Simple Pilgrimage

I was giving a friend an update on everything going on in life lately and he responded by saying, “When it rains…”

He is right. It is pouring right now.

On Friday evening Dan’s grandmother, Nanny passed away. From the moment I met her Nanny accepted me into the family and always greeted me with a hug and a kiss. Her hands were always busy doing something to care for a family member. Now I’m getting to hear stories from her hometown of how she was a friend to many. What she accomplished in her life and the legacy she leaves behind is astonishing.

Yesterday my mom, sister & I went to court for a  hearing regarding the settlement over Jarrett’s death. The already stressful event had potential to be even more stressful. There was a possibility my dad would show up and we would have to testify about how he was never a father to Jarrett. It’s been really hard for me to “deal” with all of this. It’s the two greatest pains of my life converging together. Luckily things went as well as to be expected yesterday - my dad didn’t show and we didn’t have to testify. Now we only have one more hurdle to jump over before all of this stuff will be over with. Then maybe I can focus on healing and remember Jarrett.

I can’t describe exactly how I’m feeling now, other than it feels like stress and fear. Last night as I went to bed I took a moment to examine how I was feeling physically - exhausted, sick to my stomach, headache, lightheaded and my heart was beating fast and hard. I slept hard, and even overslept. Today has been a bit better, but I’m really just wanting the weekend to get here so I can feel like I have time to rest.

Posted on Tuesday, August 19, 2008 at 7:01 PM

Tonight at around 9:30 my grandmother(who we grew up calling Nanny) passed away. She collapsed while playing cards with her girlfriends yesterday and never recovered. The word that is coming to my mind when I think about her life is committed. She was as committed to her church, her husband, her family and friends as anyone could possibly be. To realize that to equal their marriage mark Alicia and I need to be married 56 more years blows my mind! She is already missed here.

Posted on Friday, August 15, 2008 at 8:33 PM

Ladies - This is a reminder that this Saturday form 1-4 I will be hosting a clothing swap at my house. Feel free to bring yourself, some friends and some clothes/shoes/accessories/purses you don’t want any more and we can trade.

Hope to see you there!

Posted on Thursday, August 14, 2008 at 7:21 AM

husssshhhhh…………

Posted on Monday, August 11, 2008 at 7:17 PM

Just wanted to take a second and give a shoutout to the amazing video website Vimeo. It does a fantastic job of making it very easy to share videos online. The site is very easy to use, the community is thriving, the video quality is fantastic(better than my camcorder does with their HD support) and they allow you to customize the colors of your embedded video to fit your site as well. I have nothing but the utmost praise to give them! Way to go Connected Ventures on a fantastic site!

My profile page is here on vimeo if you sign up add me as a friend.

Posted on Monday, August 11, 2008 at 2:30 PM

Today marks 6 years of marriage for us! Go us! Alicia is in charge of this years anniversary plans and she is keeping them a secret from me. I’ll let you all know what she came up. During these past 6 years Alicia has never ceased to amaze me with her love for life and her perseverance through hard times. I love her a ton and couldn’t imagine my life without her. Six down and a whole lifetime to go!

Posted on Sunday, August 10, 2008 at 5:58 AM

Here is Aimee’s performance in the finals yesterday at Richmond Idol. She didn’t win but she did great!

Posted on Sunday, August 10, 2008 at 5:52 AM

Leaving the Nest from John Farrell on Vimeo.

This is a video of a baby Wren leaving the nest. The first 45 seconds are the struggle to leave or stay with the result to stay. The last 30 seconds are the struggle again with the result to fly away. We watched a sybling do the same thing before this one but that one left quickly, without much struggle - probably pushed out by its sybling…

This was really neat to see. We have seen baby birds of many species in the yard with their parents feeding them and teaching them how to care for themselves but this was the first for a leaving the nest.

Posted on Tuesday, August 5, 2008 at 6:53 PM

On my iTunes: Hours and hours of podcasts on topics ranging from creativity, business, money management, marketing and culture

Book on my nightstand: Eat, Pray, Love (book club on 8/30)

Drink in my cup: Water, water everywhere

Latest add to my Google Reader: iCiNG - Crowing your beautiful life

Biggest Adventure: Going to see Aimee try out for Richmond Idol

Sweetest Moment: Sunday afternoon

Favorite cat of the week: Pip because she has been so friendly to people who visit

Challenge for myself: Start doing flavor of the week every week….and probably at the end of the week instead of at the beginning

Posted on Monday, August 4, 2008 at 6:38 PM

Here is our good friend Aimee Bayles rocking it at Richmond Idol today:

Posted on Saturday, August 2, 2008 at 2:23 PM