Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Me And My Better Half...

Hey one and all,
I suppose that when there is a black cloud, you have to find the silver lining. For me, last week's difficult turmoil was tough, but I got through it and when the week was over, I got to go spend some much needed time with the gal pal. I must admit, I was sleep deprived and could've used the time to sleep, but you know what? I got to enjoy my gal pal and I don't care how tired I am, she is always worth the effort. This last weekend was no different. I fell asleep in her arms on the couch watching TV (side note: I'm such an exciting guy...yawn) and she just sat there and stroked my hair while I snoozed. I even snored because I was so exhausted and she was understanding. She's a keeper, I will say that... I felt so energized after spending time with her. My attitude was better, I felt like my inner spirit felt better. And to all of you who keep asking me about when am I going to ask her.... well, I'm not going to ask her THAT question yet, but when I do, she told me to tell you all that she's already said 'yes'...lol... Like I told her, we may set a record for the longest courtship on the planet, but she is stuck with me and I'm not going anywhere but with her. She gave me the biggest smile of satisfaction that just lit up the room. I looked in her eyes and I felt the warmth and reassurance that even though it's going to take lots of time, I know that I'm where I am supposed to be. Where I was meant to be... with her as her man.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

More than a feeling... (with apologies to Boston)

Hey folks,
Hope your week is going decent. Me, I'm feeling better after a rough start to the week. One of my co-workers passed away suddenly and another co-worker ended up in the ICU with Lord only knows what. But she is now out of ICU so that's good, but still... Not a good start to the day, week or anything... I was bumming a little bit. Bev was a very cool lady. She was tough as nails if she had to be, but she also had a very warm soft spot that made her so endearing to people. She was suffering from the ravages of cancer and we knew it was going to eventually happen. But we were thinking in another year perhaps. She called work on Saturday night to talk to some of the folks that were there and she was laughing it up with them. On Sunday night, she felt short of breath, her daughter asked Bev if she wanted her to call for help. Bev said 'no' and closed her eyes and that was it. Bev would come in to work and she didn't like sports as much as I did, but she did love baseball. Atlanta was her team and every once in a while she'd go down and catch a game. She would also give me a word each week out of the dictionary to use on my sports show. Sometimes a tough word, sometimes a whacked out word. Her family was her passion and she loved them dearly. It's times like these that make me so grateful that despite the trials and tribulations that we have from time to time, I still have family to love. My parents are up in heaven, but I've still got some siblings and nephews, etc... I've learned to appreciate that regardless of the make-up of family, whether it's blood related, or if you're alone with only a couple of close friends, as much as I used to be a loner, I now know that we weren't meant to go through life by ourselves. I did for most of my life, but by choice. I didn't let people get remotely close to me for most of my adult life. Not till the last eight years. Dumb move on my part. But now with God in my life, and an inspiring gal pal to touch my heart, I've found more happiness in the last 2 years than I have in the previous, well... ever... That's because I've allowed myself to feel more of what goes on around me. There was once a time where sadly, Bev's passing would've not even phased me. But I thank God, that over the last few years, I've learned that it's not about me. It's about serving others and my faith in my Creator. That has allowed a bright light to shine in this once cold heart and say g'bye to my friend Bev with sadness. But also a sense of gratitude. A thanks for having gotten to know her and know about her family. Things I used to take for granted. Not any more. God Bless ya Bev...

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Curveballs and Change-ups...

