Joy and Sorrow – 62 Years
By · CommentsToday, I had the honor of visiting Bob and Dixie Murphy, Gabe’s grandparents, on their 62nd wedding anniversary. This coming the day after Rebecca and I celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary. It was joyful to see them both on this special day — I mean, 62 years… that’s a long time for two people to be married! Sadly, however, I visited them at Saint Luke’s North hospital. I was there for over an hour, and when I first saw Dixie she was in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). She actually looked really good and was very coherent. She called me over and gave me a hug and a kiss and joked with me that I still keep coming around… that they’ve tried and tried to get rid of me but I keep coming back. Of course, she was kidding with me and I knew it. She is such a wonderful, loving person. The entire Murphy family pretty well took me in as one of their own when I ventured out here to Kansas City… they became my family away from my family, and I have loved spending time with them for the past 10 years. Soon they moved Dixie out of the ICU and into a large suite where more than a few visitors at a time could see her…. including all of her great grandchildren.
Today, on what should be such be a day of only joy for Bob and Dixie and the whole family, is also filled with sorrow, as Dixie has requested that no further medical assistance be given to her to try and help her failing heart and kidneys. She is at peace and seemed so happy to have all of her loved ones together to say their goodbyes. Earlier in the day, I am told, she was not very coherent and was having a hard time recognizing people. But not tonight… she knew everyone, hugged and kissed everyone multiple times, and gave everyone some guidance and wishes. For such a weak body right now, she was so strong. She told her son Ed that she is ready to go see her parents and her other two sons who passed years ago… but wanted Ed to understand that it’s ok, and not to be upset with her — she is not choosing them over him. She was telling everyone she will see them again, but now is the time to go see her Maker and her loved ones that have departed before her. Tears were flowing, but so were the smiles. Six great grandchildren were there with her, all at the same time… and she asked each of them to always remember her, and that she will remember them and watch over them. While it was very sombering, it was also the way the day should be… very joyous.
Dixie has battled heart conditions since a much younger age. On many occasions that I have seen her over the past ten years, she has seemed frail. But she has always come around. Now, she is ready to move on and end the pain, and she is clearly at peace with it and helping those who will remain behind become more at peace.
Gabe said it best after we left… he is so happy to have seen her like this tonight… in a much better condition than earlier today… and this is how he wishes to remember her forever.
Nobody knows whether tonight will be the night for Dixie or if it might be weeks away, but tonight, Dixie and her whole family and friends know the love they have for each other, and I am quite certain Dixie will have a wonderful journey ahead… one that will be so much harder on those behind than herself.
Happy Anniversary, Bob and Dixie. Savor the time left, no matter how short. And have a wonderful journey, Dixie. You are a beautiful person. I am honored to have known you and hope you will remember me, too. Today, you taught me a lot about life while in the face of death.
Money Well Spent?
By · CommentsFound interesting an article I just read on MSNBC.com — CBO: Senate health bill $1 trillion over 10 years. The Chief Budget Officer says the health care legislation currently being considered would cost $1 trillion over 10 years. The most interesting part of this $1 trillion bill is that while 39 million not with coverage currently would get it, this number would be offset by about 23 million losing their current coverage–15 million lose employer-provided coverage and another 8 million would lose it from other sources. This definitely seems like great legislation to me!
I am definitely a supporter of health care becoming more affordable, but not through mandates and penalties to business who cannot afford to provide coverage and individuals who choose not to get coverage. The company I am the Cheif Operating Officer for provides what I think is a nice program for our employees. While we don’t cover 100% of the insurance costs, we do provide individuals with 75% coverage for employees only covering themselves, and a lower percentage (can’t remember right now if it’s 50% or 60%) for family members. Health insurance adds significantly to our payroll and benefit budget. Fact of the matter is, if mandated, for example, to cover 100%, we would have to cut costs elsewhere to make up for this additional spend. Would those cuts come from general operational areas or from salaries and wages/reduced head count? Would small raises become smaller or non-existent? Inevitably, it would likely come from a mix of all. In essence, we would be able to spend less on goods and services (hurting the economy), reduce headcount (hurting employment rates) and slowing salary growth (despite rising gas rates, inflation, cost of living, etc). It’s not as if companies, as a rule, are just rolling in extra cash and padding the pockets of the executives. Certainly that climate exists in some businesses, but I would speculate that is not the norm.
