Willapalooza Recap

Will and Noel arrived at about 4:45 on Saturday at my house and along with Mark and Will, we headed to Dan's and then to the airport. We met up with Bob and Brad and the seven of us all made it without anyone Schcultzing it up.

Being the groom-to-be, Will rode in stlye up in first-class while the rest of us slummed it in coach. We got into Vegas about 8am as the rest of the group poured in from around the country California, Chicago, Minneapolis and Memphis.


There was some kind of giant party going on in Vegas that involved lots of costumes, and everyone was willing to pose. We saw guys dressed up like big-time wrestlers, star wars characters and the well-known "Beer Man".

Binon's while not being able to get a free drink to save our lives. On a positive note, our limo driver had been voted the top limo driver in vegas by the adult entertainment yellow pages, so we knew he was good.


We walked through lots of the casinos, including Caesar's Palace. Brad got us all excited to go to this great dinner where you're fed like greek god's in togas. We tried to get a reservation and found that the dinner hadn't been around for many, many years. If you didn't know it, Brad is old. Will also learned about his love for greek neo-classical impressionists, amongst his other favorite creations of the greeks.



On Saturday morning, we discovered the Excalibur Buffet.... The food was sub-par, but they had a horse made of butter. The good part about it is that we always felt good about ourselves while we were there. How can you not when the motto is, "You Rule".


On Sunday night, Ted booked a cool event at Red Square, a Vodka bar at Mandalay Bay. Assuming the greater good of the team, Ted bought a bottle of Vodka for $300 (plus $75 in tax and gratuity) for us to drink (and expected payment from all of us). We all put on Russian coats and hats and headed into a freezer, and drank the Vodka on Stalin's head. It made for a fun time, and after doing a little research online, we continued to rub it into Ted that the same bottle could be bought online for $50. No one said anything in Vegas was cheap.

After the vodka bar, we were all standing outside when a bride and groom walked by. When the groom asked, "Do you mind if we get a picture here?", many might of interpreted that to mean, "You guys are standing in front of a beautiful waterfall and we'd like to get our picture taken here." Not us. We collectively, without a thought pulled the bride into our group and had the groom take her picture with us. Ted followed that up by getting a picture with the bride and groom as well.


Sunday night we recuperated at the pool and sports book. The sports book gave us giant comfy seats to watch every football game known to man. We bet the Lions, Noel called his wife and was told to be on the Bears. The Lions won. We decided that picking Washington +15 seemed like a no-brainer, until New England decided to embarrass them at our expense. We then hit the Wynn Buffet to gorge ourselves. Noel took full advantage of the exotic foods available, and celebrated their world-renowned pretzel. After spending a fortune in cab rides (3 cabs for the 11 of us per trip) we decided to try riding the Deuce, Vegas's public transportation system. On the 14th stop, Brad, Rich and Bob decided to get out and walk, thinking they'd get there faster. We tied.

We ate ourselves into a food coma and Bob called our limo-driver-to-the-adult-entertainment world to give us a ride back to the hotel. We got lucky at the tables, largely in part to Noel's pastoral blessing. We would ask for a pastoral word on the next card to come out of the deck and every now and then he'd be right. We all did fairly well, with Noel being the big winner. We tried to convince him to give his winnings away to the poor (the rest of us who were way down at the tables) but it wasn't happening). As we'd win big hands, there were high-fives all around and loud chants on behalf of our dealer - "Gary!, Gary!, Gary!" Our dealer described the waitresses like this, "Our waitresses may be slow and old, but at least they're ugly."

