Busy Week Ahead

Seth will be going in for surgery on his neck Thursday morning. He has had a visible knot there since he was just a wee baby. It has grown gradually over his two years and just recently it opened up and lots of yuckies oozed out. The Dr. found that there is still something in there which is the reason for the surgery. It will be a 90 minute procedure and they will be intubating him. Please remember our little guy in your prayers. I will be sure to give you an update.

Me, Chris and Theresa

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I thought I would get this post done early because the rest of the week is going to get past me in a hurry. The above picture was taken on my baby boy's first birthday. Saturday we will be celebrating his 34th. Would someone please tell me where did the years go! We will be hosting Chris' birthday dinner complete with those brats on the grill that he loves so well. Melody tried to pull a fast one on me by demurely asking if I was going to fix fried chicken too. It didn't work.... I am fixing chicken for the ones that don't like red meat (I don't know where these people came from), but not fried. It will be on the grill and soaked in BBQ sauce. We will have my potato salad (something else they always are wanting) and baked beans. Getting on with this birthday post, I am so proud of you Chris and the man that you have become. I don't remember a time in Chris' life that he wasn't quick to take an every day situation and add something funny to it. When he was 4 years old we were living in Santa Ana, California. Chris' dad's step mother and one of her friends had come across country to visit with us. The friend was getting dressed one morning and Chris just barged right into the bathroom while she was putting on her bra. She was a breast cancer survivor and one of her breasts had been removed. Chris just happened to see her putting the breast form into her bra and he was quite puzzled by it. She allowed Chris to stand in the doorway while she finished her morning routine of getting dressed. Next on the list was to brush her false teeth and then put them in her mouth. Following that was combing her hair, which amounted to adding an extra piece that made it look like her hair was nice and thick. When she had completed her morning ritual Chris was just flabbergasted by the whole ordeal, but still found the words to describe what he had just witnessed. He told this nice older lady that she was just like a puzzle, it took a lot of pieces to put her together in the morning. Chris, you have certainly added spice to my life so it wouldn't be bland or boring. I remember when I would have to punish you for something that you did and you would look at me with those big brown eyes and long eye lashes and ask me how I could be "SO MEAN TO YOU"...... I remember telling you that I punished you and your sister (not so much as you) because I am trying to raise a couple of descent human beings. I have had quite a few jobs over my life time, but when I look at the people you and Theresa have turned out to be, I would have to say that the most important job I ever had was raising the two of you.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHRIS"

We received a call last week from J.D.'s youngest brother to let us know that he and his wife will be coming to visit us for a few days the end of this week. It will be the first time Hulen and Linda has met my bunch of heathens. I just hope they remember to use their company manners and use their silverware and napkins.... (my children, not Hulen and Linda) hehehehe.

Have A Great Rest Of The Week...

Let Freedom Ring

That Fateful Fourth

by Roger Robicheau

Our will was strong, our want was great

Let freedom reign, what better fate
We journeyed long from Plymouth Rock

The time was clear to end all talk
That fateful fourth our courage showed

Americans - and how we glowed
We won the right to be self known

Our Independence, clearly shown
The test of time has stood us tall

Through bravest hearts, some forced to fall
We’ll always cherish those we’ve lost

Their gift to us, their total cost
Today we face another foe

And stand together, all do know
Please often pray to God above

He’s seen our hearts, He knows our love

©2002Roger J. Robicheau

J.D. and I would like to wish and everyone of you a happy and safe 4th of July weekend. What ever your plans for today, we hope that you will set a little time aside to remember how this country became known as "The Land Of The Free". We also hope that you will offer a prayer of thanks for those that paid the ultimate price for our freedom as well as, those that still stand guard over this great gift that we have been given.

Dreams Do Come True.....

How proud we are of our rebel son, Gregg who lives in Texas. Gregg has been working as a paramedic for some years now. Gregg and Tammi (Gregg's wife and our wonderful daughter-in-law...... Wave at us Tammi :o) have dreamed of the day when their two daughters, Alaina and Becky were on their own. It would be then that they dreamed of journeying across the country as freelance RNs. Before they could do that though Gregg needed to go to school and get his RN training and license. Tammi already has hers. His hard work and studies has paid off. Gregg is now an RN!! We are so very proud of you Gregg. We know that you will do your job with dedication and show the kind of care to your patients that will bring them healing both of the mind and the body. Tammi and her mother Sandra deserve a round of applause too for all that they did to make sure Gregg had the oportunity reach his goals.




