KattyWilly

An interesting story on MSN over the holiday.  It mentions how some fans think that Johnny Cash died of a broken heart after losing his wife.  One quote really caught me:

“When your spouse dies, you lose your present tense,” says Tom Golden

I can certainly attest to that, but the part that makes it even worse is that you also seem to lose the future as well.  That only leaves you with the past. You can’t live in the past, it’s not here any more, and as hard as you try it’s not coming back.  Plus when you are living in the past you don’t remember that tonight is your daughter’s Christmas Band performance at school and she needs black pants and shoes, and you now need to leave work early so you can run to the store on the way to the school for the concert.

“The best way for concerned people to comfort and care for a grieving spouse is to just be there for them, says Johnson. ‘You don’t have to say anything,’ she says, noting that asking things like ‘What can I do?’ only puts the burden on the griever to try and figure out something.”

I’ve run into this quite a bit.  People so want to help us but I’m incapable of figuring out what it would be that they could do for us.  How about running to the sstore with my daughter after school to pick up some black pants and shoes.

Merry Christmas to me?  I am thankful that I have friends and family that ask the right question, or rather, don’t even ask but somehow just make things happen for me.  We are getting ready to choose the high school Lindsey will attend next year and one of my main concerns is getting Lindsey from school to the ice rink for skating.  Even Lindsey is getting good at letting me know that there are so many people out there ready to lend a hand that I need not worry about things like that.  Thanks again everyone.

Tonight I had a wonderful time with some of my really good friends and their friends.  It was a group of people that enjoy life.  Some people have a good time, and some people just enjoy life.  This group really knows how to enjoy life.  I need to spend more time with people like this.  I could get used to this enjoying life concept.  That and the fact that there were a couple of really beautiful women there didn’t hurt either.  And these women are beautiful in every different sense of the word.  I wonder how you would define an Alpha Female, I know that I could introduce you to a couple of them if I ever needed to.

Halley talks about looking “funny” in the morning.  One of the things that I thought helped to define true love was being able to see the true beauty in my wife in the morning when there wasn’t any “extra” stuff there to try and make her more beautiful.  As a matter of fact there were times when I think she was more beautiful for the lack of additional attempts to change the existing beauty.  I guess I am somehow drawn to women who don’t expend such an effort to put on a face rather than be happy with the one they have.  I don’t think Cindy really started to wear makeup on a regular basis until sometime after both of my daughters were in school.  Maybe I was just lucky to find someone with innate beauty, or hopefully for me, I am able to see the innate beauty that is always there.

My little brother and I were having a spirited discussion on among other things politics and wealth, and there was some talk about the very wealthiest people in this country. It was interesting to then find this item (via my friend Robert Scoble) while reading my aggregated news this evening. It mentions that during this past year Bill and Melinda Gates gave away half of their family’s wealth. Our discussion was about taxes, but I think what I was really thinking about was my wealth. I can’t afford to give away half of my income, but my wealth is immeasurable. The joy my daughters provide to me, and the love and assistance I get from my family and friends cannot be replaced by all the wealth that the Gates have given away. Sometime I wish I had more monetary wealth so I could give more to my daughters, but instead I give them of myself. I wish I had more to give back to all those who have helped us, but all I can do right now is to say Thank You to all who have helped my girls and I to survive and to try and let you know how much we appreciate all you have done for us.

Well the food was great and was nice to spend time with the family and not have to worry about anything for a while.  I’m looking forward to another day of relaxing before we head home.

We are still working on the shoulder bag.  All that’s left to do is sew on the “decorations”, logos and art from some of Lindsey’s old t-shirts.  Lindsey has already made mention of the next one we make 🙂

It’s Thanksgiving Day morning and the family is all gathered around…
the sewing machine for the traditional Thanksgiving sewing!  I’m
making a shoulder bag for my older daughter.  I say I, but it is
really a family affair, with my mom and older sister helping to decifer
the cryptic instructions.  I’m the one that has been selected to
actually operate the sewing machine.

The bird is in the oven, the ham is out on the deck in the smoker.

There is some concern that the weather may interfere with the grilling
of the Thanksgiving Turkey out on the deck.  To try an make sure
there is room for the turkey in the oven in case of rain, there is some
serious pie baking going on tonight,  Apple pie just came out of
the oven and it looks like Pumpkin Pie might be the next in line. 
As my sister said, “nothing is more important than the pies.”

As the T-Shirt I got at the Hot Topic store says “Cheese Is Good”.  We have been sampling the Carr Valley cheeses.  The Marisa is pungent but mild flavored, not the favorite.  The 4 year old Cheddar is strong smooth and good.  The Hickory Nut Cheddar tastes like… Hickory Nuts!  We already had some of the Benedictine and it was very good.  The Charcroute is in the oven and we should be eating sometime this evening.