On Monday, we went to lunch at the Hard Rock, to the Pink Taco. Will was told that he "just had to try the Pink Taco", and he mistakenly thought that he really did have no choice in the matter. Bob was kind enough to choose the tequila for us in our pitchers of margaritas, and we all felt lucky when the bill came and we found we'd been drinking $60/pitcher margaritas to go along with the $400 vodka from the night before. After a long walk back (we were really sick of expensive cab rides at this point) we headed out to watch the Monday Night Football game at ESPNZone. Kohne and I picked Denver, wanting to see Green Bay lose and put the Lions in first place. We learned the lesson to never bet against Brett Favre on Monday night. Brad and Bob were the smart ones (or so they thought), picking Green Bay. There wasn't a minute that went buy that they didn't remind Mark and I of our bad choice. Brad and Bob went to cash in their tickets and found that they'd picked the wrong side accidentally - losing just as badly as Mark and I.

We went for dinner later on and had Kobe Beef burgers, and sat next to Randy Couture, the Ultimate Fighting heavyweight champion. I considered punching him in the head so that I could say that I have punched THE Randy Couture, but decided against it. Randy brought our celebrity sighting up to two people along with Criss Angel (the creepy levitating self proclaimed Mind Freak) (and later having Mike spot the creepy Carrot Top at the airport and get a picture with him).

We had a great trip - eating, drinking, gambling, walking, hanging out and celebrating Will's greatness. He's our last bachelor friend ever, so it's either time for someone to get divorced and re-married, or time for us to get a younger friend.

We now all have matching Willapalooza shirts out of this, but we all felt a little left out when Ted and Will dressed exactly a like every single day. One other interesting element of the trip is that there are now two more people in the world that know Will that didn't before the bachelor party. Rich McIntosh and Mike Koch (Rhymes with Rock) joined the trip in the spirit of "the more, the merrier" and were a great addition to the group. If we had $1 for every time we introduced Mike to someone with the phrase, "guess what is name is?" and then had him follow it up by showing his drivers license, we'd all be very wealthy. There were at least 4,000 very funny jokes repeatedly made about his name, and even though he'd heard them all 8,000 times, he went along with it in a great way. Rich was able to teach us many new uses for a cell phone and Mike was able to teach us that his wife is not crazy, by the very nature that she's married to such a a great guy (Sara - even if you are crazy, you're now in with the family by the very nature of being married to Mike, plus his having such a great last name).

It was a once-in-a-lifetime trip for a one-of-a-kind friend. We're all very blessed to have the guy in our lives and we all wish him the best in his upcoming wedding, even if it is going to be dry.

Winna Winna Chicken Dinner

We got up early, ate at the buffett in the hotll and then hung out at the sports book, watching the Lions and winning big on the sports book. There were 40 TVs and every football game imaginable. Noel sadly picked the bears to win by 5. God was obviously not on his side today.

We're heading out to the pool now and the to the Wynn tonight for dinner at the buffett.

Evidence, cont.

I happened to have a conversation tonight with the guy I referenced in this earlier post about the exact same topic. He asked me about the stuff I do with my youth group, and his comment was, "I knew there was something different about you. I wondered if you were a Christian, aside from your intense sarcasm and all." The conversation went down a great path and he even asked me if based on my interaction with him, would I know he was a follower of Jesus. In a very vulnerable moment, he shared with me how he wrestles with not compartmentalizing his faith and his job and how as he's moved up and up, it becomes tougher and tougher. He said God has really been challenging him in this area and he wants to figure out how to bring his faith and his job together. We agreed to have a follow up conversation and he asked for honest feedback, even if it wasn't something he was going to like. God always surprises me with stuff like this.

Field Trip

I chaparoned Nate's class on their field trip to Greenfield Village today. It was about 50 degrees and raining. The glass blowing and Thomas Edison factories were interesting, but the four boys in my group just weren't that interested. I tried to link weaving looms and and video games together, which was a stretch. At least I didn't lose any of the kids. Our bus drivers name was Ms. Frigon, which amused us.

Is there enough evidence to convict?

