The Flying Spaghetti Monster (also known as the Spaghedeity) is the deity of a parody religion called The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster and its system of beliefs, “Pastafarianism” The religion was founded in 2005 by Bobby Henderson to protest the decision by the Kansas State Board of Education to require the teaching of intelligent design as an alternative to biological evolution. Because intelligent design
implies the existence of an intelligent, but not necessarily omnipotent
or omniscient designer, some, like Henderson, argued that this designer
could, in fact, be anything imaginable. (Source: Wikipedia and  Haochi)

Cole had his First Communion this past weekend.  It brought back many memories of my own First Communion as well as some of the more ritualistic things I actually enjoy about the Catholic Church.  Coincidentally, on the way home, NPR‘s weekly religion show “Speaking of Faith” departed from their usual format to “listen to a spectrum of lay Catholic voices on the force of vast and ancient tradition on their lives, the way they struggle with it, the sources of their love for it. Even to be a “lapsed Catholic,” we hear, is a complex state of being.“  It was really interesting, and helped me understand some of my current struggles with religion a bit better.  At any rate, it was a beautiful day, and Cole seemed to have a great time!

Mapping the landscape of Catholic voices

We went to Cole’s Little League game tonight, and I’m a heck of a lot more sore than any of the players!

  

While the rest of our family back in the Midwest hunted for frozen Easter eggs in the snow, Southern California basked in 100 degree plus temperatures!  It was so hot, my bunny melted!

The kids had fun though and Jennifer cooked an amazing meal.  Thanks Jenn!

 
Easter 2008, Cole, Tressa, Andy & Tommy….compared to:

Easter 2005, Tressa, Cole Tommy and…

Andy (with Great Grandma in 2005)

Hey kids, I was just in a car accident!  Some things never change

Tommy & his favorite cousin

Yes, it was over 100 in the sun!

And here are the best of the rest:

Andy stole the show all day as this video will attest:

Have I got your attention?  LOL.  Remember when I fired my doctor a few months ago?  It all stemmed from him not authorizing a refill for some psoriasis cream I needed to clear up some mild red spots on my scalp.  He had prescribed it years ago, and since I hadn’t been in to see him in a while, he refused to refill the prescription until I made an appointment.  As I was about to leave on a trip, I told him I would come in when I got back.  That wasn’t good enough though, and being a greedy corporate bastard (he had recently joined a large medical conglomerate), he wouldn’t budge, so I got rid of him.

Fast forward to now.  For the past few months I’ve been squeezing what I could out of several of the old tubes of medicine I had left.  It seemed to do the trick up until recently when the redness wasn’t going away.  Since I switched health insurance companies on January 1st, I finally made an appointment with a dermatologist.  The office was in Beverly Hills, and when the doctor walked in, he looked like he was right out of central casting (as it turns out, he’s CNN’s “dermatology/botox consultant”).  LOL: 

He tells me his specialty is more “cosmetic”, so he was going to send in his associate, Dr. Saghari:

She comes in (like she’s just walked off a catwalk…gorgeous) and asks me what I’ve been using on my scalp.  I tell her, and her jaw drops.  She goes on to tell me that the cream I had been prescribed by my old doctor, was the strongest steroid cream they have for psoriasis, and that it should never be used on the face or scalp.  “How long have you been using it?”, she asked.  “Five years”, I replied.  “You don’t have psoriasis anymore” she said, “You have steroid rosacea!”  She goes on to say that my skin had become addicted to the steroid cream, and that she would have to wean me off of it.  She told me it would likely get worse, before it got better.

My reply?  “So what you’re telling me Doc is…

You say my scalp should go to rehab
I said no, no, no.
Yes it’s been a little red, but when I come back
You wont know, know, know.

I ain’t got the time
And if my daddy thinks im fine
He’s tried to make me go to rehab
I wont go, go, go.

So she prescribed some non-steroid creams…and here I am.  There goes my baseball career!

