One of Us Crosses Over
January 19th, 2007
At left, you see Cathy and her younger sister Lori in a great photo taken in 1972 (excellent duds, by the way). Now, 35 years have passed and Cathy today celebrates her 40th birthday. Last weekend, I attended her surprise birthday party on Saturday, January 13, and a family gathering at Marions Piazza on Sunday in honor of the special event. I would like to personally express my disdain to Cathy, for being the first one to drag our generation into a new age: that of the quadragenarian. Read the rest of this entry »
Grandma Murphy passed away one year ago today. Our entire family had a difficult time letting go of her, but in the end we all decided that it wouldn’t be her desire to remain on life support – with no chance of waking up. The story below is one that I wrote after the time that she died – but before her viewing and funeral. I first presented it to my Mom at Grandma’s viewing and she later passed it on to her siblings and to Grandpa. It made me feel better to write it, helping me cope with the loss. I will probably never know during my time on Earth if it was wishful thinking, creative writing, or divine intervention that inspired me to write it. Much of what is included in the story is based on factual events – such as Diana and I holding her hand as she passed away, Bev being out of town during her passing while Karen was giving birth to Abby, and the cause of her hospital stay, for instance – only these events are seen from Grandma’s persepctive instead of ours. 
As a child, I was raised on Saturday morning cartoons. Back in the day before they were all dreck, I would leap out of bed and rush to the TV where I would spend several hours with the likes of The Monster Squad, Land of the Lost, The Pink Panther, and of course, The Bugs-Bunny/Road Runner Show. While I still enjoy Pink Panther, I watch with campy glee my DVD’s of Land of the Lost, and I would love to see The Monster Squad (but know it would be crap), I am still an absolute fanatic for the Looney Tunes cartoons. 
The last (meaning both most recent and also final) meeting of The A-Haunting We Will Go Tent of Dayton, Ohio was held on December 2, 2006. At least it was the last with me as Grand Sheik. I had considered giving up my post many months ago after Carolyn and I separated, but then decided to go ahead and finish out the ‘tent year’ with our Summer picnic – and then finally, to finish the actual 2006 calendar year. I have been Grand Sheik for nearly 15 years – and presided over 136 meetings. 
In a