Well I am getting worse about writing. Not like there isn't anything to blog about. Being a Military Spouse and all the things that have gone on this year, there is plenty to write about.
The Military has taken us onto our next adventure. We are back on the east coast and back in Virginia. We had a great month of October visiting family during our move. It was much needed time to spend with our family.
My siblings and parents are doing well. It is never a dull moment at my parents house. It took us 2.5 days to make it to my parents. We weren't in a rush to get to their house this time so that was a nice change.
Our next stop was here in Northern Virginia. It took us two days to get here from my parents.
The couple of days we were in Northern Virginia to house hunt we did stay in a hotel with a kitchen in the suite. It was great. I was able to feed us for the week on about $20. Yes I know that doesn't make sense or add up but breakfast was provided by the hotel in the morning and then three nights during the week the hotel actually provided supper. Did I mention we really enjoyed our stay in the hotel?!
From there we stayed in Boston for a couple of days. My grandmother had a triple bypass and heart valve replacement. I needed to make sure she was doing ok. Back in March Papa had passed away and I feel a little more protective or maybe it is just a little more worried about her.
From Boston to Vermont for two weeks. We were able to spend some time with Nathan's brothers, parents, and my sister.
After two weeks it was time to head back to Virginia to prepare for Nathan to go back to work. We stayed in the same hotel as we did during our house hunting trip. We still had another couple of weeks before we could move into the house.
It has taken me about a week to get us unpacked and some of the house cleaned. I still have more cleaning that I need to get done but a little break is needed as it is nearly Thanksgiving.
We hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Tuesday, September 06, 2011
Best laid plans
As we passed the Monterey county fairgrounds a few weeks ago I saw on their LED sign that a Steely Dan tribute band was playing at the fair. Steely Dan being the band that performed the song "Rikki don't lose that number" which is the source of my wonderful wife's name. She's had that song as her cellphone ring tone ever since we learned to hack into our first cellphones. I looked up the band Aja Vu and shot them an email via their contact page to their manager. I really wasn't expecting a reply but I asked if they could dedicate their most famous song to my wife. A few days later I get an email from Ron, the lead guitarist, who would be more than happy to dedicate it. He was even nice enough to let me know which showing and in what order the song would be. As the fair approached Rikki of course wanted to go on the "free military" day which was not the day they were playing. It was pretty easy to work around that and instead convince her to power wash the house that day because of the good weather. But, I wasn't sure how I'd convince her to go on Monday for the 3:30 show (song #4). Monday turned out to be really nice so I convinced her to head to the fair around 2:00. We walked the entire fair passed infront of the stage as Aja Vu played their first song but after their introduction so Rikki would not know who they were. I could tell Rikki recognized it was a Steely Dan song but I wanted to wait a bit longer before sitting down so she wouldn't be sure. We made one more loop before sitting down right before song 4. I had timed it perfectly, Rikki didn't suspect a thing as they started to play the song and... Ron forgot to dedicate it to her. We stayed around for a little while and I was hoping he would remember but we had to get home by 6 so we left before they finished their set. That night I received an apology email from Ron and I politely replied back "it happens" and it was the "thought that counts." He said he did try to find us after the set and apologize. I did tell Rikki it wasn't just coincidence that we sat down right when her song was about to play. It just goes to show "the best laid schemes of mice and men go often askew," (Robert Burns)
UPDATE: Ron emailed us and offered to put us on his guest list for one of their next shows in Oakland or Santa Cruz. Unfortunately, we can't make either, but it was a generous offer.
UPDATE: Ron emailed us and offered to put us on his guest list for one of their next shows in Oakland or Santa Cruz. Unfortunately, we can't make either, but it was a generous offer.
Tuesday, August 09, 2011
2 Others Have Passed - RIP
This has been a horrible year! Two other people I know have passed away this year.
Carol E. Stephens of Northfield, VT passed away on July 30th. Prof. Stephens was a faculty instructor at Norwich University.
Brian R. Bill of Stamford, CT passes away on August 6th. Navy SEAL Petty Officer Brian was a classmate from Norwich University.
Prof. Stephens is the second to have passed from cancer or complications from cancer.
I really don't like the "C" word. It impacts more families than it should.