I had to babysit for Tressa tonight…and we had fun hamming it up.  American Idols eat your heart out! 

Happy New Year from Rain

Ho Ho Ho!  I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas.  Fred & Susie had Christmas Eve this year for the first time in their new house.  There was SO much more space than we usually have and the kids had plenty of room to run around and play.  The only problem for me, was the 3 cats but I survived.  We did a grab bag this year, which was really nice.  I got a great leather camera bag and an extra camera battery from Sam. 

These are some of the little photo Christmas tree ornaments I made this year.  I thought they came out pretty well.  I still need to work on finding the right photo dimensions though.

Fred & Sue’s backyard is right out of Gilligan’s Island

 
There are even banana trees

And persimmons

And a tennis and basketball court (OK, maybe not like Gilligan’s Island!)  Damn, I should have been a sports photographer (not)!

Curtis, Kevin, Susie, Fred, Cody, Kyle & Kenny

Rob, Cole, Tressa & Jenn

Lisa, Andy, Tommy & Joel

Tressa, Tommy, Andy, Carey, Cole & Cody

Pre Santa

One eyed Buster and Roxy in their Christmas finest

We had the webcams going with our family back home in Chicago.  My brother was showing me the snow there, so I took my laptop outside and…

pointed the webcam at the thermometer

Which kind of reminded me of this photo of my Dad which was taken 30 years ago on  Christmas Day 1977.  We called out to my aunt and uncle in California and (the same ones I’m here with now) and they said it was 80° and they were barbecuing.  My Dad told them he was cooking out too…and this picture was born. 

Nice legs Dad!

Everyone seemed to really like their presents.  The girls got brand new Nikon SLR’s.  I got the new Stephen Colbert book, and a new Gorilla Tripod, a bluetooth mouse, the Hairspray “shake & shimmy” DVD, the Camp DVD, some toiletries, sweatshirts, hats, a crystal globe from Italy and a heated towel rack.  The kids all got new DS games, and were actually quiet most of the afternoon.  We took them to see Alvin & the Chipmunks tonight (save your money), and then I drove home to prepare for Bassam’s arrival.

As I watched my niece (via webcam in Chicago) open her presents this morning, I was reminded that this year she announced that she no longer believed in Santa Claus  (She’s 19.  j/k).    This is interesting to me, as I’ve had the Santa discussion a few times in the past month with friends.  We discussed it in Portland over Thanksgiving (is it OK to lie to your kids?).  Tyson and I discussed it after the God debate.  I personally feel the power of myth can be a good thing, and that the Santa myth is pretty darn time tested and solid.  I also found it interesting to note that my niece wanted to spend Christmas morning watching her little sister (who still believes in Santa) open presents, before going over to her Dad’s house (her parents are divorced).  So Santa or no Santa, God or no God, most of us can’t resist watching kids open presents on Christmas morning.

Children believe in Santa Claus. Creationists believe in creationism. But children eventually discard their belief in the Man in Red on the basis of evidence. So why don’t creationists? The issue here is not so much that creationism is bad science – though it clearly is and that is a serious issue. The issue here is that it is bad Christianity: blinkered, arrogant, literalistic, paranoid, pusillanimous, delusional, anti-truth, world-denying, and cringingly embarrassing Dawkins bait. (This is hardly the place to dredge through the overwhelming scientific case against creationism. It can be done perfectly well in one word anyway: fossils.)  But the parallels between these two beliefs, creationism and Santaism, are more extensive than you might have noticed.

Both start out as reasonable assumptions. Children are not fools, but believe in Santa on the authority of their parents, who have proved a reliable source of information. Just as Christians have found the Bible an invaluable source of information about the ways of God.

