NOT FAIR!!! NOT FAIR!!! Those coupons were MINE! You stole them!!! Momma, you told me you were saving the coupons for ME! It's not fair!!! :-)

Ok, just kiddin'... sort of! I am way over here going through coupon withdrawal and my sister rubs it in my face that she got to go through coupons and I didn't. :-)

She mentions in her diary that she, Momma and I have a coupon fetish. Fetish isn't the word for me. More like OBSESSION. Here's how bad I got it. Whenever Momma sends me a care pak full of goodies, I take everything, glance at it and the first thing I do is run for the scissors to clip the coupons. I don't know why; I've always like coupons ever since I was a little girl. I love them even more as an adult since I actually get to use them.

But enough about coupons. How about a dream? I haven't posted one of those in a long time. I think I'm actually sleeping really well this week; I've had 3 nights in a row where I had a long dream. That's how I gauge my sleep. If I didn't dream or it wasn't a "long" one, then I didn't get good, solid sleep. If I did dream and it was a "long" one, then I got peaceful, restful sleep.

So, there I am laying in bed and dreaming. Dreaming of none other than J.J. Johnson. Yeah. For those of you who don't know who he is, he was an ex-boyfriend. He was the second major relationship I had had at that point in my life. See, I dated Alex from 9th - 12th grade. When I graduated, the following September is when I met J.J. He was 24 and I was 17. I thought I was hot stuff to be dating a "real man".

He was a good person deep down...even on the surface, but he drank a little too often for my liking. He didn't get drunk all the time, but I just didn't understand the point of having a Rum & Coke every time we had dinner somewhere. We dated for 9 months. That's a pretty long time. We wouldn't have broken up had I not joined the Navy. I was in Illinois at the end of our relationship and he was in Virginia. He didn't want me to be in the Navy and even had hinted a time or two towards marriage. Of course, at age 17 the idea of marriage was absurd. I've always known I'd get married early, but before age 18 just didn't seem right to me.

We drifted apart, but about a year and a half or so later I ran into him. I forgot where, but he introduced me to his then girlfriend. She had a little boy. Maybe even two kids... I couldn't remember. They weren't his anyway. He didn't seem happy to me, but I didn't say anything because at that point I had just gotten married to Ben.

Do I regret not being with J.J. ? Nope. Do I wonder if he's doing well and if he's happy with his life? You bet. That's just how I am. So, if you're out there in CyberSpace, J.J. Johnson, I hope you're doing well and that you like your life and best wishes to ya!!!

I am very happily married to Ben and wouldn't trade my marriage to him for one nanosecond with anyone else. It's just that at this time of year, I get a little nostaligic and have to take out the mental dustbuster and sweep away the cobwebs of my mind.

Thought Of The Day: "Some memories are realities, and are better than anything that can ever happen to one again."--Willa Cather, My Antonia

Thought Of The Day #2: "We do not know the true value of our moments until they have undergone the test of memory."--Georges Duhamel, The Heart's Domain

Until next time... peace, love & HEALTH!!!