A busy 4th of July week

"All the great things are simple, and many can be expressed in a single word: freedom; justice; honor; duty; mercy; hope."


~ Sir Winston Churchill ~


Hope to see lots of positive fireworks and friends this week.

One Year Ago

With much sadness I remember that this weekend last year was the weekend John was rushed to the emergency room and the brain tumors were diagnosed. I knew at that time the magnitude of that diagnosis but I remained so hopeful that John would be the exception. That something would work on him that hadn't worked before. Now I see so many others following this same path. Melanoma is a dreadful disease that is attacking young vibrant adults. It needs to be stopped. More research needs to be done. We all need to be more vigilant on checking moles and using sunscreen. It hurts me every time I read about another person dying from this disease.

Father Singler is honoring John during 4:30 Saturday mass at Rosary Cathedral. He set this date right after the funeral and I am sure he did not know about the events of last June. Coincidental the timing?? I think not.

This week has obviously been one of the downs in the up and down cycle of handling grief. And it always seems to happen right after things seem to be going well. Looking for the even keel again.

Monday, Monday

"People who like others are people others like."

I have tried to keep this thought in mind over these last few months because it would be easy to develop a personality that other people would not want to be around. It is hard sometimes to put a smile on my face and laugh. But in the end it always seems to work to my benefit. Life is going on and we are coming out of shadow of grief. It may look like it is happening quickly by the actions you see because they tend to be planned. The grief is still there. The pain still just below the surface bubbles out occasionally but I am putting myself out there on the dance floor with a smile on my face. And when I do I find all kinds of wonderful support. Amazing!

Happy Friday

"Live as if your were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever."


I hesitate to say it has been a good week. It seems like everytime I feel like things are getting under control something bad happens. But I will anyway. The Belmont Invitational Golf tournament is this weekend and Steve is playing with an old and dear friend. Having house guests is a great way to keep the mind and body engaged too. It will be a party weekend and hopefully the guys will play some decent golf along the way. Life is good. We are smiling.

Mr. Bass Pro

Tomorrow is the soft opening of the Rossford Bass Pro store so today all of the employees were to be in the opening mode in full uniform. This is Mike after work today.

Fathers Day Pictures

A quote for all parents.

"I have found the best way to give advice to your children is to find out what they want and then advise them to do it."






Jesi and AJ stopped by after dinner last night and we all got to play for awhile. As you can see we are starting the next Tiger Woods at an early age. John would love to see his son with golf clubs. AJ still has a cough but other than that he is doing well with the sugar checks and insulin injections. Both he and Jesi are troopers!
Hope all the Dad's and Granddad's had a great day.

Don't waste a minute

For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness.
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson

I just got back from my final pottery class and will be picking up finished projects next week. We glazed all of our items today and they will be fired again before we get to take them home. This turned out to be a great new experience and I hope to do more on my own. I will post some of the pictures of my items and start taking orders sometime next week. (just kidding)

We are enjoying the warmer weather and hope to have a golf filled weekend.

Thought for the day

"You have to accept whatever comes and the only important thing is that you meet it with courage and with the best that you have to give. "
Eleanor Roosevelt

Sometime maybe the best you have to give is just getting up and facing the day.

Sunday Night

The end of a week or the beginning of a week. My choice this week is the end. Another new start tomorrow. AJ and Jesi are doing OK. They are home in the apartment and Jesi will be monitoring AJ's sugar levels with the doctor all week. This will help to insure an acurate dose of the long acting insulin and then he will still get readings before each meal. He will have to be injected after each meal based on how many carbohydrates he consumes. It is really all about math at this point. The activity level will be the harder part. Jesi has ask me to go with her this week to the doctor appointments to learn how to recognize symptoms and manage the insulin. It will be a challenge but I am up for it. We are all in this together.

"It is foolish to fear what you cannot avoid."
Stultum est timere quod vitare non potes.
Publius Syrus

When does it stop

There are times I feel we must have offended the Gods on some level. Yesterday I got a call from Jesi at the hospital. AJ was not recovering from a cold and sinus infection and she had taken him to the emergency room on Tuesday night because he was still vomiting. She was worried about him getting dehydrated because he was getting very lethargic and seemed to be losing weight. Well the diagnosis was a shocker. AJ has type 1 diabetes. (formerly called juvenile diabetes) He will be in the hospital until Friday getting everything regulated. They feel this has developed from a virus he had. Something I didn't even know could happen. I was at the hospital yesterday after they got the insulin and ketones regulated and he was becoming much more himself. I guess on Tuesday night at some points it was very critical. Fortunately Jesi had her aunt Susan with her until AJ was stabilized.

I am on my way to St V's now to see how things are going today. I guess Jesi was going to be meeting with nutritionists and dietitians to start learning all there is to know about feeding and caring for someone with diabetes. She will also have to learn to give AJ insulin shots. I just can't believe how many problems have been coming our way. It just makes me shake my head and say WHOA!!

Just a quote for Tuesday

"Silent and listen are spelled with the same letters!"

And a P.S. that the golf was wonderfully fun yesterday and Camp Courageous was the big winner. The real test of my game comes tomorrow with as 8AM tee time.

Two Oaks

"He who plants a tree
Plants a hope."
~Lucy Larcom

I have been talking about planting a tree in the backyard in memory of John so it was ironic that yesterday at our niece's graduation party Judy gave me two seedling oak trees from her yard. She has been taking the acorns from a very large oak tree and nurturing them just to see if she can grow a tree. As they are thinking of moving she was anxious to share her latest crop. I have now planted them in our protected area behind the house and will use all of my tree hugging skills to continue their growth. Hopefully someday they will be great trees to remind AJ of his Dad. I still plan on a larger tree that I hope to plant later this year.

This is the beginning of a busy golf week and for a change it looks like the weather is going to be great. Today Steve and I will be playing in the Camp Courageous golf outing. This is a charity event to raise funds for a camp for individuals with disabilities. Steve has served as board president and remains very active. Mike never went to camp but in retrospect I wish he had. He certainly would have enjoyed it. Wednesday and Thursday I will be golfing in our club 2 day Belmont Cup event. I love this tournament and usually have fared well however with only 3 rounds played this year it remains uncertain what shape my game will be in. I plan on having a great time and enjoying the company and just being outside.