Happy 4th of July to all, and hopefully you’re all doing what I love best, hanging out with family and of course BBQ!
The fourth of July has a lot of great memories for our family. The first is that I got married on the fourth, so I better not forget that one. I’m still amazed we were able to get married on the 4th(and not the 5th) after the bus carrying our entire family got lost that day, but we made it and we’re happy to celebrate another year together. I can’t say this has been the easiest year, nor the easiest last few months, but I can’t thank Jess enough for being here for me and our family. A lot gets lost in the mix when families go through cancer, but the support systems are the glue that holds everyone together. While my mom has showed a lot of courage, jess has continued to support me through the many hours spent at the VA. It makes for a lot of single mom time, and I can’t thank her enough for allowing me that time. 
Another memory is all the times that my sister and I drove out on the 4th to get fireworks from the indian reservation. Our dad would take us out on the 4th, give us around $20 and let the dealing begin. It was my first real chance to barter and I’ll never forget going from stand to stand trying to fill up my bag. We got all kinds of fun stuff as the reservation could sell whatever they wanted. I’ll certainly be showing my age, but “back when i was a kid” they didn’t have many of the restrictions on fireworks they do today. That made for much more entertaining displays, but much more dangerous as well. I’m thankful we were all able to get out of our childhood safely considering all the fireworks we blew up.
There were many fun experiences with fireworks, one of which will always stick out in my mind. We used to get bottle rockets and light them all over our neighborhood. One 4th of July we went to a BBQ and we all brought our fireworks. We were trying to light off bottle rockets into a cow field out of a PVC pipe without much success. Finally, my dad came over and showed us how to do it, and then decided to give us an example shot. He lit the bottle rocket, aimed the PVC pipe and launched the bottle rockets out into the field. If anyone has much experience with bottle rockets, the best way to describe them is controlled chaos. You can point it in a certain direction, but in all reality, you have no idea where its going from there. As my dad found out, aiming one direction and having the bottle rocket listen are two entirely different things. Once it was lit, he aimed and shot it into the field. It took a few turns and landed right in the middle of a few cows. It did it’s little explosion and all the cows shot off in different directions. It was a pretty funny result, which wasn’t his intention. I’m sure he wasn’t intending to show his young son that shooting at cows with bottle rockets is going to be a good idea(b/c i would have sat there and done it all night). Anyhow, it was a funny example of how much fun we had with fireworks growing up. We had a lot of other examples, many I can’t repeat for fear of prosecution, but we were certainly lucky to have made it out with all limbs and at least our house not catching fire.
We’ll be spending our time grilling, swimming and enjoying friends and family over the weekend. We’re still lucky enough to have dad around for the holiday so we’ll be spending time down at the VA with him. He wanted to go watch fireworks at the park, but the hospital doesn’t allow him to leave very often(fathers day being the only exception so far). He seems to be doing well overall. The VA Hospice has done a good job controlling his pain level. He’s been increasing the meds since he arrived. He started with a pain patch @12.5, and is currently at 75 along with breakthrough pain meds. While the meds have increased, he seems much more comfortable and lively. Its still a surreal thought to think where we were a few weeks ago, and how he looked and what the doctors said would be the outcome by the end of the weekend. He’s been fighting this disease for many years, and apparently decided to continue the good fight. We’ve been able to have a lot of great memories the last few weeks, and hope to continue until his body and mind are ready.
I wish I could explain how things have taken some of different direction. The people that were here that weekend could all attest to the end of the road, and to see him now are amazed(I know I am). I’m sure that being in the right environment has been a great blessing to his health. It has also allowed him to do some arts and crafts. He decided this week to make Payton a bird Feeder. They used to spend a lot of time at the old house feeding birds, and so my dad made her two different bird houses. One is a feeder, and the other is a bird house for a next. I’ve attached a few pictures of him giving her the feeder.
Payton, Jess and I are doing well. Jess is on summer break and spending a lot of time taking Payton to the park, hanging around the house and doing various yard work. I’ve been working and playing softball on the side. Payton is just enjoying the summer. She loves the sand box in the back of our house, the pool, the park and just about any activity. Jess’s mom got her a bike for her Bday coming up. While she hasn’t been able to pedal yet, she does sit on it proudly and sure acts as if she’s going somewhere.
I’ll update with some pictures from our Fourth of July BBQ later in the week. I’ve added a few pictures with Payton and my cousins son Ben. He spent time with Payton over the week he spent here visiting my dad. Ben is an amazing kid who spent the better part of a week entertaining the heck out of a 2 yr old, something that most people couldn’t do, nor would they have the patience. He’s a great kid, and somewhat crazy, because the day he was at the pool it was somewhere around 70 degrees….no thanks.
I hope everyone has a great fourth and spends time with family and friends.
I’d also like to thank all those that have served our country. The VA is a daily reminder of the great men and women who have served our country(at great cost). For those of you who are away, and those of you who are here with your loved ones away, thank you.