But new information makes children rethink their understanding of authority: not every story their parents have told them is literally true, but that does not make them untrustworthy in more important things. Likewise the mature Christian response grasps that God might have good reasons for letting myths be told with his seal of approval on them.  Read more…

And not to beat a dead horse, but Daniel finally responded to the fracas over the D’Souza debate, and seeing as he is one of my most learned friends, I thought I’d post his response here:

On the subject of atheism vs. Christianity there is much to be said. The subject will naturally submerge us into polemics of the most invidious variety. What it ultimately comes down to is this: there are those whose belief systems are culturally and emotionally grounded, and those that choose not to subscribe to what could be construed as anthropomorphic delusion.

Although I would not purport to be a Christian per se, (despite my interest in Jewish literature and Church history) to declare myself an atheist would be both limited in scope and suggest I am seemingly indigent of imagination. An atheist believes there is no God. The problem with an absolute declaration like this is that it begs the question: what exactly do we mean by God? If by God we mean the God of the ancient Hebrews (and subsequently what some would consider the figure of Christ himself) then yes, I am an atheist on the basis that I reject the notion of a personal God. This is partially because I believe that neither the Hebrew nor the Christian weltanschauung has any right to sanctimoniously declare their self-proclaimed, respective apexes of the theological realm to be the center piece of world religions. Their rituals, which are by and large a hypocritical pre-occupation and overindulgence in sin and self-righteousness, limit the average parishioner’s ability to enter the realm of authentic spiritual ecstasy (unless you count those freaky quacks having fake orgasms on the Christian music commercials). Contrast their practices with those of the Hindus or Buddhists, and you will find that by comparison, many Christians don’t really enter into the true realm of spirit (not to level that those seeking nirvana or Krishna-consciousness would be). Buddhism and Hinduism spiritually engage their followers and encourage their quest while in the midst of life (I have witnessed this first hand). Granted, like the Christians and Jews, those religions likely mold, limit, and shape the views of their followers, but at least they are getting more spiritually advanced in the process. There is no waiting for the afterlife (which is why Marx called it the opiate of the masses) as the central focus of its tenets.

On the other hand, to deny any possibility that there is any mystery to the magic of the living realm and how it originated (as the atheist might purport) would be just as narrow-minded as the belief that missionary work is necessary because the whole world should be subservient to just one arrogant admonition (or the ethnocentric Ann Coulter imposistionist view). Empirical science should inspire awe and wonder in humans; not the close minded, fixed views that characterize the repugnant nature of many organized religions. 

Speaking of “fossils” and creation, get a load of this:

It’s an exhibit at the “Creation Museum” in Kentucky (I couldn’t make this shit up!), that depicts a “penis free” Adam naming a sabre tooth tiger in the Garden of Eden.  Nice kitty.  But wait a Kentucky minute!  “Genesis 2:25 clearly says that at this point in Adam & Eve’s life, “And the man and his wife were both naked, and they were not ashamed.” If Adam courageously sat there unencumbered while he was naming saber-toothed tigers, then why, six thousand years later, should he be depicted as a eunuch in some family-values Eden? And if these people can take away what Scripture says was rightfully his, then why can’t Charles Darwin and the accumulated science of the past 150-odd years take away all the rest of it?” 

The first thing one notices when walking into this den of deceit is the dinosaurs.  Interestingly, they have saddles and are being RIDDEN BY PEOPLE!  I’m sorry, but I found this concept ridiculous at the age of 8 when I saw it on the Flinstones!!!  (This is like shooting fish in a barrel!)

Welcome to white trash (the woman in this picture is likely holding a Bic Mac and a cigarette in her other hand.)

As this excellent Esquire article points out:

The dinosaurs are the first things you see when you enter the Creation Museum, which is very much a work in progress and the dream child of an Australian named Ken Ham. Ham is the founder of Answers in Genesis, an organization of which the museum one day will be the headquarters. The people here today are on a special tour. They have paid $149 to become”charter members” of the museum.

“Dinosaurs,” Ham laughs as he poses for pictures with his visitors, “always get the kids interested.”

