The Lion, The Witch and My Wardrobe

So when Steph told me she wanted to buy the Jamison's commemorative cask of whiskey for her father, I was aghast. First, her father does not drink and 2, the cost per cask is a whopping $1,500. But then she said it was for house guests that he was to entertain...so I caved.
But when she told me that she looked online and the product was only available at the home of Isaac Newton, I was again dumbfounded.
(I say "online" instead of using "Internet" because I don't agree with the capitalization of the word internet. It's not that awesome. Okay it's pretty awesome, but big-letter-worthy awesome? Like calling Neo "The One" in The Matrix? I dunno.)

So I figured it was either the former home of Sir Isaac Newton (because he is long gone) or the home where some of his family currently lives. After further checking online, Pamela (Steph's sister, not sure why she got involved) found that some of his family lives in Glens Falls, New York - which is conveniently located near their dad's house. So, as Pamela is wont to do, she Googled the location of the home. And I, of course, built an airplane shaped like the little balsam wood ones with the small metal noses, to help find the house. But my plane was too heavy and lacked GPS, so there were frequent crashes. Needless to say, the plane ended up very close to a field of dozing lions. See lions sleep most of the day. And I figured I could sneak up to the plane and recover it without waking any of them. But I was wrong. One woke up and started to chase me. Of course I was already running, because this was a dream and I can do whatever I want.

All of a sudden, I was running down a hill at the end of the street where MY parents live. I'm not sure how I made it nearly 100 miles in a few seconds, but it did not matter, because so did the lion. I found a medium-sized tree with several long trunks that were close together. I figured that if the lion tried to climb it, the tree would not hold him and he would give up. But it was strong and flexible enough to hold me - even if he knocked it around a bit. And I could jump to the other close trunk if he did get lucky and knock the first one down. Plus, and of course, I had Samantha II with me, so once I got my balance I was going to call someone with a tranquilizer gun to come shoot the lion.

Then Steph woke me up. And I was very lucky, because I had fallen asleep on the couch and when I opened my eyes Sportscenter was on and I caught the top plays of the week. Did anyone see that run-back by Green Bay? There were so many tackles dodged. It was awesome. Again, I was very lucky.

------NO LONGER MY DREAM--------

So yesterday, I told Amelia that she is a princess and I asked her how many princesses she saw in the mirror. She said "one" referring to herself. Then Steph came into the room and I asked Amelia how many princesses there were now...She said "two." I said, "Well if you are a princess and she is your mommy, then she is..." and Amelia said "The queen." I said, "That's right, and that means that your sister Sloane is..." and in a deep and gritty voice Amelia said "The evil witch."
Ahh, sisterly love.

Lastly, and also yesterday, Mason asked me if I still wore my gay Vans sneakers. I told him "No" and that I was probably going to bring them back to the store to resell them again.

And that is my update on the lion, the witch and the wardrobe.
For once, 100% of what I have written is 100% true.
Well 99% anyway.

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A Re-post of My First Real Note

As many of you know, Steph's mom went to a better place a couple of months ago.

Although I only picked up the phone 1 in 5 times that she called (not bad considering she was calling for someone other than me nearly 100% of the time), I still miss the occasional conversation.

Below is a post that I put on Facebook back at the beginning of the year.
Many people asked if I was going to share it with her.

I did. A few weeks before she passed, Steph and I sat in her living room and I gave the computer to Baba so she could read it.

I knew I could not get through the whole thing smoothly on my own.

After she read it, Steph asked if I told her about the many comments that people posted in response to the note. So I read all of the comments. There were many prolonged pauses as I caught my breath throughout.

I think she appreciated your replies as much as she did the note. I'm glad she got a chance to hear how far-reaching her impact was and will be for years to come.

We miss her.

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"My First Real Note"

“Hero” may not be a word that we use every day.
And when we do use it, many of us likely jump to images at the extremes.

Someone larger than life...Like Lebron or Shaq.
Muscles aplenty; strong enough to take on the impossible time after time; powers that mere humans can only imagine. e.g. Superman.
Tough under pressure while demonstrating acts of courage...US Airways Pilot Sullenberger.
The ability to impact others positively for many, many years after they are no longer with us...Jesus Christ.

My heroes are people that have inspired me and touched me directly. Ones that I have encountered over my life and have had a significant impact on me.

This note is about someone that continues to touch me every time that I am with her.

My daughter calls her "Baba." My wife calls her "Mom." I call her one of my heroes.

For over 8 years, my mom-in-law has battled ovarian cancer. Because of difficult detection, survival rates do not average much more than a couple of years from diagnosis. And I’d imagine that many who are diagnosed both outwardly and regularly focus on the worst in their situation.

Not Baba.

I have never heard her complain. Not once. Ever.
All conversations over the past 3,000 days have been about what positive possibilities are in play. She has traveled on a regular basis; taken up residence at the beach for a week at a time over the past few summers to be able to spend quality time with her daughters and grandchildren; adopted several pets, one of which was a clingy feline that arrived on my back porch just a few months ago; pushed herself to exhaustion to recuperate quickly from multiple surgeries; and in this, her most difficult year, she has made no less than 10 long trips to go out of her way to spend time with Steph and Amelia.

In one of those trips, she fell at the airport. Though in a “little pain” following the fall, she did not even think about a doctor’s visit until several days later. Turns out, her hip was broken. That’s how tough she is.

Her attitude is nothing short of inspiring. Her ability to fight back against some of the most difficult physical battles that I have ever seen, is amazing. Her mental strength is unsurpassed in my book.

She has impacted me in a way that I could never accurately express. Like the super heroes mentioned before...
She is strong, tough and courageous.
She has battled the impossible.
Her impact, her optimism, her influence, will be passed on for many generations to come.

She is larger than life.
She is my hero.