Happy Birthday!

Happy 30th Birthday Nic,

It's hard to believe that at 11 am today it will have been thirty years since the birth of my baby boy, he saw 27 of them and he lived over 50 of them in his short time here on this third rock from the sun.

Twenty-seven years of a life that was full of fun, action and adventure, skateboards, roller blades, more bikes than I can remember, a different car every couple of years (sometimes months) from the time he turned 16, four different Harleys with a Yamaha 150 thrown in just for fun, miles and miles of the road on those bikes, sometimes going faster than the angels could keep up with us but we'd always let them catch up at the stop sign, stop light or on the side of the road.

We had our ups and our downs but we always had our ups in the end.  The last time I saw you and got to spend some amazing quality time was at Morts on May 13th just 15 days before you left us all.  I'm thankful that his sisters and I had that last time with him, we laughed, we talked about everything that was important and things that were not important.  I hope, wish and pray that he knew just how much I loved him.

There isn't a day that goes by that I don't wish I could hear those words "hey old man" and that you could see how much that daughter of yours is more like you every day of her life.  She's a precious princess and will always have us and you looking out for her.

You're frozen in time at eternally being 27 Nic but you'll always be my baby boy........
carry on my son,

 
















Just another day in the life

So how did you spend your weekend? 

Mine consisted of flying back from Chicago after a week of learning, learning and even more learning, picking up some booze and looking forward to a night of relaxing and just hanging out.  Sometimes things don't go just how you thought they were, but life is what life is and yes sometimes it just sucks.

Saturday I had the opportunity to judge once again, this time for a bunch of little girls all the way up to college girls,,,,,,,,,,where they all "beauty" queens?  Not on the outside but on the inside I would guestimate that 95% of them were some of the most confident girls and ladies that I've met it quite a while. 

Sunday was the big day for these girls, and the most amazing ones were the little ones, no endless hours of training and coaching, nothing was fake about these girls and funny, omg some of them were a hoot to interview, and then it was the night of the big dance, runway walking, evening gown showing and that one last question..................and then it was time, that time when you either make or break someones dream, hope, or wish.

The excitement built (not like they do on the reality shows, maybe they should) and then it was time, "and the first runner up is........." and you could immediately see the joy on the face of the winner along with the disappointment in the face of the first runner up.............there will always be a winner and a loser,,,,,,,,that's just how life is. 

So what now for these young ladies?  They go home, volunteer for some great organizations, practice their walk, look for new dresses and tell everyone today how much fun they had over the weekend. 

For me?   Well it's the start of a new week, time to initiate some of the things I learned in Chicago, time to work on making the best of a stressful weekend, go do that "host with the most" and catch up with all the stories that those kids share with me every tuesday and thursday night,,,will it be an amazing week?  will there be stories to share with others? 

Hey, it's monday,,,,,,,,,,,but it could happen...........