Slow and Steady...

Well, things are slowly improving for Lou as she was moved out of ICU and into a regular room. But that's because they took a boat-load of fluid off of her and dialyzed her four days in a row. Her kidneys still don't work and they're still going to have to amputate her other leg as well. But she is still hanging in there. I was visiting with her yesterday and she was pretty miserable because of the pain in her leg. I don't how soon till she is well enough to have it removed. But, once it happens, well, it's a whole new round of rehab and learning to deal with being a double amputee. Lou is not a spring chicken. I'm hoping she'll have the energy to fight and continue to live life... Terri is hanging in there. She found out her gyn/oncologist is moving to Columbus and that there is only one other gyn/onc doc in our city who has a toilet paper roll of a list for patients.So after praying on it, she made the choice to follow her doc and make the commute to Columbus, a 2 and a half hour trip each way for her to be treated, sevral-times a month... Meanwhile, nothing else in the land of Mik is going on right now... The gal pal and her mom and Aunt are off on a shopping trip to Tennessee so I'm going to spend some time with my family. As much as I talk about them here, I don't see them as much as I should. But I hope to get to hang out with them a little bit. Plus, I'd really like to sneak in a little golf somewhere along the way... I miss hitting that little white ball all over the place. It takes my mind off of things and I can laugh about how lousy I am at it...

(Tell Me Why) I Don't Like Mondays....

My apologies to the Boomtown Rats... But I've gotta tell ya, I've had better days. Lou got rushed to the hospital and is in ICU. She has a ton of problems going on with her and I got a phone call at work today from Terri who was bawling and said that Lou was taking a turn for the worst. I went numb. I got in my car and drove over there. I went into the ICU and was expecting to see a very grim and bleak scene. To my relief, I saw Lou with her eyes open, awake, and alert. They told me that her blood pressure was in the toilet but when I looked at it for myself, I was feeling a bit better. She has got a real long road to go... dialysis, removing fluid from her, and they've made the decision that she's now going to have to lose her other leg too... This whizzes... but I'm trying to keep my thought process on the fact that she can still have a quality of life if they can treat her other issues... Lots of things going on with her... Say a prayer if you could, okay? Thanks. Terri is still trying to deal with her own chemo treatment and couldn't go to the hospital and was torn apart over it... But her immune system is so compromised, that she couldn't afford to catch anything hospital-borne... But I went over and kept her updated. It's wierd. I'm frustated a little bit because it always seems that crap like this happens around my birthday. Let's see... Lou nearly exits stage left in ICU. The anniversary of my dad's passing is tomorrow (wednesday). And here I sit, another year older and sitting in an intesive care unit watching one sister fight for her life and then I see my other sister battle at her home for a shot at life... It's tempting to feel sorry for myself... But I know that my sisters would give me a big crap-burger if I did.... here's a perfect example of Lou letting me know that she's still got plenty of life in her....
The scenario: I'm visiting with her in the morning and I step out so that the nurse's aide can help her with a bath. I'm sitting in the waiting room and Lou's best friend Nan shows up. I talk with Nan and I don't see my kid sister Angie walk by and head into the unit. After a little while, I let Nan go in to the ICU to check on Lou. She sees Angie and they proceed to have the following conversation (as related to me by Angie):

Nan: Hi Angie
Angie: Hi Nan
Nan: So Lou, are you feeling better?
Lou: Mmmm... no, I still hurt. And I'm hungry! Get me some food...
Angie Don't worry Lou, lunch will be here soon...
Lou: Okay, so Nan, where's my brother?
Nan: He's out in the waiting room.
Lou (to Angie): go get him and tell him I said to get his a** in here.
Angie: Uhhhhhh....
Lou: He said he was here to visit me but he's out there and that's just bullsh**
Angie (shaking like jello, trying not to laugh out loud): okay Lou....
Nan (jaw aptly dropped and could not get words out)

Even the nurses were cracking up about that one... I've got more hope for her at the end of the day than I did at the start.... thanks to her busting my chops.

Shoot The Works...