I went out with a bunch of co-workers for dinner tonight who are all working on the same account. The conversation turned to one of our customers and their perception about how he's outspoken about the fact that he's a Christian. The follow-on-conversation was about how they didn't think he's that example of what he claims and that they don't see it in the way he does his job and interacts with others. This brought two questions to mind:

1. What kind of example am I as a follower of Jesus to my co-workers?
2. Do my co-workers know what I believe, or do they know that there's something different about me by the way I live my life, enough so to ask me the question, "Why are you different and how can I get me some of 'dat?" (diclaimer: most of my co-workers would NOT in-fact speak in a gangsta slang).

Rough Start

I got up at 5:30 to hit the gym before flying to New York this morning. Not much has gone right since. I travel enough that I have most of the timing down to the minute, includinngg contingencies like traffic, parking and peak times at airport security. I got a late start getting out of the house and left about 20 minutes late. On the way I had traffic due to an accident and couldn't find a spot at the airport to park. Security lines were long and I tried to save a couple of seconds by verifying the gate online, which sent me to to the wrong end of the airport. I got to the gate 15 minutes before the flight's departure, which is normally the time they start giving up your seats. All's well that ends well as I was able to keep my first class seat and find room right over my seat for my luggage.

And Justice for All

On Saturday, my brother-in-law/sister-in-law dropped off their dog for us to watch while they're in the Bahamas on vacation for the week. Justice is a huge (90+ lb) black lab dog and Ed and Stacy's only child. He's been a very good house guest and is finally starting to get along with the cat. Did I mention that he's huge? We're used to our dog Riley hanging out under the table, but justice's head comes up level with the table and he can eat right off the table without much problem. He can be a little high maintenance, wanting to sleep on our bed at night with us and whining incessantly when he's not getting enough attention. Aside from Riley, Justice is Em's favorite dog in the world. Justice is super protective of all three of the kids, especially Em. If I even wrestle with Em, Justice will jump right in, bark and throw his body into me to break it up. Justice has made himself right at home, with his favorite spot to sleep in the house being our giant bean-bag-chair-love-sac. My favorite part so far is watching the dog torment my cat, who I'm not a big fan of. Our black cat's hair stands up on end, like something out of a Halloween picture.

JV Gold Panthers Banquet

Nate's team had their end of the season party tonight. It was a chance to recognize and thank the coaches and for the coaches to call out the kids for their progress and accomplishments over the years.
The Defensive End Coach (left), Rob Dancer, did a great job with Nate and all of the kids. Rob was a d-back at Albion College and was super patient and encouraging as Nate learned to play this year. The Head Coach (right) Tim Donahue, did an amazing job teaching the boys about the fundamentals, sportsmanship and teamwork - and most of all how to enjoy the game.

Again, it was a great year watching Nate grow and push himself and have leaders on the team who knew just how to get the best out of each kids without losing site of the fact that they're in 5th/6th grade and supposed to be having fun.

Red sky at night...

Anytime there was a red sky at night, my Mom would remind us of the old sailors rhyme, "Red sky at night, a sailors delight. Red sky in the morning, a sailors warning." My Mom was never a sailor, and she never really explained what this whole thing meant, but it's stuck with me. I can't remember the exact date of my kids birthdays, but I can recite that little sonnet for you. What a beautiful evening to end a gorgeous day.

Willapalooza

The moment we've been planning for five years is finally upon us, also known as Will's Bachelor Party - Willapalooza. The name stems from the movie Old School, and the big event there - Mitchapalooza. Eleven of us will descend upon Las Vegas to celebrate Will's remaining days as a single man. We arrive on Saturday morning from all over the country - California, Illinois, Michigan, Memphis and Minnesota. Will, Dave, Dan, Jon, Brad, Bob, Ted, Noel, Kohne, Mike and Rich. Will has asked that his only gift from us be multiple spa treatments, including a high colonic and a complete body-waxing. We've had t-shirts made up with the Willapalooza logo on it, a web-site and oh-so-much-more. For those of you who assume debauchery, never fear: Will has outlined for us what he's up for and what he's not. If we run into a theological dilemma, we have Pastor Noel along to settle the debate for us. If we want to understand how to cross the line and the value of Mutually Assured Destruction - Brad and Ted will coach us all on the finer points. It's gonna be fun. Or else.