Additionally, some employees simply choose not to receive coverage. Using my company as an example again, by nature of the tech industry, we have a high percentage of single male employees in their low 20’s working for us. Most of these employees are in excellent health, and right or wrong, opt not to get health coverage as it would dip into their take home pay. Forcing them to purchase coverage is like forcing them to take a pay cut. Currently, an incentive for them to go ahead and spend that extra money each paycheck on health care coverage is that the money withheld for coverage is not taxed — but that, too, is in jeopardy. I speculate that taxing the health care deductions would lead to additional employees opting out of coverage. Of course, that is where the mandates to have coverage will come in. Catch 22, seems like.
Certainly there are many people who need health care insurance but can’t afford it though they are working hard for it. This bucket of individuals are the group I would gladly support getting some sort of assistance from the government. No, I don’t have the perfect remedy (nobody does), but I think there are far too many issues with the current legislation ideas being forced down our throats currently.
Just a month or so ago, I took a trip to the emergency room one night to get checked out, as I had pretty well convinced myself I might be having a heart attack. I spent over three hours in the ER, getting an EKG, blood tests, chest xrays… the works! Final determination was that I had a stress-educed panic attack. My favorite part of the whole things was the doctor telling me:
“I’m going to have to have you take 4 Tylenol, to appease the pencil pushers upstairs.” Funny how much those little pills cost!
Hmmm, maybe that’s the biggest issue right there. Fear of litigation & mal-practice suits along with insane drug costs.
Really, I am just tired of the government trying to mandate more and more aspects of our lives. But, seems as though our society has become so unintelligent that we need a bundle of baboons in Washington D.C. to tell us what is right and what we have to do. Well, as wonderfully run as our government is, I appreciate the “guidance” as I am apparently a lot stoopider than I thinked I waz.
A Stimulus Story
By · CommentsSpam so good I had to share. Thanks for the forward, pops.
A Stimulus Story
It is the month of August, on the shores of the Black Sea. It is raining, and the little town looks totally deserted. It is tough times, everybody is in debt, and everybody lives on credit.
Suddenly, a rich tourist comes to town. He enters the only hotel, lays a 100 Euro note on the reception counter, and goes to the rooms upstairs in order to choose one.
The hotel proprietor takes the 100 Euro note and runs to pay his debt to the butcher.The butcher takes the 100 Euro note, and runs to pay his debt to the pig grower.
The pig grower takes the 100 Euro note, and runs to pay his debt to the supplier of his feed and fuel.
The supplier of feed and fuel takes the 100 Euro note and runs to pay his debt to the town’s prostitute that in these hard times, gave her “services” on credit.
The hooker runs to the hotel, and pays off her debt with the 100 Euro note to the hotel proprietor to pay for the rooms that she rented when she brought her clients there.
The hotel proprietor then lays the 100 Euro note back on the counter so that the rich tourist will not suspect anything.
At that moment, the tourist comes down after inspecting the rooms, and takes his 100 Euro note, after saying that he did not like any of the rooms, and leaves town.
No one earned anything. However, the whole town is now without debt, and looks to the future with a lot of optimism…
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how the United States Government is doing business today.
T Minus 4 Days….
By · CommentsYes, in just four days from now, I will finally be in the car on the way to the lake. While it won’t be my first trip to the lake this year, it will be the first full weekend of fun on the boat and in the water. The past two weekends it has been painful to not be at the lake. Ah, just four days…..
