A Long Absence, Now Ended

Hi everyone,

Sorry I was so gone for so long.

This past week has been such a long one.

There was the high of going to Atlanta,

both to visit my mom
and to be a volunteer at

Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover show.

The show was exciting, although make no mistake,

the volunteers worked very, very hard.

I did get to meet Dave Ramsey, however,

which was extremely exciting.

He was expecting a handshake

but in my excitement, I grabbed the poor man up

in a giant bear hug instead.

I think I felt him trembling.

He beat a pretty quick exit after that...

wonder why? lol

The trip was greatly overshadowed, however,

by the death of David Holder.

I've discussed that on this blog enough,

but I do have one thing I want to say publicly.

I have two brothers-in-law.

One of them, Mike, is a very affable kind of guy.

He gets along with everyone and is the perfect mix

of a frat boy and a salesman.

He's funny and makes you feel funny just being with him.

He has a story for every occasion and can make perfect strangers feel comfortable.

The opposite side of the coin, though,

is that while Mike is easy to get to know on the surface,

it is awfully hard to get much further with him.

He's slippery that way.

You can spend a whole day with him and then realize once you got home that really,

you have no idea what is going on in his life.

When we went to the Outer Banks in August,

I sat out on the beach one evening with Mike,

while the cousins played in the sand.

For probably the first time in fifteen years, we had a conversation

that touched on areas of our lives that we have never discussed together.

That time meant a great deal to me.

At Dave Holder's funeral this past Monday,

I got a much deeper look at Mike.

His words laid his heart wide open

and they moved us all.

I was so proud of him

and the man and husband and father that he is.

He gave me a gift that day in revealing his beautiful soul.

-----------------

Slowly life has returned to normal, if a changed one.

I had my first two subbing jobs.

They kicked my butt...I am way out of practice

being in a room with a bunch of kiddos!

I'll be back on schedule with the blog

and a menu plan up tomorrow.

Love your loved ones.

Leeann