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Dear my precious ostomy bag,
Why must I find out that you are leaking at the most inconvenient times? Like right before I go to bed, when I am in that “I-am-so-tired-I-could-just-fall-over” stage. Why then? Hell, I’m barely even awake to post this!
From,
Your owner
For the processional (or whatever it’s called):
For our first dance:
Although Carl said, “uh, yeah, I can see that at YOUR church.”
Brought to you by Mama Kat.
My choice this week: Okay I can’t pick just one so…1.) They just don’t make (fill in the blank) like they used to! 2.) If you had the time and money…what charity would you help raise awareness for? & 3.) What are YOU giddy about?
1.) They just don’t make _____ like they used to!
They don’t make teenagers like they used to. Teenagers these days just amaze me. Granted, my teen years were only 10 years ago but still. I wasn’t skinny, tanned, or had my boobs sticking out like the kids do these days. I have a 17 year old cousin that, thankfully, doesn’t go with the flow and doesn’t dress like a (it’s hard thinking up a word here) complete hooker or wannabe hooker. Her 13 year old sister dresses in the popular clothes but doesn’t look like a complete wannabe hooker. If the clothes these days were around when I was a teenager and I went with the “in-crowd” and dressed like that, my parents would kick my ass from here to California. And don’t let me get started on how my 12 year old step-daughter wears thongs. Yeah, her father is not thrilled about it. Her mother is the one that let her wear them. But yeah, not getting into that. And I think I am done with this one before I get on a soap box.
If you had time and money, what charity would you help raise awareness for?
Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America. I have another blog coming up about my struggle with UC/Crohn’s. They could never determine which one it was I had (my disease was that bad) but it is not a fun disease.
I also would spend time and money on Parkinson’s Disease Foundation. Watching my G-Daddy struggle with Parkinson’s was not fun. Seeing what it does to someone is hard.
And lastly, 3.) What are YOU giddy about?
Two things: My April 10, 2010 wedding & honeymoon and also the fact that I got a job today!
The wedding & honeymoon is a no brainer of why I’m giddy about it. I haven’t been to the beach in over a year and we’re going to Myrtle Beach, SC for our honeymoon. Friends of the family are letting us use their condo and I am pretty positive that my parents are going to pay for the condo. Can we say hells yeah?!
As far as the job, I haven’t had a job in 17 months (the entire time Carl & I have been together; got laid off from my job a week after we started dating) so it is very welcome. Having NO money for bills or to spend on anything else is hard. Relying on my parents and Carl for money sucks. The power bill this month is OUTRAGEOUS…I flipped and blew a gasket on that one. So, hopefully by the time that bill is due, I can put some of my own money towards it.
And that is my writing assignment for the week. Now to flip channels between Reba & wrestling. I’m a classy girl, ain’t I?
(So I’m only a couple days late…sue me, life got involved.)
Dear uterus,
I know we have a love-hate relationship but I would greatly appreciate it if you would kill the cramps that come before I get all squishy. I would rather be squishy and crampy than just crampy. Please get with the program, we have talked about this before.
Sincerely,
The person that houses you
Taken from Mama Kat’s Losin’ It.
3.)Tell us about Grandpa.
It’s hard to choose just one of my grandfathers, as they both mean so much to me, but I guess I will choose my G-Daddy.
G-Daddy is my maternal grandfather. He passed away due to complications from Parkinsons Disease September 24, 2007. Parkinsons is a nasty, nasty disease and I wouldn’t wish it on anybody.
He was born January 23, 1931 and the baby of the children. He had one brother (the oldest child) and two sisters. He was a very cute baby, child, and teenager. G-Daddy was a very handsome man. I look back at pictures of him and think, “Wow…I wonder how many girls were mad when he started dating & then married Grandma.” Grandma is very beautiful herself. I guess you could call them high school sweethearts, but they didn’t go to high school together. They met at a roller skating rink, and well, the rest is history. I forget how long they dated before they married but they were married April 13, 1952. My mama came along March 19, 1957.
They waited awhile to have children because G-Daddy was in the Navy. If I remember right, he was in the Korean war. Honestly, when it comes to war stuff, I zone out – always been like that. I just know that my G-Daddy painted the sides of the ship, as I have seen many pictures of him doing his job. I also know that he started drinking coffee in the Navy because if you didn’t, you didn’t get a break. I think I would start to like coffee then too. I’ve read letters that G-Daddy sent to Grandma while he was deployed/overseas/whatever you want to call it. You can tell he really loved her.
G-Daddy worked for Western Electric when he got back home and they (G-Daddy, Grandma, & Mama) moved to the Quadulane Islands (I think I spelled that right) for a while. Looking at those pictures just send me into awe. Beautiful pictures, beautiful place. Makes me wish sometimes that I lived back then.
G-Daddy was also a photographer. This is why there are close to a billion pictures of me as a baby. I was his favorite subject, as I was his only grandchild. Mama was an only child and my parents just had me. I got my love of photography from him. He had his own darkroom in the basement of their house and I loved to go in there with him as a child. I also loved to type on their type writer and he would take pictures of it.
G-Daddy had a good sense of humor, always cracking jokes, always coming up with crazy things. I believe I got his sense of humor as well. There was “sazzy catfish”, which I don’t remember how it started or even how to do it anymore. Always picking on my Daddy, “how long have you had that shirt?” “oh I’ve been had it”. My favorite was when we were eating a meal and there were biscuits – “throw me a cathead.” I’m sitting here giggling to myself as I type this.