AIG is dedicated to the proposition that the biblical story of the creation of the world is inerrant in every word. Which means, in this interpretation and among other things, that dinosaurs coexisted withman (hence the saddles), that there were dinosaurs in Eden, and that Noah, who certainly had enough on his hands, had to load two brachiosaurs onto the Ark along with his wife, his sons, and their wives, to say nothing of green ally-gators and long-necked geese and humpty-backed camels and all the rest.

(Faced with the obvious question of how to keep a three-hundred-by-thirty-by-fifty-cubit ark from sinking under the weight of dinosaur couples, Ham’s literature argues that the dinosaurs on the Ark were young ones, and thus did not weigh as much as they might have.)

“We,” Ham exclaims to the assembled, “are taking the dinosaurs back from the evolutionists!” And everybody cheers.  Read more about the broader dumbing down of America…

The Times of London, said this, when this creationist crap pot opened last May:  “The $27 million (£14 million) exhibition is funded by evangelical Christians, who apparently believe that by reclaiming dinosaurs and fossils for their literal biblical interpretation of natural history, teenagers are less likely to look at internet pornography or get pregnant out of wedlock.”

It’s 3 AM and I’m going to bed.  In the meantime, here are the rest of the photos and a couple of videos I shot.  The first one is of the kids opening their presents.  The second one is of me singing Darcy the Dragon to Andy & Tressa on Christmas Eve and for some reason it’s all jacked up.  I think it’s a codec issue, but I’ve already spent way too much time trying to figure it out and it’s still messed up.  You’ll get the idea though.  I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!  –Carey

Long Day!  Ben & Missy were in town, but I only got to spend an hour tonight with them.  Will hopefully see them for brunch tomorrow.  I took the kids to see Enchanted tonight.  They loved it.  I have to admit, so did I.  Afterwards we went to a cookie exchange, and had a spaghetti dinner too.  It’s 2 AM and I’m still full.  I goofed around with a few of these pictures just for effect.  I’m just going to post these because I’m exhausted.  Nighty night!

Jennifer and Missy brought Tressa and Taylor up to Hollywood today to see “Enchanted” and visit the “Enchanted Experience” behind the El Capitan to meet the Princesses.  The girls loved the movie and loved getting to meet Jasmine, Belle, Cinderella, et al, even more.  It was a picture perfect LA day, warm and bright.  The rain really washed the smog away, and the skies have been crystal clear all weekend.  They’re filming a big concert tonight at the Kodak Theater called “Movies Rock” and the red carpet was being readied for the guests, including, Beyonce, Fergie, Usher, Chris Brown, Mary J Blige, Marc Anthony, Jennifer Hudson, Queen Latifah, John Legend, Tony Bennett and Carrie Underwood.  The show airs in the US next Friday on CBS.

With the dollar at an all-time low against the pound, now’s the time to visit glam West Hollywood.  We sent fashionista Lara Kilner & two pals to hunt down the best places to stay, see and be seen…SO here we are busy checking in to the Hotel Careyfornia. It’s a boutique hotel and it’s so hip it hurts.

Despite its uber-cool credentials though, we could be in any trendy hotel, in any city, in any country. Until we turn around… and spot a lady of indeterminate age (that’ll be thanks to her head being swathed in more bandages than a mummy) being wheeled past me. She’s clearly had some serious “work” done and is off to rest in one of the hotel’s fashionable rooms.

 

And now it’s clear – I am in Hollywood. West Hollywood to be precise. The best bit of Los Angeles – the bit where the Sunset Strip is, the bit where all the coolest celebs live, and the bit where the bulk of LA’s best places to be seen are (you don’t go to them to eat and drink, silly – that involves calories and people in LA have an aversion to those).

