Thanksgiving

This year for thanksgiving we went to West Virginia. We arrived on wednesday after several hours in the car. We were delayed two hours by traffic. Once we got there I started making plans for the day. Well that didn’t work out so I just chilled with my cousins. The next day we just hungout with friends and later that afternoon ate a delicious meal. We went to our hunting cabin that evening to stay for a few days and it took about two and half hours to get there. It had been so long since I had been there and I had missed it so much!

We went to bed pretty early compared to our usual time and we got up early too. We ate breakfast and then waited a while and decided it was time for some target practice. I got my rifle and we setup some targets around one hundred shots and went in. We went on a walk later on which is one of my favorite things to do. There just isn’t alot to do at a cabin in the middle of the woods.

Saturday we headed back but had some car trouble so we didn’t leave as soon as we wanted to. We got back and everyone was dying for a shower so I waited in line and finally got to take one. I had plans that night so I got ready and just hungout with my friends while I waited. That evenening I drove to beckley to meet someone at the mall. We hungout then I stayed the night in Beckley and came back the next morning. It was an amazing trip and I can’t wait to go back!

Never Leave Your Partner Behind…Fire Rookie

I’ve been thinking lately about what I want to do for a career. For the last 3 years or so I’ve wanted to do something with the Greensboro Fire Dept. Whenever I’m around firefighters I have that feeling inside of me just pushing toward that goal. Firefighters give us the freedom to live safely in our homes and in our day to day lives. They save many and give us protection from fires igniting. Have you ever gone up to a firefighter and just said thanks? Many take it for granted that firefighters do their job and it’s not their jobs to say “Thanks” for their service… Will you stand back and just say to yourselves they did good and let it go at that? Their jobs aren’t easy and their lives aren’t perfect, they are people just like you and me. Firefighters train for months preparing for what is ahead in their careers to keep us safe. They put their own lives to risk saving people everyday! Many say, why?

Every year, fires and other emergencies take thousands of lives and destroy property worth billions of dollars. Fire fighters help protect the public against these dangers by responding to fires and a variety of other emergencies. In addition to putting out fires, they are frequently the first emergency personnel at the scene of a traffic accident or medical emergency and may be called upon to treat injuries or perform other vital functions. I was at Chick-a-fila getting some dinner to take home and I saw 4 firefighters sitting down to eat dinner after a hard days work on the job. Every time before any meal they wait for the captain or the chief to say the blessing thanking the Lord for a wonderful day. I admire the firefighters for what they do each day and just to let them know that I care I always go to them and say I pray for all of the firefighters everyday and that they are doing a great job.

Because of firefighters we can stand up and say a simple Thanks! They need to know that they are appreciated and loved. They are not forced to fight fires but they choose to make it their career and to help others, we can learn a lesson from their actions. They are brave enough to walk into a burning building when everyone else is running in the other direction. Just take a few minutes to pray for them!

In addition to being part of the Greensboro Fire Department, I am now waiting and trusting the Lord for guidance in figuring out what God has planned ahead for me. The fire atmosphere just thrills me every time I’m around the station or around an emergency. I live to give God my everything and if it is Gods plans I know things will work out to be in the field of firefighting. Emergency workers have to have a passion to do what they do and it has to be a life long passion. Not just a thrill for the day and then it’s over…The firefighters give one word that they always stand by saying to Never Leave Your Partner Behind in a fire! Pray for them…

Thanksgiving Holiday 2008

I was so excited for thanksgiving this year. I was so ready for the deliciouos food that I only get to eat two times a year (We get to eat it on Christmas too!). This thanksgiving we were headed to my grandparents house to spend the day with them and then stay the night. Well we woke up early thursday morning and the first thing we turn on tv is the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. That has always been one of my most favorite things to do on thanaksgiving. Anyway we left around ten and got to my grandparents house just in time to watch the rest of the parade. When the parade was over it was finally time to eat. We had turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, stuffing, green beans, collards, cranberry sauce, and tons of desserts. When we all got our food we sat down and ate together having a good time talking to one another and just goofing off. Then we got a suprise visit from my cousin and his daughter that we haven’t seen in a really long time. They were a lot of fun to hang out with and we got to catch up a lot with them. After we had all gone back for seconds, we turned the tv on so we could watch football. As always football can’t keep my attention for very long, especially professional, so i ended up taking a really long nap that afternoon. When it was dinnertime we just got new plates and then kept eating the food going back for seconds and even thirds. My cousin eventually left and then soon enough it was time to go to bed. We spent the night, but had to leave early the next morning. It was a lot of fun and I’m still a little stuffed. We stayed home on black friday, because shopping on that particular day is rather dangerous. The saturday came and we put up our christmas tree and set up our outside lights.  Even though it doesn’t seem like we did much, I really did have a terrific thanksgiving break.

