This blog revisits a couple of old comments, an old letter and some old posts in a walk down memory lane. The old posts are just some lighthearted fluff.

I was watching American Idol Rewind on Season Two. I was absolutely struck by the comments made by the guest judges that were made five years ago. Lamont Dozier said Clay looked like someone who had "already arrived" and that he had "the look of a star". Gladys Knight said she didn't know what would happen with Clay in the contemporary world but that she expected that something "exceptional" would happen for him. Boy were they ever right!

I started looking back through a lot of saved material. I found Clay's letter that was published in the Raleigh News &Observer on Sun, Dec. 21, 2003. This was the day after his graduation from UNCC with his degree in special education. Clay talked about all of the invitations and awards that he had received as well as the "rumors" that he had to deal with that were part of the price of his new found celebrity. I think Clay and his fans were only begining to suspect how true that was. He also talks about plan A being to work with children with disabilites. He has done that and so much more than we, and maybe even he, ever dreamed.

Then I took a look at some of the old posts I wrote years ago. I have written a lot in the last five years on a number of message boards on a variety of topics. Some of it addresses my philosophy of being a Clay fan. Some of it addresses some flap or crisis du jour of the Clay Nation. Some of it has to do with the personal trials of my on line friends. Some of it is creative. Some of it is downright silly. In keeping with my New Year's resolution to make this blog a little lighter in tone, and since I am about to go out of town for a few days next week (To SEE SPAMALOT!!! EEEEEE!!!) I decided to share some "post cards" from that past. The following quotes are a series of old posts that I wrote while traveling to Florida on vacation several years ago. At intervals, I posted about my travels on what was then my "home" board. These were light hearted posts that were written for fun:

From: Travel's With Clay

June 18th, 2004

I will be posting infrequently as I am traveling and WI-FI connections must be made at night in the hotel and are iffy and the man I refer to as my FIRST husband left the phone modem at home. This is not an opportunity for you to talk about me behind my back because I will be lurking. That is what Live Messages are for. :) I did have few Clay moments today as I traveled that I wanted to share: I thought my husband said "read Clay" and I wanted to know what he read. What he actually said was "red clay" because we had just entered GA. ( I heard Diana DeGarmo is celebrating her 17 birthday at Stone Mountain, tomorrow. I also heard a clip of her singing SSB on the radio and she was awesome!) I saw a spikey haired kid about Clay's size with a southern accent and I thought itmight be him-! It wasn't. Just south of Atlanta we passed a sign for Clayton College. Sorry, I didn't get a picture. I listened to "Solitaire" twice. The Glory note came just as we entered from one highway onto another and suddenly found ourselves in like eight lanes of hair raising traffic with jet planes from Atlanta's airport roaring over head on take off. The second time I heard it, traffic came to a sudden screeching halt on the interstate. Wow, talk about have your own personal sound track! That's all that happened of interest today unless you count seeing the trash truck on fire and the fire trucks stopping all traffic on I -75 northbound to put it out or the police officer who ran out of gas on the interstate as well. That's all of my travel log for today. I will post in when I can.

second entry:

.... Travel log update. I went from the land of Vidalia's to the land of Azaleas, hydrangeas and camellias. Before crossing the border to Florida i was tempted to buy a pecan log ( a very sweet treat) but my husband is trying the low carb thing. Of course I know Clay is allergic to them so that sealed it and I Ipassed on that particular southern delicacy! Yesterday, we drove into Jacksonville and found ourselves stuck for half an hour on a very large, very high bridge at the end of which may be found the stadium where the Jacksonville Jaguar's play! In order to distract myself from thoughts of terrorism and metal fatigue, I started reading license plates. Guess what the license plate of the car ahead of me said? CLAY County! Clay County Florida is just south of us!I will TTYL

third entry:

.... Daily Travel log: I am back from the beach today. No real Clay related trivia but we did have dinner at Brett's Waterside Cafe. LOL. Here in the land of live oak trees dripping with Spanish moss and palmetto groves we spend our mornings on the beach and the afternoons shopping due to the daily thunder storm typical of tropical areas. Fortunately I haven't run into any palmetto bugs. These are a Steven King creation called palmetto bugs because the Florida tourist industry thinks the darn Yankees are too stupid to know a giant flying roach when they see one. LOL. My husband and I were shelling on the beach this morning when we noticed a very young, adorable honeymoon couple. They were a stark contrast to my husband and myself. We were discussing whether or not he should be the one to pick up the shells with my knee being so sore or I should pick them because his back hurt while our layabout teenage children were still sleeping in. I found a set of footprints from the biggest pair of sandals I have ever seen! I did think of Clay then. My husband assured me that his sandals were just as big. We are old, not dead. LOL If Clay is lucky, he will soon be like that young honey moon couple. If he is very lucky, he will be like us one day...

fourth entry:

...Today's travel log update: I have been reading a lot on vacation. Guess what famous southern gentleman with red hair whose birthday is also November 30th and started out in a career other than the one he was famous for BESIDES OMC? If you guessed Samuel Langhorn Clemmons you would be right. Well, it was read that or finish Simon's book. Since lightening is God's way of saying to people on the beach "Go shopping" I did. The tee shirt I almost bought said "Well behaved women seldom make history!" Later, I'll tell you about the one I did buy. ..

Final entry:

...Galadriel is out on the beach right now. This is her, uh, secretary with a final update. She has asked me to convey to you all that vacation is almost over and she has enjoyed sharing her little excursion with you. She plans to spend her final day of vacation on the beach, sleeping,reading and splashing in the surf. She doesn't really look tan due to her addiction to sun screen. (Can you say SPF 45?) Tomorrow, when I help her put on her sun screen I am going to write Claymate on her back for a more interesting tan. Today she visited St. Augustine, America"s oldest city. There is a rumor that she is one of the early inhabitants. She took a drink from Ponce De Leon's fountain of youth while she was in town. Talk about untreated well water. When I asked her why she muttered something about Clay being half her age. Well, bye for now. Thanks for listening.

Thanks for joining me on my trip down memory lane.