Too much of something, anyway.

A lot has happened since my birthday a month ago.

On June 15th, a thunderstorm blew through our area.  A microburst occurred in our neighborhood.  Two houses were damaged.  One of them was ours.  We had 2 trees toppled,  One smashed into the corner of the garage roof and (pardon the expression) hit the deck, driving it about 3″ deeper into the ground.  The other, larger tree landed on the garage roof.  Insurance is paying to replace the deck and the entire roof structure of the garage.  We are about 1/3 through the project (I hope that’s right!).

At work we are servicing a customer that already has a number of machines and are paying (and assisting us) to update and modify them to run some new products.  I must remain vague, unfortunately.  I have been swamped, working between 55 and 60 hours each week.  At least the pay’s good!

In the middle of all of this, I have to leave for England soon for a service trip that I have been postponing since April.  The aforementioned customer is not very happy that I am “abandoning them” in the midst of their big project, but this has to be done too, and this is a good time for me to pause and do something different.

I’m sure there’s more, and I will update this as I remember.

But I saved the best for last:  on July 7th we celebrated our 31st anniversary.  I love my wife very much, and I hope she can stomach at least 31 more miserable years with me around.  I love you, Lori!!!

There.  I think the wheel in the cage has coasted long enough.  Time to start running in circles again!

Life continues on in its frenetic pace.  Changes come, and life changes to adapt.

Big changes are in store for our son Ben.

Friday, May 21st, he graduates as valedictorian of his high school class.  We are SO proud of him!!!

Then on Saturday, May 29th, he reports for duty at the Wilds Christian Camp in North Carolina, where he will spend the summer washing countless dishes, forks, spoons, knives, bowls, trays, and probably a few fellow workers.

Changes.  Another one leaves the nest, embarking on the next phase of the adventure of life.

Changes.  The first “real” job away from family.

Changes.  The beginning of life away from the protective umbrella called “Mommy”.

Changes.  The onset of the daily grind.

Changes.  Except in the pride that parents feel for a child who has succeeded so far, and has much promise of a wonderful future, just like his older siblings.  No changes there.  Ever.  No matter what.

We love you, Ben, and we are VERY proud!  Do well!

A couple of months ago (February, I think), the Alabama Christian Education Association held its annual academics competition for state Christian schools.  The Fine Arts competition was in March.  Several categories of fine arts such as painting, photography, calligraphy, and the like,  are also judged during the academic competition, as is the preaching.

Ben won 1st place in the state for algebra.  He also entered the photography competition, submitting both a digital and a color film photograph.  The digital photo was taken in Rockford over Christmas and showed a cherry encased in clear ice hanging from a tree branch.  That photo won 2nd place in the state, missing a perfect score by 1 point.  The photo that beat it was a shot of a coffee cup that was laughed at during the national competition.

Ben’s color film photo was an elaborate setup of chemistry beakers and test tubes filled with colored water and arranged on a black background.  He went through 2 rolls of film before he got something that we thought was acceptable.  He hated it.  He didn’t want to submit it, but we made sure that he did.

It won 1st place in the state.

So last week Ben took his photo to Bob Jones University in Greenville for the national competition.  He took an algebra test (he said it was virtually impossible) and competed with the others in our school’s choric speaking ensemble (1st place in Alabama for 10 straight years!).  The choric group made the final round of 6 but did not place in the top 3 nationwide.  Ben’s color photo?

2nd place nationwide.

Not bad for something he considered “horrible”!

Congratulations, Ben!

Oh, and while on campus, Ben talked his way into a guaranteed position on the stage crew for next year.  Way to go!

I’m one proud papa!

OK, so I messed up.

My wife let me know that I had omitted to post birthday greetings to our daughter, who turned 25 on April 2nd.  Of course, we were visiting her in Greenville at the time, and spent the weekend traveling home.

Oh, well, another in the long, endless list of unforgivable transgressions.

Anyway, I hope your birthday was a happy one shopping with your mother and having dinner with your parents and younger brothers.  I hope there are at least 25 more in your future!

And enjoy your job in the hospital this summer.  I’m proud of you for getting it!

Love you!

Lori’s dad, my father-in-law, Paul D. Smith of Rockford, Illinois, passed into the presence of God on Monday evening, March 8th, 2010.  He leaves behind Shirley, his wife of 40 years, two daughters and one son, and nine grandchildren.

I never got to know him well.  I can say that it is because of his patience with me that I married his daughter.  And it is because of his love for his daughter and his wife’s love and patience that his daughter was even in a position to meet me and marry me.  Most importantly, it is because of the testimonies and prayers of the two of them that my wife is now a born-again Christian.

Thank you, Paul.  I know that soon I will have the opportunity to thank you personally in heaven.

Rest now in the presence of our God.

When Dad came in the office this morning, he pulled this old photo out of his pocket. It was taken on Valentine’s Day, 1960 (which was a Sunday that year).  This is his first house on Highway 67 near Country Club Road.  The little munchkin in the photo is “yours truly”, age 20 months.

This was the 2nd largest snowfall that he can remember.  He and his younger brother Ralph scraped up the snow to make the heart, which is apparently about 4-1/2 feet tall.  Dad said that they would sculpt the snow a bit, then stand back and critique the work, then plaster more snow or scrape more snow away until they got the heart shape exactly like they wanted it.  Why they spoiled the picture with a snotty-nosed urchin is beyond me.

