More Please

I was thinking about my blog and the things I wanted to write about.  As I think of these things, I jot them down.  I have a long list of ideas I hope to eventually get written.  But I recently got side-tracked.  All of this is thanks to my cousin, Ellen.
I posted my last blog and Ellen read it and made a comment that she always enjoyed reading my blogposts.  Then she wrote:  'more please'.
That sent my mind on a tailspin!  (It doesn't take much to make my mind wander.....)

It's funny.  When I hear the word "more" now I automatically think of the commericals that are currently on TV from AT&T.  It took a while for me to even realize the sponsor, but I knew I loved the commercials.  My family quotes them all the time.  The commercials show kids sitting around a table talking about various things and there is an adult who reacts to these kids.  His reactions are subtle and priceless and sometimes I wonder why I can be so easily amused by these simple commercials yet so distracted by the TV shows that are on nowadays.  I often find it hard to find any shows worth watching.
In one of the first of these series of commercials is an animated little girl who talks about MORE....she always says "you want more."  I don't think we can hear the word 'more' around here without quoting this girl....'you want more!'

So rather than the normal things that I like to blog about, I thought about this.  I was thinking, "more, please."  (Thanks, Ellen!)  (And thanks AT&T commericals!)

This led me to the things in my life to which I say "more, please."  There's so many things that make me feel like saying this, but I decided to concentrate on the people who make me feel this way.  There is no way I can touch on all of them, but I can write about a few of them and hope that anyone reading this will know that you have all made me say "more please" at one time or another.

I guess I'll start with the culprit who started my mind wandering in this direction.  Ellen.  I can, (and have all my life), say 'more please' to her.  I don't know if anyone  has a person in their life who always makes them smile.  A person who is funny and witty without even knowing it.  I feel blessed to be able to chuckle over things Ellen says or to remember fondly and with laughter things Ellen has said and done throughout my lifetime.  To this I say 'more please.'
I don't know anyone who truly cares more about everyone related to her than Ellen.  Truly and deeply.  I don't think any of her cousins feels more special than the next, because Ellen has that way about her that makes us each know we are Porters (or Alexanders) and therefore we matter. 
This is a gift and it is a gift that keeps on giving.  Anyone who knows Ellen can always say 'more, please.'

Another person who pops in my mind as someone to whom I can say 'more, please', is my nephew Porter.  Porter is a 17 year old boy who is wise and mature beyond his years and equally as goofy and silly as any little kid.  To this I can say 'more, please'. 
I told Porter recently when he sent me a birthday card that I was laughing and crying all within the 30 seconds it took me to read the card.  That is because Porter has the ability to tug at your heartstrings and make you feel special and loved at the same time he cracks jokes and lists all kinds of fun/special/funny memories.
Porter has never been dull or boing to me.  He has always been interesting and intriguing.  I am always left guessing and wondering what will be 'next' with this kid.  He is as wildly unpredictable as he is predictable.  He will always love to live, laugh and be around his family.  He will always strive to do his best.  But he will change his obssessive behaviors like the wind, and he will love salmon and want to eat it every day to being totally grossed out by it.  He loves passionately and fiercely and if you are lucky enough to be in the line of his affections, you are just that....lucky.  I have told Porter on more than one occasion that I love him like one of my own children.

To this I can say 'more, please' to my first-born, Joseph.  I always want more from him.  I want more time with him.  He is the only one of my children who lives away and I feel cheated sometimes.  But that is selfish.  He lives in a place that he loves and with his wife whom he loves.  I can enjoy him from afar and I always remember how my own husband married me and suddenly had to leave his family behind.  He spent Christmases with my family because he knew that was very important to me.  He never woke up on Christmas morning with his Mom, and I do now totally appreciate and respect his willingness to please me.  So, with that in mind, I understand Joseph not being here with me all the time.
To Joseph I can also say 'more, please'...more art and music and writing.  Joseph is a talent and I hope that he can see the beauty of his talents and use them to his best ability and to the good of his life which he now shares with his beautiful wife. 
I know that he understands that sometimes the things we love most must be put on the back burner in order to take care of the necessities at hand, but where there is desire, passion and talent there will come a time to exercise these things.  And that is when we can say 'more, please.'

