Unfortunately, the appendix in question was not part of a book so much as it was part of the wife. In short, Friday brought the wife severe abdominal pain to her right side, though I was known to mistakenly refer to it as "abominable" pain. I think both descriptors are correct.

Saturday brought her an interminably long visit to the ER with no occurrences of a natural disaster, a hostage situation, a quarantine, or any other jumping-the-shark plot points.

Eight nurses, something like eighteen failed IV attempts, and a CT scan later, a swollen and "angry" (surgeon's words, not mine) appendix was successfully removed from her body and sent to whatever fate is reserved for good appendices gone bad.

Sunday brought home and rest. I hope the rest of the week brings her recovery. Please remember her in your thoughts and prayers right now.

Update January 11: Thanks for all the kind notes, emails, and calls. She’s doing very well, and she hopes to be back to work by Wednesday.

Tags: family

Happy Anniversary to us! It's number six!



Crystal and I both comment that it feels like we have been together forever, but in a good way. We have been in each other's lives since high school and started dating when we were sixteen and seventeen. Personally, I'm glad to be spending my life with her!

Tags: family, home, events

Here we are with our new family member Cymry (Kim-ree)! He's a Corgi mix, and we adopted him from a rescue shelter. He's about 1.5 years old and weighs in at 26 pounds. He has adjusted well to our household, and he's definitely helping us get some exercise through walking. Additionally, he has taken to our couches and bed very readily. He likes to sleep in weekend mornings, so he's a dog right after my heart!

Hopefully, he'll be part of our family for many years to come!

Tags: family

Crystal's mother has been in the ER all night due to severe abdominal pains. She has been there nearly twelve hours, but we still don't have a firm answer on the reason.

Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers.

Update 2/9:

It turns out that there was a mass on her ovaries. Fortunately, the growth was benign, and no further treatment will be needed. Crystal has been with her mom nearly non-stop for the past 48+ hours.

While it's distressful to have any family member undergo such a procedure, we do feel blessed that the surgery turned out as it did, and Crystal's mom should be home very soon.

Thanks to those who have been so supportive during this ordeal.

Tags: family

From the Obituary:

MULBERRY -- Mrs. Norma Virginia Dunn of Mulberry died of heart failure Monday (Dec. 19, 2005) at home. She was 89.

Born in Detroit on Sept. 9, 1916, she came to Mulberry from Michigan. She was a homemaker and a Girl Scout troop leader. She was a member of the Methodist Women's Club in Michigan. She attended Covenant Presbyterian Church in Lakeland.

Mrs. Dunn is survived by her husband, Marcel W. Dunn; daughter, Mary Ellen McElwain, Mulberry; stepdaughter, Marlene Smelser, Indianapolis; five stepgrandchildren; 10 stepgreat-grandchildren; one stepgreat-great-grandchild.

Memorials may be made to Good Shepherd Hospice, 105 Arneson Ave., Auburndale, FL 33823, or the Alzheimer's Support Network, 660 Tamiami Trail N., Suite 21, Naples, FL 34102-8133.

By Any Other Name ...

Grandma Virginia – as she was known in the family – was my grandfather Dunn's second wife. If I remember family history well enough, his first wife passed away in 1982, very shortly after my family moved to the small town of Three Rivers, Michigan.

At the time, Virginia was our neighbor, and she quickly became known as "Aunt Virginia" to my older siblings. She was very attentive to our family, and she cared for us as if we were her own.

Eventually, Grandpa became friends with Virginia, and they were married just a couple of years after. At this point "Aunt Virginia" became Grandma Virgina to all but one of us. You see, my siblings were in their teens to early twenties when all of this happened. As for me ... I was three.

To me, Grandma Virginia was just plain "Grandma."

Tags: family

From the Obituary:

Herbert Leo Smelser, Sr., age 94 of Elizabethtown, Kentucky and formerly of Searcy, died Thursday in Elizabethtown, Kentucky. He was a native of Manson, Arkansas and was a member of the College View Church of Christ in Elizabethtown. He retired from General Motors in Willow Run, Michigan. He is survived by three sons, Burris Dale Smelser of Bowie ,Maryland, Herbert Leo Smelser, Jr. of Indianapolis, Indiana, James Marion Smelser of Elizabethtown, Kentucky; two brothers, Marion Smelser of Westland, Michigan, Lehman Smelser of Jonesboro, Arkansas, two sisters, Evelyn Bush of Walnut Ridge, Arkansas, Frances Dance of Wayne, Michigan; 10 grandchildren; 25 great-grandchildren; and 3 great-great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his wife, Ethel Jane Smelser; and his parents, Jasper Marion and Pearl Novella (Melton) Smelser.

Modes of Transportation

Due to my being far younger than my siblings and cousins (14 years younger than my youngest brother), I have fewer memories of my grandfather during his active years. He was already 69 years old when I was born, and in his mid-seventies by the time I can form coherent memories of him and grandma.

