These two were so taken with each other! View more pix by clicking on this one and browse through my photo gallery.
Friday, September 07, 2007
Father, Father..
The past 2 weeks have given me very different definitions of that word. I have viewed it from several perspectives and come up with varied opinions. It is just a word after all.. or is it? Father, Dad, Daddy, they all inspire different thoughts and meanings for all of us.
My father, Stanley, died in 1998. I didn't know him very well until I was an adult. I wish I had more time with him. I wish I had known him better. He was my Father.
Kierra called Brian Daddy from almost the day she met him. She always considered him her Father. Even when she was older and met her biological father, she always felt Brian was hers. She changed her name to Shore when she was 20 because she wanted the world to know it, and gave Brian the papers as a gift for Christmas. Those bonds are stronger than if she had been born to him.
Brian has a hard time with the twins calling him Daddy. They call him Papa too, which is his preference, but they call him Daddy more and more lately. The Dr. says it really is just a name to them, we are the ones who attach meaning to it.
Alex came to visit a couple weeks ago. They called him Daddy Alex, Dad, but most often just Alex. They didn't understand who he is or what the term Dad or Daddy means in connection to him. He was someone new who gave them his undivided attention for a few days. He took some great pictures. I will post them on the gallery over the weekend. I took a few at the zoo that I will post as well. He is off to California. We didn't get into any heavy discussions. I think it was all a bit overwhelming for him. It is for me some days too!
My Mom & Dad just celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary. He is legally my step-Dad, which has never counted for me. He is my Dad. Greta & I threw a huge suprise party for them and also to celebrate my Mom's 75th birthday. (Between that & Alex I have been swamped the past couple weeks.. hence less blogging!) It was full of emotional moments and lots of suprises. No matter what went on behind the scenes, the party was a hit. My Mom said it was all she had dreamed of. My Dad couldn't believe all we had done and that so many of us were there. 6 out of my mother's 7 children were there. And 1 of my Dad's 3 daughters came as well. He was so glad to see her there. I never had a doubt about inviting his daughters to the party. They are his children too. They didn't see him much growing up. There were alot of reasons why. Their Mother has passed on several years ago and they have gotten closer to him as adults. Watching the video was hard for her, and made her realize not all the things she was raised to believe were true. It was an opportunity for old wounds to heal and hopefully bring them closer together. He is her Father, but she doesn't have the bond I have with him as my Dad. His blood may run through her veins, but it runs through my heart. I hope she gets the chance to have that with him. I have never consciously seperated the categories of siblings in our family. My mother had 5 children when she married my Dad. I was the youngest of those 5. My younger brother and sister are their children together. I never considered them anything other than my brother and sister. I didn't talk about them as my half brother and sister. We were all raised together. It was a kick this weekend to introduce them as my "baby" brother and sister! So as you can see, our family tree has many branches. Some stronger than others, some a little weak, but with support they will grow strong again.
Multiple meanings of what a Father is, can be, and should be. But so much more than just a "word".
My father, Stanley, died in 1998. I didn't know him very well until I was an adult. I wish I had more time with him. I wish I had known him better. He was my Father.
Kierra called Brian Daddy from almost the day she met him. She always considered him her Father. Even when she was older and met her biological father, she always felt Brian was hers. She changed her name to Shore when she was 20 because she wanted the world to know it, and gave Brian the papers as a gift for Christmas. Those bonds are stronger than if she had been born to him.
Brian has a hard time with the twins calling him Daddy. They call him Papa too, which is his preference, but they call him Daddy more and more lately. The Dr. says it really is just a name to them, we are the ones who attach meaning to it.
Alex came to visit a couple weeks ago. They called him Daddy Alex, Dad, but most often just Alex. They didn't understand who he is or what the term Dad or Daddy means in connection to him. He was someone new who gave them his undivided attention for a few days. He took some great pictures. I will post them on the gallery over the weekend. I took a few at the zoo that I will post as well. He is off to California. We didn't get into any heavy discussions. I think it was all a bit overwhelming for him. It is for me some days too!