Call me shallow, call me vacuous, call me airhead, if you like. But, my God, I love it here. Being in West Hollywood is one big, non-stop buzz. And despite the fact that most Los Angeleans would rather chew off their own feet than walk anywhere, we found it pretty easy to bumble around the streets of WeHo (that’s its name for days when saying two whole long words proves troublesome) without the aid of a convertible Chevrolet. From shopping on Melrose to supping on Sunset, I came back with quite a few new additions to my eating, drinking, shopping and pampering address books. It’s a tough job but someone had to do it…

WHERE TO BE SEEN

The Hotel Careyfornia.  Tucked away in a quiet residential street a stone’s throw from Sunset Boulevard, the Careyfornia is intimate, stylish and cool-but-not-snooty with a chilled-out bar and restaurant. A favourite of Brits like singers Corinne Bailey Rae and James Blunt. The manager told us he’d spotted Madonna in the lift the previous week, so they’re not messing when it comes to A-listers at the Montrose. The reason they love it is it’s discreet and tucked away from the Hollywood paparazzi. The rooftop pool and bar has great views of Los Angeles.  Rooms this month from $175 or £87.50 per night.

The Mondrian (www.mondrianhotel.com).  It’s been cool since day one, is directly next to infamous Hotel Careyfornia; and it’s not showing any signs of ever not being hip. The Sky Bar at this celeb hotel is a hang-by-the-pool sipping cocktails experience. Britney Spears is a regular but don’t let that put you off.

The Hollywood Standard (www.standardhotel.com) Want to feel like you’re in the thick of it? Dine at the Standard. It’s stupidly cool, slap-bang in the middle of Sunset Strip and pretty much the place to be seen (we spotted Paris Hilton’s ex, plus actress Naomi Watts eating omelettes for breakfast). There’s a lounge bar where the great and the gorgeous hang out before retiring to the diner, which serves everything from black cod to steak and eggs to sushi.

WHERE TO SHOP

Beverly Center (8500 Beverly Boulevard, walking distance from the Careyfornia) This huge shopping mall is not actually in West Hollywood, but it’s near enough. There’s the obligatory Macy’s and Bloomingdales, plus Pottery Barn (made famous in Friends) for your homeware, plus the likes of Banana Republic and a new H&M (more reasonable than the UK) for cheap-as-chips clobber.

Pleasure Chest (7733 Santa Monica Blvd, www.thepleasurechest.com, a hop, skip and a jump from the Careyfornia) Angelina Jolie is a regular in this upmarket sex boutique, and Halle Berry insists you should “embrace your body as a single girl” by shopping here.

Urban Outfitters (7650 Melrose Avenue, www.urbanoutfitters.com) LA’s flagship branch of the ultra-trendy fashion store. And the best bit? Shopping there is like a half-price sale – dresses that would cost £60 here cost $60 there (which converts to less than £30).

Fred Segal (8100 Melrose Avenue, free shuttle from the Careyfornia) Essentially a mini-mall of boutiques, Fred Segal is a retail landmark of LA. The distinctive ivy-covered store has been attracting the famous and fabulous since the Seventies. Matt Damon, David Schwimmer and Sandra Bullock were all spotted here on the same day.

Kitson (116 N Robertson Blvd, www.shopkitson.com a 15 minute walk from the Careyfornia) If you only go to one shop in West Hollywood, make it this. Jessica Simpson loves it, so do Paris and Nicole, and it essentially sells everything, so long as it’s new and trendy. It’s got lots of stuff us average folk can afford (as well as lots we can’t).

WHERE TO EAT

Ago (8478 Melrose Ave, www.agorestaurant.com) Co-owned by Robert de Niro, who is known to celebrate his birthday there, and it doesn’t half attract an A-list crowd – Jim Carrey, Jerry Seinfeld and Rob Lowe love the Tuscan-inspired grub. Best news of all… a pizza costs £6!

The Formosa (7156 Santa Monica Blvd, www.formosacafe.com) It’s all about location, location, location. And The Formosa, right next door to the Warner Hollywood Studio, has served the cream of the Tinseltown crop since the Fifties. James Dean, Marilyn Monroe, Frank Sinatra, Elvis, Grace Kelly… shall we go on? It was also used as a location for LA Confidential, and Shannon Doherty landed herself in trouble with the LAPD after smashing a bottle in the car park. A barbecued Kobe beef burger costs £7.