Also in this Sunday’s paper was a short blurb in the “Valley of Years Past” column:

50 years ago
Feb. 13-15, 1960

An estimated 50 to 75 cars were stranded on Alabama 67 over an area beginning some two miles east of Brooksville in Morgan County during Friday night’s snow. Attempts to free snowbound motorists late Saturday were unsuccessful, according to the local Highway Patrol. The weather bureau said hazardous driving conditions are likely to persist through Sunday.

Dad was very emphatic in his correction of the story.  There were a lot of vehicles stranded, especially on Priceville Mountain.  The National Guard sent trucks to try to help the motorists, but the soldier’s vehicles got stuck also.  They would have stayed there but for two young men in a small red Jeep who showed up with chains and pulled the Guard trucks and the other vehicles to safety.  An article in the paper a couple of days later credited the National Guard with the rescue and did not mention the red Jeep.  If you haven’t guessed yet, the owner and driver of the Jeep was Dad.  He has frequently mentioned this story, always with the (not too bitter) comment about the paper not giving any credit to those who really “saved the day”.

Twelve years ago a baby entered the world.  He was not happy at the event.  He suffered multiple bruises, both eyes were black, and his collarbone was broken by the rapidity of his delivery.

The rest of the family, sitting at the other end of the hall in the hospital, heard the pained screams.  One of  the other kids commented, ‘”That must be him!”

How true.  How very true.

Today that baby turns twelve.  It’s been a short trip from there to here, at least for his parents.  Of course, there have been and continue to be immense changes as he matures.  Slowing down and being quiet are not two of them.

But today is his birthday.

Happy birthday, Jon!  Hope there are dozens more!

Just slow down and be careful.  Please?

As the text along the top of my blog states, I have been called many things in my life.  “Normal”, sane”, “competent”, and “desirable” have never been among them.

But one thing sticks out.  And 27 years ago yesterday I “earned” a new name:

Daddy.

While my failures as a father are legion, I am proud of all four of my children.  Chris was the first.  My grandmother, “Mee Maw” always used to tell me that I was “special” because I was her first grandchild.  Well, Chris will always be “special” because he was our first child.

Hope your birthday was a happy one, son.  May there be more than 27 additional ones in your future.

We love you!

Tomorrow, January 4th, 2010, my wife’s stepmother will be having open-heart surgery.  The doctors say that she needs an aortic valve replacement and a bypass of a 100%-blocked blood vessel.  Shirley is 84 years old and not in the best of health.  But in order to give her a few more months or years she and my father-in-law have agreed to let her undergo this serious procedure.

We found out about this on Christmas Eve while we were up in Rockford, Illinois.  Shirley had a heart catheterization procedure while we were there, and it was then that her doctors determined this need.

Now, as I mentioned earlier, Shirley is 84 and not in the best of health because of recurring heart problems (congestive heart failure at least three time in the last two years).  Yet she can have major surgery less than two weeks after a diagnosis.

Hold that thought for a moment.

Last week our daughter Allison had a regular checkup with her doctor.  He detected something that could indicate a major problem (and those are all the details that I will give).  Scrambling to fit things into holiday schedules, we were able to get her to a hospital for testing the very next day.  Fortunately the testing proved that the indications were not serious, though Ally will need to undergo routine checking for problems for the rest of her life.

Here’s the common thread between the two incidents (besides being health-related):  in both cases we were able to make the decisions ourselves and seek immediate treatment for medical issues.  Under the so-called “health care reform” packages being forced through the government system at the moment, such decisions would have been in the hands of faceless bureaucrats who would have no real stake in the lives of these two people.  Shirley would probably either be refused treatment because of her age and condition, or she would have to wait for weeks or months to get her surgery, which would result in her death before such a procedure would be completed.  Do not doubt me on this.  This is the way that the Senate and House plans are structured.  This is the way it is done in England and in Canada, among others.  This is what our Democratic Overlords insist is best for us mindless sheep.

As for our daughter, the tests that she underwent would not even be allowed for someone of her age.  She is, by most standards, too young to have such a problem. She would have to wait at least 25 years before she would be eligible for testing, much less for treatment.  This, too, is buried in the fine print in both bills that are under consideration and “reconciliation”.  Look it up for yourself if you don’t believe me.

I am getting fed up with a bunch of power-hungry animals grabbing for glory and doing their best to destroy everyone’s lives except their own.  At the very least they should enforce the same “care” upon themselves as they are forcing upon us.  But since they are so much better than us (according to themselves, their worshipers, and the fawning fools that call themselves “journalists”), we are supposed to sit back a vicariously enjoy their lives of privilege while we scrape by on the leavings.

One only has to look at history to see some parallels here with the monarchy in France before their revolution. King Louis and Marie have been replaced by King Harry and Queen Susan.  I shall not mention what position in the palace that our current president holds.

In Alabama we are blessed with two senators who are standing up for what is right.  In the house, the Congressman that represents my family is strong.  The neighboring Congressman just switched parties, though many conservatives don’t want him either.  I feel sorry for those states who have no representation for those who oppose this unconstitutional seizure of power by the Federal government.

I’m thankful for what I have in the way of health care and health insurance right now, thank you very much.  The current system is working fine, just as Rush Limbaugh pointed out after his incident in Hawaii last week.  We do not need, nor do the majority of us want, government-controlled health care, or even competition from government in the health care or health insurance fields.

Please leave us alone.

Please?

Last week I traveled with Ben and his classmates to the nation’s capital.  I have never until now been able to visit, and I enjoyed it, though it was a whirlwind trip.

This will be a rather lengthy post, so I will break it here.  If it interests you to read further, continue after the jump.