I'll Be Home For Christmas...Errr, Almost

Well, I trust all of you survived "round one" of the holidays and made it through Thanksgiving?

We had a lovely feast for lunch with the family and then had another one that night! Dave & Lynn, our neighbors, had invited us over. They have a 1-year-old daughter, Guliana. She and Georgia have had play dates before and we were touched that they wanted to include us. It was a neat visit as Dave & Lynn are Filipino and they had six other friends over.

Otherwise, I have been so swamped with projects that the end of year is racing to a close at warp speed.

Kim, Georgia, and I have gotten into a bit of a "rhythm of life."Every family kinda has to do this to function. For example, I still have to leave early enough to avoid traffic or spend 2 hours in the commute. Now, it's 6:30am or earlier. I haven't made that in awhile...but the commute has been closer to an hour and 20. However, this means I need to head home around 4...because not only it's been a full day...but the commute will be slow if it's too close to 5pm.

We are truly urban dwellers now. We bought a live Christmas tree from Lowes. Our trees in Jackson only came from tents or farms...never a store. Horrors. :) But hey, ya can't beat $30 for a nice tree. LOL

So, I'm going to be in town next Thursday afternoon (12/7) through Monday morning (12/11). I hope to see my Mississippi peeps. So, let me know your availability so I can plan a visit.

More to come...

Comments

When Three Weeks Felt Like Three Months

These words have taken months to reconcile as I've wrestled with and revisited many times over. Summarizing three very long weeks of December 2023 has been quite the challenge. I was in Mississippi for what began as a hip fracture for my mother and ended in her passing. It's still rather surreal for her to be gone. The first Mother's Day without her impacted me more than what would've been her 86th birthday on January 24 or what would've been her 67th wedding anniversary on April 4. Not getting a call from her on my birthday July 1 was also a void which was filled with Dad calling in birthday wishes. My family being a thousand miles away for the last 20 years, only speaking on the phone once or twice a month, visits only being every few years due to life and expenses...it feels almost routine being disconnected from Mom. Yet, random memories and various regrets have trickled through my mind since those exhausting weeks in December. Three weeks which felt like three ...

READ THE FULL STORY »

A Very Angry Prostate

Cancer. No other word evokes so many emotions and consumes so many thoughts of both the one with the diagnosis and those who learn of it. On Tuesday, June 25, at 4:40pm, I learned that I have prostate cancer. One of the questions I'm most asked: "How did you know to check?" Naturally, some wondered if I had signs or pains. There were none. Last September, I had my second physical with my new primary physician. With an age of 50, he requested a PSA (prostate-specific antigen) test be added to my blood panel. The next day, the results were in my portal. For my age, my PSA should be no higher than 4. My reading was 4.191. Since this number was out of range, the portal chart visually shouted at me that this was HIGH. Googling sent me into a spiral of thinking I might have prostate cancer which led to many thoughts of mortality. I was at work sitting in my cubicle attempting to calm myself and praying as waves of anxiety, thoughts and emotions washed in. I contacte...

READ THE FULL STORY »

Why The Hate For Jon & Kate?

This is a bit odd for me to write a post about "Jon & Kate Plus Eight." The only reason I watch the show is if Kim has Netflixed a season (we don't get TLC) and I'm relaxing with her. Kim's a fan of it and has read Kate's book. But why this post? This family lives in our neighbor-state Pennsylvania, Kim and I concluded that Jon's personality is very similar to mine, and I'm sick of all the trash about them on the web and in the blogosphere.

READ THE FULL STORY »

Mr. Garner Goes To Washington

Search This Blog