Well not exactly......Daddy died in 1982 but he did sit in the dark and his cigarette glowed in the dark...... and when he wasn't awake, my mother was up drinking hot tea. Apparently there was always a creature stirring in our little house. And then I think of another song that says it's "Five O'clock in the Morning" and it almost is and I need to go to sleep but I have been getting some things prepared for Christmas and watched "Big Fish" while I was cooking and wrapping and just felt like posting something......Great Southern Writers and Great Southern Stories....you know we just love to tell great stories, partly true and partly fiction. And we celebrate those characters.......I am feeling very grateful right now. Grateful for the gift of time with a good man, the love of my life, who retired this year and is now my partner in whatever I decide to do (partner in crime?) because he will do it pretty much right along side with me when I was afraid I might lose him this year. I don't know why/how I got this lucky. He had me scared this year with so much job stress that I had to buy him manly make-up to cover up his dark circles under his eyes. I felt like his whole self was slipping away from me. Now I have him every day to myself and our little fur babies, Rockstar and Bonjovi, that love it, too. We can stay up late, or sleep late and just remind ourselves that that is what we worked so hard for. But back to why I am up so late. Watching Big Fish reminded me so much of eccentric Southern behavior i.e. family members staying up late but sitting in the dark but also appreciating that humor, the humor of Julia Sugarbaker when she said "This is the South and we are proud of our crazy people. We don't hide them up in the attic. We bring 'em right down to he Living Room and show 'em off. See, .....no one in the South ever asks if you have crazy people in your family. They just ask what side they're on". And what side are they on mine? Both. Merry Christmas Y'all!!!