Hi all…
Y’know, sometimes you just gotta reach back and go for the fastball in life. You sit and look back at how sometimes life will present some challenges and throws us a curveball or a change up and we bite on it and end up in even more miserable circumstances. And when you look at it, the people involved are not able to do anything about it. I was sitting here mulling that over. I usually get over it when I start to think about how blessed I actually am when I think about my issues. The first thing that pops into my head is that my gal pal faces serious challenges every day in her wheelchair and she handles them without even batting an eye. She makes me realize that I don’t have much in the way of issues that I can’t solve. She inspires me to want to do more for others instead of myself. Well, sometimes, we get that curveball or change up that we weren’t expecting and we swing at it and miss. Or better put, we get reminders of how blessed we really are. One such a reminder is a young man named Kyle. Kyle is a 14 year old freshman in high school. Kyle was injured in November playing in a hockey game down in Dayton and is now paralyzed from the chest down. Kyle is still in a hospital trying to stay alive and cope with his new situation. Don’t know about you, but for me, to have such a life altering change to your world, would be dang near impossible to deal with… and at the age of 14 years old??? On Wednesday, January 14th, there’s going to be fund raiser from 5-9pm for Kyle at Buffalo Wild Wings and Weck (or better known as BW3’s) in Oregon, OH. We (Myself, Jamo, and Dave… better known as the ‘3 for All’ radio program) will be broadcasting from 6-9pm ET. BW3 or as we call them ‘B-dubbs’, is going to donate 10 percent of all the food bills from 5p-9p to Kyle and his family to help offset his medical bills, which are astronomical. We’re honored to be allowed to be a small part of this event. You can listen to the show at Toledo Sports Radio online. If you’re in the area, please stop out and say hello. If you’re listening from anywhere else, leave a note saying hi if you would be so kind. It would really help raise some spirits around here.

Sunday, January 04, 2009

Raising The Roof... (literally!)

From the “just between you and me” department...
So, last we chatted, I was asking about what you hope for in the new year that you would try to improve on. Me, I walked out of my house last week in the hope of getting together with my gal pal and enjoying the holidays and her birthday and have a great time. Well, I got (figuratively speaking) a swift kick in the pants. I walk to my car to head to church, and as I start to open the car door, I look back at my house, and notice that part of the roof is gone!! My jaw dropped and my heart sank. I just looked at roof and all that was there in the one corner was wood. Everything else was gone. I was numb. The wind storm that hit during the night before had wreaked havoc on my roof, the siding on my house, and the roof of the garage. There were 60 mph winds and higher wind gusts and the shingles couldn't stay in place. I swallowed hard and went to church anyway, choosing to thank God that nobody got hurt and that there were no leaks into the house. Trust me, that wasn't an easy thing to do. But that I did and I'm glad that I did. Our pastor just happened to be talking about being tested and how to be grateful to God during the tough times. Coincidence? I think not... So I go home and look at the roof again and this time, I wasn't so angry or sick about it. I felt better. I knew that I had a lot of stuff to do to get done, but I knew I was going to be okay. The only bad spot was that my girlfriend was expecting me to be coming to see her in a matter of a couple of hours and I had to let her know that I wasn't going to make it. To say she was disappointed is a great understatement. I couldn't be with her for Christmas. I couldn't be with her for her birthday. And now because of a stinkin' roof, I wasn't sure if I'd get to see her at all. Well, I threw my arms up and asked God to handle this one. As I was reporting all the details outside on my cell phone, a neighbor of mine is driving down the road and stops and gives me his card. Turns out he's a roofer and said he'd be able to help me to get this puppy taken care of. I felt better immediately. After getting the info I needed, I was able to go 2 days late and head to the gal pal's and spend a couple of days with her and her family. I took her out for dinner and a movie and by the time that we got home, it was 11:25pm on new year's eve. We were both so tired that we forgot that it was new year's eve. I had kissed her goodnight and when we seen each other the next morning, we both laughed when we realized that we missed bringing in the new year together. But we made up for it on new year's day... lol... So, what started out as miserable week, ended up being a pretty good one after all. So I thank GOD for being so good and giving me peace during difficulties and helping me deal with what seemed to be a rotten situation and putting people in my path that allow me to not only resolve things, but give me the perspective to realize that I needed to deal with everything and keep my sense of humor and calm throughout the whole ordeal. Plus my gal pal. Without her being there, I'd be toast. She wasn't happy about me not being there at the beginning of the week. But she understood and continues to amaze me with who she is... a true gift from God...