Glad to be among the living

On April 6th, my Aunt Rhoda passed away. Rhoda was married to my father's brother Dell ( who passed away in 1974). I honestly don't know if I ever met Dell- I will have to ask my father that one. I do remember taking a trip to Maine to see that family when I was very young- maybe 3 years old- I asked my mother about it today, but she couldn't recall if Dell was alive or if he had passed away when we made the trip. All I remember about it was there was a BIG hill in the road and Aunt Rhoda and her sister taking us to a ceramic shop. I don't have a lot of early memories of my childhood- but every now and then something triggers a memory like this one. I wouldn't say I was close to Rhoda, in fact, I honestly barely knew her, but always grew up knowing she was my Aunt, even though I was only 2 or 3 when Uncle Dell died (depending on just when he dies in the year). Whenever I was around Rhoda, she always seemed like a very nice woman and my parents always spoke highly of her and was always considered part of the family.


Of course, I've already mentioned Kelly's little boy Ethan passed away as well. My hear breaks still for that family, although I'm sure glad little Ethan is not in pain anymore.

Today, heard Mr. Larry Andrews passed away. He started teaching at my high school when I was in 8th or 9th grade- can't recall just which one -but I had him for 9th grade social and he was a 'new' teacher. That was back in 85-86. He was still teaching at the school until earlier this year. The brief obit stated he was 63, so he must have been about 35 when he started teaching at school. He was a man of very dry humor in my book, and honestly reminded me of Hitler with his mustache the way it was. I never overly liked him, but didn't dislike him either. He has meant a lot to many kids over the course of his career though and coordinated many over seas trips for the kids from school as well.

Then of course we can't forget John Forsythe and Dixie Carter passed away last week.

It always seems to happen all at once doesn't it- you can go months without anyone passing away that you know or have heard f and then it seems to all hit at once.

I for one am so thankful to be among the living, and for the health of my parents. I am blessed to have both of my parents living still and I get to enjoy their company, humor, wisdom, laughter, and everything else. Although I don't visit their house everyday, living across the driveway has it's advantages as we get to exchange waves, call the other and say - hey there is a deer across the road in the field, or has the mailman come yet - all things I cherish- it's the littlest things in life that sometimes mean the most.

Life is short, and each day I realize that more and more.

Ethan has passed away

This morning at 6:30 AM little Ethan passed away at home being held by his mom. My heart breaks for this family, and I hope they are able to find peace soon. I am so very sad Ethan's life has ended at just 2 years old and he will never get to experience life as he should have. Last August he was a happy go lucky little boy and in 8 short months, this familys life has changed forever do to childhood Neroblastoma cancer.

You are in my thoughts Kelly, Ken and Sarah.

Cancer - Enough Said

I have a lady (Kelly) that I have known online for a few years now- truth be told, I know her friend Danielle a lot better, but none the less- know Kelly as well. Last August her healthy 2 year old boy was diagnosed with Neuroblastoma Cancer- this was a shock- he was out playing in mud puddles one day and a few days later, their world changed forever. Ethan has been a fighter these past several months enduring rounds of Chemo and surgery- but, 6 weeks ago, they took out the remaining tumor in his abdoman and when they did scans this week, found it was back and bigger. Kelly was told today that they will do one more round of Chemo for 5 days, an intense treatment by the sounds of it- wait a few weeks and if the tumor has shrunk, they will go to Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh for radiation. If it has not, they told her this was it, they can't do anything more.

I can't imagine being this family or any family dealing with something like this- my stomach is literally sick feeling over it. My heart breaks for kelly and her family- and it certainly puts into perspective life in general.

I certainly am thankful for the many good things in my life- especially my kids- and especially thankful that the health issues we deal with are certainly minor compared to what they could be. I'm thankful they are happy, healthy teens.

Kelly is a strong woman- I honestly don't know how I could breathe, let alone go on day to day facing the challenges she is with a child of mine. I hope I never ever have to find out.

Wrestling Recap

Chris, Jon, and Alex with Jeff Jarrett.

Alex was able to  meet and get his TNA Program book signed by "The Monster" Abyss, "The Pope" D'Angelo Dinero, Hernandez, "The Blueprint" Matt Morgan, Angelina Love, and Jeremy Borash ( the announcer).

All of the above had matches during the show as well as  "The Phenomenal" AJ Styles, Beer Money, Desmond Wolfe, Doug Williams and others. All in all he had a really great time and it was a pretty good event for coming to the rural town Of Massena.

I have uploaded a ton of photos to http://royce13669.shutterfly.com/ if anyone is interested in looking at them.

Wrestling Day Is Finally Here

A week or so before Christmas, I purchased 4 TNA Wrestling tickets for a live show in Massena. As most of you know who follow this blog, I live in a VERY rural area of upstate NY and events like this come around about once a year if that.

Alex enjoys Wrestling and although TNA is not his favorite out of them, he's still excited to go and bring his friends along - it's been a long two months waiting for the event to get here- so I hope they have a great time tonight!

Jennifer King

Jen- if you happen to see this-- contact me! I got your friend request on facebook last night, and accepted it, then as I was looking at your profile, FB crashed and you were gone- I tried to use the link to add you again, but it won't allow me to even view your page! Did a friend search, and can't find you- so if you happen to see this- contact me- it's been so long!

Sunny Day Update

This morning I awoke to a bright beautiful sunny day- I do wish it was a little warmer than the 17 degrees- but I'll take the sun for sure! Sitting here at my table with the sun coming in thru my big window is wonderful.

Both kids are home from school today- They had a play at school all morning that neither really wanted to see -Megan has a doctor's appointment later on - and I'm waiting to hear back from Alex's doctor to see if I can get him back in there or to refer me to another doctor.

Alex has always drank a lot of liquids his entire life- I think it was a habit formed very young for the most part- as when he was little, he couldn't eat much because of the size of his tonsils- he eventually had those and his adnoids removed- however, he drank a lot of liquids- I think it became a habit he has just continued over his life- another thing he does is as soon as his head hits the pillow, he falls asleep- within seconds- put him in a car, and he falls asleep most of the time on trips that are more than a few minutes long. Now though on top of the normal sleep he's always done, he is falling asleep while watching TV, after eating, at school, etc. - I did take him to the doctor a few weeks ago and had his glucose tested and it came back negative- and I've had it tested in the past and it's always negative- but something is wrong- he shouldn't be sleeping as much as he is- so, I'm going to press the issue a little more and see what we come up with- I hope there isn't anything wrong with him, but certainly don't want to miss it if there is.

College is going GREAT so far- I'm loving my classes and feel I could have signed up for a couple of more, but I didn't want to many to begin with. I'm taking 4 classes/12 credits which makes me a full time student and that's what I wanted. The average load seems to be 16-18 credits a semester though- but, I'm in no big hurry- it will probably take me 2 1/2 years to complete an associates degree- but that's ok. I am currently taking Freshman English, Interpersonal Communications, Business Organization, and Business Math. My major was going to be ecommerce, but it seems to focus on a lot of the coding of websites in depth a lot more than I want to get- so I think I will be changing it to Business instead. I guess I will be one of those statstistics of people who change their major once in college! I'm managing to hold an A average in all of the classes- out of all of them, I've only gotten one thing that was less than perfect- I know it's only a few weeks into the courses and things will get harder- but, I'm still happy with myself. Especially since I hated high school!

I guess that is the latest updates with me- now I need to get the laundry started, dishes done and check in with my classes- have a great weekend everyone!