To all you YouTube.com fans who, like me, has had enough of the annoying Fred douche bag, be sure to check out JoeCartoon.com and play Fred In The Blender. I enjoyed… http://joecartoon.atom.com/cartoons/964-fred_in_a_blender
Hoover is rehabbing well, though he scared me today. He was laying all nice in the yard for me while I was trimming some bushes when all of the sudden Lucky, the dog from hell, and his crew were barking at the fence and yep… you guessed it, the fence marathon and barking fest was on. Hoover had two full lengths of the fence before I got ahold of his leash and got him back to the sanctity of our bedroom. Fourtunately he seems okay, but he is still supposed to be on restricted activity. He goes back to the vet in 2.5 weeks for his 8 week check-up. Hopefully he will get cleared to exercise a bit… he needs and wants it.
The parents were here for the past few days… actually left last night and drove back to Casper after a nearly 3000 mile, one-week roadtrip to Denver, Oklahoma, Memphis, Branson and then here to the OP. Enjoyed having them here, even if only for a couple of days. They will be back in just 3 weeks for a full week, with oldest sister Stephanie and my niece Ashley and nephew Stephen. Should be a good time. They will be here for the 4th, so we plan to spend it down at the lake on the water.
In the past two weeks, we have cleaned our garage (months overdue), cleaned our house and carpet (bedroom… definitely needed it thanks to my big dawg), trimmed the bushes, fixed a downspout, defrosted a freezer… holy cow, this is the most housework I have been involved in since, well, getting married!
Speaking of marriage, Rebecca and I will celebrate our 3rd anniversary a week from Wednesday. We are heading to St Louis to watch the Dave Matthews Band (surprise, surprise). Hope it will be a great show. I am loving their new album, Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King. I have “Why I Am” stuck in my head, on loop! Definitely the best album they have put out in a LOOONG time. And, of course, live performances of the songs kick the crap out of the studio versions, so I am anxious for StL!
Braelyn doing great… well, she is a walking injury. She has more scrapes and bruises… she just doesn’t pay any attention to where she is going (I hear this resembles my middle sister Wendy’s toddler activities) and she has no fear… she is climbing on (and falling off of) anything she can. She loved spending time with the grandparents… she even saw Rebecca’s parents for a few hours today. Tonight, she was a bit on the cranky side but now that she is in bed, all is peaceful in the Elledge household.
Spencer is enjoying a week in Florida with his grandparents Bill and Linda. They are great people, and I know he is having a great time. He sent a text to Rebecca yesterday about how he isn’t white as a ghost anymore…. well, at least one of us has some color. I intend to get mine next weekend…. finally.
I am currently sitting on the back patio, drinking some A to Z pinot, listening to Dave Matthews Band, with Hoover by my side. Rebecca went in to watch some new, dumb show on TV (she said it was dumb, not me).
Well, after every great Sunday comes Monday, and every Monday means back to the office grind. Oh well, it will be a 4 day week for me (yeah, as if I don’t work on my days off).
Ya’ll take care and have a wonderful week.
Peace from the OP,
Late Night Ramblings
By · CommentsI keep telling myself I should get more consistent at writing some of my thoughts, as they seem to be short-lived the older I get. And while I would love to dissect specific topics and share my views, I have decided on this somewhat sleepless night, to just ramble the thoughts going through my head. So, here goes…
* Drove to Colorado last Thursday night to attend my nephew Nathan’s high school graduation in Fort Collins. Thursday was a pretty hectic day at work, and I wasn’t sure if I was still up for an all night drive. Well, I guess I wasn’t. The drive took just over 9 hours of drive time. I think I drove 4 hours, Rebecca took over for about 2 while I took a cat nap, I drove, then she drove, then I drove again. Anyway, we made it, and Braelyn slept for the most part. Stopping for gas would wake her up and she would fuss a bit, but all-in-all, pretty good traveler she was.
* Speaking of stopping for gas… the tides turned this year. Last year gas was cheaper in Kansas, as I recall, and quite a bit more pricey in Colorado. This year, gas in Colorado was about 25 cents a gallon cheaper than Kansas. I am pretty sure that we just plain get screwed on gas during the summer. Some say they bring out the “summer blend” which is less pollutant. I say they jack up the prices because they know people will be traveling more.
