Life - grace grits and gardening

I’m official. I have an Arkansas driver’s license!

December 4, 2014 By Talya Tate Boerner

I have exciting news! So exciting that I’m using an explanation point right off which I rarely do. Yesterday I became an official Arkansas resident again. Totally legit because I went through the process of proving my identity to re-gain a shiny new Arkansas driver’s license. I’ve come full circle. Can I get a Woo Pig Sooie? And might I say, the process was downright pleasurable compared to doing anything associated with the driver’s license process in Dallas, Texas. An-eee-thing.

Let me compare.

The last time I renewed my license in Dallas, I drove downtown on my lunch break, searched for a parking spot near City Hall, fed coins into a meter, walked half a block avoiding eye contact with panhandlers who are part of the landscape, found my way through the massive building to the driver’s license department, and waited thirty minutes in a cramped, crowded space for my number to be called.

Dallas City Hall

“Now serving 185.”

I was 301. Or something like that.

No one dared smile.

I felt certain I would leave with the flu.

Three weeks later, I received my new license in the mail. Was that me? I looked thin, haggard, sleep-deprived. Because I was.

Fast forward eight years or so…

This time I drove five minutes through the University of Arkansas campus, admired the gorgeous Christmas decorations adorning sorority house row, pulled into a free parking space five steps from the door of the revenue office. The revenue office that supports the Razorbacks. Gotta love that!

I walked right in and froze, not sure what to do or if I was in the right place because there were more employees working behind the counter than customers waiting. Was that even allowed?

I pulled number 42 from the ticket machine.

Immediately I heard “41”.

Before I took a seat, I heard “42”.

Just wow.

I handed over my identity papers because paperwork requirements are the same everywhere, and there’s that whole terrorist issue, BUT when the process is handled by an employee named Ellen who smiles and seems to actually enjoy her job, it doesn’t seem so arduous.

We chatted.

She asked me a few questions and in no time handed over my new Arkansas plate.

I grinned like a fiend.

“Did you not like Texas?” Ellen asked.

“No, I did. But I love being back home in Arkansas.”

Ellen snapped my picture and I walked away gripping my new driver’s license in my palm like an Arkansas diamond. People—state of the art technology right in the little office that looked more like an old Ken’s Pizza Parlor.

Of course my picture is still a driver’s license picture, and those are never very good. But it’s tons better than the cringe-worthy one I’ve been living with for the past eight years. I don’t look skinny or haggard or sleep deprived, because I’m not. In fact, I’m at least ten pounds heavier, and I’m okay with that. I call it my ten pounds of happiness.

Because I am.

Grace Grits and Gardening

Farm. Food. Garden. Life.

[tweetthis]I’ve come full circle. Can I get a Woo Pig Sooie? #WPS #Arkansas[/tweetthis]

Musicial Pairing:

Sheryl Crow – A Change Will Do You Good

Playing the Air Trumpet instead of Writing

November 29, 2014 By Talya Tate Boerner

morgueFile

Last night I dreamed I was back in high school with my best friends—Becky and Anita and Norma and Judy—and we sat crammed together on a bus traveling somewhere to march with the band in a Christmas parade. The bus was cold. We wore matching red and gray uniforms, our school colors, and tall white plumes extended from the tops of our headpieces. The bus noise level made talking difficult so mostly we just laughed. Laughing was easy and normal and what we did best. But the whole time I thought you don’t play an instrument. Why are you pretending to be in the band?

Thankfully I awoke before faking my way down a parade route playing the air trumpet.

Whew.

Tired from that dream.

But now I’m analyzing each piece of the dream because it’s a game I play and something I find interesting.

The first part is easy.

At the Razorback basketball game last night, I kept one eye on the band. They jazzed up Bud Walton Arena and looked to be having a blast.

Inserting myself into the high school “dream” band is more complicated since my only musical training has faded to Chopsticks on the piano. I believe this dream was a pathetic reflection on how I feel right now about myself. As a writer. Attempting to be part of a group that I’m not confident I belong in.

I know this sounds woe-is-me. And I realize this feeling is only temporary and probably attributed to a particular chapter in my manuscript that I’ve been struggling to edit combined with too much Thanksgiving food.

Doesn’t everyone feels this way from time to time?

Say yes.

Grace Grits and Gardening

Farm. Food. Garden. Life.

[tweetthis]Yes. Everyone has “woe is me” days. [/tweetthis]

Musical Pairing:

Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock playing Chopsticks

Simple Pleasures #8

November 24, 2014 By Talya Tate Boerner

Sometimes the simplest pleasures involve accomplishing tasks around the house and checking off To-Do list items. Like finally installing our new mailbox. I’m not sure why this house had no mailbox whatsoever, but I LOVE our new one from Moda Industria. It’s a work of art ❣

And two months after moving, we installed our porch swing. Yay!

After several quiet days of uninterrupted writing and editing time, Friday marked the kickoff of Lights of the Ozarks around the Fayetteville Square. Since before Halloween, Fayetteville Parks and Recreation employees have been hard at work installing more than half a million twinkle lights. Twinkle lights make me happy. And who doesn’t love an old-fashioned Christmas parade?

Although the weekend turned stormy with rolling thunder and steady rain—not ideal for the last Razorback home game (another shutout!!)—it was peaceful nonetheless. John whipped up one of his fantastic frittatas on Saturday morning, and we spent the day in front of the fire, reading and watching football between naps. My Baylor Bears won too:)