Hope everyone is well. Me, it's still crazy but I'm hopeful things will work out as I pray for the best. The girls are still trying to hang in there. They are more durable than the energizer bunny. They (try) to keep going and going and going... you get the idea. Terri's port got plugged up so she had to have another one surgically put in. On the day of the procedure, I go and pick her up at her house for this thing, not saying much cause I didn't know what she'd be thinking about. I figured I'd just play off of whatever she was feeling and roll with it. Well, she gets in my car full of fire and venom. At this point, I'm thinking “uh-oh, what went wrong?” and was preparing for the worst. Anytime I've seen Terri upset, there's usually been a major catastrophe involved. So I'm expecting awful or painful information to hit me between the eyes. When I ask what's up, she barrels into a complete whining session about... about... POLITICS... what the??? I'm over here thinking either she got more bad news about her cancer or something is seriously wrong with Lou... but nooooo... She wants to vent about the election and a bunch of trifle little things that I could care less about. Now for the record, my sister and I are diametrically opposed in our political views. That has never bothered me. We take potshots at each other's issues and it's like a sport with us. She loves to get all worked up and when she does, I start calling her “Norma Rae” from the Sally Field movie and that gets her going even more. She loves to start in on me when I go over to visit her and Lou. She keeps hoping that she'll change my mind and I keep telling her that there will be blizzard warnings in hades before that happens. But we always keep it civil. That's the most important thing. Anyways...
My little sleepy town had it's big city-wide garage sale this past weekend. Part of the Independence Day celebration. We had people that came in from all over to our little plot of real estate and see what deals they could find. I found a computer and monitor (old, but works) for two dollars. We also had the fireworks on Saturday night at the beach where tons of people from different towns came to the lake to see it. The beach was absolutely packed to the gills with humanity. But the folks were all in really good spirits so that really made the whole thing enjoyable. The weirdest thing I saw was people dancing on the beach to the music that the DJ over on the pier was playing. Not that they were dancing. But rather, what they were dancing to... C'mon people... since when do you see 10 and 12-year old kids doing the macarena??? I thought that died a good death back in the 90's where it couldn't disappear fast enough. The funniest thing on the beach was watching people both young and attempting to be young, doing the cha-cha slide and other various forms of line-dancing... in sand!! Let's just say that it's a little tougher to do than it looks. And NO, I wasn't one of the folks out there trying to dance. I was busy watching little kids playing catch with a wiffle ball... I wanted to be out there with them on that... After the fireworks, I walked back over to my house (takes all of 45 seconds or so) and went in and got all ready for bed since I knew I had to get up early for church the next morning. I must've forgotten to pass that little nugget of information onto my neighbors. They were up well into the middle of the night shooting off all different kinds of fireworks and explosives... and the funny part is that we live just down the street from the police station! So I oversleep and wake up less than well rested for church and as I get to my car and get ready to make the 30 minute drive to church, I notice that my car is completely covered in orange and gray powdery soot. It was the residue from all of the fireworks that the folks from the neighborhood shot off in the midnight sky. The street looked like a war zone with all of the leftover and exploded bottle rockets and the other various things. I shook my head in disbelief. I drive quickly to church and just do get there in time for the start and enjoy the service like always. It ministered to my spiritual needs and gave me things to think about as I head into another week of challenges and ups and downs that we all go through, better known as 'daily life'. I left there feeling better about things and when I came and looked at my car, I couldn't help but laugh. I headed for home and stopped at the car wash and my car looked shiny and new afterwards. It was a beautiful day and when I got back home, there were already lots of people at the beach and when I drove down my street, the place had been cleaned up by the city and in the little field across the street from my little house, there were about 6 little kids, under the age of 9, playing baseball. They had one bat, and one ball... no gloves and no bases. I had some old throw down bases that were collecting dust in the trunk of my car, so I immediately got them out and gave them to the kids. You would have thought I gave them gold. They're eyes lit up and they said “you must be a coach or something“... I just smiled and told them to have fun but be careful and I walked back over to my house. I fell asleep but was awakened by my gal pal calling me from Florida where she and her whole family is on vacation. She misses me already... wow, what a novel change from my past relationships. I told her not to worry about me but to just have a great time on the beach and shopping (her two favorite pastimes) and that I'll be busy working (hint: sleeping on the couch) while she's out having a blast. Have a great week y'all, and now if you'll excuse me, I have more, uh, work to do... ;)

Dog Gone It...

