The end!

Well this is going to be my last blog entry. I do feel like I have closed an unknown chapter in my life because I never liked blogging but have never really did it. Now that I had to partake, I can say that I've tried it and still dislike it. I had a military instructor always ask his students if they were gay and they would always tell him no. His response to this was "How do you know?" "I've tried it and I hate it so I know I'm not gay!" Of course this was a big joke but the point of the story is that how can you really speak your mind or truly understand something if you never try it out. I think that most of the people in the world, especially in the US act this way. They act on feelings and words of other people instead of truly finding out for themselves. I especially see this with the military life. People think that they really know what things are happening in the other countries we are in but in all reality they truly have the slightest clue. They don't even know what's happening around them, much less half the world away. I bet most people couldn't tell you what their local politicians are trying to accomplish but they think they understand the policies of the United States and their allies. It's a very disheartening feeling to know that people are ignorant to the government. If people turn a blind eye to this aspect of their lives, then I wonder what else might they not know? Well I for one can say that I'm trying to understand everything I can. I promise that I will educate myself before I start to make blind assumptions. I promise that I will look at things from other people's point of view. I promise that I will not be close minded to things I don't understand. I promise I will not freak when things rub me the wrong way. We need to be a little more open to things that we are not comfortable with. We need to open our minds, our eyes, and our hearts to understand our neighbors, co-workers, friends, family, and most of all the people we don't know we pass on the streets. This is me opening my eyes to blogging and signing off with this last post. So long and remember small things can make big differences.
B

What's worse...animals or kids?

I never knew owning a dog would be such a job. Last November I bought my first dog. He's a red doberman and his name is Rosso (Ro-So). It means "red" in Italian. Anyway, this was my first self owning pet. I bought it with my girlfriend at the time, who is now my fiance. Getting to the point here I never knew how much work it took to own a little ol dog. There's so much more to it than one would think. And the cost is unreal! So the first problem you have is house training. To be honest, he wasn't even that bad with this. I used the bell method. For those of you that don't know you hang bells on the door you use to go outside, and every time you go out you ring them. They begin to understand that ringing the bells mean that they go out. Now if you have a pup that loves being outside, he may figure out that ringing the bells get him outside for anything. What was bad about this was the carpet that will need to be replaced before I can ever sell my place. Now with most new pups they go through the chewing stage. There is nothing my dog won't try and chew. I mean he went at everything from rocks and sticks outside to walls and furniture inside. He ate parts of my surround sound speaker, the legs on my sofa and chair, and even the wood molding on the floor in the kitchen. No telling how much those little teeth cost me. Now you wouldn't think that a puppy would eat that much but man was I wrong. This dude would eat like he was dying at every meal. I think he would go through a 40 lb bag in a couple weeks. It was crazy. I'm saying all this because I just got him back from my parents. Short back story..I have surgery in Jan and couldn't move for a few weeks. To be cautious, we thought it was best for him to live in the country a while because I couldn't give him the attention a puppy needs and we didn't want him jumping on me and hurting me. He was 50-60 lbs then. Well after the surgery I had a leadership class to attend and it ended up being extremely long days so that pushed his stay a bit longer. We just went home to visit the folks last month and decided it was time for my pup to come back home. Well now he's 9 months, 85 lbs and loves to play. He's a big baby though and whines when you leave the room. Hopefully we can break that habit real soon. So now that I have him back I know again how much work it is to have a dog. No more sleeping in. No more nights away. No more clean house. Plus add in all the things you have to do like constantly watch him so he doesn't he a hole in the drywall or molding. Yes, he ate a hole in the drywall and ate molding off the wall at my parents. So now that he's back I keep asking myself...are kids this bad? I know your life changes when you have kids but kids grow up fairly quick and begin to take care of themselves. My pup will NEVER do that. So I'll have to wait and see but right now...for my sanity...I hope, I wish, I pray that my kids aren't going to be this bad!
B

A life of seconds...game of inches.