* Further thought on gas… at the lake last week, gas was over $2.64 per gallon (on the water). This is a significant improvement over last year’s prices which were in excess of $4.25 per gallon. We’ll see next time I am down there if my theory of sticking it to the consumer is right… now that Memorial Day has come, the boat season is officially on and I bet gas prices have shot up on the lake.
* Back to graduation and the trip to Colorado. It was great to see my parents, both of my sisters, my two awesome brother-in-laws, and all of my nephews and nieces. A mini family reunion! Had a great time seeing everyone. Wish I could have seen my grandma and my grandpa, but grandma doesn’t travel anymore because of her age and arthritis, and grandpa doesn’t travel much as his Alzheimers continues to progress (such a sick, sick disease).
* I am so proud of Nate… he is an awesome “kid”, or should I say, young man. He had a lot of fun, and I could definitely tell he was happy reaching this milestone in life. It was awesome he let Spencer hang out with him a bunch… made it a great trip for Spencer.
* Two of the Lecher kids are now graduated… or, “gradumamated” as Nate calls it.
* Sidebar: watching the Tonight Show with Jay Leno… it’s the final week with Jay as host after 17 years. He has owned the late night ratings for 15 of the years, but I suspect Dave Letterman will take that title over real soon, as I don’t think the traditional Tonight Show audience is going to enjoy the ever annoying Conan O’brien. Time will tell, but I predict a turn-about in ratings.
* The world is in a mess, and while many are thankful Obama is “in charge”, I for one am not. With North Korea going nuts, I really wish we had a better commander in chief. I fear we will “talk” our way into a major issue with them… those nuts aren’t messing around. I don’t really mean this, but I sometimes think we should show them the power of the nuke and show ‘em just how dangerous they are. As I said, I don’t really mean that, but we better not tinker around here. We must take some serious action before they do.
* So, California’s supreme court says no-no to gay marriage, except for the 18,000 that did it before the election in November. Surprisingly, as a very conservative person, this is just one of those topics I don’t really have a solid opinion on. In this, the land of the free, who are we to tell people who they can be with and who they can’t? While we don’t have to condone or agree with things, this is the land of diversity and I hate to see people not have the right to be who they are, and to be with whomever they want. I don’t think it really hurts us as a society for gays to be married. Of course there is the argument that it can run insurance and medical costs up because of the associated risks of AIDS and whatnot, I think we have a lot of other issues affecting us economically that don’t infringe upon people’s rights. There are a lot of “legal” things that I don’t agree with, but that doesn’t mean they should be illegal. Oh well, just some ranting on a topic that I, as I said before, don’t have a real solid opinion on, though I guess as I typed this, maybe I do… Hope I don’t get banned from the Republican Party or the Christian religion for my thoughts on it.
* Tomorrow (Wednesday) marks Hoover’s four week mark after his leg surgery. Four more weeks until he gets checked-up, and hopefully cleared to increase his activity. Hoover has pretty well decided he is done with his no activity period, and we find it harder by the day to keep the big dawg down. Tonight he wanted to jump and play and it took some serious force and stern words to get him to refrain. Poor guy… just wants to have some fun! And Sophie wasn’t helping…. she wants to play, too. She kept bringing toys over and dropping them in front of Hooverm trying to entice him into play. Fortunately, from my perspective, he seems to be getting much better, and I certainly hope a month from now, he will get cleared to run a bit!
* Braelyn continues to grow, run, play, make messes…. she is such a doll. One thing is she seems to find countless ways to get bruised. From running into walls and doors, to tripping over imaginary lines, the girl is showing some marks! Good thing is she is rarely hurt… hopefully she will progress quickly into a bit more control! Her curiosity definitely gets the best of her at times. She is going to be a great big sister, though… she knows where the baby is now. Well, she has narrowed it down at least… sometimes it’s in Rebecca’s tummy and other times it is in her tummy!
* The ‘rents are going on a 2500 mile or so journey in about a week, with a final stop through OP next Friday/Saturday. Will be great to see them again, even though its only been a few days.
