Pleased to Meet Me

I was going to have a chance to do something this weekend that I have never done before.

I was going to meet one of the readers of this blog.

Her daughter (and my former Manager) had introduced her to You Are Out of the Will a few months ago and (or so I've been told) had enjoyed some of my little stories here.

Her daughter invited me to her wedding and while I was certainly excited to be able to share a special day with her, I was almost more excited to meet her Mom.

Now to be absolutely honest, I'm a bit of a feedback junkie when it comes to this blog.

It started with the Commander and watching her reaction to what I had written.

And then it spread as I shared my stories with other friends that I work with.

And I've loved the interaction that I've had with a couple of other bloggers out there. It was especially gratifying to have a published author tell me she liked my voice.

But now, I was going to be meet somebody that was introduced to me via this blog.

I know it might sound weird but I couldn't wait to meet her.

VW

Can You Hear Me Now?

When it comes to taking care of the loose ends that my dad left, I'm probably batting around .500.

One thing that I've let go for quite some time is taking care of the cell phone contract that he purchased just before his death.

For a while now, it was just easier to pay the bill. Maybe it was the nightmare that Dish Network put me through when I was trying to cancel that service?

Anyway, this weekend I finally took care of it and cancelled my dad's phone service.

But not before he made one final call.

For that, we have to go back to Christmas Eve.

We were all over at the house of the Commander's sister opening presents and eating In-and-Out burgers (it's their family tradition...don't ask).

Number 2 uses his phone as his primary line so I didn't think anything when I heard his phone ring.

He pulled it out of his pocket and stared at screen.

He was sitting near the Commander and he showed her the screen before putting the phone back in his pocket.

I didn't find out what was going on until the next day.

He was back over at our house on Christmas morning and he showed me the call history on his phone.

The call history said it all - Dad.

I looked at Number 2 and asked where our dad's phone was at.

"It's sitting inside the nightstand next to my bed....and it has no charge," he replied.

"Why didn't you answer it?" I asked.

"It freaked me out. I was thinking of that Twilight Zone where the phone lines fell on the grave and the dead person was calling from beyond," he replied.

I couldn't argue with that logic. Made sense to me.

VW

American Idle

Sorry to have to interrupt the Wood Lady story. I'll get back to it this weekend.

But I promised some of you that Friday would be a good day to check out what was going on here and I intend to make sure that I give you all something that (I think) is worth the wait.

So tune back in on Sunday and I'll knock out the rest of the Wood Lady story. In the meantime, I want to share a little about where I've been and where I'm at today.

I've figured out what the hardest thing to do when a parent passes away.

It's not the grieving. Believe me, that comes very naturally.

While painful beyond what most can imagine, it is actually very easy to do (at least it was for me).

No, the hardest thing to do is to let go of that grief and move forward.

A couple of months ago I realized that I was like a car with the engine running but stuck in neutral.

I was letting my life idle.

And it was time to put it in drive.

So I've thought about what I wanted to do and how I want to do it and I've come to some conclusions.

I want to enjoy life. Every day we have is a gift and just because you complete one day, it doesn't give you a guarantee that you're going to get another.

I want to enjoy my family. No family is perfect. But they belong to you and you to them. I can honestly say that I've never been closer to all of my family until this past year and I am thankful for how they enrich my life.

I want to enjoy my work. I want to know that the effort that I put into what I produce matters to somebody. Thankfully, I have the chance to do that much more than I ever had.

I want to enjoy my friends. I suck at keeping in touch with people. I'd like to do a better job of that in the future.

But most of all, I want to do more of what I have found to be the most rewarding experience of my life.

I want to be a Dad, again.

Raising the Chicken with the Commander has been nothing short of amazing. The Chicken surprises and delights us with every new thing that she learns. She came home from pre-school the other day and proceeded to entertain us with what she was calling "Nummersaults."

If I didn't think she was going to be six feet tall, I'd say we had a future Mary Lou Retton living with us.

The Commander and I had every intention to give the Chicken a baby brother or baby sister but hadn't put much thought into it until after my dad's death.

A few months ago we realized that we couldn't figure out why we were waiting to have another child.

We decided to stop waiting.

So here is the big news.

Coming this November, the Chicken will be promoted to Big Sister.

And I couldn't be happier.

VW