Hmmm... just when I think that there is (if nothing else) some peace in my family's world... Yeah, right. It doesn't stop. Went to visit the girls today. Terri was a little nervous because apparently a neighbors dog got out of the yard. I didn't think much of it until I saw the dog... One big mother of a pit bull with an attitude. Apparently, none of the neighbors knew that the new neighbor had a pit bull. So, the cops were called and when the dog finally goes back to the yard where he escaped from, the cop shows up and drives his cruiser right up against the double gate, so as to keep the dog in there. Plus, I was a little uncomfortable because the dog was huge and the fence wasn't very big. But the cop driving the cruiser gets out and comes and asks for some rope to tie the gates closed while we waited for the dog warden to show up. I give him some and the cop looks at me and says "hey, that dog's eyeing you up and down. You'd better watch your a** because he's looking pretty ticked." I smile and say back "yeah, he's thinking all-you-can-eat buffet... y'know what I mean?" The cop started laughing and we waited for an eternity for the warden to show up. The warden shows up finally and we show were the dog was, the fact that it had no tags or license etc..., the warden opts to contain the dog and drag it in to warden's vehicle. And right after that, the owners of the dog show up. They weren't too happy and the cop and dog warden both explained what happened and the fact that there were lots of little children running around in the neighborhood. Not in a rural area... but in the city in a block neighborhood... kids running, playing, riding their bikes... not an ideal place for an overly aggressive pit bull. But with the removal of said dog, maybe the neighbors will settle down a bit and get back to just being annoying... ;)

(Getting Shot) Down To Earth...

I had to laugh... I was getting ready to interview a couple of the women football players and air it during the halftime of our last regular season game. I turn on my computer and right there on my desktop is a picture of my beloved, my best girl, my love... my gal pal. The player looks at the picture and says "Hey Mik, is that your girlfriend?" I smile and proudly say "Yep, she sure is" and the player says "wow, she's really pretty." I say "thank you" and as I'm preparing to get things going for the interview, this player coughs up a little gem: "Geez, she's really pretty. How did YOU get her?" The other girl football players bust up laughing hysterically and when the player realizes what she said, she freaked and says "oh my gosh, I'm so sorry. " Me, I thought it was funny. It also kept me grounded and not to get egotistical or to take myself seriously. And to be grateful for a great lady for me to love... and even better... she loves ME... woo-hoo!!!

When Transcendentalism and Banjos Collide...

