Let the endorphin release begin, ya know?! This job is a drug. The adrenaline and the endorphin cocktail are addicting, and its what keeps me from passing out at the end of the day I guess.

I come home on Fridays to my beautiful new home and I sleep all day Saturday, some on the sofa, some out in the garden, some on the porch. I cook breakfast for us on Sunday and then I sleep some more. This is not sustainable and at some point, things will have to change. But for now, its fine, I am able to do it and I actually like it. Gerry is traveling much now too, so its fine for now. I look down the road and wonder where I will be a year from now. My life takes major turns in just a years time, it seems. Wesley will be moving home at the end of the month. Another turn. I am overjoyed. Her life has been much like mine this year. What a year of growing and learning about ourselves. What a journey.....

And to think,  I would have never eaten at The Purple Cow had I not taken this job. Definitely a highlight of August. AMAZING menu!

9 comments:

cookingwithgas said...

Lawd girl, you are living an interesting life right now.
I hope Wesley loves coming back south.
Where is that purple cow?

Michรจle Hastings said...

I was tired just from reading about your work week! I am so happy for you that Wesley is moving home.

oldgreymareprimitives said...

Dagnabit these are my favorite posts : D

Tracey Broome said...

Purple Cow is in Kingsport Tn., took about twenty minutes to go through the drive through, well worth it!
I was tired writing it, Michele, haha, getting used to it though.
Hey Z, they don't talk like that out yonder in lala do they :)

Dennis Allen said...

Sometimes, there is a beauty and a challenge to work that makes you drop at the end of the day and demands that you repeat it the next day. There are work decisions but life decisions fade and mundane questions like what's for dinner answer them selves with practical solutions like " Can I see a store?" or " I have a banana in the truck" It's left foot, right foot, left..... until things get done. I am going to have to visit one of your stores next time I am in NC. Make that 2 stores one old and one new.I check here often for updates on your adventures.

Tracey Broome said...

Hey Dennis, let me know what town you are passing through and I will try to direct you to a store without flooded floors and mold on the walls haha! Definitely just putting one foot in front of the other right now, but making great progress getting these guys into the 21st century! and yes a banana for dinner is sometimes just fine with me :)

Sandy Miller said...

Awww shucks I love coming here to read your brain vomit! That company of yours won the lottery, Tracey Broome! Don't let them forget that ๐Ÿ˜˜ The only company I'm working that hard for these days is me!
And Yaaa Hoo, Wesley in the house! That'll make ya get home at night ๐Ÿ˜Ž❣๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿป

Tracey Broome said...

They seem to know it, treating me pretty damn good so far! I'm working for that paycheck baby!

Shannon said...

And WHEN are you going to write a novel? You have a such a flavor to your writing and story-telling. something is taking shape, I declare. "My stars above" was my grandmother's phrase for amazement. Thanks for your outpourings!