Beautiful Sunday

It was an amazing fall day today, 75 degrees a nice breeze and not a cloud in the sky. After church, Maddie and I went up to Island Lake State Park to go roller blading. We had such a great time as we'd roller blade a bit, stop, enjoy the smells and colors, roller-blade some more, stop and talk, go a little further and then collect cool looking leaves. At one point, a mountain biker stopped to ask for directions back to trail-head parking lot. I explained to her the path to take back and Maddie and I continued blading. About 20 feet ahead, we came across the path back to the trail head. It turns out we'd sent her in the exact opposite direction of where she needed to go, back on a 5 mile trail loop, actually. I told Maddie that if we ran into her again, to pretend that we only spoke German and to nod our heads a lot.

We went for slurpees afterwards and then hung out and talk some more. Maddie's growing up so quickly, mentally even faster than physically. It was so nice to have one-on-one time and to have some great conversations. She asked me a lot about what I'm working on with lots of 2nd and 3rd level questions as she really wanted to understand what I'm doing and why. It was one of those times I want to lock in my heart and remember as she hits her teenage years.

I came home and couldn't work up the motivation to mow the grass, so Nate and I watched the Detroit Lions win and then I hung out outside and read while Cathie got all of the garden beds ready for the winter.

Last Game of the Season vs. Howell

JV Gold Panthers had their final game of the season. They played an evening game at the High School, underneath the lights. They played Howell Gold, a tough team, and lost 0-25.

It's funny to look back on this year in football with Nate. He knew that football wouldn't be easy this year and I remember driving him to his first practice and how nervous he was about being able to play as one of the new guys on the team. We had a similar conversation on the first day of full contact and again he wasn't sure how he'd do. We talked today in the car on the way to the last practice about how far he's come and how much he's learned. He loves football right now like I've never seen him love another sport. He quotes the coaches to me in both the things he's learned about team and about football all the time. As a Dad, I feel such pride in seeing Nate take a risk at something new, push himself out of his comfort zone, and learn, grow and be successful in a lot of ways and have fun doing it.

Nate had a great coaching staff and it was fun watching these guys shape the team and the team grow. His head coach played on a full-ride to Virgina Tech and his defensive coach played The coaches put around 160+ hours into this season just in terms of practices, games and game review. That's 160+ hours they could have been with their families and doing all of the things that need to be done. Instead, they chose to invest in this team and my son, and I'm really grateful.

Nate learned so much more than just football this year. He learned about accountability, about being a part of something bigger than himself, celebrating the victories of others, losing well and winning well, being on time, being responsible for his gear, his time, his attitude and his how his belief in himself impacts his performance in life. Apart from those things, Nate came out this year learning the fundamentals of football and he learned to really love the game.

It's interesting, that even thought Nate's team ended up at 2-6-1, the team's record never seemed to get him down. He loved winning, but what he loved even more was walking away from a game knowing he'd done his best. On the drive to practice, he would set three goals for himself in that practice and then on the way home evaluate how he did against them. He looked forward to every single practice and was really proud of himself that he was never late and never missed one. He was hard on himself when he wouldn't hit his goals and he'd learn from them, but it was so much fun to hear him tell me about all the things he'd done well and learned. He'd tell me about the individual 'atta-boys' he may have gotten from one of the coaches and would light up when he told me.

This was such a cool year, and as his Dad, I was so nervous for him. I think every Dad wants their son to go out and be great at something right off the bat. Nate walked on to a team with 21 guys who had played together for two years and knew the game very well. He was one of only five guys who hadn't played Panthers ball before. No Dad wants to see his son fail at something or learn things the hard way, but that's what happened with Nate. I think I was as nervous at his first day of practice, first day of full-contact and his first game as he was. To see Nate grow like he did and go through tough stuff, succeeding and failing, makes me so proud. The fact that he persevered even in 95 degree weather, grueling practices, lots of losses and injuries, reveals a ton about Nate's character and makes me a very proud Dad.