The Hospital

I am currently sitting in a hospital room. I am not here for me…even though I am accident prone enough that I probably should have wound up in here many times. Luckily that hasn’t happened though.

My Grandmother just had back surgery this morning. So here I sit in Wesley Long, my Grandmother was having breathing problems after the surgery. There is an occasional beeping noise in the background that just sounded that tells when her oxygen level dips.

My Grandmother has always been energetic, just three years ago she was dragging my oldest sister around New York while my sister struggled to keep up. When she hit 80 this year she started admitting, “I can feel all 80 of my years.” This is starting to make me realize the mortality of my Grandparents; it seems that they are becoming more and more frail every time I see them. I am hoping this back surgery will allow her more freedom so she won’t be as limited and in as much pain as she has been in the past. She has always been the one who ties the family together.

This March my Grandparents made a tough and rushed decision. They decided to move out of their home of 41 years and into a retirement community. They moved this summer and I can’t say it was fun moving and sorting through all the furniture, newspapers clippings, and office supplies my Grandfather collected over the years (giving him 4,000 sq. ft. to store stuff gave him a LOT of leeway). The move was for the best, my Grandfather was having trouble walking up the stairs.

They have settled into a small house at River Landing and enjoy it there. When my Grandfather was first asked how he liked the new house he would reply with a big smile and just say , “it’s a little small.” My Grandfather has this way of joking that seems like he has an big inside joke the only thing is he is the only one in on it.

My Grandfather is hilarious; He is always making jokes even though a lot of times they don’t make sense to anyone but him. It just is tough on him because he is extremely hard of hearing. When the whole family gets together which includes 16 grandchildren, 5 aunts, 5 uncles, and my grandparents my Grandfather winds up being left in a chair left out of the conversation. I take this time to sit with and talk to my Grandfather. I have grown close to him in the past year or so.

He is used to being in control of everything; he used to be the head of radiology here at Wesley Long. He doesn’t normally respect or listen to anyone when they are explaining things to him. When I explain things about computers he actually listens because it is something he doesn’t know much about the use of. He reads up on computers so he can talk to me about them. He even cuts out newspaper clippings on them for me writes my name on them. He saves them in a basket for me until the next time I see him.

My Grandparents are getting older and it is something I am going to have to face. Moments like this make me realize I can’t take them for granted and have to enjoy my time with them.

Turkey Day

Thanksgiving has always been a great day for me. I mean who wouldn’t love getting together with a ton of family that you don’t see that much and eating ridiculous amounts of food until you feel as if you are going to throw-up. I know I love it.

Thanksgiving is just a week away and I’m getting pretty excited. My grandparents are driving down from Maryland with there two dogs which will make for a pretty crazy house (though nothing compared to what Christmas is going to be like).

A couple memories I have of thanksgiving include; one year I had a really bad cold sore on the inside of my lip and it hurt more than anything! I was completely starving all day and every time I would try to eat my whole mouth would be in some serious pain. All Thanksgiving day I just sat around and watched other people enjoy everything that I love to eat so much. What a bummer….

Also something I love about turkey day is the football. There is always a good game on Thanksgiving and these days I’m pretty busy so I don’t always have a chance to sit around and enjoy watching this sport but on thanksgiving there is always time.

All in all I really love thanksgiving, probably not as much as Christmas and the day after Thanksgiving is going to be pretty killer (especially if you work at big lots) but it really is a great holiday to get with family and be thankful for all the great things we have.

Rants.

This is what really bugs me. Every film adaptation of Alice in Wonderland has Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum. They aren’t in the original book! The twins Tweedledum and Tweedledee are from the sequel Through the Looking Glass and what Alice Found There. Speaking of which, I wonder why there aren’t many film adaptations of the second book.

