Here we are making a feeble attempt at blogging again. I really wish I could blog daily but it starting to look more like a weekly thing. So I went back home to West Virginia over the Holiday weekend, I had big plans; my best friend was driving in from KY and we were going to dig some Ginseng together. Well, I caught a bug! I was laid up on my parents couch for the bigger part of Saturday and Sunday. I mustered enough strength to drive to Charleston to meet my friend; he wanted to go to Gander Mountain and to take me out to dinner. Since I had him drive home and spent no time with him the previous two days I made myself go. It all worked out, I actually started feeling better by the time I met him. We ran into another friend whom we graduated with (he was actually part of the core group growing up) which was a pleasant surprise; after all it has been about 15+ years since we've talked. After a long evening and drive back to Beckley I finally got to hit the sack about midnight. So here comes dad 8 am the next morning waking me up, "Darren, what's the plan for today-are we going sengin'?"
I lay there totally exhausted from the previous 2 days of illness, I mean, I literally lost every possible ounce of fluid in my body. I actually lost 7 pounds in a 48 hour period. Can you say major dehydration? So here I am listening to the enthusiasm in my 66 year old dads voice as he asks if we are going "sengin". I know he hasn't been in about 15 years; I get up "yeah we're going" he starts scurrying around getting ready. A light breakfast, a short drive and a couple hours later - here we are, traipsing up the steep slopes of the WV hills in the middle of nowhere, a place called Mahan between Beckley and Charleston. I didn't let dad know but I was struggling, there was more sweat coming out of my already dehydrated body than I had water to put back in; but man he's excited, "Boy! I feel really good climbing these mountains, didn't know if I still had it in me", somehow I feel a sense of jubilation. I know my years with dad are dwindling away, I cherish times like these. I wonder how many times as I was young and he was teaching me the "ways of the woods", and I was the one struggling for strength to climb that he felt this same sense of pride as he watched over me as I am now carefully watching over him?
I have many fond memories of us together in the outdoors, memories that will bring laughter and even tears for many years, even as I write this my eyes well up from time to time. We finally hit a rough spot in the mountains and dad starts revealing he's tired. Me? I've been weak in the knees and shaking for over an hour now, am I ready? You better know it and I still have to drive back to TN; it's going on 4 o'clock already. By the time we get back to the truck I feel totally exhausted, my water has been gone for awhile now and I need some fluids in me!! We get home and my loving mother has made me some chicken and dumplings, a fresh gallon of sweet tea and a blackberry cobbler! "Love you mom"! Some dumplings and a half gallon of tea later and I'm sick again, I know, I know, you can't drink that much too quickly; but you don't understand- I needed fluids, ugh. To help you understand how bad, I had the water while in the woods, the half-gallon of tea, a large glass of milk and my body absorbed it, no bathroom till the next morning and it was minute. TMI? Sorry.
So there you have it, my wonderful fun filled Labor Day weekend. Even with all the negatives that happened the positive time of memory making with my dad made the weekend one of the best in years. Enjoy every second with your loved ones, you never know when it will be the last. A bug, a weed and a memory. Keeponkeepin'on.
...D..
They go on shopping sprees in attempt to make themselves happy but this is only temporal. The reality pricks the heart once the clothes are in the closet and there are still no arms around them, or no conversation from the one that should care about her day. On the other side of this coin you have people who are always looking across the fence. Of course I mean they think the grass is greener on the other side. 
So when they destroy their family by cheating for the sake of "happiness", what price was paid for it? Did they truly find happiness, did it work out the way they thought it would? There is much I may not understand in life but I have had a crash course in this area over the last year or so and the biggest thing I've learned is: chop your problems up like a pie, you can't eat a whole pie but you can consume it one piece at a time. Work on the problems one at a time, otherwise I promise you, you will get overwhelmed! You may not salvage your marriage, it may still end but you will know that you gave it a fighting chance. All relationships take work if you want them to last. As long as the relationship is alive it is growing therefore it needs maintenance. Once it fails and is truly and legally over, then and only then should you seek another pasture. Green grass sure is pretty regardless of what side the fence it is on. The reality is though, it all has to be mowed. 
Keeponkeepin'on