Odd quote, out of context

Aunt Susan doesn't look like a Yorkie. She doesn't like to get pretty and look preppy , plus her ears look completely different. - Maddie

Difference between boys and girls

If Maddie or Em have a stain on their shirt:

I can't wear this! It's got a stain on it.

Nate when he sees Cathie has washed his football pants:

Mom! You washed my football pants! I'd just gotten them muddy enough at last night's practice and now I have to start all over again. Football pants are supposed to be dirty!

Touch my Monkey

Funny story.. At least to me. A couple of nights back, I walked in on the kids hiding this to=y monkey in my pillow that makes noise when you touch it. I played along, laid down on my pillow and acted surprised that a monkey was hidden there making noise. The kids then proceeded to stick the monkey in Cathie's pillow, which I told her about later that evening - only she forgot. She forgot until 2AM when she rolled over and the monkey started screaming this scary, monkey noise that I don't think monkeys really make. It was funny until she couldn't go back to sleep. Good thing I'm a heavy sleeper.

All Inclusive Resorts

Cathie and I have been toying with the idea of going to an all-inclusive resort next year somewhere south of Michigan. I've heard great things about them, but never been to one. Looking online, there seem to be a million of them out there Does anyone have any recommendations of places to go or not go? Any suggestions on how to get a good deal or when the best time is to go?

Better Pictures

This is the best, 60 second explanation on how to improve your digital pictures.

Woe

I listened to an amazing message today from Rob Bell at Mars Hill. The sermon title was Gnats and Camels, part of a series entitled "The Seven Woes" that looks a series of things that made Jesus angry. This one focuses on Matthew 23:

23"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. 24You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.

The message looks at how often Christians believe that the goal of their faith is only to focus on their own personal spiritual growth, that's it all about them and God and their own personal growth. I've been there, and I've heard it a million times from people I know. The message explores the continuum of our own growth and others, how Jesus emphasizes one end more than the other. Good stuff. The messages from Mars Hill are always challenging. You can subscribe to the podcast here.

Ouch

Thanks to Mark for this quote from one of his annual posts:

The way we are with each other is the truest test of our faith. How I treat a brother or sister from day to day, how I react to the sin-scarred wino on the street, how I respond to the interruptions from people I dislike, how I deal with normal people in their normal confusion on a normal day may be a better indication of my reverence for life that the anti-abortion sticker on the bumper of my car. - Brennan Manning

Sigh. This hits home. If I look at the way I've dealt with a few different people recently - some to their face, and some behind their back, this shows me just how far I have to go in where I'm at as a follower of Jesus and the reality of my faith. It's almost easier for me to respond with love in the rare encounter with a wino than the repeated interaction with an annoying customer or heated argument with a family member. If I look at the long-term view on how I treat people since I took my discipleship seriously, I've made huge strides. I'm less self-centered and more other-focused, I don't think as much of myself and I see the world as less black and white, and cut people more grace than ever before.

That's all well and good until tough times hit. I guess people are like toothpaste, and when they're squeezed, what's inside comes out. When I look at some of the road-bumps of how I've dealt with people in my life over the past few weeks, I don't feel like I'm quite there yet, to put it mildly. What a cool thing that I have people in my life who know me intimately and hold me accountable, encourage me and challenge me to grow beyond where I think I'm at. Beyond that, I have a God who continues to push me and grow me beyond my comfort zone. So I've got that going for me, which is nice.

Cat has to Wii

Odd little Emily

I came into Em's room last night to find her sitting in a doll crib, wearing this odd hat and reading a book. She keeps it interesting, I guess.