Also, I think the movies (even some of the better ones) make Alice seem WAY too normal. She is NOT normal. She seems extremely hyperactive, flighty, ditsy, even schizophrenic at times.

An Excerpt:

‘Come, there’s no use in crying like that!’ said Alice to herself, rather sharply; ‘I advise you to leave off this minute!’ She generally gave herself very good advice, (though she very seldom followed it), and sometimes she scolded herself so severely as to bring tears into her eyes; and once she remembered trying to box her own ears for having cheated herself in a game of croquet she was playing against herself, for this curious child was very fond of pretending to be two people. ‘But it’s no use now,’ thought poor Alice, ‘to pretend to be two people! Why, there’s hardly enough of me left to make one respectable person!

So yeah, If Alice was just slightly less than your typical young girl, it would explain things more.

Also this being unrelated , Hugh made me hungry. I kept seeing pink delicious cotton candy sitting on top my older sisters head. Sigh.

Licensed Driver….FINALLY!!!

I am now officially a licensed driver! I am so excited. It seems like I’ve been waiting forever for this moment since I didn’t take drivers ed until after I had already turned fifteen. I always felt so left out, because as of now pretty much all of my friends have their licenses. I was always embarrassed when my parents would have to drive me somewhere just so I could go hang out with friends. But now its all good! I got my license yesterday afternoon and not too long after that I was already driving myself places. I was afraid I was going to be really nervous driving by myself, but it turns out it’s more fun to drive by yourself.

I was really nervous Tuesday night because that was the night before my trip to the dmv. I was so scared something would go completely wrong while I was driving. Nothing really bad has ever happened to me while I was driving, but for some reason I knew something out of the blue would happen during my driving test. I went to my parents for reassurance and they said i would do fine. I also talked to my best friend morgan who of course already has her license. She said the test was really easy and that thery hardly make you do anything. Having been in the passengers seat while she was driving I finally got some confidence. If she was able to pass the test by the way she drives, I think I’ll be okay.

We got to the dmv early the next morning so that there would not be too long of a wait. We ended up having to come back later because we forgot to do something before I would be able to drive. We came back right after lunch that day. We got there and got settled by one o’clock. Five minutes later they called me back to take the drivers test. The instructor and I left to take a ten minute test driving test. My dad and I left the dmv by 1:25 with a drivers license in my hand. I am finally a licensed driver!!

My trip to west virginia

Last weekend my dad had a football game to go to in west virginia. Usually when he has a game he takes me along to spend the weekend there with my family. When he asked me if I wanted to go I said yes of course because West Virginia is my favorite place to be. My uncle and cousin live about ten minutes away and they come with us sometimes and this was one of those times. We picked them up and got on the road. The trip up always seems to last forever; I guess because I am so impatient to get there. We got there and one of the people I have known for a few years was there and she wanted my cousin and I to go see a movie. We went all the way to beckley and watched the movie.

When we came back we talked to one of my other friends that lives close to my cousins and he came over. We chilled for a while and played video games. Eventually we went to the gas station and wal-mart like we always do. We got some food and came back. After staying up until about six we finally went to bed. The next day we woke up at four! We went and got subway and chilled the rest of the day. At night we played guitar hero world tour for a while. Everyone was asleep except for my cousin and I. We had alot of fun just hanging out together and it was nice to go up to west virginia again.

Third Day

My oldest brother Stephen works at Erwin Brothers Motion pictures in Bessemer, Alabama. The company films for many events including Christian bands. Erwin Brothers is a Christian professional filming company that first started out with two brothers having the same passion in life. They have grown in business and are now filming for Christian singers and bands such as: Nichole C. Mullen, Michael W. Smith, Casting Crowns, Salvador, Whitney Duncan, and Third Day along with many others.

Charlotte

This weekend I took a train to Charlotte to visit my sister Ashley. I used to go to Charlotte at least once a month but recently I have been too busy to go. I figured the Halloween party at her boyfriend Ryan’s house would be the perfect excuse for a trip down there. Also the fact that her old roommate Gretchen and Gretchen’s fiance Pat were down there both of whom had been living out of state for the past few months.