June 30 and still around to update this

Another month has come and gone. All of life is great! Megan is living close to us and I get to see Maxwell quite regularly. This will continue until Megan tells me I come by too often. Only time will tell on this.
We really enjoyed the family reunion. Good to see these family members and talk about old times. They always tell stories that I don't know but I still enjoy listening to them. I always here something about how one of them carried me around. One of the benefits of being the youngest is they remember things that I was too young for. I was asked what I could remember about my Grandpa and I could not come up with anything. I was only 2 years old when he died and 12 years old when Granny died. I remember many things about her and about times when she was still here. I don't know if they carried me because they wanted to or because they had to, but I have always felt the love they all have for me.
I had an interesting thing happen to me today. A lady I know from work called me to talk. She was scared to ask, but wanted to talk in a personal mode. She asked about my recovery, how it went and how I dealt with it. I started talking but did not want to give too many details without knowing what was causing all of this thinking. It turns out, her Dad was injured by a bull when they were in a pen. It evidently kicked him several times real hard. It shattered his spine and the doctors had to put pins in it. She wanted to know so she would know what was ahead and how to deal with it. We talked for quite a while and I felt better about talking once I knew WHY. I tried to explain to her the ups and downs he would experience. Some days he will be up and the next he may be down. Sometimes, both in the same day. I tried to tell her the most important part was to keep his experience up. Once someone like that gets down, the improvements slow down. I really think the mind has a lot to do with it. I also told her that my HARD-HEADEDNESS helped me a lot because when they told me something, I just wanted to prove them wrong. When they said one year in a chair, I just wanted to show them that was not for me. I have people ask me a lot why I am always in such a good mood. I blame this on God. He is the ONE that helped me pull through all of this pain and disappointments and helped me learn to enjoy EVERY DAY.
Does anyone but me remember what next Tuesday is? It is a Holiday for me. 2 years are gone but I still wake up breathing every day. Thank you God for making 7/7/07 a special day for me and all my family and friends.
Yes, it has been over two weeks since I wrote here but I still check it every few days to see if there are any comments added. Several people at the reunion told me they still read it but rarely add any comments. My next event is my school reunion. It is on 8/8/09 and I am really looking forward to this day.
My love to you all.
Mark 6/30/09

Another week has flown by & I am still here, 6/13/09

Well another week has flown by and here I am to tell you about it. Megan closed on their house yesterday so I had to spend my morning over helping everything get moved. They had boxed it all up and hired a couple of guys to move it all. Matt and I had to move the other things, like freezer, tool boxes and stuff in the garage. I am so glad I can help, but it is still not an easy task. Lifting things still get to me but I think that is why she hired these two guys. Before all of this, I would not let this happen, but now I realize what is best for me. Any way, my Grandson is going to be closer to us and Betty and I are just as happy as possible. Life is a great thing.
Work next week is going to be pretty severe. We have a Turnaround starting on Monday. These 9 or 10 hours days will become 12 hours long for the next two weeks. I can only hope everything we find is something we can deal with. I will be talking with many vendors over this time frame, but most of them enjoy hearing from me. Too many years of talking to them several times a week and getting to know them like I did always is a blessing. I learned many years ago, treat someone as you would want to be treated and the respect and trust you get back is well worth it. I know we all make mistakes from time to time, but deal with it and move on. That is what life is all about!
My family reunion comes up in two weeks and I am looking forward to seeing all of my kinfolks even though they pick on me because I am the youngest of the Grandkids. Now, this is one of those good things and they can make fun of me all they want. I still love them and appreciate them for being there for me and my family when I was down and almost out.
School reunion come up in about two months and I am looking forward to that, too. I have started communicating with several of these people and it brings up some very pleasant memories. Another opportunity for me to tell God how much I appreciate Him for helping me still be here !
My love to you all. Have a nice SAFE summer.
Mark 6/13/09

Sunday, June 7 and still around

Yes, another week has flown by. School is out for most people and it is going to be a wonderful summer. Megan is supposed to close on her new house next Friday and is moving in on Saturday. I am so excited to have her and her family so close to us. Maxwell may be able to spend more time at my house! I am very excited about this. I took two days of vacation next week so I can spend some time with him. I am there on Monday and Tuesday. We will enjoy our time together. I will love on him and he will love on me. Life is such a wonderful experience.
I am supposed to find out something at work next week and am hoping for the best. Some things are just going to come out and we have to live with these things. All I know is that my work days are longer now than they were a year ago but I am still there right now. Smile and move forward.
I have a family reunion coming up in a few weeks that I am looking forward to. I always enjoy seeing my family and spending time with them, We have a room for Friday and Saturday night. We plan on getting there pretty early on Friday. We end up doing some "shopping" with several cousins. There are some antique stores there that are great to look through. Matt always hates this time and I know I would have when I was that age.
Also have a school reunion scheduled in August. I am also looking forward to seeing these people too. I really hope most of them don't know about my accident because I would rather not discuss it unless they want to know. If they ask questions about it, I don't mind sharing this information, but hate to be the one to bring it up. I sure don't want to pour this on someone that doesn't know. Many of these people are friends and they realize what me and my family went through. People tried to keep people informed of where I was and how I was doing.
Life is wonderful and I will enjoy my two days with Maxwell. I will try real hard not to spoil him too much but you know how Grandpa's are about these type of things.
Thanks for being one of those people that still checks on me here. I love you all so much. Betty and I went to the hospital last night to see one of Betty's friends whose son was hurt in a motorcycle accident. Seeing what they are going through only reminded me of what Betty had to deal with when I was there. I am always thankful for what God did for me and for us!
Mark 6/7/09