RIP Prof. Stephens and Navy SEAL Brian Bill
Carol E. Stephens of Northfield, VT passed away on July 30th. Prof. Stephens was a faculty instructor at Norwich University.
Brian R. Bill of Stamford, CT passes away on August 6th. Navy SEAL Petty Officer Brian was a classmate from Norwich University.
Prof. Stephens is the second to have passed from cancer or complications from cancer.
I really don't like the "C" word. It impacts more families than it should.
RIP Prof. Stephens and Navy SEAL Brian Bill
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
3 Months
It has taken me a while to write this because of the catch up work I have been trying to get done from my trip but I did want to post about it.
I had a very interesting May. I left home on May 11th and didn't return until later in the evening of June 4th. I went to Kansas to visit my siblings and parents. One of my brothers was graduating from High School. It was cold in Kansas again. I say that because last May it was freezing for the big double college graduation and parents surprise 50th. I was actually happy this time I brought my warmer suede jacket.
From Kansas I headed to Boston for a one night wait until Nathan arrived from California. That weekend was spent in Vermont in celebration of my BIL's (Brother-in-law) wedding. It was a beautiful ceremony but a little buggy.
Then a trip back to Boston until the end of the month. I was home to try to help Nana and to finish the grieving process. I tried to help her in any way that I could. We did some clutter cleaning, went through bills, sorted through some of Papa's stuff and tried to get out or run some errands every day.
Can I just saying taking time to go through the putting someone to rest/grieving process is very hard. Maybe I should be more clear. As a military spouse being far away from home is the pits when you loose a close family member. I had to deal with getting used to the horrible "c" word, deal with the rapid growth and deterioration of a loved one because of the "c" word, and then finally being able to visit their grave; that is the pits. It took me nearly three months to do all of that. Can you believe that?! The worse part is I really don't feel like I 100% came to reality on the "c" word.
I remember the last time I saw my Papa. He didn't look sick. He didn't seem sick to me. I think this is horrible but I question how long he had the "c" word and I/we never knew. It just isn't right. Was the "c" word growing inside him the last time I saw him? Could it have been caught then? Would he have been given a chance with radiation/chemo therapy?
I even did research on alternate forms of treatment for the "c" word. I would have maybe even have liked for him to have that option over radiation/chemo therapy. Here are several links. Note a majority of the links I am posting are on LiveStrong.com.
Okay I realize that some of these links are in reference to Vitamin C for the skin "c" word but I still think that there is something there.
Nathan was able to bring home some of Papa's stuff that would fit him. I brought home some of Papa's notebooks due to family history information and he had some drawings for the silly wood carvings he used to make. I brought home some of the things that I also had sent to him before he passed. They were things I was hoping would help him or that he could enjoy while he was recovering.
I did break down and cry on Nana when I found the notebooks. I was happy to find some family history I know he had been working hard on and to just see it in his writing. It made it a little bit hard.
All in all in was a good trip all the way around. It was a little sad, yes but it was needed.
RIP Papa and Thank You to all those that took care of me while I was traveling!
I had a very interesting May. I left home on May 11th and didn't return until later in the evening of June 4th. I went to Kansas to visit my siblings and parents. One of my brothers was graduating from High School. It was cold in Kansas again. I say that because last May it was freezing for the big double college graduation and parents surprise 50th. I was actually happy this time I brought my warmer suede jacket.
From Kansas I headed to Boston for a one night wait until Nathan arrived from California. That weekend was spent in Vermont in celebration of my BIL's (Brother-in-law) wedding. It was a beautiful ceremony but a little buggy.
Then a trip back to Boston until the end of the month. I was home to try to help Nana and to finish the grieving process. I tried to help her in any way that I could. We did some clutter cleaning, went through bills, sorted through some of Papa's stuff and tried to get out or run some errands every day.
Can I just saying taking time to go through the putting someone to rest/grieving process is very hard. Maybe I should be more clear. As a military spouse being far away from home is the pits when you loose a close family member. I had to deal with getting used to the horrible "c" word, deal with the rapid growth and deterioration of a loved one because of the "c" word, and then finally being able to visit their grave; that is the pits. It took me nearly three months to do all of that. Can you believe that?! The worse part is I really don't feel like I 100% came to reality on the "c" word.
