Happy Birthday Chris!!!

It is hard to believe that 2 decades ago I was driving to the hospital and would be welcoming you into the world in a very short period of time. You made a dramatic entrance and you have certainly kept the interesting elements of life going. Trust me when I say that I am not complaining. You have become your own person ... very few people are brave enough to take the steps you have. I hope you continue to keep an open, caring and honest mind about things and show all people the caring soul you have ... even when they struggle with understanding ... they sometimes need your caring more than others.

I am also very proud that you have been a stand out student. I know that I did not make any Dean's list. Well I might have but it was more likely to be for the guy to kick out for skipping class. I know that not many people know how much your professors see in you. Your recognition within the English department at GMU and the making of the dean's list along with the great marks. You are a stand out student. I know Laura is as proud as I am.

We both hope that this decade brings you as much satisfaction as you can bear. We know you deserve to be happy and that means making choices and decisions that may be hard but know that we will always be the net to catch you if you need to be caught. We know you will be your own person and we will stand beside you to help and support so that you grow to be the person you are meant to be.

We both love you and hope that you have a wonderful birthday and a fantastic 20th year.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

It has been a busy few weeks ...

It is amazing how time flies ... already mid-way through February ... at least that is what all the displays in the grocery store tell me (of course they have been telling me it is almost February 14th since January 2nd.

The last few weeks have meant some travelling ... had a few days in Miami at the end of January and a few days in Dallas last week. In two more weeks I head out to San Francisco. This time of year always seems like this but I guess I noticed more this year.

All the travel has meant that I have not always been in town to have dinner with the girls on Thursday ... so we have been doing some extra things on the weekends. For 2 weekends we kept trying to go bowling but things always seemed to get in our way ... a big private party at the lanes one week and a very busy weekend there the next. Finally we did get out and myself, Laura, Kris and Sam had a lot of fun bowling. It is definitely not something we do very often and it can be entertaining to watch.

After we went bowling two weekends ago we stopped by the cupcake store and got a couple of treats for Kris and Sam. Kris enjoyed eating hers while Sam decided to be Dyson and sucked the whole thing in in one bite. She did not notice the candy heart on top until after.

This past weekend Laura and Kris went to lunch and then went to see the Oscar nominated short films. I hear they had a great time.

We will do a bit better in keeping everyone up to date ... and when it gets warm enough even get out and get some picture.

Keep warm ...

Happy Birthday .... to my Wonderful Wife

Today is a unique birthday celebration .... no it is not any of the big ones like 35 or 40 .... but today is the fifth year I get to celebrate Laura's birthday with her ... and really that is more a gift for me then it is for her.

Yesterday myself, Kris and Sam took Laura out to the movies. We went and saw American Hustle ... a great movie. We were all talking about how well Amy Adams and Jennifer Lawrence played their roles ... and then they walked off with Golden Globes last night as did the movie. Laura must have been their good luck charm.

This year does become an interesting one as we will have a few changes throughout the year ... including Sam's graduation from High School and her deciding where she wants to go after high school. We will have to wait and see what the summer brings as that adventure unfolds so this birthday is the start of another new adventure.

For today is a day to celebrate and the first part of that is to say .....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!

Love you baby!

Happy Birthday Sam!

Today my youngest becomes an official adult.  There are lots of reasons why I could say she has been one for awhile .... She is very mature when it comes to her money and driving and also with her attitude about things in the world around her.  But today she turns 18 so she is officially an "adult".

When I sit back and think about this .... the first thing that comes to me is that this was the last Christmas where we would have a child in our house. 

Yes this Christmas we got to have all of our children, as well as my Mom and sister, at the house but next year it will be a houseful of adults.  I would say that means people will be up late morning rather than the crank of dawn but myself and Laura are always the first up anyway and waiting for everyone else to rise.  

I guess even if Sam is now an adult we can still keep our little piece of childhood .... and I hope Sam keeps her remaining childhood ways as well ... and enjoys them.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SAM!

We love you!

Our First Snowfall

Over the last seven days I went from trying to get very fine sand out of everything to getting snow and ice of of everything.

Honestly though, the snow does make things much prettier than sand.

The park ... a winter wonderland

Ice then snow does make a tree look nice

Our rosemary plant

Happy Thanksgiving ... and a more timely Happy Birthday

For that have never heard I do like Nashville. Some may find that strange given my frequent rapid changing of the radio if I find a country music channel but Nashville is so much more than country music. Nashville for me is about family, good food, lots of stories and the roots of music here in the US. And those roots have touched places all over the world.

