5-29-14

It is just after midnight and I have not been feeling well the past week, but seem to have turned the corner and things appear to be better. Work has been good, and with my lack of energy I have not been spending money, so that makes business even better. 🙂

Luz has a friend that may be pictured here in the next few days. Luz says she is beautiful, and I have had very pretty chicas tell me that just to have chicas show up that are bigger than I am. So I am cautiously optimistic. Luz btw has lost a lot of weight and she looks younger in the face than I recall. I hope to have pics to share with your real soon.

Yesterday my Mom would have turned 91. She passed on January 10 of 2004 so hard to imagine she has been gone over 10 years. I took time to reflect on our lives together and I have to say, I won the lottery in the “Mom” department. Maybe I have printed this before, but she was a sports nut and has some huge influence on my love for sports. She was not just a fan, but could repeat the rules for the casual fan that may not have understood what they just saw.

Now she would travel to watch me compete and she would not always see everything objective, but that is what made her so special. She could rationalize that I lost because the other guy cheated, or a referee missed an important call or who knows what. I don’t think she ever told me I lost because I was lazy or I did not train enough, although on some instances, it may have been the truth. There is an age where a young man wants to go on his own, but that did not happen to me. I may have been 17 or 18 years old and competing, and my Mom traveled with me and was my biggest fan. The smart kids embraced this as she was always good for some cookies or some lemonade. I was never jealous either as I loved that Mom was accepted and respected by the others. Kids may have made fun of me for traveling with my Mom, but they always respected her.

I have a million “Mom” stories, but this one may be something you can understand more than the others. My Father was a widow and married my Father. She always talked about “Joe” her first husband and what a great man he was. Now I don’t at all doubt that he was a good man, but life has also taught me that you become a hell of a lot better when you die that you may have been here on Earth. Anyway Joe was a beer salesmen for a popular beer back in Indiana in the later 40’s and early 50’s and I believe he sold Fallstaff. So my Mom went with him to an event held by the Distributor of the beer and like a good company woman, she ordered a Fallstaff at the event. She took one swig and spit it out in front of the folks and her dear Husband made a joke about her not being a drinker and trying to support him. She drank soda or ice tea at future events and all was forgotten.

So Mom, I salute you today, for being the best your could be and exceeding the expectations set for Mom’s all over the planet. You were my friend, my teacher and my supporter for some 44 years before you passed. Not a day passes, that I am not reminded of something you did or said that effects my life. I know that you could always see the positive and were never bashful about the negative. I’m sure you wished I was doing something else, but I can still here you……”this is a terrible business, you lady, and I am sure you could do something else to earn. If you are going to work in it, then I am sure you are better off with my son that someone else.”