* Hope the Nuggets make it to the finals! While I like Coach Phil and the Lakers as a rule, I don’t much care for Kobe Bryant, and would love to see Denver do well! Of course, I really don’t care for the NBA, so let’s just scrap this point altogether.
* Learned some sad news when in Fort Collins. One of my all-time favorite teachers, Tom Staffelino, has cancer and isn’t expected to make it more than another week or two. I really loved this guy as a teacher, and really got to know him on more of a personal level after high school when I was officiating high school sports and when I did my student teaching at Kelly Walsh High School. I hate to see the good ones go down. Staff, or Coach Staff as we all called him, was probably my second favorite teacher in Junior/Senior High School. Bill Callahan was definitely my all time favorite, and he passed quite a few years ago. Mr. Bocott, my 6th grade teacher, was in my top few, and he, too, has already passed. Other notable teachers were Mrs. Finchem (3rd grade), who I believe is still kickin’ it, and Ms. Simons (also still kickin’). I’m sure there are more, but these few definitely left lasting impressions on me in a positive way. I had those that left non-positive impressions, too… one old hag who taught physics but thankfully I can’t remember her name… man, she was a beyatch…. oh, I digress. Anyway, my thoughts and prayers are with Staff and his family and friends. His life was spent grooming young men and women to make something of themselves… and he succeeded.
* Of A Revolution (O.A.R.) concert coming up on June 6th at Sandstone… can’t wait! One of my favorite bands.
* Dave Matthews Band new studio album comes out Tuesday… Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King. Can’t wait to get it. Also can’t wait until June 17 (Rebecca and my third anniversary)… we will be spending it in St Louis at the DMB concert. Great way to celebrate our anniversary!
Well, I think that’s enough rambling for tonight. You can see my head wanders a lot…. maybe blogging it will help me get to sleep. I will finish my glass of A to Z wine and turn off the tube.
Hey, life is short… we are all on this earth for a millisecond in time… make the best of it, enjoy it, and be happy. Catch me on twitter (@relledge) for my thoughts in 140 characters or less at a time.
Peace….
-RElledge
I’m Back!
By · CommentsWow, it has been a long time since my last post. I guess I really have been posting a lot, but generally 140 characters at a time via my twitter account. But, this morning I am sitting in my hotel room, venti white chocolate mocca sitting beside me (thanks, Rebecca!) and many rambles in my head. So, here we go… in no particular order, my rambles for the day:
* We’re having a baby boy! Yep, that’s right… the new baby has “boy parts” according to the nice lady who made pictures out of sound of the baby. The ultrasound pictures are posted at BabyElledge.com. They didn’t give us a real good picture of the boy parts, but we saw ‘em.
* Baby Boy Elledge is due around the 20th of September, and the doctor says everything looks good and he measures good. I can only hope he comes out as happy and healthy as his big sister Braelyn did.
* I don’t know what it is about the month of December but it sure has led to a bunch of September birthdays in my family. I guess it’s just the excitement of all the holidays….
* Yes, I think we have settled on a name.
* No, I am not going to post it just yet!
* Speaking of big sister Braelyn, she is doing just awesome and today is her 16th month birthday. She is spending her “birthday” away from mom and dad and is hanging out with her grandma and grandpa Bradshaw down in Harrisonville. She apparently had a fun day at the park and was sliding and swinging. Amazing how much I miss her when she’s not around. Oh well, we get to pick her back up tomorrow afternoon when we get back in town. She is really a high energy little girl… which is good, because she eats a ton… she would probably be fat if she wasn’t so high energy. At her 15 month checkup, she was at the 50% in height and 30% in weight. Just like her momma (brownie points).
* Funny sidebar… Rebecca mentioned to me this morning that I was thinking she is fat and pregnant. No, I said… I wasn’t thinking pregnant. I think she laughed at that with her inside voice but her outside voice wasn’t laughing.