It is in Studio B in Nashville where Elvis recorded over half his recorded music. You had Chet Atkins, the Everly Brothers, Johnny Cash and so many more that to even think I could make a dent in the list here is ridiculous. This trip allowed me to see a lot of that. We took a tour of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Studio B (you can see some pictures here). The best thing about it is we had a tour guide who had recorded in Studio B as a individual recording artist as well as a backup singer but also had performed in Nashville at the King of the Road hotel for many years and knew a lot of the artists personally. Now I get to call her Momma as she is Laura's mother, Kaye.

Kaye knew Chet Atkins so well that she got Jim, Chet's older brother, who first taught Chet to play guitar, to try and teach Laura to play guitar. It was not a success but Laura did enjoy the times Jim bought her candy. Kay also knew Dolly Parton well along with countless others like Brenda Lee. As we walked through the CMHoF she had stories for just about everyone and when we looked at the Hall of Fame plaque wall she knew about 2/3 of them.

Studio B was just as amazing. She was telling us how things worked in there, where people would stand for best effect and where and why she would stand as a backup singer. It was so much fun ... and we took a few pictures that you can see in the other link.

But the weekend was not just about touring musical history. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with all the Bell ladies as well as a wonderful evening after sitting at Laura's sister's house eating pizza and looking through boxes of old pictures and even found a copy of one of Kaye's albums. The boxes were from Laura's Dad and had lots of pictures both old and more recent. Pictures from his days as personal body guard for General Eisenhower. Again the stories about the family shed a whole new light on them but showed that no matter how challenging things become that you can overcome and if you persevere you can be whomever you want. Now there are three beautiful Bell women who each have their own success and successful families. While early days may have been challenging they still can come together on special holidays and celebrate who they are and what they have achieved.

I left Nashville with a new sense of my wife and her past. I have always been proud of her and now I see how she got to be who she was.

My wife is not the only one I am proud of ... my little sister has a birthday today. She has had her own challenges but she also perseveres. She has been taking care of my Mom and Dad, and they have been taking care of her when needed. But without each of them I know neither would have been able to be happy. I hope today she remembers all the good times and she looks forward to the good times that are left to have. We will make sure she has some of them when her and Mom come up for Christmas.

Happy Birthday Michelle - we love you!

Family

The last few months for me have taught me a lot about family.  I don't want to imply anything negative because in fact the last few months have taught me that family is so much more than just the people who share the same genes.

This really hit home after October 11th.  My father had just celebrated his 89th birthday,  my Mom's birthday was that weekend.  Dad was waking into the kitchen when he fell.  This was nothing like a call he had a few months back but the effects certainly were much worse.  The ambulance came and took him to the hospital where they determined he had broken his hip and would need replacement surgery.  My Dad has been a strong man over his 89 years battling breathing challenges,  cancer and the call earlier the year but this was a lot.  My mom was worried as was I. That weekend they did the surgery and the first few days were very much touch and go.

My mom cannot drive and my sister has not been able to drive for the last few months so they relied on others to get them to and from the hospital. Mom never had a problem there as family stood up to help.  And not just our blood relatives.  Her neighbors,  her church family and everyone in between stood up to help.  Whether mom need a ride to the hospital or home or my sister a ride to a doctor's appointment someone was there for them.  Mom had people offering to take her out to eat so they did not have to worry about coming and had lots of people bring all kinds of home cooked food to make sure they ate well.  These same people made sure to stop by the hospital to see how dad was doing and to make sure mom and my sister were comfortable and had someone to talk to. 

For four weeks our very extended family,  friends, neighbors and church family looked after things. On November 7th a new level of even greater caring began when my father passed away.

The next few days were hectic but also reaffirmed my belief that family is so much more than blood.  There were a lot of dad's and mom's family that were looking age things including my mom and sister but also a lot of family friends picking us up at the airport,  making dinner for mom and coming to celebrate dad's life.  There were people from his church,  old family friends and people that had worked with dad starting 50 years ago.  The stories are great to hear and just reaffirmed my belief that my dad was a very strong man with great values.  He taught others, as well as myself,  the idea that hard honest work is a great thing and that song the right thing is always important.  Those ideas so be with me forever ...

As well as the memories of my father.  I know my mom and sister will miss him and I know I will as well.

I love you Dad and I hope right now you are resting well