I was Curious... I Tasted it...

I ran across this old ad today and chuckled as I read it, and looked at the photos.  I really think Gay.com should revamp this ad for their site!

I was curious....I tasted it... and don't these two guys look so happy once they tasted it?

Three Strikes and You're...Back at the Plate!

Time stops for no man...or woman. It continues to slip through our hands with no regard to what we want or where we are. Since my last post, over a year ago, so much has transpired. I know that if I were to start posting about the last year, it would take me a year, so I just want to hit on three major life changing events that happened in the last year.

1) In July of 2010, I turned 50. To say that it didn't bother me would be a lie. It did bother me, but I kept up appearances and continued on the same path. I really was not taking care of myself. I had gained a lot of weight, and weighed over 190 pounds. But I remained comfortable and satisfied, or so I thought. The shortly after my 50th birthday, reality started setting in and led to event number two.

 

 

2) In about September or October of 2010, Dan and I ended our ten year relationship. There were a lot of things that brought us to that place, but the bottom line was, it was time. As I said prior I had stopped taking care of myself, and became complacent. Dan became frustrated with my complacency as he was trying to loose weight and take care of himself. Put that on top of my unwarranted jealousy and Dan's desire to have freedom and experience life, we began to move in different directions. In January we finally told our families, and by February Dan met someone and moved out. That didn't last long and he soon moved back in, but only as friends. And now almost a year later we are as best of friends as we have ever been. He goes his way, I go mine and we still share things we schedules permit. I learnt a great deal in this past year, and thanks to my best friend I was able to learn it with him learning the same things, but in a different way. I realize that I no longer need to be dependent on anyone else. Regardless of how much you care about someone, or how much they care about you, we can not put all of our strength, hopes, dreams, goals on them. I am thinking independently again, living somewhat independently again, and finding myself again...and I am doing it with my best friend. Yes, it was hard, after ten years I'd be crazy if it wasn't, but we both are better men for it. Even tho9ugh breaking up was hard to do....the most devastating event that changed my life happened in 2011.

 

 

3) In April of 2011, during a conference call at work, I began to feel somewhat odd. After the meeting I tried to go back to my desk, and never made it. I suffered a mild stroke and was taken to urgent care and then later to Christ Hospital where I stayed for four days. A stroke, at 50 years old!! It was scary, debilitating, frightening, and an emotional wake up call. I soon was able to come back, and there are almost no residual effects from the stroke, but it made me realize many things. I look at each day with different eyes, as well as those around me that I love and cherish.

 

 

Yes, time does move quickly, and things can change in a moment. But even though I suffered three strikes in the past year, I am not out! I am back at the plate, better than ever and ready to hit a home run!!

I Am Back!

I have been gone awhile, yes. Facebook, Twitter and life pulled me away, but I am back. So much has happened since my last posting but I will fill you in, that is if you care to know.
What brings me back you say? Well I read my entire blog yesterday...all the way back to 2004! And I thought what a shame to just let it die. I mean there is a lot of life in those postings! So I am back and hopefully better than ever! So look for my posts. Let me know your glad I returned. I will reply to you all!

Now Do You Understand?

The ad says " Test show that those that start drinking soda during that early formative period have a much higher chance of gaining acceptance and 'fitting in" during those awkward pre-teen and teen years."

So start your infant drinking soda? Did people REALLY believe this? Yes, they did, and parents would even put a little soda in the babies bottles! Now I know why it was harder for me to "fit in" as a teen!! My mom made us drink water. We were not allowed to have soda, only on special occasions.

It's no wonder that obesity is rampant in our society today, with increase of diabetes, heart disease, and a number of other health issues. They actually had an organization named "the Soda Pop Board of America"! the ad also says, Promotes active lifestyle, boosts personality and provides essential sugars!

Now I am beginning to understand. People do believe almost everything they read. Good thing we don't believe everything we read or hear today!! (yeah right)

Easter 2010

Today I celebrated the resurrection of Christ with my mother, father, brother and his family in their church. Over 1,100 people in attendance and it was an awesome experience, from the music to the sermon and even the after service events. As I looked over the crowd as I was leaving the sanctuary, I suddenly was taken back 41 years earlier. Easter, 1969. I would have been 8 years old and my brother Carl about 4. My youngest brother Gary was yet to have been born, but my mother would give birth to him that September. These two Easters really had nothing in common, other than it was Easter, and again I shared it with my brother and my parents. My father had worked for weeks on my brother and my easter suits, and after this picture was taken we would have gone to chruch somewhere, I am not sure where at that time, it may have been at the church I went as a teen, but not sure. I do not remember, but I do remember one thing.

