My Family

Family is such a wonderful word in my ears! My family had its struggles, as all families do, but I can only tell what I feel to be the best part of having the family that I did. There are no deep, dark family secrets. Just some honest joys to be recalled!

I think that my Father must have wanted a boy. They had two girls and in 1959 got their son and number four was my imaginary friend, Fuzz. Just kidding! There was no imaginary friend.

Dad took me hunting and fishing as often as he could. Grab Orchard Lake in Illinois and Reelfoot Lake in Tenessee seemed to be the best places to produce some good catches. There were other lakes fished in Canada, Florida and other places, but if I had to take a pick as a favorite I'd have to say that Reelfoot Lake was the best. Even the bluegill there had a nice size to them! And fishing aroung the Cypress knees on those trees always seemed to be as exciting as it was productive. Our spot on the lake was called Boardman's Resort. We'd get a nice room there, get settled in and I always had to run to the bait shop and check out the newest in fishing gear. When a day of fishing was over I always felt the need to spend just a little more time fishing aroung the boat docks. There was always a few to catch there!

Hunting birds was a thrill when the britanny spaniel, Duke, would go on point. We'd stalk up close behind him and shoot the game when it broke throught the brush. Quincy Acres ... how could you go wrong?!

We hunted the pinoaks of Arkansas in waders. We hunted geese near Canada, hunted Illinois and Indiana. Those were good days!

I was born in Carbondale, Illinois on Sept. 24 1959. I grew up with two older sisters, Nancy and Becky. Nancy was and is the older of the three of us. I alway thought of her as the smart one, a great tutor and was good at teaching me to see the logic in things. She gave me my interest in cameras and art. And she was the one that taught me how to swim and use a computer.

Becky, the good hearted of the three of us. There was always a joy about that girl that could put a smile onto anything in eye sight! If the family was together and a joke was to be had Becky's laugh was there to share...and it was contagous too! Becky gave me my sense of joy and reasoning.

You've all seen the commercials where the Mother cleans the child's cut and puts a bandaide on it? Well, good ol' Dad was the "painless doctor" and could take a fish hook out of a finger before you knew he did it. Momma was the mom who could always see right through me and know the truth despite what I said! More than that it was the bandage from her heart that healed us internally.

God knows I live my family! My neices make me proud to be an Uncle and my Brother in-laws are my real brothers! I could tell great stories forever, but there is only one I will tell right now. I will tell the others in separate stories later.

The word Mom means "inner strength" to me. As a young man I once peeked into the garage to see what was going on in there. I'd heard some noise that was rather out of the norm. When I looked in I saw Mom moving a refrigerator, without wheels, across the garage! That changed my perspective a bit!

Where does the inner strenth come in? Well, that's a real tear jerker. On May 2003 at 12:00 noon I held my wife as she died in my arms. I watched the life leave her eyes and felt the coldness of her spirit cut my soul in half as it left. I never knew such horrendous pain in all my years! I laid her body back down on the pillow hurting beyound the ability to cry. I reached up gently to close her eyes with one hand, but there was no strength in me at all. Mom's soft voice came over my shoulder, "Do you want me to?" "Yes," was all I could strangle out. How beautiful it was to see my Mother's sweet hand reach up and close the eyes of Christy's eyes! The room grew still all accept for the peaceful music and video that played on the t.v. above us. Mom disappeared briefly and I said my long good bye as only I knew how. Mom returned and together we walked back out to the lobby to rejoin family. Now, if anyone wants to argue inner strength with me they better think twice!

I love my family!