There are times when I have to write; there are times when I shouldn’t write if those occur at the same time the result resembles my last blog.  It is poorly written, even for me, and contains a little too much self-pity.  I usually delete that kind.  For some reason I decided to hit the publish button instead of the delete button.

I’m going to do another one for a couple reasons. One is to move that one off the top; the other, I want to talk about some things while the mood is somewhat positive.

All married couples have two birthdays and an anniversary; if there are kids you can throw in Mothers Day and Fathers Day.  For Sharyl and I all five of those are squeezed into a five or six week time period in May and June beginning with Mothers Day; I promise I won’t revisit that.

Sharyl’s birthday is May 25^th; our anniversary is the 27^th.  We usually did one dinner or celebration for both events, and we didn’t have a traditional place i.e. “we always go to Jay’s or Vans or KFC or Mickey Ds”.  Truth is we probably did each of those at least once, well maybe not Mickey Ds.  The girls will confirm KFC during the rodeo days; please don’t ask them to elaborate.  The date we did this dinner also fluctuated to fit our schedule.  Sharyl was always very active with the Tecumseh Alumni Association and probably only missed a couple of the banquets in 40 plus years. Those events took priority and often conflicted.  My work schedule also presented problems.  I have spent more than one of her birthdays and/or our anniversaries in places like Barnsdall, Ok, Pratt, Ks, Detroit, Mi or Ankara Turkey, during the 70s with rodeo the 80s and 90s it was the day job.

I always got her some kind of gift; yes usually one for the two and sometimes all three occasions (the lady was hard to buy for) sometimes it was very personal, sometimes useful, sometimes neither. I think she understood it was the thought that counted.  I always got her a card for each occasion and put a lot of effort into the selection of just the right card.

We did a similar thing for my birthday and Fathers Day; they are always very close together in fact this year they are on the same day.  She usually always did a common gift for the two occasions and like me commented that I was hard to buy for. She also had a knack for selecting just the right card.

The past three years we spent all those days together and cherished every moment.  It will be difficult to stay away from the card rack this year.  It would be anniversary number 47, and as they say old habits are hard to break.  I love you and I miss you.

The past few days my mind has been flooded with memories of Conner.  I think it will help me and hopefully it won’t bore you if I share one of those memories with you.

I don’t remember how old the boys were but Sharyl, Cale, Conner and I were coming home from a few days at the lake.  On a good day grandkids sleep when everyone is tired and you’re looking at a two-hour drive, it wasn’t a good day.  We did a variety of things to keep them occupied when they weren’t sleepy; we sometimes played a states and capitals game.  This day Cale was either sleeping or otherwise preoccupied and I think to avoid the states and capitals thing without being rude Conner decided to draw a map of the USA. I think he started with Oklahoma and it kind of grew from there.  He was in the backseat so neither Sharyl or I could see his work.  We helped him with the locations, which proved more than a little challenging.  An example, Tennessee is short and wide and is on top of Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia.

I was anxious to see his work when we got home.  His finished product was very recognizable, certainly not something Rand McNally would be interested in but you could definitely tell what it was; and up near the top sandwiched between Minnesota and the western shoreline of Lake Michigan was West Consin.

That is one of a handful of states I haven’t been to; I may just drive up there one of these days and let them know it is West Consin not Wisconsin.

I love you ConMan and miss you every day.

I think everyone will understand if I stay away from the keyboard for a couple weeks. If I do come here I will try to remember to consider using the delete key.

Keep me in your prayers.

Good Night and God Bless

Dave