5 Reasons

Emily went to school yesterday wearing her "Top 5 reasons why my Mom is the best". She came home wearing it a little differently. Her teacher (and our family friend) added her own top 5 list. The Top 5 Reasons why My Teacher is the best:

1. She lets me do lots of reading and writing.
2. She lets me play with Nutty the Squirrel (a squirrel that comes to their classroom window, and according to Sheri, must play in Emily's hair at recess based how it looks coming back into class.)
3. She comes over for dinner
4. She loves my piggytails
5. She always makes me laugh
   

I guess I haven't seen Emily wear a "Top 5 reasons my Dad is the best" shirt yet, but then again, I don't do the shopping. Seems a little narcissistic of Cathie. Does she really expect people to believe that Em picked this shirt out? Seems more like a cry for help.

Scancafe

I'm very meticulous about my digital pictures - how I store them, categorize them and back them up. I've got them stored on three separate systems within my home, and then backed up off-site using the online backup tool Mozy Backup. With my digital pictures, we're able to look at them all the time via my Mac Mini connected to my HDTV in a rotating slide-show. We've got a million film pictures that we never really look at and that I would have to save in the event of a fire (way before my cat). I went through about 19 months and extracted the negatives from the pictures (about 500 negative sheets @ 5 pictures each) and I'm going to have them scanned in by this service. It works like this: You send them the pictures, they clean them, scan them and them put them online for review. You select the pictures online, only paying for the pictures you want (minimum 50% of the pictures) and they send you a DVD with the pictures and the negatives back. Hopefully this works. I'd looked into buying a slide scanner, but the the idea of scanning thousands of slides isn't as much fun as it sounds. This ends up costing about the same amount, without much work on my side.

Red Wings Game with the Rays and Schultzs

The Rays invited the Schultz's and Cathie and I out to the Wings game. Aside from Cathie jumping turnstiles in front of the police in her effort to get on the People Mover and Dana and Eli taking off ahead of us, it was a great night. Bob's company shared a suite with the retired Red Wings enforcer Joey Kocur. It was packed, so we spent a lot of time at a friend of Bob's suite which had a very nice fully stocked bar and a huge spread of food. It was a fun group of people and we laughed a lot and really didn't end up watching that much of the game. The Wings got up 2-0 in the first couple of minutes, but couldn't hold on, losing 3-2 against Chicago. A huge thanks to Tiffany for babysitting at the last second and watching all six kids so we could go out and have a great time.

Great Saturday

On Friday Nate and his team rode in the Homecoming Parade. While not quite as eclectic as the South Lyon Pumpkinfest parade, it consisted of every club at the high school except the computer club.

It started off a cold day at 41 degrees when Nate and I left for his football game against Hartland. It warmed up a little and the team ended up playing great today, winning the game 32-18. For the first time, our passing game really worked, which changed everything and opened up the running game for us. Our offensive line did a great job protecting our QB, giving him plenty of time to throw.

After the game, Nate, my Dad and I headed to Buffalo Wild Wings for lunch. I caught a great two hour nap and then got ready to be productive. The girls ended up having sleep-overs, so Nate and I made it a guys night. We played Halo 3 on Xbox Live remotely with some of the guys on his team and his Dad. We played Dads vs. kids in team slayer and just barely won. We made pizza rolls and ended up watching the last movie in our "Guy's Football Flicks" with the movie The Replacements.

Tomorrow we're getting together at the garage with a bunch of guys from Nate's team for a video game tournament. Should be fun.

What time is it?

Whenever I travel, I go through unnatural acts to stay at a Hilton property. I've got diamond status and they treat me well. One of the things I love about Hilton's are there alarm clocks. They're big, they're easy to see and almost impossible to screw up. They're so good that you can actually buy them online, and I probably would consider it - until today.

