The Death of a Grandparent
I’m 25 years old, and I consider myself to be quite fortunate in the fact that I’ve made it 25 years before having a grandparent pass away. I’ve been blessed with 3 awesome grandparents (my mother’s mother passed before I was born), and have had the opportunity to get to know all of them.{MORE}
A couple years ago my granny (my father’s mother) suffered a couple strokes, which caused caused paralysis on half her body, and a great deal of memory loss. Since then, she has suffered a couple of smaller strokes, each eating away at my granny’s mind and body. My granny now barely recognizes anyone, and is missing almost all of one of her legs, due to poor circulation and other complications.
How has my granny made it this long? I’m not really sure, but I bet it has something to do with my granddaddy. He loves her dearly and is often quite saddened that she can’t just come home with him and resume the glorious retired life they were enjoying. My granny lives in a nursing home about 10 minutes away from my granddaddy, and with the same commitment he showed during the first 60 years of marriage, he continues to be by her side every day.
That will all change now. Yesterday my granddaddy had a brain anurism and the outlook was very grim. All of us in the family knew it was just around the corner, so we waited. At 7am this morning my granddaddy passed away. He was greatly loved, and will be missed terribly.
Gas is SO overrated!
I spent my Friday night attempting to finish the horrid task of unpacking, washing dishes, and yes, watching a bit of t.v. Ok, so I did more t.v. watching than anything else-but I got a good start! Later in the evening, some friends of ours invited us over to watch a late movie. So, I picked Kyle up at Panera (he was getting some work done for clients) and we were on our way. Now, Kyle had driven to Panera by himself, but we figured we’d save a little gas if I picked him up on the way, and we’d grab his car on the way home. {MORE} Well let me back up just a little here…I had filled my gas tank up half way the afternoon before, and by the time I got home from work on Friday it looked as though I was almost on E. But, when I got in the car to go out Friday night, I was back up to 1/4 of a tank. I though it might be a little strange, but I figured we’d grab some gas the next day, surely there was plenty to go out tonight.
So, we’re on our way, only about a 1/2 mile from our friend’s house, and the truck begins to make this horrid coughing, choking, icky noise. At first I was like, what are you doing?! (Kyle was driving) And then it came to me, oh yah, there’s no gas! I began to laugh hysterically while a very confused husband pulled the truck over on the shoulder. Oh, just wait it gets better! So, we called our friends and they were going to come help us push the truck to the gas station (it was at the light which was less than 1/4 mile). So, Kyle begins pushing the truck…pushing pushing pushing, and I’m feeling incredibly stupid b/c we’re on the side of the road with nothing around but stupid corn fields. The first police officer stops & asks if we need help. No no thanks, we can push it to the gas station! He keeps pushing. Our friend shows up and we get all the way down to the light, and I realize there’s no way we’ll make it through the light (speed limit is like 50 around here). I finally convince (ok convince tell…its all the same) Kyle to just cross the street and fill up a gas can-its already taken half an hour! The second police officer stops…No no thanks, we’re getting gas from the gas station! Kyle finally returns and puts a dollar’s worth of gas in the tank. Well, while he was gone I began to notice that our hazzard lights were fading a bit. That’s strange I thought, oh well. Our friend heads back to his house while we hop back in the car to start it up. Click click click. Yup, you guessed it! The battery was dead! Son of a motherless goat! So, we try calling our friend back (he had realized something was wrong & turned into the gas station). Now the 3rd police officer was stopping behind us. No, no thanks our friend can come give us a jump. The police officer waited behind us until we could get jumped. Our friend finally came back & jumped us. So needless to say, our movie was started about an hourish later than we had hoped.
When I learned to drive, my dad always told me to never let the gas get lower than 1/4 tank…I suppose I’ll have to start going by that lesson, huh?
Setting New Year’s Resolutions
Every new year brings a new list of resolutions that quickly fade into oblivion. You know how it goes, you set some lofty goals and within a few weeks you’ve completely forgotten that you set goals in the first place. Not that it really mattered, because you never took necessary steps to even start your goals. This year, despite having said this many times in the past, things will be different.{MORE}
This year, I have one main goal. Discipline. For me, I think that discipline is the key to my future. I already have enough ambition to drive Heidi nuts, but I think that being disciplined will allow me to accomplish anything I set my mind to.
To accomplish my goal, I’ve set a pretty ridgid schedule for myself, which includes everything from eating and sleeping, to morning devotions, afternoon runs, and sunday evening special projects with Heidi. I’m hoping that my ridgid schedule will allow me to accomplish more of the everyday mundane tasks, which will hopefully help me be more focused when I’m working, and more relaxed when I’m sleeping. *If* I’m able to maintain my ridgid schedule, then here are some of the fruits I should be enjoying:
- weight gain (muscle weight)
- physical fitness
- consistent meals
- healthy eating
- consistent sleeping
- increased productivity
- better stress management
For those of you who have set your new years resolution, don’t just talk-the-talk this year, discipline yourself and accomplish your goals! You won’t regret it.