Then, around 2000 or maybe 2002 (I am HORRIBLE with dates sometimes), G-Daddy was diagnosed with Parkinsons. I don’t remember when things really started going downhill. I just remember when things got REALLY bad – it was like someone flipped a switch and BOOM – his conditions got worse. It was my birthday, August 25, 2007, when it really hit me and I guess I finally accepted he was sick. My parents had gone over to “baby-sit” (his wandering had gotten really bad & Grandma had to go out of town) and do some work over there. Well, I grabbed Maggie (our beagle) and rode over to see him. He was sitting on the couch, his arms were shaking profusely (common symptom of Parkinsons) and his drooling was pretty bad. I really wanted to cry but I didn’t. Maggie went right in the house and over to G-Daddy. Mama was kinda mad I had brought her but G-Daddy said, “she knows she’s welcome here” (flashback to the past: G-Daddy and Grandma acquired a stray dog when Mama was in college…she just wandered up their driveway and stuck her head in the watering can and that was it. Precious had a new home. Precious passed away when I was 7 years old and she is buried in their backyard.) Maggie & I stayed for a little while and then came back home. I guess that’s when I really accepted that G-Daddy was sick and wasn’t the old G-Daddy that I knew.
About 2 weeks after my birthday, we got a call from Grandma that G-Daddy had been admitted to the hospital. Turns out G-Daddy wasn’t able to swallow his food correctly (it was going into his lungs) but he wouldn’t tell Grandma. Well, Grandma had taken G-Daddy to the doctor and the doctor said he had pneumonia so they admitted him to the hospital. He spent five days in the hospital and was then moved to Hospice. When he was admitted to Hospice, he was given a week to live. And boy were they right. He passed away a week and thirty minutes after being in Hospice. I had spent every moment I could there. I went round and round with a manager at the place I worked at then. She has no soul and didn’t care about anybody or their feelings so I went higher than her – I went to her boss and cried to him. And if he hadn’t of let me leave that day to be with G-Daddy, I wouldn’t of been there when he passed away.
After he had passed away and the CNAs had cleaned him up, Mama and I went in there. We hugged and cried together. I remember my Mama saying, “he loved you so much.” G-Daddy had actually opened his eyes before his last breath and looked at me. Now, I don’t know if he could actually see, but I was the last one he saw.
The funeral was hard. Extremely hard. I think my Daddy was the only one not crying but then my Daddy is strong like that. He was crying on the inside but not showing it on the outside. The graveside was hard. I sat next to Grandma and she broke down crying on me when they gave her the American flag. I lost it during the 21 gun salute. Then I lost it again when my Mama and I were up at the coffin before they lowered it and Mama said, “Goodbye Daddy.” Hell, I’m about to lose it again now. Someone took a picture of me hugging my Mama from behind and both of us crying.
I still think of G-Daddy. I made myself cry the other day thinking about him and how excited and proud of me he would be for passing my CNA test and getting my license. I wish he was here to photograph my wedding, like he did my Mama and Daddy’s. I have the blanket that was given to him at Hospice, it’s in my closet but I still have it. I have a picture of him, my Grandma, and my parents on my desk. It mysteriously likes to fall over sometimes and I know it’s him doing it…he was a joker.
I miss you & love you, G-Daddy and always will.
I have had this thing close to a week now but it seems like my attention span has been rather bad. Not to mention I’ve been rather busy. I’ll make a short recap of my past week:
- Had my re-test in front of the state for my CNA license…and PASSED! The first time, my nerves got the best of me since I didn’t know what to expect. This time, I knew what was going to go on so my nerves slept. Although I took 29 minutes out of the alloted 30 they give you. Mainly because the bed was a piece of shit and would move on it’s own. The fiance was very pleased with me and happy that he didn’t drive 2 hours on 2 hours of sleep for nothing.
- The step-kids were here from Friday until yesterday. They were supposed to be here until this Sunday but due to the youngest one being sick (kidney infection & UTI…poor little girl!), their mother (said with sarcastic tones), took them all back yesterday. The house is quiet now and while I like it that way, it still makes me sad they’re not here.
- I had a job interview yesterday at a place I applied at back in June. I was highly recommended by the employee I spoke with then & he said he would still highly recommend me. So I hopefully have that ball in my court and will get the job. Planning a wedding when you have no money is hard. Very hard.
- I’m getting old and can’t stay up as late as I used to unless I forced myself to stay up. And if the fiance is working nights, I’m better at forcing myself.
And so that has been my life this past week. Now, I guess I should introduce myself to people who stumble across this thing and don’t know me.
I am a almost 27 year old female trying to get thru this crazy thing called life. I live in North Carolina with my wonderful fiance, who I need to make a nickname up for since he doesn’t want to be identified on this thing. I am a future step-mother to 3 kids…1 boy & 2 girls…ages 15, 12, and 7. They will have nicknames also to protect their identities. Right now, I am unemployed but as it said earlier, I now have my CNA I license so I’m hoping to find something in that field somewhat quick like. I am currently planning an April 10, 2010 wedding to the fiance. So far it’s been pretty easy but I’m sure that will change and I will get all stressed out.
So, that’s me in a nutshell. I still have to figure WordPress out somemore and figure out how to edit the About Me page. I also wish I had a working version of PhotoShop so I can have a nice pretty layout but yeah, it doesn’t work.
