Close To 300 Blankets Were Collected For Our 4th Annual Blanket Drive. That Means Close To 400 Beds Will Be Warmer This Winters Season. Blankets Collected Throughout This Past Summer Were Put Into Storage Until After The Drive. I Have So Many People To Thank For The Success Of This Years Drive. I Must Sit Down And List Their Names Or Business So I Can Include A Thank You Through Our Local Newspaper. This Is Far More Than A One Man Show. 

This Project Has Two Reasons For It's Existence. It Is My Belief Every Bed Should Have A Blanket In The Winter Months. Not Only Will It Keep That Person Warm But It Will Give Them The Opportunity To Lower The Thermostat At Night. We Spend One Third Of Our Time In Bed. Why Not Save Yourself Some Money While You Are Sleeping?

This Year We Were Able To Get Flyers Out To All Of The Elementary Level Schools In Danville And A Couple From Rural Areas. Getting The Word Out Was The Most Important. We Chose To Have This Drive On Black Friday Of Every Year Because It's The Busiest Shopping Day Of The Year. Being The Day After Thanksgiving It's Fresh On Our Minds How Thankful We Are To Have A Warm Bed At Night. It's Also The Season Of Giving. It Also Warms The Heart Of The Giver Knowing Their Donation Will Be Appreciated Every Night This Winters Season. It Was Cold And It Was Windy. The Prime Ingredients To Conduct A Blanket Drive.

All In All I Would Have To Say We Collected More Blankets This Year Than Any Other. My Thanks To Those Directly Or Indirectly Involved In Any Way. There Is A Special Place In Heaven For People Like You.

I Would Like To Thank My Father This Year For Taking My Family In A New Direction. It Is Not My Intent For Any Of My Readers To Leave My Blog In Tears. Yes I Do Pour My Heart Out In My Writings. The Next Blog Under This One Was Written With A Heavy Heart. November 22nd Of Every Year Will Always Carry The Memory Of The Last Date I Saw My Son Bobby Alive. This Year It Landed On Thanksgiving. I Remember Last Thanksgiving Was Kind Of A Blur. It Sure Didn't Have The Same Feeling As Thanksgivings Of Years Past.
We Knew We Had More Thanksgivings In The Future Without Our Beloved Bobby. This Year My Father Did What Good Fathers Do. He Guided Us Into A Different Path. A New Path That We Could Always Reflect Back On Past Thanksgivings And Remember Them All With A Smile. My Father Treated Us To A Thanksgiving Dinner To A Popular Buffet That Had All The Holiday Trimmings We Are Accustomed To. He Paid For My Entire Family Including My Brother Tuck And His Wife. For Others On The Outside Looking In Appeared To Be A Generous Man Willing To Pay For A Family Gathering. Yet It Is Much More Than That. My Father Started A New Tradition For My Family. Next Thanksgiving Will Be Celebrated At A Restaurant. I Know It Must Look Rather Cold To Gather In A Restaurant Atmosphere For A Traditional Meal. You Would Be Shocked To See This Restaurant Filled To Capacity. I Don't Know Their Reasons For Being There. Some May Not Want To Slave In A Kitchen All Day For A Meal That Will Take 20-30 Minutes To Eat. No Matter Their Reason It Has Nothing To Do With Mine. A New Beginning, A New Chapter Has Been Written For Our Future Thanksgivings. It's Comforting For Me, My Wife, And My Daughter. We All Remember The Thanksgivings Of The Past. I Think We Would Appreciate The Remembrance To Be Sacred. I Don't Want To Confuse My Grandson Though. He Will Most Likely Grow Up Thinking Most Families Enjoy This Feast In A Restaurant Setting. I Will Someday Set Him Down And Explain To Him Why We Do Things Differently. Thanksgiving Is What You Make It. My Family Was In Limbo. We Needed A Little Guidance Like What Happened Today. Maybe Next Year We Can Add A Few Euchre Games After The Meal. We Just Needed To Get Away From What We Always Did On Thanksgiving.
The Healing Continues.....