Dan Tana’s (9071 Santa Monica Blvd, www.dantanasrestaurant.com) This Italian eaterie (they like their pasta in West Hollywood) is another Hollywood classic, and where Nicole Richie and Paris Hilton ended their famous feud.

WHERE TO PARTY

Roosevelt Hotel (7000 Hollywood Blvd,, www.hollywoodroosevelt.com a $5 cab ride from the Careyfornia) The Roosevelt bar is uber- glam and you can sit around the pool sipping mojitos till 2am. Just don’t fall in. Food though, is very sparse, and very pricey. Get a burger before you go… and don’t rush the cocktails (at £8 a go).

The Viper Room (www.viperroom.com, 8852 West Sunset Blvd, 5 minutes walking distance from the Careyfornia) Part-owned by Johnny Depp and where River Phoenix died outside in 1993, The Viper Room is still a prime spot for rock bands to showcase their wares. You’re unlikely to spot Mr Depp, but entrance is just a fiver.

Whisky A-Go-Go (8901 West Sunset Blvd, www.whiskyagogo.com,) Oooh, you can feel the history in the air. Open since 1964, The Doors were the house band, and everyone from Janis Joplin to Led Zeppelin to Motley Crue have played here. And The Whisky still gets biggies – The Police were here a few months ago. Tickets from £7.

House of Blues (8430 W Sunset Blvd, www.hob.com/la directly next door to the Careyfornia.  Ask for speccials at the front desk.) Owned by Blues Brothers star Dan Aykroyd, and the venue for Britney’s comeback gig, House of Blues is a venue of legend. Great for drinking and band-watching, but don’t miss the Sunday gospel brunch to sort out that hangover with a bowl of classic creole jambalaya. Entrance £10.

WHERE TO STAR-SPOT (Besides the balcony of your suite at the Careyfornia)

3rd Street Dance (8558 West 3rd Street www.3rdstreetdance.com) Where Hollywood’s finest go to learn everything from the tango to hip-hop. Dancing with the Stars (the US equivalent of Strictly Come Dancing) contestants practised here – Heather Mills was a regular.

Elixir (8612 Melrose Avenue,) An obscenely cool tea house, full of cure-all potions for those grim celebrity hangovers (for those who haven’t checked in to rehab anyway). Lindsay Lohan loves spending time there (she needs it, too, with all that partying) and often drops by with her mate Rumer Willis, Demi and Bruce’s eldest daughter.

VIRGIN Atlantic (www.virgin-atlantic.com) fly to Los Angeles from £380 return.

I’ve decided I want an iPod for Christmas.  Not just any iPod, the iPod Human…and this model specifically:

LOL, if you don’t know what you want for Christmas yet, try this:  http://alliwant.imagini.net.

I gave it a try and it was somewhat accurate.  I think I’ll stick to my amazon.com wishlist though.  Ho Ho Ho. 

The City of West Hollywood held its annual Halloween Carnaval last night, and it was attended by more than 300,000 revelers.  Since it takes place literally at the bottom of my street, parking was not a problem for me.  I simply walked down the street in my Steve Irwin costume, and entered the mayhem. 

After less than an hour, I was freezing in my shorts and t-shirt.  I have no idea how half of those guys walked around bare chested (and more/less) all night long.  So I ran back home and got a hooded sweatshirt, and ditched the shorts.

Later in the evening, the crowd was so dense that you couldn’t even walk by yourself, you were just being pushed like cattle to move forward.  It made me realize how stampedes can kill people; something I never understood before!  At one point I was walking in the street, next to the curb, and I got pushed to the right.  As I moved my foot up to the curb, it only went halfway, and my ankle twisted to what felt like 90°.  I immediately fell over in retching pain.  My friends literally had to almost carry me home.  I iced it when I got home and when I woke up this morning, my ankle was the size of a cantaloupe!  Needless to say, I’m not walking anywhere today! 