* Been a busy week or so of concerts. Had a great time at The Killer’s concert last week, followed by Jason Mraz last Wednesday (and he had the Plain White T’s opening for him which was awesome) and then last night Jason Mraz opened for Dave Matthews Band here in Vegas at the MGM Grand Arena. It was my first DMB show of the tour… tonight will be my 2nd. Last night’s show was good, a nice mix of some new songs which come out on their new album on June 2 and some old songs. I hope tonight is a great show.
* I saw Jamie Fulmer last night… she lives here in Vegas and she camped next to Gabe and I last year at the Gorge. Was great seeing her again. She is going back to the Gorge this year, so I’m sure that we’ll be camping by her and our England friends Ricardo and Nath. I can’t wait for the Gorge, except that it signals the end of summer.
* Happy mothers’ day tomorrow to the world’s #1 mom… my mom… Vickie! Love ya, mom!
* Rebecca is a great mom, too… she shares that #1 designation.
* Staying at the Luxor here in Vegas. My bad. I stayed here a loooong time ago, I think right after it opened up. Then, it was nice. Now, it is just dated. We have a spa suite, which is cool and nice sized, but the ammenities are crap. Aside from the vultures who try to “give us vouchers” at every turn downstairs (give us vouchers means buy over priced tickets to shows and get food vouchers), our room is misisng a remote control, has two tv’s which I predict will quit working when the conversion to digital tv transition takes place in June (assuming Obama doesn’t delay it again), has no mini-bar, has no coffee maker.. I could go on, but no use. Just know this will be my last stay at the Luxor.
* Cole Cercy, who played baseball for me when I was coaching the Oilers in Casper a few years back, messaged me saying he, too, is in Vegas right now. He is golfing today and has dinner plans, but hopefully I will run into him in between.
* Ok, hint on the name… initials will likely be B-C-E, though alternately they might be B-K-E depending on how we decide to spell. Then again, they could be B-R-E or C-R-E or C-C-E or C-K-E. But, I bet they will be B-C-E. Will let you know sometime between now and September 20-ish.
* Hoover is recouping from his knee surgery quite well. Thankfully the hair on his shaved leg and spots is starting to come back in. While we’re in Vegas, he is staying at the Oxford Animal Hospital, where we sometimes board him when we’re gone. He is tired of his confinement, but he has about 6 1/2 weeks left of it. Restricted activity (something I figured he would be good at) is a pain in the butt… Hoover misses going outside and roaming, barking, and running the fence line with the neighbor dogs. I feel bad leaving him at the vet while we were gone, but I think it was better than having someone house sit this soon after the surgery. When Rebecca, Spencer, Braelyn and I go to Colorado in a few weeks for my nephew Nathan’s graduation (you are graduating still, aren’t you Nate?) we have a house sitter. Hopefully Hoover will be easier to handle by then.
I guess that’s enough rambles for today. Time to get a shower and hit the 100 degree city of Vegas. You should mark this date on the calendar, as I didn’t really get political on here… only one slight Obamaism. I should get an award!
Take care, and Happy Mothers’ Day tomorrow to all the mothers of the world.
Peace,
Denver’s Future!!!
By · Comments
Denver's Future!!!
Enough said.
Thanks to my CEO, Phil Spencer, for brightening by day with this in an e-mail.