Greetings from the land of Appalachia... I was asked by my gal pal to go with her to a wedding of a friend she's known since childhood. This friend lives in Colorado but was coming back home to her country roots to get married. She was marrying a guy from out there. The key element to this whole entry is found in the last two words of the previous sentence. Out there. Okay, first things first. I'm a midwesterner and I come from the city and grew up in the hood. Drug dealers, prostitutes, gangs.... you name it. I now live just outside the city in a small area outside of town. I've gotten to discover a little bit of small town life and have come to embrace it. I have learned to have a sense of humor about all things small town. But nothing, I mean NOTHING... prepared me for what I was about to experience. The things I experienced, I've seen before... but the way they were brought together, it had me scratching my head and I was floored. I began to be convinced that perhaps the Second Coming might be arriving a little earlier than I thought... I know I know you're saying “Mik old son, what could possibly be that warped that it freaked you out so bad?”
I'll try and set the scenario in the most positive way possible and try not to sound judgmental. Up in the hills of the western part of Appalachia, in a rural tiny hick town on a small farm. Out in the grass field is where the wedding is going to take place, okay? No big deal, I've been to and shot video for outdoor weddings that took place on a farm. Not a problem. Out by a big tree, the chairs for the people were situated to face the tree which was going to be the focal point of the event. I was able to get my gal pal over there in her wheelchair. I am introduced to all of her friends from her school days and all of them are just knockouts. I mean very very attractive. Even my girlfriend looks at me later on and says “aren't my friends all pretty?” Now right there is a land mine waiting to detonate if ever there was one. Knowing my gal pal, it was an innocent question. But to me (and any guy on the planet), it was one I wasn't about trip over and set off. After all, I am a guy and we are always brought down by questions such as this one. So in an endeavor that required quick thinking and as much energy as my little brain could muster in such a short amount of time, I had to come up with something charming and sincere. Time was the critical element here. Either I took my time to say something thoughtful, and get her wondering if maybe I was taking too long to answer and WHY was I taking so long. OR if I said it too quickly, that maybe I was thinking more about them than I was about her. Thankfully, my radio reflexes came into effect. I took all of three seconds. Perilously close to taking too long, I looked my beloved right in the eye and smiled and said with as much firm warmth as I could muster in such short order: “yeah, I guess... but you're still better looking than any of them. Easily, I got the best of the bunch.” Jackpot! My gal pal got a big grin that lit up the entire place on such a oven-like day outdoors. “I love you” she mouths to me. I return the sentiment and exhale a massive sigh of relief through my teeth and my smile. WHEW! Disaster avoided. I was a little touch and go there for a brief moment. I mean, c'mon, nations have gone to war over questions like this... I don't know how I was able to leap frog this land mine and keep the compass pointing in the right direction, well, actually I do. It was really simple actually... It comes down to one irrefutable fact: I love this woman.
Okay so now back to the wedding... I saw some small children waving bright-colored strips that were on a stick. For some reason, my head began to think of the whole “age of aquarius” naturalist thing and I didn't give it much thought. I began to hear music playing that seemed to come from the general area of the tree. So I looked over in that direction and saw a speaker near the tree. The wedding party began to make their way towards the tree. Everyone seems appropriately dressed. At this point, I'm still thinking that this will be a traditional wedding. The gal pal is chatting with her friends and I'm just taking the whole thing in. Seems nice enough, what could possibly happen out here in the sticks?
Well, uh, as the gal pal and I get settled in to our spots, the music playing is weird. Not as inhippie chants, but rather as in bluegrass banjo. Now in the middle of Appalachia, I would consider this normal. Weird, but normal. Most all of the crowd were in their 20's and 30's. I seen the wedding party walking two by two from the farmhouse over to the tree in the field. The banjo went slightly out of tune and it was only then I realized that there was a real live bluegrass quartet playing behind the tree. As the bridal party make their way to where the tree was, I noticed the guy performing the wedding was listed in the program not as a minister, reverend or preacher. Those are standard bible belt terms. But this guy was called an 'Officiant'. The 'Officiant' welcomed the groom and bride to the tree, (apparently, the tree had no comment) and from the beginning of the ceremony until the end of it, the bride and groom stood facing the gathering with the 'Officiant' standing between them. They chose to have elements of Quaker, Buddhist, and a few other isms that I don't recall. The readings were from some transcendentalist author who said we needed to become 'one' with the trees. To 'breathe in' so as to inhale all of mother nature's goodness. To 'breathe out', so as to release all the irritants that keep us from embracing nature and all it has to offer. HUH???? We came all this way, got all dressed up to come have yoga meditation??? UGH... The entire service was all about referencing nature. The 'Officiant' had on a robe with leafs on the front of it. So once the nuptials were completed (with bluegrass banjos serenading us to the very end), we head over to the big tent to sit down, eat and whatever else the evening may have held. Well, I look over at the steel containers that held the evening's feast. No idea what the meal was going to entail. Pork? Beef? Sassafras Roots? Well, as it turns out, we didn't find out. They had the invocation for the meal where (finally) there was an actual reference to God.... They then proceeded to toast the bride and groom. Now where I'm from, that usually falls to the maid/ matron of honor and the best man to do that. Well, here, virtually EVERYBODY stood in line to toast the new husband and wife. And to make matters worse, the father of the groom decides to insult more than half of the crowd there by making a political joke that was very insulting. Beautiful... UGH... I finally looked over at one of my gal pal's friends and commented “Y'know, I don't think there's really any food over there. They're having everybody toast them so that the rest of us will leave before they eat.” Her response was: “I don't think I could bet against that.” And with that, my gal pal decided that she had enough. We departed the wedding and had a much more satisfying dinner... we went through the drive thru at Dairy Queen for chicken strips and a nice evening together at home. Laughing about what transpired in the afternoon... I wasn't sure what to call this experience... Hillbilly Hippies? Deliverance meets Sex In the City? Pinch of granola between my cheek and gum? Ahh... enough already!!! HA!

Just Winging It...

Hey folks,
Sorry it's been a while since my last entry. Lots going on with yours truly. Keeping busy mostly. Was a little under the weather and then my car had a little hiccup but I feel better and the car got fixed so I'm out and about again. Down to one more game left with the women's football team. I like the girls and the coaches both as they are pretty cool people. But I'm tired of sitting through such lopsided losses. The last couple were pretty tough. 76-0 and 41-0... I've got 2 weeks till the last game of the season and then I'm free. woo-hoo! I went and visited my sisters yesterday and of course I was put to work for a little bit. They asked me to put in the air conditioners in the windows so I said sure since it was no big deal. It's been pretty hot around my neck of the woods lately so I can appreciate the desire to remain cool. The breeze off of the lake where I live has helped in dealing with the summer heat. No complaints from me about the temps though. Everybody and their brother come out to the beach and walk along the pier so it's nice to see that there are people who enjoy the water and have fun doing the little things.

P.S. Um, I'm not going to say much about the Red Wings winning the Stanley Cup, but to simply say a big YEAH BABY!!!

P.S.S. That's Red Wing team captain Nick Lidstrom carrying the Stanley Cup in the parade in downtown Detroit where over a million people came out to see their champs... oh by the way, did I mention they won the cup??? YEAH BABY!!!

