Can you chase me till you my feet touch the ground and go dancing?

i sit here sunburned and exhausted from a weekend enjoying sunshine and the bit of heat we've finally gotten in portland. my mamaw in mississippi is convinced we're suffering from the 100+ degree heat in various other parts of the West, but i think i've finally explained that we're not quite in that pocket. this weekend saw our determination to continue bringing Mississippi to portland (i do live with 2 fellow mississippians after all and half of my friends here are the same) when we deposited an inflated kiddie pool (that could easily fit 6 or so adults comfortably) in our front yard. we forgot that the water from the hose would be freezing cold, so i'm sure it was a hilarious sight for our neighbors to see 4 screeching adults attempting to sit in 2 and a half feet of frigid water. today we ventured to the oregon coast where we traded our swimsuits of yesterday for hoodies to fight against the cutting wind. in the end, i still had sunburn on top of my sunburn.

all of this talk of fusing mississippi with oregon has mainly stemmed from finishing (for the 4th time) Confessions of a Failed Southern Lady by Florence King. miss king's observances of the southern "lady" and the many versions she has taken on are curiously hysterical and somewhat familiar. a section of the book deals with explorations of her sexuality in a conservative South and her remembrance of certain social constructions she must never forget. after reading this and many lengthy conversations with Mamaw, i have been inspired to embrace certain aspects of my southern womanhood that have been long forgotten. i think it will be a possibly frustrating and hopefully enlightening process for me in my journey back to the South i love.

speaking of florence king, i should also mention here that tomorrow is the day that my sister (the kind soul who introduced me to miss king), fondly known as K$, entered this world. she preceded me by 5 years and i never let her forget it. tomorrow i will be on the road toward the High Desert for a work retreat, so i won't be able to gush over her on her appropriate day and i'd like to let the world of blogging know how much i appreciate my sister. i've included a photo of us taken when i visited MS over Memorial Day weekend. we are pink cheeked and glassy-eyed, glistening from the humid bar where we sung our hearts out and about for friends and strangers.

this lady has endured almost 26 years of my own existence (and endurance it was...i was an awful child) and has overlooked my many flaws to become my best friend. she gladly came along on my 3000 mile trek toward new freedoms in portland and helped me laugh through a potentially impossible situation involving a broken window and some broken english. she has been on her own journey to dreams and identity and will be leaving jackson as well for the hotter and hipper grounds of Austin, Texas. in two weeks she will begin a new life and a new job all on her own and i can't say enough how proud i am of all the amazing things she has done in her life.

k$, i'm thrilled to know you as a friend and i'm sure as hell grateful you're my sister.

a toast to you on your 31 years.