A very well deserved thank you

This, if you didn't know is Darrell, affectionately known as "Pops". Darrell is my mother's husband. I know that sounds like an odd misnomer, but there is a reason I call him that. Darrell is a great guy. He loves my mother and treats her with respect. He is the most wonderful grandfather you could ask for (well, Emma is still holding some reservations about him) to my kids. But, and this is a very large but (hee hee), I'm just too....old...to have a dad. My sister thinks of him as a father, and honestly, in some ways, I do as well. But the first two fathers I had barely qualified for that name and so I kind of just shut off the idea of having a father. I know, it sounds like I'm digressing here, but stay with me, I have a point.

Anyhoo, Darrell made me an offer the other day that made my mouth fall open, literally. He offered to get me cable and pay for it for a year. I know that some of you are thinking, "That's not that big a deal". Let me explain: I haven't had cable for two years. At first it was cut off because it was too expensive with me being in school. After I graduated, I never got it turned back on because I couldn't afford it by myself (and don't worry about my kids...they have enough spongebob, dora and diego movies, among others, that I should start renting them out to the neighborhood kids). Big game on? I would try to squeeze it into my schedule to go to my sister's or my mom's house. But I never really missed having cable. In fact, it almost became a point of pride to say that I didn't watch TV.

Then Darrell made his offer. He listed his reasons for doing so, none of which I'm going to go into here. But they were generous and very touching reasons, I assure you. And much like a tee totaler who's fallen off the wagon, I suddenly relished the thought of catching Sportscenter and watching the late night news. That's when the real impact of what I had been given hit me. I was going to get a sense of normalcy back into my life. I was going to be able to do something as mundane as turn on the TV.

And it's all thanks to Darrell. I prolly still won't call him "dad" (I'm not going to prostitute my feelings that much). But I certainly feel like I have a dad now, for the first time in my life in a very, very long time. And it's not because he was generous with his money. It's because he wanted me to feel like I wasn't failing in life because I couldn't even afford to have something as simple as cable TV. And for that, I give him the utmost thanks on the biggest stage I have in my possession.

A dream come true

Have you ever had one of those nights where you had a dream come true, like the entire night was like one long fairy tale? Me neither. And then last night happened. Correction, last night going into this morning. 5 am this morning, to be exact. And get your mind out of the gutter, you disgusting sicko.

Oddly enough, I have some tangentially related pictures but I'm not going to post them. Call it...protecting my karma. Think of this post as something akin to what the Israelites did on their journey through the desert. They would build these markers made of stone to indicate a passage of some importance or crossroad. So, this post is my stone marker denoting a...new direction, let's say.

Anyhoo, for everyone out there that's never had a secret wish fulfilled...? Don't give up hope. I have a real life example of what happens when you, as Disney says, wish upon a star.

home cookin'

The kids and I made some chocolate covered pretzels tonight (no, I don't have pictures because, well, I made a mess and messy pictures just aren't very pretty). Anyhoo, I have never made chocolate covered anything, let alone pretzels so I thought it would be fun to do something home economical with the kids. Their contributions consisted mainly of licking the spoon and eating the completed pretzels, but they did that with gusto.

And the pretzels didn't turn out too bad either (although I would have to be the world's worst cook to eff than up). Come by sometime and we'll whip you up a batch (this one is pretty much gone by now).

In Remembrance

Heather's maternal grandfather died today. I know some of you are thinking, "wow, that's an odd thing to post about". Considering the circumstances it is prolly a bit unusual but since it's my blog, I can post about the GDP of Sierra Leone if I like. Anyhoo, where was I? Yes, Heather's grandfather, George Washburn (or "Warshburn" as he said it in that quaint southern dialect that my grandmother would use to say "yaller" instead of yellow).

I always liked George. He was immediately accepting of me as a grandson-in-law, a fact which made me feel even more welcome. He was a bit on the reticent side, however. Oh, he would talk, but he never just strolled along with a conversation for the sheer sake of speaking. And, although I don't know if this was his intent, it made people stand up and listen when he did speak (I know I did).

You always hear or read about people having a twinkle in their eye or a mischievous grin. George possessed both. He always had this look like he was in on a joke I wouldn't get but was indescribably funny. This also had the effect of adding to his "grandfatherly" look. It was though he was sent over from central casting for the part of "obvious grandfather".

He was also a huge football fan. Every Christmas when we would travel to their house for the holidays, I could rest assured in the fact that I would always have a football game to watch. He would even announce the start of the game to everyone in the house, as though it was a curtain call for the last show of "Aida" or some such. Actually, watching football was when I saw him get the most talkative. Oh, he didn't start rambling or cursing the screen, but rather he would pass on an anecdote that would start something like this: "You know, they say that old boy is...". And if there was a Dallas Cowboys football game on, you can bet he was watching it.

Sadly, I never got to sit down and have a nice long chat with George about things he had done and seen in his life. This was something I always wanted to do. The man just exuded a sense of history. Oh, not like "he's old", just that you could tell he had seen and done things that I would never dream about. And the snippets I did learn in passing from others only whetted my appetite for more. I'm sure that if I could learn even a fraction of his life story, I would be even more in awe of the man than I am now.

So, why did I write this? (I'm sure you've asked yourself that question). A tribute, perhaps? Not really. No, it's something more. A remembering of those people who have influenced your life in some way. There is, in my mind, no greater eulogy than to remember daily those that have passed on, keeping their spirit alive by reflecting on them in the course of your daily life. Or, as Damon Runyon put it: "You can keep the things of bronze and stone and give me one man to remember me just once a year." Hopefully, I can in some small way do that here with this post. So as you finish reading this, think not of just George Washburn, but all of those people who have gone on before you. Keeping their memory alive keeps them alive.

Tea, anyone?

Emma got a tea set for Chrstmas. And she's starting lining up her baby dolls and "feeding" them. Sometimes, however, the baby dolls aren't hungry and she will seek out the next best thing, namely me (her brother will take the spoon from her and run). So I get to sit and let my daughter "feed me" from her tea set. She will stir her spoon around the cup, take it out, thrust it to my mouth and say, "Eat it." Of course, I must eat it as she will not take no for an answer. I had a mental image today of me sitting around a miniature table, having a tea party. Yes, it is fun to share in these experiences with my daughter. On the other hand, I sometimes wish she would develop an interest in playing Xbox like her brother.

My new toy

So I have a webcam now. That's right, you can view me to your heart's content whilst I browse the web. Don't get your pulse up though as I A) will hardly ever turn it on and B) you have to know where to go to view it. Still, it's always fun to have a new toy to play with.

random pics

Random pics for your viewing enjoyment