Being Pen-sive

I'm having a blast watching the Stanley Cup Finals (On NBC in the US, CBC in Canada)... It has been a hoot hearing from some of the Burgers from the steel city. They are convinced that the Penguins are going to come back and win this... I just keep my peace and enjoy watching the series. I hope the Wings wrap things up soon... lol
Other than the sports stuff, not much is going on in my world. Lou is doing better and is supposed to be released from nursing home rehab place on Sunday or Monday. Terri had chemo a couple of days ago and is trying to bounce back. She still is fighting. I don't know how she does it. She is so much braver and stronger than her little brother. I'm not saying that to put myself down, just pointing out obvious facts. Namely she's had to fight this battle on her own, most of the time. She has to try and take care of Lou when Lou is at the house. And Terri somehow is able to do it... I sit in amazement of her. She handles adversity a whole lot better than anyone else I know.

(Death) March of the Penguins.... GO WINGS!!!

Okay, just so you know, this entry is a sports entry about the Stanley Cup hockey finals (best of 7)... I am a HUGE Detroit Redwings fan and they are playing the Pittsburgh Penguins for the Cup. I don't like Pittsburgh period. For anything at all... can't stand the Penguins, hate the Steelers, feel embarrassed for the Pirates and am not much for the city as a whole. One of my best friends lives there (and he's from Michigan no less) and we refer to the citizens of Pittsburgh as... well, "burgers" I can't think of a much better way to put it. They think they've already got the Stanley Cup won and are planning for the parade because they have the young phenom Sidney Crosby in their lineup and are supposedly going to dominate. I just smile when I think about it... and then to take things to a mean extreme, the Detroit Free Press has a little game you can play on their website called "Whack The Penguin" that is an absolute hoot. Go check it out by clicking here ... But for those of you that think somehow that it's a mean game because it involes whacking a penguin (for distance, not to kill) I understand if you pass on it. It's not an anti-animal game but rather a anti-Pittsburgh game.... getting ready for the Stanley Cup finals... Now if you decide to go and give it a few whacks, let me know how far you were able to whack the penguin... My best so far is 322.9

My (Much) Better Half...

Hey y'all,
I hope you had a decent weekend. Or at least tried to. Me, I got to spend a little quality time with the gal pal. Always a treat for me... We had fun together. I think the reason our relationship is so successful, is because even though we are both crazy about each other, we don't get to see each other all of the time. So the thing we focus on the most when we are together, is each other. Even though she isn't 100% healthy, she is constantly giving me her attention and is far more worried about what's going on with me than I am about myself. Me, I don't think at all about myself when I'm with her. My sole focus is on her. And all this time later, we haven't changed in that behavior. In the beginning, sure the physical attraction to her was great. (okay, it still is... I'm a GUY after all...lol). But as time has passed, the passion and desire goes to what's in the heart and soul. I am amazed over and over again by what I see and feel when I look at her. I went with her to PT and watched her work out. I saw the effort she put into her session and I could see the grit and determination in her face. She made me realize how much I take things for granted without saying one word or even knowing that she was teaching me. All of this was going through my head and in typical fashion, when I told her how proud I was of her effort, she completely downplayed what she was doing. “It's no big deal”. Well, to me it was. It really was. Because sometimes when I am feeling tired or just blah because of work or other areas in my life outside of her, I look at her and I get an instant attitude adjustment. She is younger than I am, but I look up to her... She inspires me more than anyone I know on this earth. Geez, after reading this, you'd think I was in love with the woman or something...lol.. (hint: the worst kept secret on the planet: yes I am)

What? More Cornball Humor? Here's Another One

Thanks to my friend Judy for the email that had this joke. Another oldie but it's still pretty funny today...

An old man lived alone in the country. He wanted to dig his tomato garden, but it was very hard work as the ground was hard. His only son, Vincent, who used to help him, was in prison. The old man wrote a letter to his son and described his predicament.

Dear Vincent, I am feeling pretty bad because it looks like I won't be able to plant my tomato garden this year. I'm just getting too old to be digging up a garden plot. If you were here my troubles would be over. I know you would dig the plot for me. Love, Pop

A few days later, he received a letter from his son:

Dear Pop,
Not worry for nothing, but don't dig up that garden. That's where I buried the BODIES.Love, Vinnie

At 4 a.m. the next morning, FBI agents and local police arrived and dug up the entire area without finding any bodies. They apologized to the old man and left. That same day the old man received another letter from his son:

Dear Pop, Go ahead and plant the tomatoes now. That's the best I could do under the circumstances. Love, Vinnie

Toilet (?) Humor... ;)

Oldie but a Goodie.... have a good day y'all... ;)

According to a news report, a certain private school in Washington was recently faced with a unique problem. A number of 12-year-old girls were beginning to use lipstick and would put it on in the bathroom. That was fine but after they put on their lipstick, they would press their lips to the mirror leaving dozens of little lip prints. Every night the maintenance man would remove them, and the next day the girls would put them back.
Finally the principal decided that something had to be done. She called all the girls to the bathroom and met them there with the maintenance man. She explained that all these lip prints were causing a major problem for the custodian who had to clean the mirrors every night (you can just imagine the yawns from the little princesses).
To demonstrate how difficult it had been to clean the mirrors, she asked the maintenance man to show the girls how much effort was required.
He took out a long-handled squeegee, dipped it in the toilet, and cleaned the mirror with it. Since then, there have been no lip prints on the mirror.