I remember the last time I saw my Papa. He didn't look sick. He didn't seem sick to me. I think this is horrible but I question how long he had the "c" word and I/we never knew. It just isn't right. Was the "c" word growing inside him the last time I saw him? Could it have been caught then? Would he have been given a chance with radiation/chemo therapy?
I even did research on alternate forms of treatment for the "c" word. I would have maybe even have liked for him to have that option over radiation/chemo therapy. Here are several links. Note a majority of the links I am posting are on LiveStrong.com.
- http://www.livestrong.com/article/268700-vitamin-c-treatment-for-skin-cancer/
- http://www.livestrong.com/article/431926-why-is-vitamin-c-important/
- http://www.livestrong.com/article/304705-zinc-vs-vitamin-c/
- http://www.livestrong.com/article/437166-vitamin-c-hypercholesterolemia/
- http://www.orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v03n12.shtml
- http://www.cancertutor.com/Cancer02/VitaminC.html
Okay I realize that some of these links are in reference to Vitamin C for the skin "c" word but I still think that there is something there.
Nathan was able to bring home some of Papa's stuff that would fit him. I brought home some of Papa's notebooks due to family history information and he had some drawings for the silly wood carvings he used to make. I brought home some of the things that I also had sent to him before he passed. They were things I was hoping would help him or that he could enjoy while he was recovering.
I did break down and cry on Nana when I found the notebooks. I was happy to find some family history I know he had been working hard on and to just see it in his writing. It made it a little bit hard.
All in all in was a good trip all the way around. It was a little sad, yes but it was needed.
RIP Papa and Thank You to all those that took care of me while I was traveling!
Saturday, April 23, 2011
7 Weeks &/or Nearly 3 Weeks
7 weeks ago now Papa passed away. It has been a struggle. Part of me is holding out hope that Papa will be there when I arrive in Boston on the 22nd. Another part of me is trying to prepare for the fact that I am just not going to see. I then proceed to tell myself that I need to get over the fact that the last time that I saw him was 2 years ago. That hurts! It all hurts!! It is horrible that I have to mentally "talk" myself into reality.
If that was hectic enough my other grandfather (my dad's father) passed away almost three weeks ago. I feel guilty because I didn't know him. My other siblings knew him or had an opportunity to get to know him. It is horrible watching your family suffer and not know what to do.
To go through 2 deaths in the family, within 30 days, both passing very suddenly; is ridiculous. I really don't know how else to even explain it. I am not a very good writer either. I can't write creatively, I just say what comes to mind. Anyway, I just keep telling myself what are the odds? Why did we have to suffer these losses so close to each other.
Here is a letter that I wrote to Grandpa Tyner. I hoped he would get this before he passed. It was something I wish I had done for Papa. Actually I wanted to put together a DVD slide-show of some house photos for him. It was something he had been asking me for a little while. I just wanted to wait until the house was done before I sent them, for the big "WOW" factor. I still feel a little cruddy that I never did that for him. I think I really wrote this letter with the both of them in mind.
The other thing that gets me is being so far away from the east coast. It didn't help any. I ended up spending a significant amount of time on the phone and sending texts. I am not on the phone nearly as much lately. I think everyone needs their own space and time to "deal" with things.
If that was hectic enough my other grandfather (my dad's father) passed away almost three weeks ago. I feel guilty because I didn't know him. My other siblings knew him or had an opportunity to get to know him. It is horrible watching your family suffer and not know what to do.
To go through 2 deaths in the family, within 30 days, both passing very suddenly; is ridiculous. I really don't know how else to even explain it. I am not a very good writer either. I can't write creatively, I just say what comes to mind. Anyway, I just keep telling myself what are the odds? Why did we have to suffer these losses so close to each other.
Here is a letter that I wrote to Grandpa Tyner. I hoped he would get this before he passed. It was something I wish I had done for Papa. Actually I wanted to put together a DVD slide-show of some house photos for him. It was something he had been asking me for a little while. I just wanted to wait until the house was done before I sent them, for the big "WOW" factor. I still feel a little cruddy that I never did that for him. I think I really wrote this letter with the both of them in mind.
The other thing that gets me is being so far away from the east coast. It didn't help any. I ended up spending a significant amount of time on the phone and sending texts. I am not on the phone nearly as much lately. I think everyone needs their own space and time to "deal" with things.
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