It was the first Easter I realized that the man Jesus, that one we celebrated his birth at Christmas had died and on Easter rose from the dead. I must have heard it from the sermon that morning, but I remember at first thinking..."Wow, can that really happen?" then thinking that if he could do it, then maybe all of us could do it. We all would rise from the dead, and never die. I liked that idea.

It is funny how certain things bring back memories we have stored away deep into our minds and suddenly there they are again. It was like I was back in 1969, holding my little brother's hand and getting onto the church bus and being excited because when we got home there would be an Easter basket filled with eggs and candy. So innocent.

Here I was 41 years later, sitting in a church service, listening to a sermon very similar I am sure to that one I was listening to 41 years earlier. My brother sitting in the pew down from me. I almost wanted to reach over and take his hand hoping in a way we both could go back to that day.

Easter is a special day. A day for life. A day for living. Made possible by one that loved us so much that he died, so we could live to see today and to have lived all these years and have those precious memories.

Happy Easter.

Reading, Writing and Arithmetic

Of the three r's, (reading writing and arithmetic), reading was always my favorite. One of my first memories is sitting in the children's section of Hamilton, Ohio's Lane Public Library and looking at books wishing I could read the words on them.

My mother was and continues to be an avid reader and her love of reading was instilled into me at a very early age. When I finally began to learn how to read, I never wanted to stop. During the summer, the Lane Public Library had a summer reading fair and the "bookmobile" would come to various neighborhoods and the kids go borrow the books they wanted to read for the week and the next week return them and exchange for new ones. The child that read the most books over the summer holiday would be honored by having their name put on the summer reading banner.


I am sure that I have read thousands of books. From Dr. Seuss's "Green Eggs and Ham" to Leo Tolstoy's "War and Peace" and every genre in between. I have many favorite books I have read and some I care not to read again. Like movies, some you can read over and over and others, once is enough. Some of my favorites are... "In Cold Blood" by Truman Capote; "Gone With the Wind" by Margaret Mitchell; and "The Witching Hour" by Anne Rice. But my very first book was read in the floor of the children's section of Hamilton, Ohio's Lane Public Library, "The Tale of Peter Rabbit" by Beatrix Potter. The memory is so fresh and vivid in my mind, just like it was yesterday. Some of my best memories as a child came from reading and that library.


Things have changed quite a bit since then. The Lane Public Library is still there and the main building is on the Ohio Historic Registry of Historic Buildings, but it has seen some changes since then. It also has several branches throughout Butler County. Now most kids have never opened a book other than their school text books and if they read it is off the Internet or from magazines. The neighborhood library is almost a thing of the past. And I have not seen a "bookmobile" in decades. It is unfortunate that reading has taken a back seat to video games and the computer. So next time you need some quiet time, or just need to "get away" from the every day world, grab a book.

Remember Being 16?

My youngest son, Adam is 16 and on Wednesday, Feb. 10 he will be 17. Due to his battle last year with Hodgkins, he was unable to get his driver's license. So this year he is taking driving school and will soon be an official licensed driver. I don't understand why this is making me feel so old, as all my other kids went through this right of passage and I didn't really get this emotional. Maybe it is due to the last year seeing Adam fight cancer and now this is just another mark to say he did it. Or maybe it is just the fact that it is just another sign that yes, I really am getting old.

Pondering these things takes me back to when I was 16. Do you remember when you were 16? Everyone was getting the driver's permit and taking out mom or dad's car to learn how to drive and to move into one of the first steps of adulthood. My friends were driving Chevy Malibu's or Pontiac Grand Prix, or even a couple of trucks.

As for me...I was learing to drive in this.

A fishbowl with wheels. An AMC Pacer. It was a beauty, 75% glass and 25% metal and rubber.

So Adam, when you think you've got it bad and you have to drive your mom's old Taurus take a look at what I had to drive...