Howdy and Merry Christmas!!
Welcome to the 24th annual recap
and verification that I am still kickin!! Although there was a rumor going
around this year that I turned 60....I think it is in metric years as most days
I still think I am a 24 year old apprentice wondering what I will be when I
grow up. I think most of us guys are like that but we bluff pretty good when
the wives are around. 2013 has gone by quickly but once again has brought us
new friends and thankfully most all our accumulated friends are still kickin
too. Susan and I have traveled to Kentucky and
Tennessee , building two Navy Federal Credit
Unions this past year after finishing up a Chick-fil-a in Chattanooga and are currently in an
unfamiliar location while I work on my next assignment, a Chase Bank.............we
are HOME!!! The camper seemed a little sad when I leveled her up here at the
house.......but she knows it is just a matter of time before we take her on new
and exciting excursions under the guise of work. But I must say, being HOME is
wonderful, especially here at the Holidays to be close to family.
Speakin of the clan....they are all in peak form. Melissa and Keith's brood are
scattered and they are left with Madison and Rachael still holding the home
together while Sarah and Kyle are both in college down in Kennesaw. Keith
continues to travel here and there at times for his job and Melissa is still in
college also in Kennesaw keeping an eye on her fellow college mate kids. Rachael is still doing an outstanding job in
drama and chorus while Madison
is broadening her life with a robotics
class and still enjoys her photography.
I can't express to ya'll the joy of seeing the
diversity of things that our two chillin and all their spouses, and significant
others get out and explore....none of them are timid to try about
anything.....some things past my boldness level, like sky diving. I wanted to
expand Melissa and Carrie's experiences
a little so I sent them on a zip line tour at a place west of Atlanta as a little way of letting them know
what my greatest joy has always been and still is.........being their Dad. I
think they had a good time and we lived vicariously through their adventure.
Carrie, Daniel and Tasha (dog) have been in
their new home for a year now and are enjoying the joys of home
ownership...like cleaning out the gutters, mowing the grass, etc. The
neverending "to do list" we all share. I have been trying since 1975
to finish up my house....getting closer......
One
other major event came around this year also, along with my 60th, Susan's award
for putting up with me for 40 years of marriage......I'm all for
awards.......just no bonuses.......atta girls are free! We pulled out a bunch
of our photo books at the anniversary party the kids threw for us and the books
are looking a little worn around the edges and the pages are
yellowing......wonder how that happened??? Like I said, I am still 24......more
or less........ But the lifetime of experiences and memories, I could spend the
rest of my days on this earth just dwelling on and would go with a huge
smile when my time does run up.
I
want to share a snippet of my life this past year that came about when my grandson
Kyle called me up and asked if he could come bounce some ideas off me about a
project he was given at college. It was to design, build and put into action a
Pumpkin Chunkin machine/contraption. I should have read the subtext in the
request to "bounce" some ideas as " help me build the damn
thing!!" He brought his laptop, I my legal pad and we brain stormed (small
light rain on my part) how to build the thing......it started as a torsion
based design that I suggested would benefit from some leaf springs from a pick
up. Ended up being F-150 springs....we SHOULD have got Chevy!! Anyway we worked
on it one LONG weekend when I was home from Clarksville , TN
A
couple of weeks later Keith, Melissa, Kyle and the rest of the assigned crew
set up "The Widowmaker" I think it was finally named and painted up
to reflect and participated in the event that drew the whole school. The many
times amended glorified cross bow wasn't an embarrassment but wasn't quite the
success we had envisioned in the original brain storming. But that was to me
really a side bar to the real lesson....working with Kyle, he learned about
determination, the process of making changes to something when it may not work
to start with and the fact that their are infinite possibilities. So regardless
of the success of the creation it was the process that I hope he will
remember....along with working with his Granddad.....and the new words I taught
him!!
Had
a similar request from Sarah my granddaughter who wanted a little help on a
project she was tasked with for her sorority.......make a Cinderella carriage
mock up for taking photos of folks. This was NOT something I had built before.
But Sarah drew it out and between us we managed to get er done. Need to add
that one to my resume.
What
I have learned from being around my daughters and the grandkids is that what is
important and what lasts are the experiences we share with our loved ones.
Those are the things that will warm us long after the things we have bought and
given each other have fallen apart and been discarded. Now you may think I am
using this philosophical approach to get out of buying Christmas
presents........and that did cross my
mind...but really it's just my way of saying to you my friends and
family that what makes all of you special to me is the life experiences that
you have given me, that still bring a smile to me and I can draw on them any
time of any day. What a great wealth I have in you all (not taxable by the
IRS......yet!).
So
this coming year I am giving you all a task to accomplish....make as many
memories as you can with your loved ones......take the kids on a rafting
trip.....send your daughters on a zip line adventure........take the whole crew
to Dollywood for Christmas........sit around a fire with your grandkids and
share stories of their great grandparents that they may not have known.....
Mostly
I wish for all of you to have a blessed year ahead and know that you are
thought of often by your eternal friends, the Tidwell's, livin in the hills of North Georgia . As they say, we'll keep the light on for
youins......come see us.
Love y'all,
Buddy and Susan
Follow our goins on at Susan's Blog....very entertaining and
has pictures!!
