Where the HECK have I been?!

Well, If nobody is reading this, I would surely not blame them.  There is no excuse for my absence in blogging.  Oh wait - let me see if I can find one real quick.

Let's see, what have the Morgans been up to the last two years since I posted anything?  Well, we left Greenville, Mississippi, and are back in Mesa, Arizona.  That, my friends, is more of an accomplishment than you know.  Geoff had a three year contract with Walgreens and the Greenville store, but we knew, almost as quickly as we moved to Greenville, that we were going to have to find a way to leave sooner.  It was extremely hard on the kids.  And me. And Geoff. And all of the family living away from us who were always worrying about us being hit by a tornado.  Moving to Greenville was like stepping back in time 50 years.  I never in my wildest dreams would have imagined there were still places like Greenville in the USA! Let me just put it this way... they had every part of that town segregated.  The town in almost 80% black, with the other 20% being white.  I don't recall ever seeing a Hispanic person while we lived there.  There were a hand full of Asians who worked in the nail salons, but that is the only place they could be found.  The town was divided in to four groups: either you were black and stayed away from white people, or white and stayed away from the blacks, or you were black and hated by the blacks because you were trying to act white, or white and trying to love everyone, but then you were hated by the whites, because you were nice to the blacks.  Our family belonged in category 4.  It was hard.  You may think that I am exaggerating, but I am not.  In the year I was there I never even saw ONE interracial FRIENDSHIP, much less a RELATIONSHIP! In fact, I don't even recall seeing a black woman and white woman talking to each other.  I got the strangest looks at the checkout line at Walmart when I was trying to start up a conversation with a black person.  I still did it, all the time, but I found that I had to act a little more black for them to talk back to me.  I even found myself doing that two nights ago at Walmart here in Mesa with a black cashier.  I saw a candy bar coming up on the conveyor belt, that I didn't know was there, and I was like, "oh no - you best not be trying ta sneak all KINDS of stuff behind my back... fer real!"  Then I looked at the cashier and smiled, and she was confused.  I forget sometimes where I am.

I hate to label, black and white... I really hate it.  I have absolutely no prejudice against blacks.  I love all of God's children, but I am just trying to paint a picture of how it truly was there.  So much segregation, that they still have black prom and white prom at the schools that aren't already entirely black, or entirely white.... which isn't many, actually.  But honestly, nobody complains about it, because that is how both sides want it, I've been told!

Since I just explained check out lines at Walmart, I will tell you of a funny experience I had while checking out one day.  A lady and her daughter, I assume, were checking out in front of me in line, and she and the cashier got to talking.  The cashier asked the lady, "What her name be?" To which the lady answered "LaReqwalia". The cashier looked at her in what should have been even MORE of an astonishment and said, "LaReqwalia? That be my grandbaby's name!"  Only a few minutes later I came through the line with Staci in the cart, and she asked me, only AFTER I initiated conversation, "What her name be?" "Staci", I said with a smile.  The response I got was enough to prove my point here.... "Who?"

Anyway, enough about Greenville.  I could go on and on and on.  So, Geoff was able to somehow miraculously find a store back in Arizona that needed a pharmacist.  Walgreens didn't have to let him transfer, but they did.  That was surely nice of them.  So, after buying a house, and just barely getting unpacked, we packed up and moved again.  This time for about 4 months to Pinetop first, where Geoff was filling in for a pharmacist on medical leave, and then back to Mesa.  We knew we wanted to buy a house again (we got lucky and sold our Greenville house really quickly - actually, Natalie sold it... but that is another story for another time) so we started looking.  The market had really picked up and we were surprised at how hard it was to even get a house.  Also, we had a little hiccup in some of our school loans, so we had to straighten that out before we could even qualify.  So, what we thought would be another REALLY quick stay in my Grandma and Grandpa Hiatt's basement apartment, turned in to NINE more months! Right before we moved to Mississippi we were living in that basement for NINE months, and before that, with Geoff's parents for THREE months... all of the time, on both ends of Mississippi, all of our stuff was in storage (that is a total of two years out of three).  We didn't have a computer, the internet.... or even a dishwasher or garbage disposal.  Our kids were all sharing a little room with make-shift closets, and I was going crazy!

So, we finally bought our "forever home" (or at least that's what I am calling it because I am so sick of moving) a couple of months ago.  We are all set up with a computer, the internet, and even a dishwasher.  We have moved SIX times in the last three years.... yes, SIX - across three states, and to tell you the truth, I AM TIRED! I haven't recovered yet.  BUT, when I do.... I am sure I will be better at blogging!