My Mom & Dad just celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary. He is legally my step-Dad, which has never counted for me. He is my Dad. Greta & I threw a huge suprise party for them and also to celebrate my Mom's 75th birthday. (Between that & Alex I have been swamped the past couple weeks.. hence less blogging!) It was full of emotional moments and lots of suprises. No matter what went on behind the scenes, the party was a hit. My Mom said it was all she had dreamed of. My Dad couldn't believe all we had done and that so many of us were there. 6 out of my mother's 7 children were there. And 1 of my Dad's 3 daughters came as well. He was so glad to see her there. I never had a doubt about inviting his daughters to the party. They are his children too. They didn't see him much growing up. There were alot of reasons why. Their Mother has passed on several years ago and they have gotten closer to him as adults. Watching the video was hard for her, and made her realize not all the things she was raised to believe were true. It was an opportunity for old wounds to heal and hopefully bring them closer together. He is her Father, but she doesn't have the bond I have with him as my Dad. His blood may run through her veins, but it runs through my heart. I hope she gets the chance to have that with him. I have never consciously seperated the categories of siblings in our family. My mother had 5 children when she married my Dad. I was the youngest of those 5. My younger brother and sister are their children together. I never considered them anything other than my brother and sister. I didn't talk about them as my half brother and sister. We were all raised together. It was a kick this weekend to introduce them as my "baby" brother and sister! So as you can see, our family tree has many branches. Some stronger than others, some a little weak, but with support they will grow strong again.
Multiple meanings of what a Father is, can be, and should be. But so much more than just a "word".
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Whole lotta changes goin on!
Thursday night a few of us girls got together for a farewell dinner for Savannah. She is off to a semester of college in England! There are a couple pix from Harmonious Monks in the photo gallery.. take a peek, they are cute. It is a fun place on a busy night. It was slow Thursday, but we made our own party as always! So many changes going on.. Nancy out west, Savannah accross the ocean.. wowser..
Brian & Hunter Silly 8-23-07
Brian & Hunter wanted to do one serious pic (click on this pic to go to photo gallery) and one silly pic.. Hunter thinks it is so cool he can curl his tongue! He is very excited to start school and is doing great with the transition to a new school and new kids. We look forward to a great year!
Saturday, August 25, 2007
Chad in Tux 1991
He is now 21! We went to Red Lobster on Tues 8/21 for his birthday. Hard to believe time can fly by so fast!
Monday, August 20, 2007
It's all a Blur!
My days blur together! It confuses me.. and I am sure you too.. when I have been up since 4:30 am (Sunday) and am still up at 2 am (now Monday)! My today was yesterday, and my tomorrow is today!!
I was up at the butt-crack of dawn to ride with Terry to take Nancy & her sister, Susan, to the airport. Nancy now lives out west! She text messaged me throughout the day and then called me tonight. It seems unreal to me that she is now so far away, not just down the road. Alot of changes going on.. although she said they have palm trees mixed in with cactus and Flagstaff is just a cooler St. Augustine!
I am up so late working on a project that I will tell more about at a later date. It's a secret! I am driven to get it done and I am on a time crunch to do it.. what's one more thing, right?! I am not doing it all alone, so that is a big help. I am going to shut things down and try to get some sleep, wish me luck!
I was up at the butt-crack of dawn to ride with Terry to take Nancy & her sister, Susan, to the airport. Nancy now lives out west! She text messaged me throughout the day and then called me tonight. It seems unreal to me that she is now so far away, not just down the road. Alot of changes going on.. although she said they have palm trees mixed in with cactus and Flagstaff is just a cooler St. Augustine!
I am up so late working on a project that I will tell more about at a later date. It's a secret! I am driven to get it done and I am on a time crunch to do it.. what's one more thing, right?! I am not doing it all alone, so that is a big help. I am going to shut things down and try to get some sleep, wish me luck!
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Saturday, August 18, 2007
A Snake in the Grass..
I have been busy since getting back from the ranch. The Beckley House had an open house today, so I have been over there sprucing it up and getting it ready. The realtor called to say his assistant was handling it and she had someone heading to the office to write up a contract.( don't get too excited, we haven't heard anything else about that!) There was a couple last night when I was finishing up cleaning who came to look at it and were supposedly very interested too. So the prospects are good and it is getting shown alot. Then I got a call that there was a problem. There wasn't a snake in the grass.. it was in a bedroon closet! A black rat snake was in the closet in one of the back bedrooms. The girl who was there was deathly afraid and bolted out and left. I got a neighbor to go over and remove the snake, but it put a real damper on my open house! I haven't heard anything else, so we will see. I hadn't checked the closets because it is new carpet and it was cleaned last week. I am sure it got in when my repair man was working and left the back sliding door open or when the house was being shown. We have wetlands behind that house and a couple snakes live under the back deck. It has been so hot lately, I am sure the cool air coming from the house was too much of a temptation! Always excitement at the Shore house!
The Deer Did It!!