Look Beyond The Smile

As The Holidays Are Approaching, Please Remember Many Of Your Friends And Relatives May Feel Differently About The Season. There May Be An Empty Seat At The Thanksgiving Table This Year. The Absence Seems To Never Go Away. Sure I Am Not Crying Every Day Like I Did When My Son Passed Away. There Is Never A Day That Goes By I Don't Think Of Bobby. I Will Miss Him Every Day For The Rest Of My Life.
I Have No Suggestions On What To Do To Help Ease The Pain Of Missing The Ones We Loved So Much. Last Thanksgiving Is Just A Blur To Me. I Cannot Remember What We Did. I Can However Remember That I Really Wanted No Part In Celebrating The Holidays As In Years Past.
I Gladly Accepted An Invitation From My Parents To Meet Them In Champaign At Ryan's Steak House For Thanksgiving Meal. Included Will Be My Brother And His Wife. I Will Consider This Year To Be A Tradition For Every Thanksgiving For Years To Come. I Cannot Bear The Thought Of Going Back To Traditional Thanksgiving Meals At Home Minus Bobby.
Now I Understand The Pain So Many Feel Around The Holiday Season. The Loss They Have In Their Hearts For The One Who Is No Longer With Us. There Are Times When I Feel I Cannot Go On. Yes I Am The Guy You See With The Smile On His Face At The Bowling Alley Or Playing Euchre, Or Picking Up Rummage Sale Items And Distributing Them To The Poor.
Behind That Smile Is Someone Who Is Crying On The Inside. Starting New Traditions Is A Good Idea. I Just Can't Go Back To The Ways Things Use To Be. It's Just Too Painful.
So I'm Glad We Accepted This Invitation For Thanksgiving Dinner. We Can Enjoy The Fellowship With My Parents Who Are Getting Older And Who Also Someday Will Be Just A Memory Of My Past. It Will Make This Thanksgiving Dinner More Bearable For All That Is Sitting At The Table. Yet We Still Have Much To Be Thankful For And This Is The True Reason For The Holiday. Even Though We Might Have Lost A Family Member We Still Have Family That Surround Us. We Still Have Our Continued Good Health Minus The Aches And Pains From Minor Ailments. We Have A Warm Home And A Warm Bed To Sleep In At Night. We May Not Be Eating Steaks But Good Food That Fulfills Our Body's Needs.
So If You Know Of Someone Who Has Lost A Loved One And You Feel They Are Lonely, You Are Probably Right. They May Not Admit It. They Will Most Likely Be The One Who Is Smiling At You At The Grocery Store Check Out Lane Or Serving You With That Smile. Don't Let That Smile Fool You Though, They Are Really Crying On The Inside Because Of Loneliness. That's Right, A Person Can Be In A Room Full Of People And Still Feel Lonely.

I Ask Of You To Keep These People In Your Prayers And Thoughts This Year And Every Year Around The Holiday Season.

Kodak Moments

We All Have Them Periodically. Some Times We Appreciate Them And Others Don't Even Realize They Just Experienced A Kodak Moment. A Moment In Time That We Wish We Could Have A Hard Copy Image Of. However Many Of Us Store This Memory In Our Minds And Cherish It Forever .We All Have These Kodak Moments Over The Years.
I Will Have A Kodak Moment Tomorrow And Sunday. Each Year Our State Conducts A Senior Bowling Tournament. Men And Women Over The Age Of 55 Compete With Others In Their Age Division. This Will Be My Third And Last Tournament Bowling With My Parents. They Have Reached The Time Both Age And Pain Makes It Convincingly Clear They Can No Longer Compete In The Sport They Have Loved For Many Years. Bowling Is Not Just A Sport To Them. Years Of Memories And Creating Friendships With Those Who Also Enjoy Bowling. A Weekly Social Event For Both Of Them. I Had The Privilege Of Bowling Weekly With My Parents For Seven Years. Our Teams Name Is The Keenagers.
The Finale In Bowling With My Parents Will Be This Weekend. They No Longer Bowl On Our Weekly League. The State Tournament This Year Will Be In Champaign, Illinois. Just a 45 Minute Drive. Each Year We Always Looked Forward To This Event. In Years Past We Would Stay Over Night In A Hotel. The Distance For This Years Event Saves Us The Hotel Need.
Regardless, This Next Two Days Will Be One I Will Look Back At For Years To Come. I Plan To Take My Camera With Me So I Can Capture Those Special Kodak Moments.

My Dad Will Soon Be 80 Years Old. I Know I Won't Have Him Around Forever. I Am Always Reading Obituaries Of Classmates Parents Who Have Passed. I Feel Blessed To Have Both My Parents. We Try To Spend As Much Time Doing Different Things Just To Spend Quality Time Together. Some Day I Will Be Looking Back At All These Kodak Moments. At This Moment Though I Intend To Just Keep Creating Other Kodak Moments.