My name is Isabella Grace, everyone just calls me Grace or Gracie. I have a 16 year old son, named Seth, you will hear a lot about him, given that I am a totally doting mother. I am a single mother and have always been. I have never been married, and have never received any child support. I have been doing life by myself for a long time, and that's certainly not by choice, it's just the situation I find myself in everyday. You will also probably hear more about my loneliness and all the relationships that don't work out for one reason or another, but I'll try to keep the whining to a minimum. For the past 16 years, I have loved every second of being a mother, even the difficult parts. The good, the bad, the ugly, I'll take them all....I love, love, love being a mom. He is the sunshine that lights up my day ( I know gag to some of you, but truth to me)
I homeschool my son and have since the 4th grade. I know this brings up lots of emotions in people, like "what about socialization?" and I wonder why this is such a big point to non-homeschoolers, such a giant point that it's the fist thing everyone asks. What about socialization? Do people think that because I homeschool him that I also keep him chained in the basement and he never sees daylight? I don't understand the socialization questions. People are everywhere. You would actually, literally have to be chained in the basement to escape socialization in the society we live in. So.....all you homeschool haters...calm down...he socializes very well. He actually teaches fiddle and mandolin at the local Art Center in the county we live in.
My dad (Jack) has dementia and 5 years ago got kicked out of the nursing home for bad behavior ( he punched the director and broke her jaw). He had been in trouble before and was always a handful for the nursing home staff and I guess the jaw breaking incident was the last straw, so he landed here at my house. It has been a rough 5 years but also a wonderful 5 years. He was never around while I was growing up and I used to wonder what he was like and wish to spend time with him, well, my wish was granted. Nowadays, I look for ways to escape him from time to time, even if it's just for a day or even an hour.
The name of this blog "Chasing Chickens" is named so because we have a chicken that lives in our back yard named Laverne. She is just a free roaming chicken, meaning we don't cage her ever, she sleeps in the rafters of the shed. When I say free roaming, she really is free roaming, she jumps the fence from time to time and roams up and down the street and visits with the neighbors. Luckily, we have the best neighbors in the world and they love her and feed her and have been known to bring her back home. It makes me nervous for her to roam the streets because I am always afraid she will come upon a dog that doesn't know that it's bad manners to eat other people's chickens and she will become lunch. She has been raised with other animals and has no fear of dogs and cats, she probably thinks that all animals are like the ones in our yard, and I hate for her to have to find out differently. So, on a fairly regular basis, I am chasing that chicken around the streets. We also lived in western Oklahoma for a period and while at a outside flea market kinda thing one Saturday morning, we bought a rooster for 1.00. That rooster was so bad. He used to get loose all the time and we would end up chasing him around town for more that an hour before we could corner him. Only to be out chasing him again later. I feel like I've probably chased chickens more than say, the average woman. I always laugh and say that if I ever wrote a book of my life I'd call it "Chasing Chickens" so I thought it was a good name for this blog.
This is not necessarily about chickens or any other farm animals, although you may hear the animals mentioned from time to time since they are a major part of my life. We also have a beagle named Tyra Harlan, we call him TyTy for short, and a tabby cat named....ready for this....Tabby! I must have been in one of my imaginative moods when I named her..LOL. I realized it wasn't very creative but it seemed to fit her and still does. She is, by far, the best person that lives in this house. She minds her own business, doesn't ever makes messes and stays out of the way. We have three water turtles, Bubba, Bootstrap and CJ, you probably won't hear much about them, they have their own life and issues and don't usually permit outsiders like me to enter their world. There are times that I steal away from the chaos and watch them for hours....yes I am that easily occupied.
There it is..the beginning anyway. Me, Seth, Jack, TyTy, Tabby and the turtles all living in this big, old house, trying to do life and do it better everyday. My goal is to live life from a center of kindness and show as much love to as many people as I possibly can. If you're in need of love, I have extra, just message me. (and I mean that in the purest possible way, please don't message me with perverted messages or pictures.....totally not my style). We give free hugs and my shoulders are soft, if you need one to cry on.
Until next time,
Joy in the Journey,
~Grace
