What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger (or at least, doesn't kill you)


Yes, the 4th Infantry, my in-laws and my second cousin Lisa all have something in common.

I realized recently that there may be people reading my blogs without knowing who all the characters are. I'll lay it all out for you: Jeannie (33) is my wife. Mia (2.5) is our daughter and Sam (0.416) is our son. If you know me, you know that I didn't major in English. So if I occassionally, put an apostrophe in the wrong place, use "there" when I should have used "their" or have some other grammatical accident, get used to it. It's probably not going to improve any time soon. In fact, I'm going to turn 40 next month so I doubt it's going to ever get better. The Alcoholics Anonymous serenity prayer says (and I'm paraphrasing here) "Give me that ability to change what I can, accept what I can't and the wisdom to know that difference." Well, the quality of my writing is one of those things you are just going to have to accept. It won't always make my second grade teacher Mrs. Homringhouse proud, but I'll at least try to make it thought-provoking and at least mildly interesting. I promise however that my spelling will be top notch as that's being taken care of by my very focused and dependable computer.

All 74.916 of us were in Killeen, Texas visiting my in-laws this past weekend. Yes, it's the same Killeen, Texas that's home to the 4th Infantry (at Fort Hood). These are the men and women that rescued Saddam Hussein from that hole he was living in. Killeen is basically a military town. If Fort Hood ever closed, it would take the town with it. But being a military town isn't so bad. My Brother-In-Law owns several car washes here and most military folks are young so their car is the most expensive thing they own. That means they take good care of it. You do the math.

We were in Killeen for my Father-In-Law's 66th birthday. I told him he doesn't look a day over 65. Honestly, he looks great for his age. He's in excellent heath and I have no doubt that he will live well into his 90's and beyond. He's one of those people that you can't help but respect. He brought his family to the US with very little, worked extremely hard, raised two great kids and owns his own businesses. He has achieved the American dream. He's an honest person full of integrity. He will drop everything to help you out and you know you can always count on him. He's got his own back hoe and dump truck. You've got to respect a man that has his own back hoe and dump truck. My Mother-In-Law is the same but I'm not going to go into that now. After all, it's not her birthday.

They say that when you marry, you also marry your spouse's family. That's really true. My in-laws are all among the finest people I know. I think I got a great deal.

I have a second cousin named Lisa. Although she is my second cousin, I really think of her almost like a niece. Perhaps it's because I was about 15 when she was born. I found out this weekend that she had a tumor on her spine in her neck removed last week. She felt ill, then started having back pain and before she knew it her legs weren't working right. They removed the tumor but afterwards she couldn't feel anything below her navel. The doctors did some tests and found her reflexes are working so it's probably just a matter of time before she's back on her feet again. I'm sure this really blind-sided her but she's in good spirits. She told me that everyone needs to have something like this happen occasionally to remind us of what we have. Those weren't her words exactly (that's why I didn't quote them). Her words were far more eloquent than mine. I've got to write things down more often.

I'm proud of Lisa. She's got the right attitude. Many people would be drowning themselves in self-pity when faced with something like this. "Why is this happening to me?" they'd ask. Well, it's going to happen to someone. Why not you? Lisa on the other hand is seeing that something positive will come out of this. She sees that what she is going through will make her appreciate things even more and she'll be a stronger person because of it. She told me next week she'll be transfered to a rehab center for a month. I just hope they have internet access. If they don't, well, I wouldn't want to be them.

The military, my in-laws and cousin Lisa may appear to have nothing in common but actually, they do. They have to because this entry was mostly stream of consciousness and here I am at the end where I have to tie it all together. Seriously, they've all had to go through things that have tested them and came out stronger on the other side. Does strength build character and lead to the right attitude or does having the right attitude make you stronger? I don't know but they all have my respect.

Posted: Sat - December 20, 2003 at 10:50 PM      

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