Boo

Way to go Overcome. Good job.

Congratulations on reaching the lido deck DenaliBlues. I was late for the party, but I'm making up time.

Great job Catlover. Top-shelf quit all-around. This gif doesn't really fit, I just liked it.

Same here. I spent a lot of time procrastinating about finally quitting. I didn't call it procrastination, I called it "planning." Finally took the dive. Flew by the seat of my pants for a while...turned out to be one of the best decisions of my life.

Welcome aboard Molly. Good call on giving up the smokes. That's the way it's done. You're doing great.

Top-shelf quit Ace. Good job.

Mom passed away peacefully at home on Sunday afternoon. I will always be grateful for how peaceful her passing was. Mom had been sleeping most of the day, but opened her eyes for a brief period. This gave us all a chance to speak to her. She took one deep breath of air and crossed over to the other side. We finalized funeral plans this morning. We didn't go overboard as mom always said: "If y'all are gonna make a big fuss about me, do it while I'm still alive." Over the last couple of days at mom and dad's house, we were able to take some time and look at a lot of old photographs. Some brought back memories that were fresh in my mind. Others brought back old memories that would have been lost if not for that particular photo. Looking thru those old photos with my sister was a good reminder to both of us that we were blessed with a beautiful and caring mother. I am grieving and heart-broken. I am also thankful and blessed. The years I had with mom were a blessing. She will live on through us until our dying days.

Thank you for all the kind words and prayers. In a time like this they truly mean a lot. I wish I had better news to report. She crashed this morning at around 4:00 a.m.. Her heart stopped beating completely for approximately four minutes. They were able to revive her. We had a family meeting with a cardiologist and pulmonologist. They were compassionate but painfully truthful. They have reached the end of the line for what they can do to heal her. Her body simply can't handle any more major procedures. We had another doctor come into the room and explain our options. She could stay in the hospital or have hospice care set up at the house. Mom can barely speak right now but she looked at dad and said "take me home." She then verified a couple of more times that she wanted to go home. The kind of grace and dignity my mom has shown through the worst days of her life is a true testament to how she lived. The folks from hospice are delivering everything to the house today. My sister and both nieces are preparing the house for mom's homecoming. My nephew is coming in tonight. April and I are going to make sure Maddie and Jackson are there when she comes home tomorrow. Mom will have all of her grandchildren under one roof. That means a lot because in the history of grandmothers, no grandmother enjoyed doting over her grandbabies more than mom.

My mom is really having a rough go of it right now. She had a massive heart attack on New Year's Eve. While she was recovering from the heart attack, a case of pneumonia set in. The pneumonia keeps coming back regardless of what they do to treat it. They had to put her on a ventilator last week. She was released from ICU back to a standard room yesterday. I'm trying to stay optimistic.

Miss Maddie had a good Christmas. Although...there are always a couple of gifts that in hindsight leave me and Sugar Britches wondering if that was a good idea. For instance, she loves her little electric piano that she got. She can crank it right up and make all kinds of noise. It has a microphone as well. Maddie is endlessly amused by hearing her own voice over the microphone. The louder the better seems to be her approach. Jackson gets in on the action as well. I don't know how musically inclined the boy is, but if he can push buttons and make noise...he's all in! On a quieter note, my in-laws got Maddie a toddler safe necklace and bracelet set. They each have her initials on them. I was surprised by how much Maddie liked her new jewelry. She would show them off and you could tell she was very proud of her new loot. It's nice to see your children having a great Christmas and enjoying their gifts. However, Papa Boo couldn't help but notice Maddie's affinity for jewelry and have thoughts of "this is going to get expensive in a few years." Jackson has more cost efficient tastes. He spent Christmas Day playing with empty boxes and discarded wrapping paper. A room full of toys and he goes for an empty FedEx box. Maddie did get a chance to show off some newly learned skills for family and friends. She can count to ten. And she's learning her ABC's. She sings the ABC song up until the letter K and gets a little hung up, she has plenty of time to learn the rest. And now that she's mic'd up we can listen to her sing all over the house.

Saying goodbye to loved ones is never easy. It hurts and there's no way around it. I think sometimes we put too much pressure on ourselves looking for "closure." I'm not sure when seemingly everybody started using that word, it just happened one day. You don't close the book on the ones you love, you move on to the next chapter. This is an important realization. We try to fill voids in our life with all types of things. At best, they are loving distractions. At worst, they are actually compounding our problems at our lowest times. Regardless of which it is, we are only delaying the inevitable; we will eventually have to deal with the actual issue. Kris, I think you've only begun to tap into the strength you are capable of. Hang in there, better days are ahead.

Enjoying a typical quite night at home. Spent time reinforcing the makeshift boundary wall we had to build around the Christmas tree and pulled a rescue mission after Jackson got himself stuck trying to go under a chair to get to the tree. He loves to pull at the lights and rip wrapping paper. So much so we had to put an ottoman, a hope chest, and various other items around the tree to keep him walled off. An eight month old boy whose only recently become mobile and is full of curiosity will keep you on your toes.