The Song Remains The Same (my apologies to Led Zep)

Hi kids....
More insanity rules the roost here in Mik-world... Things are crazy with the girls again as Lou is back in the hospital. For a while, the doctors thought she might be on the road to losing the other foot, but she's doing better and responding to treatment. It's a catch 22 situation for her... She needs to work on her activity level to continue to remain mobile so they want her to do lots more physical therapy. But the docs don't want her standing up for the next couple of weeks in order to allow the wound on her foot to heal. She's healing up and will have to go for a couple of weeks of in-patient PT rehab. I'm not glad she's there but it will give Terri a break. Terri had chemo a couple of days ago and part of the process is that she's supposed to rest and allow things to work inside of her... Of course, the operative words there are "supposed to"... But she's doing what she can to battle this disease so I keep hoping the chemo will help and as for what may happen, I'll leave it up to God.

Twinbill Doubleheader (and we're not talking baseball)

I had a fun time talking to one of my childhood friends, Bill, who lives out in Southern California. Bill and I have known each other since 2nd grade and the funny part is that we weren't good friends in grade school. We didn't particularly like each other very much. As we got older and played baseball, we were polite to each other since we had some of the same friends we were tight with. In high school, we didn't see each other much till about junior year. Then we came across each other again because of mutual friends. And this time, we discovered we had a similar interest... music. We really hit it off because of musical tastes and especially after graduation. We and a couple of other friends spent all kinds of time together, going to concerts, partying, y'know... all the crazy stuff you do in your youth. Well, after a while, Bill got the itch to move out to California. That was about 20 years ago. Bill went to work and made some friends and ended up recently getting married (for the 1st time) out there to a girl a bit younger than him. Of course, the warm, caring, sensitive, supportive friends he has back in Ohio had to express ourselves the only way we know how. I think the nicest thing we said to him was "gee Bill, just think, in August, you can take her shopping for all of the 'back to school' sales...woo-hoo".... Well, she's not THAT much younger than him, but you get the idea of our relationships. Yesterday, Bill's mom calls me. She is just going bananas because finally.... finally. Bill and his wife are expecting. Then I call out to California to give Bill some crap for the fun of it, and then of course he has this stunned shock in his voice.... they're expecting twins. Oops. He was freaking out especially since twins don't run in either family. I was the second buddy to call him out there to congratulate him. Robert was the first and told him that the since his wife was expecting that when she goes to buy diapers, she won't feel so awkward about buying diapers for THREE... I laughed my butt off... Poor Bill. A first time dad at the age of 45... with twins? Bill doesn't stand a chance... they'll bring him to his knees in no time flat.... I can't wait!

A Little Humble Pie...

Hi folks,
Just getting ready to head into another weekend. Last weekend, I got to spend it with the gal pal... that was so much fun. We went to a fish fry and I got a small lesson in gratitude. I usually try to be a humble sort because trying to be something that you're not is usually a boot to the butt waiting to happen. My gal pal is in a wheelchair, I don't mind that at all. She is just perfect to me as she is. She inspires me everyday and I'm crazy about her... I went into the fish fry and even though I don't like fish, I sat and ate way too much other food. My tummy was overloaded on everything else there was to eat. I sat with my gal pal and some of her friends. It was neat cause they don't see me very often so they pepper with me questions from time to time. I met a young guy in a wheelchair who suffers from cerebral palsy. He was adopted by a lady who has a couple of other kids who are healthy. She chose to adopt this little guy knowing that he'd be a handful. I was amazed at the patience she showed in taking care of and loving him. I swallowed the lump in my throat cause as patient as I'd like to think that I am... this woman just put me to shame. Her boy is 15 now and is getting too big for her to take physical care of. But she's determined to make a go of it as best she can. I was thinking how unfair it was that he suffers from that disease. I mean, I do wish he was healthy. Absolutely I want him to be happy and to know what it is to live life to the fullest. To know what it'd be like to play sports. To have a girlfriend. To drive a car.... all these things that we all take for granted. Then I looked at my gal pal and she put it in complete perspective for me. She has the attitude that she was chosen by God to be afflicted with her ailment so that He could use her to touch other lives for Him. Looking at the relationship between this mother and her disabled son, I got a big heaping helping of gratitude that I got to meet him. His joy was pure innocence. His life and his infirmities are being used to touch other people's lives. It really made me realize how truly blessed I am. I looked back over at the gal pal... I fell even deeper in love with her watching her eat a piece of cheesecake. I am so grateful for her... just as she is. I wouldn't be the man that she thinks that I am without her...

