Road Trip: St. Judes

So I just got to St. Judes Children's Hospital with my wife, brother, and mother. We took the 6 hour drive from Shreveport Louisiana to Memphis Tennessee to see my niece Abby. Abby was diagnosed with leukemia over a month ago and has been staying at the Ronald McDonald house. This was the first time that my wife and I have been able to get away from work. I'm proud of my niece for handling all these changes so well. It's so impressive to see such a young girl to handle this grown-up situation. Its also great to see so many people helping Abby and her mother, my sister. I'm actually typing on a computer that her teachers from her home gave her. My church gave a gift card to help living expenses. There is a facebook group with hundreds of members for Abby. There is even a local restaurant donating 20% of their make to help Abby.

So why am I blogging while I'm here? Because shortly after we arrived my wife, mother, sister and niece all left to go shopping. They left us here to figure out why this computer was not connecting to the Internet. Obviously we fixed that problem. On the plus side, Abby computer has Photoshop Elements 8. I might have some fun knocking around with that. 

Oh well, I guess me and my brother will just wait here watching John Wayne movies. I have to say, I didn't expect to be watching old westerns at St. Jude's this weekend.

Steady as She Goes...

I know that I haven't been the most frequent blogger as of late but I'll try to do better.

Back to work today. I'm not looking forward to it, but its how I make the money these days. If anyone know how to make money without work then feel free to let me know. Even when you do something that you enjoy it is still work. For right now I will take the job that I can stand and pays the bills over enjoying myself until I'm homeless. I'm actually avoiding going to work right now.

Its amazing how much blogging will increase the traffic to your blog. I mean, I've been getting 1 hit a day maybe, then I blogged and I got 10, go figure...

Man, Do I Suck As A Blogger

Sorry to anyone who reads this blog on the regular. I don't know what happened. Ever since I've become a professional blogger (the title of this blog now seems extremely ironic) for place of employment my personal blogging has all but stopped. There is so much that has gone on since the last time I blogged. Oh yeah, I'm a professional blogger. I mean, I guess I am. I get paid to blog, so doesn't that make me a pro. I also do other things at my job, so does that mean I'm semi-pro. Still, I like that fact that my job now requires to do the things I do on my day off. I don't think I should mix business with pressure so I am not going to post a link to my "job-blogs", although if you're crafty I bet you can find my other blogs.

Let me get you up to speed with what's happened. I now have dates to go to basic training. It took long enough. I'm cutting it close to the birth of my baby girl, Caroline, but it should be fine. My wife is more and more mentioning how much she will miss me when I am away. I tell her to enjoy the time we have before I leave, but I know that its tough for her. I have to be the tough one and reassure her, but it will be tough for me to be away as well. My wife and I plan to take a trip to memphis. My 11-year-old niece has recently been diagnosed with leukemia. She's been in St.Jude's Hospital for about a month now. The whole family was shocked. I never thought that our family would have something like this happen, but I guess there is no predicting something tragic like this. She is receiving the best treatment and care. I just hope that she gets well and this all becomes a memory of a hard time very soon.

Today is a welcome retreat. I have a weekday off. I am supposed to take one saturday a month but this month has been very mixed up. I now get to take my tuesday off and although my wife still works, I enjoy a day of rest.  I honestly have mixed feeling about these days. I know that it might sound selfish but I like the quiet time that I can have by myself. I can do things that I can't always do when we are together. I have played my guitars for hours already this morning. But after a while I always find myself waiting for my wife to get home. I start to miss the conversation and the attention that I get from her. I know that if I had to choose between a lifetime of singlehood and "freedom" to do whatever whenever, or one where I have my wife by my side always, I would most certainly choose the one with my wife. All the guitars, time, and quiet in the world are no substitute for the close, intimate relationship I have with my wife.