Life is like a pot luck dinner.

I never really liked going to pot luck dinners, only because the settings of all the ones I have been to have been pretty awkward.

A bunch of people plan these things out and everybody brings at least one dish. There will be meats, veggies and fruit, plus a bunch of desserts.
You can always count on somebody bringing fried chicken. It almost never fails.

The food is usually good, but it's usually a church setting or a funeral and I don't particularly like either environment.

A human life is much like a pot luck dinner.
Everybody brings something to the table in whatever setting you are in. Whether it's a family, or the work place, a sports team, or whatever place you may be you bring your own thing to the table.

Take my own family for example.

Just as a pot luck is supposed to be a balanced meal, each family member brings something to balance things out.
Lynette is stable. She is objective and looks at all sides of the picture. Instead of flying off the handle she takes a look at all sides and makes a decision.
She is a provider and a nurturing soul. She takes care of all members of the family.

Tara is an encourager. She cares about people. She brings a lot of love and builds up those around her.

Aspen is the relationship builder. She is the one that wants to bring everyone together and she wants to help take care of everything and everyone.

Tyler is the smart one. He is creative and funny and he does bring the humor to the group setting. He is also the dreamer.

They each bring something to the table and without everyone there is something missing. When Aspen is gone, it is like somebody forgot the fruit salad or the beans.
If Tara is gone, then somebody forgot the fried chicken. We each bring something that balances the family out.
Throw in the other family members like Amy, and you have the extra dessert that somebody was thoughtful enough to bring in at the last minute.

When the family is together, everybody should get all the vitamins and minerals with the balanced diet.

She came in on a Wednesday

She came in on a Wednesday and into our lives in a huge way.

We thought she would grow up without us and never know us. But, we were wrong and never more glad of it.
She is a darling of a person with a little sweet spirit about her that can't really be described. She wakes up happy and goes to bed the same.

If only my spirit were the same.

It reminds me of song by Enya called Return to Innocence. How I long to be like her in being trusting and full of love.
I hope that she remains that way, that her spirit never changes and nobody ever hurts her like most people have been hurt. I hope she can maintain that innocence throughout her life.
I hope she can dream and accomplish anything she wants and is successful at whatever she does.

I'm definitely pulling for her.

She came in on a Wednesday and I hope she never leaves.

Now I know

Now I know how my father felt.

He had headaches for 3 years. He went to doctors and told them he didn't feel right and they never found anything wrong with him. I'm sure that must have frustrated him greatly.
I know somewhat how he must have felt.

After 3 years, they finally found he had a brain tumor. He basically just laid down and died at that point.
I didn't respect him for just quitting and not fighting. I was a grown man but wasn't ready to give up a father. In fact, it wasn't until later years that I had gained something of a relationship with him.
I am thinking he was tired. In my opinion he was tired of working, tired of fighting life and ready to go.
It made me angry that he didn't at least try to get up.

Everyone talked of letting him die with dignity. That's ok, but I wanted him to get up and try to win this fight.
He didn't, and I was not happy about it.

I do think now that I do know a little more about what he must have felt.

It's been a long time since I have felt really right. I went to doctors for quite a while before an ambulance driver told me I had Atrial Fibrilation. I don't know if I spelled that right, but I have heard that 2 million people have A-Fib.
I'm still not sure they got things right and it's hard to believe that a non-doctor figured it out while the real doctors did nothing.
But, I don't feel like myself and haven't for a long, long time.

I don't have a brain tumor, but at least this has helped me understand somewhat how my father must have felt.

Get Up Champ!

Probably nobody remembers the movie called Champ from years ago and it didn't exactly win any Oscar's. But, it was a pretty touching flick.

Jon Voight played an over the hill boxer and Ricky Schroeder played his son of about 7 years of age. Jon Voight's character is a single father and is pretty close to his son.

Honestly, I don't really remember that much about the movie except the ending.

The Voight character takes a fight and is beaten, in fact he is killed in the ring. They have him laying on a table and the young son is screaming at him, 'get up champ' over and over again. Pretty touching.

Jon Voight wasn't a champ in this movie but a washed up has been, or even a never was. But, to his son, he was champ.

The same is true for all of us in this life. We are a champ to somebody and somebody wants us to get up and continue the fight.
Sometimes it feels easier to just lay there, but we need to get up and continue the fight.



SO, GET UP CHAMP!!!!!

This has nothing to do with those lame Morningstar guys that used the word champ waaaaayyyy to often.

Adelaide

OK, I have to tell you I am a little biased.

The girl in the picture above is the cutest and the sweetest girl I have ever seen. I just think she may be the best girl in the history of mankind.

But, as I said, I am a little biased.

She is my granddaughter and is coming back to the states very soon.

I have held my tongue long enough and I wanted the parents of this sweet, sweet girl to do as they wished. But, I am really, really glad this darling of a girl will be coming back where her grandparents can see her a lot more.

She is learning to say words and sentences and even to swim and I want to be around to see at least a whole bunch of it.

What a great day for her grandparents when we get to see her again. I have never punched her grandmother, but may throw down on her if she gets in my way when the girl is in sight.

On the other hand, as a big fan of defense, I plan on keeping my guard up when her grandmother lays eyes on her as well.

Can't wait to see her.

Foghat

No song symbolizes my high school days more than Slow Ride by Foghat.

I don't really know what the song means so much, but nearly every car that drove up in those days had Slow Ride playing in the 8 track player.
The movie about high school in Texas in the 70s called Dazed and Confused actually played the song near the end. Classic.

Speaking of Dazed and Confused, when I watched this movie the first time I laughed pretty much the entire way through. The reason I laughed was not because the movie is a comedy but because I knew people like most of the characters and I lived through most of the experiences. I can't say looking back that those were great times, but those time were life. I wouldn't recommend doing anything in that movie, but no movie I have seen is more like what really happened than Dazed and Confused.
I don't think we had as much weed as those guys did, but it was a strong presence at any party you were lucky enough to attend and everyone was doing it.
That includes people like former president Bill Clinton and the preps.

I admit that I didn't participate much in that.

But, that will be our little secret.

Rally Cap

My new favorite advertisement on the tube talks about America needing to rally from behind and put on our rally caps.
It's long been a tradition in baseball to turn your cap inside out and come from behind and the ad hits it right on the head.
I'm not sure the ad really works because I don't really remember what they are selling.

But, it works on my attitude.

I am ready to put on my rally cap and begin my come back.

I still have to wait a little while, but a rally is coming.

Take my word on that, suckas.