to be my sunshine after the rain

My father's family farm house burned down to the ground early Wednesday morning.

CUE BOYZ II MEN

(the live version on Aresenio Hall ain't bad either - and it captures the CLASSIC boyz II men fashion! And there are random children dressed as gangsters that show up to snap along)

p.s. did you know this is a motown song that originally appeared in the movie Cooley High???!

&



There is everything right and something timeless about Mariah's hair in this particular era, just so you know. If my hair looks like this, you know it's a good day for me. You also *might* want to check out the original video and see Mariah's PERFECT 1998 outfit. Also, her voice.

Back to the farm (pictures of which I won't show you b/c i can't even look at'em) :

I remember chasing kittens, picking pecans, and trying to pick out honeysuckle stamen (it's hard) and riding my bike to the river by the Co-op past the levee to look at driftwood and find fossils (with grandma and Meredith behind me in the CHEVY BLAZER) and eating apples from the tree out back, watching the first sunset I ever remember ever in the arms of my grandpa looking out over fields of soybeans that had been in the family for I guess a hundred years or so. EMOTIONS.

Pouring one out for my homie (homestead) - DORENA.

Connoisseur of Fine Farms

I come from a long line of farmers. Though my family in particular has moved to more urban pursuits (re: me and my California mom --- whose grandparents were also farmers in Indiana long before she was born) - my time hanging out amongst the soybeans and apple trees, showing my grandma the Paula Abdul jazz dances I learned on the oak lined front yard of my father's family farm house, watching the setting sun with my grandfather as it cast a silhouette on the pecan tree that has grown on the family's land for over a century -- is big part of me, it's the small town southern kid that I was for a fair chunk of the beginning of my life.

(to say nothing of the endless supply of kittens that came with that farm, oh my gosh I LOVED that)

Anyway, there's STILL a farm in the historical streetcar suburb of Ferguson and my pal Molly really wants folks to know all about it, so you know what? She decided to do something about it. she decided to have a bad ass party (tomorrow starting at 6)! I'm going, and so should you.

Check out this sassy lady talking about her farm -- when she says she guesses she was "born to be a hoosier"...oh man, that is a magical st. louis moment.



details here

see you there.