The past few weeks have not been terribly bad, but it could have been so much worse. I left work and took a few weeks off to go home and help my parents out. They own a small business in south Louisiana and needed a hand right around the same time I needed a break from the military life, and my fiance needed time to study. (She is about to take her national exam in massage therapy). It was good timing for everyone so we packed up, left Florida and went West on I-10 a few hours. The plan was for me and my fiance to get a week of work at the office under our belts then let the folks take a small, short, and much needed vacation. Because they run the business it's hard for them to get away. I was going to try and help them do just that and get away a bit. Well my grandfather on my dad's side of the family had been having health issues. A few years back he had a stroke and the stroke left an artery in his head with a small kink. Yes just like a garden hose, but still had flow. The kink would sometimes move and when it did it would touch a nerve sending extreme pain down his face. He described it like brain freeze in his entire face. Something I can only imagine hurts like hell. So after some time dealing with this because the doctor he was seeing hoped it would correct itself, the Wed before last he has surgery to fix it. They had to remove a piece of his head to access the artery, straighten it out, and place a screen between the artery and nerve to prevent future "brain freeze" attacks. He was in ICU for about 3 days after the surgery, then was placed in his own room for a night or two, then released home. Needless to say it was a tense time for our family. He is older now and many people underestimate the risk associated with older people having a major surgery. Unfortunately my parents had to post pone their little trip do to the circumstances of my grandfather. My father had to spend a few nights at the hospital with my grandmother to lend a helping hand when he was recovering so they couldn't leave. Well luckily for everyone my grandfather is doing better minus a few headaches, and a slight balance issue every so often. Anesthesia doesn't fair so well on older individuals and sometimes it takes a little bit for them to get their wits back so nothing to be overly concerned about. Overall things were looking good though. So because of things looking up, Saturday my family and I went on the water to spend the day together. Took out our party barge loaded with my aunts, my cousins, my parents, my fiance and my uncle with his new girlfriend. He is my dad's youngest brother by 13 years and older than me by just 9. Needless to say he's close to everyone. When he was young he unfortunately had made a few poor choices as many do when they are young and think they know everything. The unfortunately thing for him was he got caught and got in some trouble here and there. He just recently moved back home and started a new life that was going in the right direction. Solid job with the same company the entire time he was home, attending almost all the family gatherings, took up very healthy hobbies such as fishing and being out in the boat, and most importantly he surrounded himself with good people. People he can count on and depend on and people that want the best for him. He was actually a great person to be around with lots looking up for him. After the afternoon on the boat he left to bring his girlfriend and her kids home. The next morning, today Sunday August 1st, he was suppose to take my other uncle, the middle brother who was in town salt water fishing. He decided to leave his girlfriends house early to get to bed so he could wake up and head out fishing. Just about 8 pm, he was less than 5 miles from home when out of no where a car trying to pass 3 cars in a curve hit him head on. The driver, a young 21 year old that was going to the hospital to visit a friend that was there because they tried to commit suicide. He was going to try and talk to them and help them and be there for them. There were no skid marks on the road from either vehicle so the two vehicles received the full force of the impact. The young driver of the other vehicle, unfortunately died instantly. My uncle was in terrible shape. On the outside he had a left elbow compound fracture, left femur compound fracture, right knee fracture, and multiple cuts and bruises. On the inside a punctured diaphragm, ruptured spleen, liver lacerations, and bleeding. He was air lifted to a level 1 trauma center in our capital city of Baton Rouge where he went into surgery around midnight and didn't get out until 6. They didn't even work on any other the outside injuries. The removed his spleen and packed his liver and after they were done they left his incision open just in case they had to perform and emergency surgery on him today. It took 5 units of blood and 9 units of fluid to get his normal pressures back. They had to induce sedation because of many reasons ranging from pain and comfort to it being the safest option with the extent of his injuries and him possibly moving and hurting himself even further. Tomorrow he will be seen by 4 specialist so that can all correctly diagnose his status and tell us what it's going to take to give him his life back. This story could have a much worse ending but the bottom line is that my uncle is still with us. I will be able to fish with him again...I'll be out on the lake with him again...I'll see him at family dinners and get together's. Life is a terrible game of inches. One inch this way he could have died, one inch the other they both could have lived. Many people say things happen for a reason and I am not one to argue with that. I do think that people can find the good in every situation to include bad ones and I think that after time those reasons will be reveled but sometimes it is very difficult to see in the early stages. I visited my uncle today and looking at him hooked up to that ventilator with the braces on his arm and leg it was very difficult to see the good. It makes me realize just how fragile people are. One second you are here planning out your days and they next it's all changed or even gone. My advice is be careful what you put off until tomorrow because you never know what'll change today.
B