My son Jimmy leaves me saying 'more, please'.  I remember Jimmy as my child who was always snuggling.  He always wanted to know where Mom, Dad, Madeline and Joseph were....even when he was in high school and beyond.  I know he cared about his family more than he might like to admit.  I miss those days of a wild-haired bug-eyed little boy with a thumb in his mouth and a raggedy blanket in his hand.  I always want to go back to those days, but I know that is not a reality.  So to that, I say 'more please'....more memories and more time to spend with my son to talk about those days and those memories.   And more time to create new pleasant and lasting memories.

I always want more of lots of things with Madeline, please.  Madeline being the youngest and the only girl did fare well with her mother's attention.  Her brothers were old enough not to need my attention as fully and so I spent a lot of time with Madeline and her dance passion.  Sometimes I look back on those times and wonder how I wasn't sick of it.  But in all honesty, I never tired of it.  I always wanted more.  And if I could turn back the hands of time I would definitely say, 'More.  PLEASE.'  Madeline is just months away from being a married woman, so I feel those words of 'more please' getting caught in the back of my throat very often these days.

My husband has been such a part of my life for so many years.  I cannot imagine many things without him.  So to him I just ask for more of everything...please.
We just celebrated our 37th wedding anniversary and I wrote on the card I gave him 'Come grow old along with me.  The best is yet to be.'  I told him that my Dad used that line on my mom for as long as I can remember.  I believe in that.  We always need to believe that the best is yet to be.  And because of that we are left saying "more, please."

My dad told me when you marry someone you marry their family.  In my case, this is a good thing.  Jim has 5 siblings.  I love each of them very much.  They all have great spouses, and whenever we get together, not only does the noise level multiply by 10 times, but so does the fun!  These are a great bunch of people, and I never cease to enjoy their company.  They are not only fun to be with, but they have your back and help you out whenever you need it.  I know that we can count on any one of them at any time.  I only wish we weren't all over the country.  It's hard to spend as much time together as we'd like.  All I can say to this is 'more, please.'

Ellen is not the only cousin that I want more from.  All of my cousins are special people in my life.  I can't imagine never hearing Janet's beautiful voice sing again, or never baking cookies or talking about cats with Nancy again.  I can't imagine not looking at Scott and thinking what a wonderfully sweet guy this man has become, or thinking of Bill as sort of the 'man of the house'.  He is, after all, the older male cousin and the one who offers up blessings at family functions and takes over as the patriarch of the cousin clan when necessary.  I think about Patty and all of her beautiful kids and her calm goodness.  I think about Shelia, Kevin, Tony and Bobby and I can't imagine not having the memory of all the fun Humphries get-togethers we had growing up in Shelby. 
I really have some amazing cousins.  To them all I say, 'more, please.'

I can say 'more, please' to Mom every day.  I know she feels she is getting older and that her life has been lived.  But I hope she knows I still want more.....please.  She has yet to experience the wedding of her only granddaughter or the birth of her first great-grandchild.  She hasn't experienced the pride of knowing her youngest grandchild has graduated high school and is going off to college. She doesn't know that she still has stories to tell and advice to relate to all of her grandchildren, her daughter or her two sons-in-law.  I think all of us who know her can say we want more, please.

I have so many friends.  Sometimes I feel like God messed up and sent me more good friends than I deserve.  I know that no matter what the circumstance....good, bad, or ugly....there is a friend available that I can call on to share the moment with me.  I don't know when I will ever be able to stop saying 'more, please' when it comes to my friends.

Jim and I were talking recently as we sat out on the lanai on one of our early evenings before dinner.  I was telling him that my life doesn't really have regrets.  Yet, my life is sort of filled with a lot of 'more, please.'  I want more time to do all the art and craft projects that are swimming in my head.  I want more time to read all the books on my ever-growing book list.  I want to finish organizing a lifetime of photographs.  I want to make a bunch more scrapbooks.  I want to perfect my photography skills.  I want more time to write all the ideas for blogs that I have.  I want to re-learn  to play the piano and I want to try my hand at golf again.  I want to grow an orchid and harvest more juicy lemons from my little lemon tree.
Forget that big bucket list.....going to Paris.  Owning a beach home.  Writing a novel or visiting The Holy Land.  (Or fitting into a size 6 again!)  I just want to do more of the things that are easily within my reach that  need a bit of time and a bit of attention.  I wonder if I will ever be able to stop saying 'more, please.'
I doubt it.

But memories are made of this.