Forever Young

What a week. I feel like I could sleep for 24 hours straight and not think twice about it.

I've not spit out a coherent sentence, that didn't involve my voice cracking like a 13 year old boy going through puberty, in at least two weeks. Puberty. It's fine. Everyone goes through it at some point.

Where to start......

I got to meet Norene, which is Darrel's first wife. I had always heard of her, but hadn't actually met her. I was 3 when they split, and since I've repressed my childhood I have no memory of her. However, I have always heard good things about her. It was great to meet her. We carried on a 20 minute conversation like we had known each other for years, and she called me adorable like 3 times in midst of it. I mean what's not to like? We got to talking about my Aunt Sandy and how she brags on me, and I said "Well, she is kind of my favorite." To which she sayed something like, "If I were still around, I would be your favorite too." I knew I liked her at that moment. The next day she told me that I might be her new favorite. This woman has a good judge of character. ;)

I did the video for the funeral. Due to technical difficulties with Loraine(my laptop), I didn't get the video done until 3am Thursday morning. By that time I was an emotional mess, so I decided that instead of going to bed I would go a head and take my shower. As soon as I was about to fall asleep, my father began snoring. So sleep did not happen Wednesday, which did not make Thursday any easier.

The kids(Darrel, Sandy, Dennis) did the eulogy for Pappaw. Talk about an emotional mess. They all did really well. I was really proud of my dad. He shared some very wise words. He said, "I'd like to say that this man was a great man, but this man is not the man I knew. This is just his body. The man I know has gone on to a better place. And he may not be able to fix our broken hearts today, but we can help each other by showing each other love and respect." My father is not perfect, but he is a good man.

The funeral was very much a tribute it Pappaw's life. He loved others not only with his words, but with his actions. He was a good man.

You'll remember I told you he was a huge Johnny Cash fan. Probably the biggest Johnny fan you'd come across. His casket, is the same make and model of Johnny Cash's. My cousin, Nick, said, "He always had to have the last laugh."

He also has a single Christmas light tucked in his pocket. :)

Moving on to Winterfest.......

Friday night was the only night that I think I got angry. The man who spoke, spoke about science stuff that was really hard to follow. Then, he brought a man on stage to talk about his twins. When they were born they had brain damage. They showed the scans to show us how much of their brains were affected. Then the guy talked about how many prayers had gone up that these two little girls would be healed. Then he showed the scans from a week later. The scans were completely clean. The speaker gave the kids the impression that if you pray for God to take the bad thing away, he will. Really?!? Because as far as I know, Joe Day is dead. How many prayers went up that the cancer would be taken away? Hundreds? Thousands? When I say the man was a big deal, I'm not exaggerating. His story was in the news, the Internet, the radio, it was even in Reader's Digest.

God does what is best. What is best, is not always what we want. Perhaps that speaker should have explained that. What happens when these kids pray for something to happen, and they don't get the answer they want? What will that do to their walk?

Let me get off my soap box now.

Friday, I did get to have some time alone with CallieAnn, which was much needed. She helped shed some wisdom on life. I love her for many reasons.

I had a great time with the girls in my room. I had Brenna, Evie, Maggie, and Alayna. I will argue to say that I had the most interesting room. These girls are all different from one another, but they get along so well. Poor Brenna. I'm not sure she knew what to do with all of us. Haha, but she fit in well. I was able to share my story with them, and we got to have some really great bonding time. I'd have to say the time I got with my girls was the best part of the trip.

Get Rhythm

Pappaw Joe passed away at 9:57 this morning.

Pappaw loved Johnny Cash. He was his idol. And, you know, I bet he spent his day just messing around on the guitar with Ol' Johnny.

Taiylor and I decided today that we needed to light the bell up tonight as a tribute. Words can not describe what was being felt as we stood there looking up at Pappaw's creation. Everyone who drives past there tonight, will see that and wonder. Those who knew who he was will know why only the bell is lit.

I came home to find a coke and starburst sitting on my doorstep. I have some pretty wonderful people in my life. It's comforting to know I have such a wonderful support system.

Pappaw,
I love you, and I'll be seeing ya. Have fun with Johnny, and make sure you build them one heck of a Christmas lights display up there. ;)

Rest in peace.

Ahead of the Game

I've just spent, literally, the last 5 hours studying for my physical science test. I think my head is going to explode.

I hate science.

Last night I had my Graphic Design I class. I'm really enjoying it, and enjoying my professor. She really knows what she is talking about, and she is enthusiastic about it which makes me want to make more of an effort.

We are mostly working in Indesign. Right now we are going through the basics of the program, which I have to admit is super boring. I'm pretty comfortable in Indesign, but I think that has a lot to do with my Intro to Computer Graphics class.

The professor I had for that class did a really good job with creating the projects. Our final project was creating a booklet in Indesign. (Mine was about Michael Jackson, clearly.) That proved useful in my Typography class last semester when we had to make a booklet about typography, and since I didn't learn anything in that class it was nice to have already had experience in the program.

In the Intro class, I learned how to layout a design and manipulate text to flow with my design. So, shout out to Shelley Given for developing projects that helped prepare me for the rest of my graphic classes.

I'm learning more in depth the importance of text in a design and the different ways to manipulate it to make a coherent design. It's interesting.

So to wrap this up, go out and be creative readers!