One memory I do have of grandpa before he entered assisted living: His license was revoked in Arkansas because of his eyesight. Now Grandpa Smelser carried the Smelser gene to its fullest extent, and the Smelser gene is a very stubborn, sometimes obstinate, gene. The Smelser gene does not take "no" for an answer. The Smelser gene says, "It's my way or the highway." How many Smelsers does it take to change a light-bulb? Only one, but if two are in the room, it may never get done!

Well Grandpa Smelser was very independent along with being stubborn. The state told him he could no longer drive his car, but he wasn't about to let anyone else do his Wal-Mart runs for him. Fortunately, Wal-Mart was quite close to his house. Wal-Mart was less than a mile away, quite literally across the street. (The fact that this street is a highway bears absolutely no bearing to this story ... None at all.) This was not a distance Grandpa Smelser could have walked, but other solutions can be found for one possessing the Smelser gene.

He drove his riding mower.

Yes, you read that correctly. Grandpa Smelser drove his riding mower from his house on Smelser Lane (I am not making this up), across the highway, up the road about a quarter of a mile more, and into Wal-Mart's parking lot, where I assumed he parked in his usual handicapped parking space. It was best to never ask him why he did this. It was also best never to suggest he not do this. One never questions the Smelser gene once it guides you in its path.

This went on fine for several months until one day his dog Tango was chasing him rather vigilantly. Now Tango always chased the riding mower, but this time, he seemed a little more distraught over something. Thinking little of it, Grandpa Smelser continued his holy pilgrimage to Wal-Mart aboard his trusty lawnmower, in his own world, being annoyed by the heat at the seat of his pants and the fact that the lawnmower was not driving as well as usual.

Yes, the lawnmower's engine had caught on fire. Fortunately, Grandpa Smelser was not hurt. Of course, many members of the family used this event to illustrate just how unsafe it was to ride that lawnmower around and how he needed to allow others to assist him more.

Grandpa Smelser's response to the whole sordid affair? "I thought Tango was barking louder than usual."

The Indoor Bonfires

Speaking of fires, I think everyone in the family will always remember the fireplace in the house on Smelser Lane. (Seriously, I am not making the street name up!) It seemed like that fireplace was always roaring, no matter the temperature outside. "Ethel," Grandpa would say, "it's gettin' kinda breezy. I think it's time to throw some logs on the fire."
And so he would.

Mind you, "some" logs on the fire consisted of a pile that nearly filled the entire fireplace. From a child's point of view, it sure looked cool to have those logs burning, flames going so high into the chimney, you couldn't tell where they stopped. Man, was it hot though. I am a firm believer that Arkansas (despite weather reports to the contrary) never gets below 100º Fahrenheit during the summer, thereby singing my grandparents' skin to the point that 85º felt positively nippy. Hence, the eternal flame within the Smelser living room.

One visit, we noticed the air was getting rather hazy while the indoor bonfire was raging. Dad convinced Grandpa Smelser, with no little arguing, to put the fire out; but the haze persisted. Once the fireplace had cooled below the boiling point for human flesh, Dad inspected the fireplace to find the shell had cracked – actually, it had melted entirely away in one spot. As a result, smoke was pouring through the ventilation system that was intended to only transport the heat from the fireplace.

Before he was placed in an assisted living center, I don't know how many fireplace shells Grandpa Smelser would go through, but I do know this: The bonfires never stopped, nor did they shrink in size. It wasn't Grandpa's faulty the fire was too hot. The fireplace shell manufacturers (bless their hearts) needed to make them there shells stronger!

Conclusion

You have been a powerful force in our family for many years, Grandpa Smelser. You will be missed, but I hope to see you one day in our eternal home. Hopefully, fireplaces are made out of stronger stuff there than they are here on Earth!

Tags: family

On a personal note, we had a very nice trip to Florida last week. We stayed with my brother and his wife as well as their two sons. We had a great time with them, and I always regret leaving them because I know it will be a while before we see each other again,

The only touristy thing we did was seeing Bok Tower and Sanctuary. It was very nice but a little sad at the same time. While the sanctuary is beautiful, the evidences of last year's hurricanes still linger, and the damage will probably take many years to recover from.

On a slightly sad note, my grandmother (who is also in Florida) is in the advanced stages of Alzheimer's Disease, which many of you know is not a fun thing to witness. Right now, grandma's daughter and son-in-law are living with her. I don't know how her daughter does it, but she has the most positive attitude. Also, grandpa is very supportive of grandma, but it must be tough on him too.

It was nice to see everyone. Personally, I'd like to get back down to Florida one more time in 2005, but it's going to be tough with school starting back up in a couple of weeks (both teaching classes and taking classes). Still, it will be worth the effort to see them.

I think that's all I'm going to post on this topic. It's really good to be back home, and I hope some of my readers will keep my Florida relatives in their prayers.

Tags: family

My nephew Aaron got married to his fiancée Sarah this last weekend. They make a cute couple, and the ceremony was very nice. I don't know how I feel about Aaron growing up, though. I remember when he was born. Of course, I also have one other nephew and one niece graduating high school this May. Congratulations to them in advance!

Anyway, I hope Aaron and Sarah have many happy years together, and I wish them the best of luck as they begin their new life together. Here's to both of you!

Tags: family