I once again am paying for my impetuous nature! On Monday the girls & I rode with a group. It was Amanda's first time there and you have to go with a guide the first time so they can see how you ride, etc. Barney & I stayed to the back of the group. He was getting ansy and really wanted to run. We were waiting for our guide, Blane, to finish helping a couple other riders. I decided to take Barney up ahead and take a little run. The minute I gave him the signal he opened up and was flying. It was sweet! Until a baby deer jumped out from behind a fallen tree and sprinted accross the trail in front of us. Barney reared up and did a complete turn around before coming back down on his front feet. When he came back down we were very close to a tree and I was leaning right, which put my head in direct line with that tree. I immediately swung myself to the left, while Barney veered right to go around the tree. So you can see where the problem occured. I went left, and he went right. I knew I was going down, but other than grabbing his mane to help slow me down, there was little I could do. I landed on my back, hitting my head and left elbow on tree roots and hard packed Georgia clay! I had an ostrich egg on my head and a major bruise and pain on my left elbow. Despite that, I was determined not to go back to the group walking my horse because I couldn't get back on! I found a big chunk of a tree they had been cutting, so I hefted it to an upright position and used it as a step up to get back on Barney. He is over 16 hands, which is 8 feet tall at his withers. I am 5 foot 2 inches.. a tad short to reach the stirrups and heft myself up! We rejoined the group just as they had come looking for me. I didn't mention being thrown until we were back at the barn and they could see the back of my shirt covered in clay! Marei teased me that they will have to put velcro on me and my saddle! I reminded her it wasn't my fault or Barney's.. the deer did it!! Of course I was told to "watch out for the deer!" the rest of the trip!
Bri's Birthday trip..
Okay, I just realized I am on my home PC, not my laptop.. all the pix from Brianne's birthday are on my laptop.. so I will do a little catch up chat, then post pix later! I took Brianne, & her friend Amanda to the horse ranch for Bri's birthday. We had to stay at the Comfort Inn in town because the ranch was full. For whatever reason I could not get a good wireless connection at the hotel. We went up Sunday night, went riding and had a birthday lunch for Bri at the ranch on Monday. I had called ahead and they made her a cake. She was very suprised! We met a woman from Canada, Jody, so she joined our group for meals & riding. She went into town with us to shop on Tuesday as well. It was fun. We went to Atlanta on Tuesday night to see Michael Buble, He was great, and very funny! Alot funnier than the warm-up comedian they had on before the show! Always up for adventure we stopped at an IHOP on our way back to Madison after the show. It was very late, and we were not in the best part of town! It was one of the worst meals I have ever had, but the night was awesome anyway! We rode Wednesday morning then headed home. It was a really good trip. My baby girl is 23 now!
Too Many Emails!
I have not been on my computer for almost a week.. and I had over 137 emails!! So I will catch up on blogging, and get to what emails I can asap. TTFN
Saturday, August 11, 2007
Pony Pix, Tristan 8-11-07
There is another pic when we tricked him into looking up, just click on this pic and it will take you to my photo gallery, more photos are on the right, just click on browse to view them! He would not ride.. guess we will have to work on that!
Pony Pix 8-11-07 Hunter
Today was birthday party day. This morning we had a party for our old neighbor's son. They had pony rides. Hunter and Alexa Loved it.. as you will see.. Tristan did not! Hunter informed them it was a nice pony, but his horse was alot bigger! Alexa loved it.. she rode over and over again. When you mention riding the pony her face lights up and she says.. MY PONY! We went to another party this afternoon at Ollie Koala's.. lot's of games, etc. Alexa kept asking where the pony was? When I told her no more pony she was not happy!
Friday, August 10, 2007
Cali after surgery..Conehead!
This is Cali "after"! She is doing great, and although she doesn't like the cup on her head.. she hasn't shown any signs of pain or tenderness which is really good. This is our vet's alternative to the old procedure of stinting and wrapping the ears which does not allow airflow and proper healing of the stitches. So far so good. Will have more pix when the cone comes off!
Cali 8-7-07 12 weeks
Cali got spayed on Tuesday. The vet agreed to do it while she was getting her ear surgery done since she is a bigger dog and it would save us the cost of two seperate surgeries. I decided to get her ears trimmed not because of the cosmetic look of the average Great Dane, but because we have had constant problems with our Mastiff's ears which hang down like Cali's did in this picture. we have rarely had issues with our chows, whose ears stand up and get plenty of air. I wanted to avoid those problems with Cali. So here she is "before"..
Half Full, or Half Empty??
Admittedly, I guess I am a half empty type person. There are times I try not to be, but it gets the best of me. So how do you become a half full person? Or is it something that is part of our base personality? There are aspects of my life that really suck. People I have to deal with that drain the positive energy right out of me.. and before you tell me to scrape them off.. for unchangeable reasons I can't.. so how do I convert that to something constructive? I am very blessed. In so many ways life is good for us. That does not erase what we have been through, but it helps us get out of bed every day and carry on. Most days my glass is more than half full, until someone bumps into me and makes me spill it all over myself!! And then in the words of Alexa.. I just have to... "clean it up!"
Still For Sale!
The Beckley house is still on the market. It has been shown twice. No bites. I just reduced the price, put out a new flyer and the realtor is setting up open houses.. sell baby sell!!
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