Apparently, you can't change the time on these without a screwdriver and a PHd. I was heading to bed, looked over and noticed the time was wrong. I went to set it and couldn't figure it out. I called the front desk with a dumb question, and they told me they'd have to send maintenance down to set my clock. I explained that I was in bed and it might be easier to just share with the secret code with me to change the time. The maintenance guy explained that you need a screwdriver. He came down and it took him almost ten minutes to change the time. Guess I'm not buying one of these.

After re-reading this, I'm thinking this could have been one of my least-interesting posts ever.

Pasta Bar

I'm in New Jersey for a couple of days, and for dinner we went to the Mahwah Bar and Grill for dinner. On Tuesdays they have a Pasta Bar. The Pasta Bar consists of one guy and a zillion ingredients. This fella has ADD and uses it to it's full potential. The pasta bar starts with 30 different ingredients you can choose from, combined with 30 different sauces and five different kinds of pasta. He has 12 different custom pasta pans cooking at once and moves them all over as he goes, keeping each one straight with the exact right sauce and topping. The place is kind of like a Mongolian Barbecue, but with pasta. Apparently, New Jersey does have something good to offer the world.

Why I love working with junior high kids

What you're seeing here is the result of one junior high boy thowing a a grapefruit size ball of hitchhiker prickers in another guys hair. The thrower is in the background of the picture doing the victory dance.

Painful Monday Morning

This morning's Triad workout started off pretty normal. We warmed up and then did some boxing - hitting the heavy bag for a while. We then moved in to a new exercise, apparently based on playing with dogs. The drill goes like this. One guy stands in the front of the field and chucks tennis balls just far enough out of reach that you have to sprint for it. The goal is to grab it one bounce and throw it back, just as another launches in the air. It's a great workout and you're running and sprinting non-stop, but it feels like your doing it with a purpose. After the second round, one of the other guys who was working out with us ended up on all fours. This kind of a rite-of-passage at the morning workout - we've all pushed ourselves to the point of throwing up and passing out. It was a great cardio workout and a nice change of pace, until we changed it up a little bit. The final round was about trying to jump and dive and move in order to grab the tennis ball before it hit the ground. I moved, but my ankle didn't. I'm sitting at my desk with a bag of ice on my ankle, trying to figure out how I'm going to travel to New York tomorrow with a significant limp.

Update: Kirk's shared with me that the latest theory behind healing an ankle injury is to immediately walk on it and exercise it. I spent the day doing ice soaks (which hurt like nothing else) and walking around on it. I was amazed at how much better it's feeling already. Based on how I performed in today's exercise, I'm pretty sure I'll never be a wide-receiver in the NFL.

One Year

It seems like just yesterday and a long time ago that my Mom died. Even going through and looking at these pictures I sit back and smile at the memories I have locked away. The first picture is where Dan and I were visiting Mom in the hospital during one of her first stays there. The second is after I gave my Mom a very ugly picture of me with the same facial expression I've got. The picture below is where the girls made a wonderful scrapbook for my Mom of her whole life and my brothers and I posed with her as if it were ours. The "rabbit ears" is such a great example of how much fun my Mom was and how as much as she would roll her eyes at our sense of humor, she still got it and was the source of some it. The rabbit fur jacket goes back almost thirty years when her and Susan had these matching jackets. She still was willing to laugh at her self. The Christmas picture is such a great example of how important traditions were to my Mom. During every get together, she would make sure we got some kind of picture showing the progression of the family, always one with the grandkids. She had no shame in getting a picture. She would bribe, but never raise her voice at the grandkids, no matter how obtuse they were being.

We talk about my Mom all the time. The sharpest pain is gone, focused mostly with great memories, but I miss her a ton. We talk a lot about what Mom would think of a given situation or how much she would enjoy a certain food. My heart is heavy today thinking back to last year, in the last week with my Mom. I video-taped my Mom telling stories and my Mom spending the last days talking to each of her kids, grandkids and friends as she said goodbye. Even a year later, I haven't been able to bring myself around to watching the video.