–RE
Q109 – Tough Quarter for Dogs
By · CommentsTonight, a fellow employee at Aplus.net is spending her last night with her dog, Dru. I just learned on Facebook about 4 or 5 weeks ago that Tracey Seib had an English Mastiff. I think I must have posted something about Hoover or somehow she ran across his pictures on my site. Anyway, she told me she had a 10 1/2 year old male English Mastiff named Dru. Just a week or two later, she learned that Dru had terminal cancer… a lump developed rapidly in his leg, and she was forced with the dreaded decision of what to do. Sadly, it came to her having to make the decision to put Dru down, and she scheduled the date just a week ago to take place tomorrow, March 27th. It has become very clear that Dru is a major part of Tracey’s life, just like Hoover is in my life. I have lost sleep and been very uneasy the past few weeks because Hoover is having a leg problem, has developed a small bump on his leg, and hasn’t been eating quite right. The bump on his leg, combined with the timing of Tracey finding out about Dru has weighed heavily on my mind. Fortunately for me, Hoover is eating better and his blood tests came back indicating no issues. Tomorrow, he begins new medication to hopefully help his leg, else we will have to have some x-rays taken with him sedated — something I don’t want to do. But for me, I am so fortunate because Hoover is in good health, yet his “brother” Dru is spending his final night (for now, at least) with Tracey. Last night I got out of bed and went and layed down with Hoover and thought hard about what Tracey is going through, and how someday that very well be me. I know Dru has been getting extra special attention from Tracey these past two weeks, and I was pleased to read on her Facebook page just moments ago that Dru has been enjoying some cheeseburgers and chicken nuggets, while popcorn and ice cream await him later this evening. My thoughts and prayers are with Tracey and Dru tonight… it will be a tough night for Tracey, followed by many tough days ahead, but Dru will leave this earth tomorrow having had a very good life and knowing that he was loved.
Dru and Tracey
This follows just two weeks after my sister Wendy and her family had to go through the exact same situation with their dog, Casey. Casey was 13 years old and had a tremendous life and brought joy to my sister, my brother-in-law Tony, my nephews Brandon, Nathan and Keegan, and my niece Courtney. Of course, she was a great dog to her extended family as well, and it will be hard next time I am in Fort Collins (in less than 2 months to celebrate Nathan’s pending graduation — you will be graduating, won’t you Nate?) Won’t get to see that cute little dog Casey-Casey. She, too, was diagonsed with cancer, but she made it on drugs and love for about a year before they had to make the ultimate decision to let Casey go before the pain was too much. Like Tracey and Dru tomorrow, they had the act performed at their home with the whole family there.
Casey Casey
Aside from Dru and Casey, my parents lost one of their two pugs, Maggie, just a few months ago. Unlike Dru and Casey, Maggie died unexpectedly when she went in to get her teeth cleaned. She was, so it seems, in good health, but they had to sedate her to do the procedure and she went into cardiac arrest. This is why I am trying hard to see if we can get Hoover healed without getting sedated xrays. Unlike Tracey and my sister’s family, my mom and dad didn’t get to say goodbye to Maggie… they didn’t get an opportunity to come-to-grips with it. In some ways, I think that’s good… I know when my day comes and I depart this earth, I want it to be sudden and quick, just like Maggie’s passing … a passing with no suffering. But, on the flip side, not getting to spend time saying goodbye… eating cheeseburgers and chicken nuggets… is something that you hate to think about missing out on.
Maggie Moo
I should mention, too, that though I don’t remember all the details about what my friend Shawn Porter told me (sorry Shawn, I *think* I may have had a few pre-birthday drinks when we talked last week), I know he lost his lab this year, too. I do remember him telling me how hard it is to explain to his daughter, and I know someday, I may be in that same place, too.
Time helps heal all wounds, but quarter one, 2009 sure has been a tough one for my family and friends when it comes to their four legged family members. My thoughts are with them all, and it is great to know that I am not the only nut in this world who loves his pet as if it were his child. Here’s to the four legged family members and those that have cared so much for them. Hang in there, Tracey, and though I didn’t get to meet Dru, give him a hug for me.
-RElledge
Did I Hear That Right?
By · CommentsPresident Obama just said, and I quote (I have left out the umm’s):
We don’t want a situation in which some countries are making extraordinary efforts and other countries aren’t [on improving the global economy] with the hope that somehow the countries that are making those important steps lift everybody up.”
Maybe I am completely off base here, but does this not contradict to the core what Obama is trying to legislate right here in our homeland? Where the upper class and businesses [the countries that make the extraordinary effort] take care of everyone else’s problems [the countries that don't]?
Certainly I am not trying to imply that anyone not in the upper class or businesses don’t do their part, but I think you should see the contradiction here. Of course, again, I may be completely off base….
—