…you should be slapped.

I just lost my entire blog post. So here I go again. From the top…

I am currently watching ‘P.S. I Love You’ with my Mom. She came out for a few days visit. Last night we watched mobsters and guns in ‘American Gangster.’ So it’s only fair, tonight, a chick flick.

When I first started writing this blog post the movie had a happier lighter tone to it. And now… well, it’s just downright sad. She just exploded in an array of emotion bleeding all over the screen because he died and nothing else matters in life, nothing. She’s just alone. I relate. Completely. So of course my mindset is not even close to the same as when I wrote this post the first time. I guess there’s a reason unbeknownst to me. Movies, it’s amazing how they provoke emotion and weigh the heart. But that is the beauty of it. 

Anyway, that was a bit too transparent for the immediate public. Back to the post. 

Last night when she arrived we went to Rumba for a bite to eat. (Rumba is a quant little vibey joint down the street from my place, if you ever visit pin a stop to your trip). After great conversation and food we headed back home and watched the film stated above.

Today we visited The Hermitage: Home of President Andrew Jackson. I decided to take two complete days off while my Mom is visiting and place all work aside. This is hard to do when you have accidently trained yourself to be a lab-rat who works ’round the clock. But it is good for me to rest. The home itself was rather nice considering it was built around 1836. There was wallpaper imported from Paris on the walls in the upstairs and downstairs great room that was original. I’m not a fan of wallpaper, but wallpaper that still looks good after 170 plus years is pretty darn impressive.  Most of President Jackson’s original affects were still intact and on display. It was sad to discover that his wife passed on the eve of his presidential inauguration party. He never remarried. He had a painting of her he kept at the White House and brought back home when he retired. He placed this painting of her above the fireplace in his bedroom. And when asked of his feelings regarding her he would always say, “She is the first thing I see in the morning, and the last thing I see at night.” Referring to the painting. 

When you arrive they give you a headset with a controller that gives you small history lessons as you enter various areas of the homestead. As I was walking down the path the kindhearted voice on the tape started to instruct me to go with her on a journey back in time. She said, and I quote, “Leave the 21st century behind and Imagine yourself here, the year is 1837 and Andrew Jackson had just returned…” And at that moment I could no longer hear her as a Boeing 737’s shadow dwarfed me. I looked up to see Southwest Airlines on the side of the plane. Going with her to 1837 was going to be harder than I first anticipated. 

The acreage that his home sits on was so beautiful. And the gardens were both visually impressive and enticing to the nose. The blooming flowers smelled amazing. I long for the day when I can purchase acres and build my own home and have a place to just exist in peace and feel at home. Being here helped those dreams grow visually. 

One final interesting thing I learned that I want to share is the story of how Andrew Jackson Jr. died. The tour guide in the home started by saying, “He shot himself with that there rifle sitting on that table.” I immediately was wowed. The thing that killed this dude in the 1800’s was sitting 5 feet from me. I was hooked. I love a good story involving guns.

Apparently what happened was…

Jackson Jr. loved to hunt and fish rather than farm. So being a hunter he was out with the hunting dogs and leaned ‘this here’ rifle against a fence as he was going to jump over it. As he jumped the fence one of the dogs (hey look, I wrote about a dog in yet ANOTHER blog post) ran into the rifle discharging it and shooting said Jackson in the hand. A hand wound doesn’t seem like a bad deal, definitely not provoking deaths knocking. But in the day where tetanus had no remedy, he was finished by a simple accidental shot to the hand. The End.

I’d encourage you to take a trip out I-40 if you live here in the ‘Ville, or if you drive through someday. It’s worth the admission fee to support the growth of learning. One thing I have become more and more appreciative of in my life is just that. Learning. You can never learn enough. I always say take time to learn from everything around you. And you may quote me on that. Walking these paths, gardens and floors of a home almost 200 years old makes you ponder the revolving door that life is. Never take your short time here for granted. Live, love and share life with those around you. 

I posted a few ‘camera-phone’ photos for you to see on my flickr. The few of me my Mom took with her phone. I left my good camera at home. Once again. Sorry!

CLICK HERE to view more photos.