Cables, Wires, and Chops... Oh My!!

grrrrrr.... I have such a love - hate with electronics... I took today off to go over to see the girls and since they got a new flatscreen HDTV.. They had everything but the cable hooked up... I figured it would be about five minutes of work and the afternoon to hangout and see how they were doing. Six and a half hours later and a few choice words for the cablesystem later, I still hadn't figured the dang thing out. After several calls to the cable company, it turned out that I wasn't the problem (for a change), but rather, the cable box was not functioning properly and they are going to come out with a new one and install it for Terri at no charge. I should be happy about that, but I'm still frustrated from having spent all day banging my head (figuratively and literally) against the wall. I didn't need the headache, but you know how it goes some days.
I was reading something in my local paper (in the obits of all places) that brought me back to a small, brief, innocent part of my youth. I was reading that a guy I simply knew as "Chops" had passed away. I hadn't seen him in years (decades), but for some reason, he left a permanent mark in my head from that time. Chops was a grill cook at a local little hole in the wall restaurant when I was a little boy and my dad used to take me in there because you could pig out and it was soooooo cheap. The place had booths whose seats were usually torn. Not exactly a Bob Evans or Cracker Barrel (If your table had matching glasses, you were lucky.) But the funny part was that for some reason, the little dive of a eat 'em up joint had some of the best food I ever ate. On the very rare occasion that my dad would let me pick the restaurant we could eat at, I always picked there... My dad liked it cause it was cheap. I loved it cause the food was good. City officials would eat there all the time. And then there was Chops. Chops would be involved with three or four different tables full of people in some spicy conversation (the restaurant was very tiny) and have everyone in stitches. He could weave in and out of different conversations without missing a beat. I wanted to be like that when I was a kid. I always thought he was cool. He was a very large man. Later in life he lost over 140 lbs. and stayed behind the grill at the Green Lantern restaurant till 1994 when he retired because of his health. I hadn't seen him since I was a kid, but when I read that he passed (he was only 55), I felt like a small part of my youth went too. I dunno, I had all of these memories come flooding back from when I was a kid. Going to the Green Lantern. Listening to Chops crack jokes on food, girls, politics, life... you name it. I don't even think the Green Lantern is open anymore, but it will always hold a special place in my heart... A double Gooper burger and free entertainment courtesy of Chops. And for an eight year old kid from a tough neighborhood, that was as good as it got.

A Dog-gone Busy Day...

Hi y'all,
I am beat right now... but it was worth it. Spent the early part of the day over at the girls' to see how they were and they corraled me into taking apart the entertainment center as they're getting a new one. So I took it apart (well, actually took all the components of the audio and video stuff out of there and then took the behemoth out of the house and put it out for someone to take if they could use it. I took the TV that was in there and since the girls are getting a new one, I took the one that was there (a heavy 36 inch beast) up a very narrow and steep flight of stairs for my nephew to use. Ugh, that was no fun. After doing my imitation of "Two men and a Truck", I hooked up the tv and vcr/dvd set up so my goofy nephew could watch a bigger screen than the 12-inch screen he was using before. I had to move some of the equipment out from the front room into Terri's room so that she could have a setup in her room too. By the time I got all of this done, I had to get going to work. But of course, one small fire to put out... my kid sister was feeling sick and was mildly scared about it so I stopped over there on my way to work and assessed the situation and she wasn't in any danger... just a little anxiety on her part. But the good news was that I got to spend time with my dog Penney. Oh it was an understatement to say Pen was so tickled to see me and of course, I abslolutely flat out LOVE that dog. I never used to like mini-daschunds... Not until her... I used to say she was the only woman that I ever both loved and trusted. Of course now with the gal pal in my life I can't say that any more... I don't want to get my butt kicked... ;) It was so funny, when my little nephew came up to hug me, Pen got up on me and wedged herself between me and Dyl... Territorial little cuss isn't she... Can't wait till the first time she sees me and the gal pal snuggling... that'll be a hoot.

Tuning In...

