Smoke

What a day in North Carolina.
I leave the house headed to work & it is a fairly pleasant day, but suddenly, the air is filled with a horrible aura of burning smoke. The sky is hazy and to look out the window you would think it's snowing -- but a snow of smoke rather than cool snow. All this is coming from the wildfires down east. It's amazing to me how something so many miles away can create such havoc and wreak such smells this far away.

But it's also amazing to me how many things in my life are associated with the word "smoke" -- just hold on one second & hear me out.

Do you ever find a "pattern" in your life? I don't mean numbers or signs/symbols you see over & over (though I do have that myself). But by a pattern, I mean do you have things in your life that are the exact same but mean something totally different? For instance, maybe you have friends/family in your lives who have the same exact first name ... I have a cousin named Jennifer, several friends named Jennifer; I have a co-worker named Christy & a cousin named Christy; two friends named Phyllis. (I mean really?!?!, I didn't know THAT many people existed that had the same names.) In addition to names, maybe you have patterns of favorites you like -- colors, foods, numbers, etc.

But in some way, shape or form, we have patterns in our lives or keywords that exist in our day-to-day lives. And while they may be the exact same word, they mean something totally different. Neither Christy is the same, nor Jennifer, nor Phyllis. They are all different and sometimes to differentiate between them you must assign them nicknames (ie: 'Rissy -- don't even ask!) or there is something different about them that makes their name (although the same as others), different to you.

But anyways, rabbit trail aside, this all goes back to where the word "smoke" comes back into my life. Today "smoke" is associated with the horrid scent inside and outside my office (God bless my poor car and the scent it must smell like). But what other things are associated with the word "smoke"?

First, there are the Great "Smoky" Mountains, where I love to vacation. Do you know why they are called "Smoky" Mountains? Well, it's because the clouds will often get trapped along the various elevations and it creates a false sense of making you think the mountains are actually "smoking".


Second,who can forget "Smokey" the awesome & cutest mascot in college sports from the University of Tennessee. Since Knoxville is so close to the Great Smoky Mountains, they adopted "Smokey" as their mascot. Tennessee has both a "real" Smokey (a blue tick hound) and several "stuffed" Smokey's. Either way, he's still cute!

Third but certainly not the least ......the best definition of "Smoke" that exists --- Mr. "Smoke", his royal hotness himself, my boyfriend (who doesn't know it, yet...) TONY STEWART! So many people have asked me why I like Tony Stewart. Honestly, I don't know why. I think it's that I like the fact he's honest -- he isn't afraid to speak his mind or what he stands for. He's not going to beat around the bush; he's going to talk straight-forward, tell it like it is. The sad part, it gets him in trouble. But at least he's not going to cower in the corner and shy away from it. He's a great driver, who drives the wheels off his cars. He's got a slight bad-boy mentality, but in the past few years, as he's grown older & become a car owner/driver, he has matured. Sure he's not bad looking either :) I just love me some Tony Stewart!!


So see isn't it so amazing how one simple word "smoke" can have so many different meanings? I guess that's just life and how our minds work.