Samantha's World

Even though Sam's a year younger than Chris, her world is pretty wild, too. She had to give up her spot in winter guard because she auditioned for--and made--jazz band. She put aside life as an alto sax player and moved up to big old bari sax after much encouragement from her band director. She loves honking out those lower notes and even finds herself dancing as she plays. I think she truly enjoys the more upbeat reportoire. And she especially enjoys the upcoming band trip to St. Louis where they'll perform in a competition, hit Six Flags, and take in other touristy stuff. It's her first multi-night stint away from home (except with grandparents), so it's a big step.

Sam spends her spare time writing poetry and stories which she shares with other teens on HarperTeen's website. She's made a lot of friends through the book-centered site and has gained much self-esteem from all the positive feedback about her writing. I think our big summer project is going to be to work on a teen novel centered around the colorguard world. She has some of the character charts and goal/motivation/conflict matrices done, so outlining the plot comes next. When she grows up, she wants to be a journalist. Wow, sounds kinda familiar (laughs)! She'd like to go to UMass like I did, but I keep telling her the best J-schools are Northwestern and University of Missouri/Columbia.

For the most part Sam's health has been good, but we're starting to have a more persistent problem with migraines. She sees a specialist to look into that early next month.

How Time Flies...

This weekend really drove home just how old the kids are getting to be (sigh). On Saturday morning, Wayne took CJ to the Houston High School parking lot and let him drive the Blazer around a bit. Wow, it's hard to believe that in less than a year he could be driving! If we applied for a "hardship license" because of my inability to drive, he could actually drive now on a limited basis. While that would be a tremendous help to Wayne, we don't feel Chris is quite mature enough to handle life on the road yet. If he makes a dramatic turnaround, that could all change.

Life is really upside down for Chris right now. Not only does he have to think about asking a girl to the 8th grade dance, but he has to face some medical issues as well. While he's been seizure free for almost three years, the medicine has made him very tiny. He's just over five feet and weighs a scant 79 pounds. For a fourteen year old, his weight is in the fifth percentile which has caused the doctors some concern. But more importantly than that, it's made him uneasy in social situations. This Friday we see an endocrinologist to rule out any hormonal causes. (Given my vast assortment of endocrine disorders, it's not outside the realm of possibility.) But should those tests come back normal, we'll lean on the neurologist for a meds switch. I hate to tamper with what's working, but right now the size is causing him more psychological trauma than the potential for a seizure.

Throw on top of that this week's registration for high school. He's decided to continue playing trombone in the band, though I suspect that's more because he wants to join the band on their summer 2008 trip to Hawaii (laughs). But hey, if it keeps him involved in something, I almost don't care about the motive at this point. Sports are just a bit too dicey with his health and weight. I'm sure he could do it if he wanted to, but I think he's a little scared given how big all the other boys are. I can't blame him there. His current career leanings are something in the NASCAR field, mechanical engineering, car design, or 3D graphic design like his dad. He's trying to decide which electives in high school will be the best. Unfortunately we're being mean parents and insisting on four years each of math, science, and English and two years of a foreign language so he'll be ready for anything. It's a lot for the poor guy to take in. Anyway, we'll keep you posted!

No Comment!

Here I thought this was going to be easy (laughs). Several people reported a problem with leaving comments. If you click the Anonymous button and then leave the info provided, all should be fine. I think the other methods have been messed up by Google/Blogger integration. Dang computers!!!

Wayne's New Car

The air conditioning in our old Blazer finally bit the dust, not something you wanna face with a Memphis summer coming at you! Sure, we could have replaced the AC in the truck, but why do that when there are so many neat cars out there? Besides, the Blazer's also been making weird I've-got-over-a-hundred-thousand-miles-on-me-so-give-me-a-rest noises. And Wayne has really missed driving his Porsche, but the kids no longer fit in the tiny back seats.

You see where this is going, right (laughs)? Yep, a new car! Granted we could have gone with a sensible Honda Accord or Toyota Camry, but they're slow, and a new one costs on the far side of thirty thousand dollars (gulp!). In high traffic areas like Memphis, speed and maneuverability are a must-have for safety sake. (Jeez, what some people will do to rationalize things...!)

Anyway, after much thought, Wayne decided if he had to have a sedan, his dream car would be a BMW M5. 0-60 in 4.8 seconds. The ability to fly through a 25 mph curve at 50 mph without batting an eye. A whopping EIGHTY+ THOUSAND DOLLARS new. Heck no!!!

Enter CarMax, the auto equivalent of Wal-Mart--any make and model of used car you can think of on one convenient lot. After weeks and weeks of daily website scans, an M5 finally appeared in Memphis. We raced (ahem, I mean sauntered over) to the lot to take a test drive. The vehicle was amazing! The 2000 Imola Red (Wayne calls it "Pull Me Over Red") BMW offered top-notch performance at a great price, AND CarMax let us purchase a three year warranty. Where else can you get such a safety net on a used car? Nowhere! And we pushed the warranty to the limit in correcting a few minor imperfections in the car. We're very impressed with both the BMW AND CarMax, and will definitely buy there again when the kids start driving. And the bright, non-metallic color is even starting to grow on Wayne a bit.

The comfy vehicle will definitely come in handy during the heat of the summer. I know the seat warmers were awesome this winter.

Anyway, come on down for a ride you won't soon forget (laughs)!

Welcome!

Since my list of medical conditions seems to keep growing at an alarming rate, I thought I'd better set this blog up so I can stay in better touch with family and friends.

I know, I know...you thought we dropped off the face of the planet, right? Not so! I only wish I had about half of the time! In all seriousness though, chronic pain and fatigue have made crawling out of bed a major altercation sometimes. But I promise not to bore you with all that. I'll eventually post the medical stuff so those who want to know can read it, but for the most part I want to share events and pictures from life in Tennessee. Blogspot's Comment feature will also help us all communicate about items of interest, so please, by all means, feel free to post comments!

Oh, and don't read too much into my profile. I had started a using humor to cope with visual impairment blog a while back, but never kept it up. I'd like to revisit it someday. As far as my age goes in the profile, it can stay 39 forever!!!

I've missed you all! Life is short, so let's get back in touch!