Pictures....

I was looking at old pictures today. Thinking of all my sibs and how we are all grown up with families now. WOW! Sometimes hard to believe. I remember fights, laughter, pain, joy, all of it. Some would be nice to forget...Some I never want to forget. I looked at a lot of pictures, and I do mean a lot. Pictures capture a moment in time. It freezes it for all to see. A flash, a drop, a hint of the love shared, of the fun. Its almost magical.

Today

Yesterday was a huge day for me. I'll abbreviate it because it's easier for me. I was not sure after my days now weeks of being sick i would be able to return to an every day routine. I was particularly worried i would not be able to return to help coach Tanners football team. I sat down with Coach and we talked in detail about my illness. He expressed concern and wanted me to return in what ever capacity i was able to. I am so excited to be able to continue to contribute. Being on the field and around all of the kids is very exciting and enjoyable to me. It clears my mind for some time and i can actually live. It may sound corny or whatever, but it is good therapy for my mind. Today i am exhausted. But yesterday was worth it.

It was my FAVORITE!!!

The story is quite more simple than that with the stretch arm strong. My two older sisters wished to torment me in every way so they stretched my Stretch arm strong so it would break!!!! They knew it wouldn't live upto its standards!!!! They wanted to see me cry!!!! And, i did. Alot, and even more than alot. I was sad. And thats how i remember it. They were just meanies!!!! (actual memeories of aformentioned event are not acurate and subject to interpretation. It was thirty some years ago!!) However, i still hold them responsible. giggle giggle!

Stretch Armstrong ....the truth?

Sooooo there was this one time that Chad got a Stretch Armstrong for Christmas. It was this stretchy "body" builder guy with a hard plastic head. The idea of course was you could stretch him and he would bounce back into the same shape he was in before you stretched him. The commercials were so awesome and they showed these two kids stretching him long ways across a bed. Maybe you can see where this is going...Misti and I decided to recreate the commercial. We were going to give him a good strectch across Chad's bed to see if it was true. Of course we didnt really care that the bed on the commercial was smaller than Chad's. LOL! We stretched him as far as we could while Chad yelled for us to give it back. Suddenly and without warning, his stomach exploded! Imagine the movie Alien when the Alien pops out of the guys stomach. Out pops this red ooozy gel stuff. It was cool! We were kids, what do you expect. We played with the gel like substance until it hardened. Chad was devasted. I am sure we felt bad, maybe a little bad?! Right?!?

Energy

Today we woke up from our trip from visiting my wonderful sister, Robyn, her husband Kevin and the ever so maturing daughter of theirs Jaye. We are tired. the 5 to 6 hour trip has pain stakingly become longer by two or more hours because of my illness and the fact we drug our two dogs mac and george. We'll get to them later. I could say so many good things from our trip but there is not enough time in the day. We have not been as close distance ways because of jobs and stuff. We have needed this time for quite awhile. the first day we got there is kinda a blur,, i was having an episode of the shakes, dizziness, and my favorite vomiting. The word of the day is when someone becomes highly stressed or overwhelmed the symptoms become worse or intesify. My emotions were in over drive! My lovely wife also thinks i have an ulcer. Puking up blood might be an indication but i am still the skeptic. We also had the opportunity to visit our oldest son joel. He is living on his own, well he has room mates, but he is giving it a go by himself. It is good to see him in a good place, mentally and physically. I am tired now and will return. ttfn

Chad came home

My Mom and Mamaw told me many times that when Chad came home from the hospital- I was one of the big sisters. I took one look at him and said "Put him down and see if he can walk". -Wasn't I adorable? Now obviously I don't remember that myself. But it is a favorite story of mine. I love to tell it. It was the beginning of a beautiful relationship of sharing. Did I say sharing? I meant tormenting. LOL!

For Chad

Today I start this blog for and with my brother Chad. He was recently diagnosed with an illness called LBD(Lewy Bodies Dementia). I had never heard of this illness until now. I still don't know what its going to mean to him, to his family, to our family. This is a journey we will all be taking together. I want him to always have a place to go to talk about what is on his mind, to write down memories, to share whatever he wants. This is a scary time and we have to rely on faith, faith in God, faith in family and faith in love.