is you is or is you ain't

i am not singing this time.
swear.
but i do want to talk about singing.

i have the latest faith hill cd, fireflies. (non-country fans stay with me)

there's a song on this cd entitled Mississippi Girl. i am a Mississippi Girl (born, raised and educated in south mississippi) and have adopted this as my official theme song. so needless to say i LOVE THIS SONG! my two girls LOVE THIS SONG!

when it gets ugly riding in the the van - fussing, fighting, whining, yelling, swearing - i pop in fireflies, fast forward to track #2. when they hear the opening melody - a magical transformation takes place. these little monsters i gave birth to become pop stars - they know every single word and we sing this song over and over at the TOP OF OUR LUNGS! works every single time.

Link to Mississippi Girl on AOL Music

and that's how i often solve conflict in our world. we sing along with Mississippi Girl. (a big thank you to ms. hill on this one!)

although my girls were not born in Mississippi (but in downtown Dallas, Texas - to be exact) they feel a very strong connection to my home state. they each first traveled to mississippi when only four weeks old. we visit as a family several times a year and they individually spend a couple weeks with my parents during the summer. we lived there a year for Sam to go to school at the University of Southern Mississippi's Center for Communication and Development. so they have a valid and very real connection to my birth home.

write this down - if you'd ever like to cause conflict, angst and down right unadulterated anger in a four (almost five) and a seven year old girl, i can tell you how. i learned this little 'trick' on our recent road trip to pick up Sam after her visit with the Grandparents.

you can call them mean, ugly, stubborn, prissy, sassy, hateful, stupid ( i don't actually use this word, but you could), dog-butt face, poopy breath, cat-food-eating stinky rug rats and they wouldn't bat an eye. go ahead. try it. i promise you - wouldn't phase their world.

but if you really want to insult them - to their core - cut them to the quick - just tell them - and stand back when you do - tell them they are NOT Mississippi Girls.

go ahead, i dare ya.
i won't be doing it
again...