Maybe not a cantaloupe but it hurts!

Anyway, here are some of the pre-sprain photos.  Enjoy!

I thought this was the most creative (and scariest) costume of the evening!

One of my favorites from last night!

This kid was so wide-eyed and adorable.

Run for your life, it’s a cute gay Teletubby!

Holy Chiquita Banana!

Satanic priest and Indian??

Mini-Kiss, that’s why you can’t see them.  LOL

Speaking of botox…Brokeback Botox!

 

 

---

And finally, my friend Jennifer sent me this picture of Drew that makes me smile every time I look at it.  In case you’re wondering, Drew is the baby I’m holding in this picture that I sometimes use on my profile, which was taken a year ago.  He’s really growing up!

And my cousin Jennifer sent me this photo of all the neighborhood kids on their front porch before they went trick or treating.  The shark, and the homeless bum holding “The End is Coming” sign, should really win some type of prize.  Priceless!

Apparently my birthday messages to all of my far flung friends have not gone unnoticed,  because when I woke up this morning I had been sent this wonderful PowerPoint presentation, that touched me like no other birthday gift I’ve ever received.  Marcelo even recorded himself playing the guitar and singing!  You’ll have to hear it to know how beautiful it is.  Thank you to my fabulous friends and thanks to all of you who sent such nice birthday wishes.  I’m truly touched.  Thanks also to my family for such a nice time tonight and to my parents and everyone who called today.  42 isn’t bad at all!  Thanks again.  –Carey

GLY,  friend!!!

May this day be even kinder to you…

Here is a techno-humble gift from us.  Forgive my incompetence in packaging the power point slide show with the audio file I made to go along with it.  Daringly, I am asking you to download the music file so you can play it in the background as you watch the slide show.

Some of us are tech-challenged.  Some of us aren’t but can’t be bothered with it.  But together we have the warmth of a mother’s hug…

Marcelo

This is Marcelo, playing the guitar and singing “I Will Survive”  Gloria Gaynor’s got nothing on Marcelo!  Sorry girls (and boys),  I know his accent is dreamy, but he’s happily married.

The “gang” in Brazil on New Year’s Eve

And here are a few photos from dinner with my family tonight:

Andy & Tressa

Where’s Andy?

Guess who climbed into the basketball machine??

Tommy’s toothless smile

Cole & Dar

Andy & Lisa

Jenn & Dar

ON THE LIGHTER SIDE
“After a B-52 pilot flew over several U.S. states carrying nuclear warheads, the Air Force said that it would discontinue its use of MapQuest.” — Newsweek satire columnist Andy Borowitz

The oxymoronic thing about funerals is that they can be so much fun.  Though the sadness is often overwhelming, the gathering of family and friends from far and wide and the memories shared, often result in laughter to the point of tears, but tears of joy, as we remember a life well lived. 

I learned many things about Dave this week.  I learned about his childhood from his kid brother.  I learned about what kind of father he was from his daughters.  I learned what a good friend he was from over 100 people who came to a memorial on a Wednesday afternoon to celebrate his life.  Of course I knew all of these things already, they were facts.  But as we all stayed up until 4 or 5 AM the past 3 nights and rummaged through boxes of old photos and told stories, these “facts” developed a genesis.  Through Jennifer’s eloquent eulogy to Cole’s tears of anguish at never being able to see his “Bampa” again, I learned how he was adored.  From Lisa’s unwavering spirit after painful surgery to Tommy’s matter of fact innocence in the wake of such a loss, I learned how his spirit was infectious to his family.  From Dar’s brave face and smiles through the tears, I realized how much joy the man she loved brought her every day of their life together. 

He was a man who defied all the odds and his spirit will live on in the family that loved him so much.  Here are some of my favorite photos from the week.  We’ve been joking about how happy we all look in these pictures.  If this is how our family acts at a funeral, imagine what we’re like at a wedding!  LOL.  To wit, a celebration of a life well lived:

Song of the day