J.D. and I have been walking around here with so much pride for our guys that we are puffed up like a couple of toads. You see Gregg isn't the only one that has had a dream come true. Our Yankee son Chris, has also been working hard to realize a goal that he has been reaching for. Chris studied to be an Electrician at JVS. After graduation he drove around 140 miles a day to work at his trade. Because it wasn't a union job he was working for low pay and no benefits. Chris has worked many jobs in his young adult life and wore many hats. When he was fortunate enough to join IBEW local 575 he then found himself working as an electrician at a decent wage and benefits while at the same time back to school to complete his apprenticeship program. The union recently had an opening for an Apprenticeship Instructor. Melody got his resume together and Chris applied for the position. We all were praying, as well crossing our fingers and anything else we could cross because this has been Chris' dream for a very long time. He will only be about 5 miles from home..... No overtime, no more long drives to and from work and no more working outside in the cold of winter and heat of summer. Most important he will have more time to spend with his family doing something else that he does in an outstanding way, being a Dad. Chris is finishing up his second week now as instructor. There is no doubt in my mind that the students that finish up their apprenticeship program with Chris as their instructor will be outstanding electricians. Again, we are so very proud of you Chris! Melody deserves a round of applause as well, many times she has taken up the slack doing her part as well as Chris' as a parent because demands of Chris' jobs were requiring more time from him for one reason or another.

Last week we were able to catch Riley and Alley Oop's ball games on the same day at the same time and the same place. Chris is now able to help with coaching Riley's t-ball team. Another of Chris' dreams coming true. He is so good when it comes to dealing with children, he knows that the important part of these games isn't winning or losing, but learning and enjoying the game.

Wishing you all a beautiful and safe 4th of July weekend!

Melancholy Reflexions

The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet,
And whither then? I cannot say.

~ J.R.R.Tolkien

I have discovered Facebook recently. Is it just me or do you all find it to be a bit addictive like I do. I find myself checking posts on Facebook more often than I check for new e-mails. A long time friend, Linda Sue from Junior High has started a group for the school that we attended way back then. So far 9 of us has joined the group and hopefully there will be many more.

As I sat and paged through the old class pictures that has been posted on the group wall, besides the fact that we all looked like a bunch of geeks, as one classmate commented, I was swept over with melancholy reflections of things that happened way back then, as well as things that has happened since those days so long ago. I thought back about the friends whose journeys have taken them on to the higher plain. My good friend Bruce for instance, who took his own life. I wondered if we had stayed in touch over the years, could I have said something to him that might have helped him move past his desire to end his life. The classmates whose car was hit by a train on their way to school one morning. Memories of my friend Tony whose life ended much too soon. He had a heart as big as Texas. There was also another classmate who took a bottle of pills in the girls restroom one day. They were vitamin pills so there was no harm done...... but she definitely made a cry for help that day.

There were also memories of good times too. My favorite school lunch was Sloppy Joes. It was always served with corn and chips. To this day when I make sloppy Joes the side dishes are corn and chips. There was the time that Linda Sue, Bruce and I were selected to decorate the Gym for the school dance. That was a fun day for the three of us. I remember the day that I got caught chewing gum during my lunch break. I was promptly taken to the office, bent over the desk and a wooden paddle applied to my rear. Hmmmmm...... I figured that since it was my lunch break I should be able to chew gum if I wanted to. I was wrong of course and received my punishment for the crime I had committed. I have thought about that many times when I have visited my grandchidren's schools where you walk through the doors and then pass through metal detectors. While some schools today not only have the metal detectors, but off duty policemen and security guards walking the halls as well.

In my Junior year of high school we moved from Springfield, Ohio to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. While I attended Shawnee High School in Ohio I was part of the Block 'S' pep squad. When I enrolled at my new school in Florida I asked if they had something similar that I could join. I thought that would be a good way to meet people........ I was met with looks like I was some sort of nut case or from another planet.

Memories of riding the bus to and from school with Mr. Miller at the wheel as our bus driver. Linda Sue and I called him Poopsy..... lol He was a farmer when he wasn't chauffeuring a bus load of younguns' around and a wonderful man. I understand that he has died too.
As a final memory to share with you in this post is that during the winter when it got cold enough for the skating pond to freeze there was a phone number that you could call for information as to rather the pond was safe for skating or not. Many of us that called that number could have cared less about the condition of the skating pond. The reason being that when a bunch of calls came in at the same time it would jam the lines and we found ourselves in a huge party line type of situation where we could all talk together. I spent many enjoyable hours talking on that line. Taking into consideration that call waiting had not been invented at the time I got my rear chewed out many times for keeping the home phone tied up.

You might have notice that I changed the music on my blog. I have always associated a song or a group of songs to certain times, people and events in my life. These songs take me back to the time in my life when my Independence seemed so far away. A time when I thought I was bullet proof, until I let down my guard only to have my heart broken. The laughs and the tears that came with being a teenager. I sometimes wish that I could travel back to that time and say the things to those that I cared about that was left unsaid and keep in touch with those that played such an important part of my tender years.

May your good memories out number the bad and sweet enough to bring a smile to your face.