in the end....

My cousin wrote a post that got me thinking. It really is important to let the people around you know how you feel about them, because you never know if it is the last time you'll see them in this life. I work at a care center, and I have grown to love the people there. Yes, I do have a small handful of favorites. One of them passed away friday. We were all pretty shocked because he was only 62. He's been at the care center for about 5 months. He quickly formed the habit of coming to my office EVERY morning to say hi and see how I was doing (unfortunately it was after he had been a witness of a VERY bad day for me (see post from Feb 22nd "Dang it")
He was such a nice guy, and I looked forward to his daily visits. When I got to work on monday this week, I hadn't heard that he had passed. All I knew is that he went to the ICU on friday. I went down to his room to see how he was, if he was back. I was stopped at his door by Darrick, my co-worker. He had a nervous look on his face. He knew this guy was one of my favorites. He told me that he had passed away on friday. WOW. Not what I expected to hear. It was hard. A couple of my co-workers asked if I was ok, and said "the first is the hardest, not that it gets a whole lot easier, but this is hard". One of my other favorites, was his friend. So I had to check on him. Around noon, I caught him in the hall. He said, "How can someone be there one minute, and then the next, be gone?" I didnt know what to tell him. All I can say is now this wonderful man is in heaven, able to do the things he could no longer do easily here. He's with family who've gone before him....fishing...and listening to Lynard Skynard and the Eagles. Good-bye...since I wasn't able to say it before!

Children

It’s so sweet how innocent children are. I think of things that I believed when I was little, and it makes me laugh. So I thought of a few to share with you:

One of my babysitters when I was little told my brother and I that if you died in a dream that you’d die in real life. That had me scared out of my mind!! All my life I have had very vivid, crazy dreams. And I once had a dream that I died…..yet I am still here! ;)


Someone once also told us that if you ate a pickle before you went to bed that you’d have nightmares. Well, my brother and I were sick, twisted kids, and we’d always try to eat pickles before bedtime because we wanted to have a nightmare.

My paternal grandparents lived next to some railroad tracks when I was young and my brother loved to go see the train when it came by, so they began to call my grandparents “Grandma and Grandpa Choo-Choo”. I remember for YEARS thinking that was their real last name! “Choo-Choo”


I grew up in a SMALL town in eastern Washington, (Chewelah). My brother and I would run around all summer barefoot. I remember MANY times stepping on a bee and getting stung. I think my mom would get so sick of my whining and crying, she’d shove an Otter Pop in my mouth. It seemed like that was the only time I got one, so FOREVER I thought that it was medicine for a bee sting.
There are more, I just have to try and recall them.
Funny times....

Appreciation

Happy Teacher Appreciation Day to all the teachers!!!!!
If you are a teacher, either by job, or not, you do an amazing job!!!