Well, I hope everyone is enjoying the weekend... Right now, everything (thankfully) is status quo. My gal pal's grandfather is home from the hospital and feeling a whole lot better. They thought is might be that dreaded 'c' word, but thankfully, it was a severe infection and he was horribly dehydrated. So they fattened him up a bit with meds and fluids, and he's home again. Thanks for the prayers and good wishes. They worked.
Terri is hanging on. I went to see her and Lou and they were both in pretty good moods. It was a typical household as Terri was working on a project for my nephew Dylan, Lou was playing backgammon, and Dyl was over visiting... well, at least in theory. As a 12 year-old, he doesn't go over to his aunt's to visit. He goes because she has cool toys ('Rockband' for X-box) and he gets spoiled and gets to eat whatever he wants. Oh, when life was so simple... I miss those days. When I was a kid we didn't have X-box, Wii, or even Nintendo for that matter... If I remember, we had four channels on tv (well, actually 8 because with the help of rabbit ears, we could pick up a couple in Detroit and one or two from Canada)... and we had outside. Me, I spent lots of time with the tv (because of the neighborhood I lived in... it was pretty rough) and I also spent a great deal of time with the radio. I fell in love with rock-n-roll, but also with listening to radio stations on the AM dial from far away places. As a kid from northern Ohio, I used to get all jazzed when I could pull in WOWO-AM from Fort Wayne. Or WCCO from Minneapolis. WABC from NYC... or WBZ from Boston. Every once in a while I'd get CFRB from Toronto. That was a whole other world for a kid from Ohio who never went anywhere. I even remember picking up KMOX from St Louis and WBAP and KRLD from Dallas... all the way up in Toledo, on a beat up old AM radio... now that radio stations can be picked up on the internet from anywhere in the world, it's not such a big deal. But to a little boy with no life... that beat up old AM radio was an escape to other places and in my mind, other worlds! I wouldn't trade those memories for ANYTHING...

Time Well Spent...

As per usual in life, highs and lows permeate the world of yours truly. I've simply learned to adjust and in the words of Steve Winwood “you gotta roll with it baby”. Stopped by Terri's to check on her. She's still feeling like ten pounds of crap in a five pound bag. But is trying to bounce back from the chemo treatment. Lou is definitely feeling better and was on the computer playing a card game when I showed up. Now you'd figure that in her condition, Terri would just want to rest and not really talk about much. Of course, you have to remember that this is my family we're talking about... no one has ever used the word “normal” and our name in the same sentence. True to form, Terri decides she wants to engage me in talking politics. Oh perfect... of all the things she could want to talk about... just perfect! She and I are opposites when it comes to most things political. But our debates, while very spirited, are usually respectful and cordial. And of course, how can I argue with a woman who is lying in bed from enduring a chemotherapy treatment? I'd look like a complete, heartless slug! Most of my family would tell you I'm a heartless slug anyways... but they'd say it out of sport and not out of spite...
I got the rare treat of spending time with the gal pal for a few days. She was in rare form if I do say so myself. I was so amazed... more on her in a moment. Her grandfather is not doing really well and they had to take him to the hospital today. But she was steadfast in having a good time with me and boy did we. We spent so much time together and I've got to tell ya... I've found THE GIRL... or should I say that the good Lord blessed me with her. Because she is amazing. She leaves me speechless because of who she is. The fact that she's crazy about me is an honor I don't take lightly. But her warmth, tenderness, and her gentle humor leaves me flabbergasted. I think you can tell by the pictures that we're pretty smitten with each other. DUHHHHHHH... :)

Time...

Hope everyone had a nice Easter. Me, I had to work, but I stopped over at Terri's and got something to eat before I went to my job. To say that Terri pulled out all of the stops is a gross understatement. She was not feeling the greatest, but she takes to cooking like I take to eating... very naturally thank you... She bought enough groceries to fill a small building or nuclear fallout shelter (take your pick) and it was all for Easter dinner. Not for the month, not for a week... but for one meal. Wholly cow! (for a minute, I thought she actually bought a whole one.) Let's put it this way, we couldn't eat at her dinner table because of all of the food choices that she put out... My whole family was there and they were having a ball... For a few hours, the whole thought of cancer took a backseat to just being a bunch of wacked-out, out of sorts, mentally disturbed, crazy people... y'know... FAMILY!!
Terri goes for chemo tomorrow and it's going to be a new type of chemo. So I'm hoping it works. Me, I'm taking a few days off and am going to go spend time with my gal pal... it's been a long time since we've gotten to spend any quality time together. So I will be M-I-A for the next several days. But for a good reason :) Yak atcha soon...