Articles categorized ‘Family’

“Throwing is the same as kicking, just with different body parts.”

- Darla Mellentine

More pictures

For all those statisticians out there:
9lbs. 9oz.
22 inches long
born at 11:50a - 5/9/2006

there's nothing better than going to the airport to pick up someone you love.  conversely, there's nothing worse than dropping them off at the airport.  there are always those doubts in my mind.  “what if i never see this person again?”  stuff like that…

but i finally got to see darla again 3 and a half days after she left.  i'm glad she came back from her business trip because long distance relationships are tough!

i had to bury my son yesterday.  obviously, it's not something that i want to do again.  this whole experience has been really tough for darla and myself, not to mention numerous other family members and friends.  despite the extreme difficulty of the situation, we've been really blessed through the circumstances.

we've been blessed to have a huge network of friends, family and other believers that are supporting us and praying for us.  i've had so many people call and say, “if you need anything, let me know.”  unfortunately, i don't really know what i need.  maybe that will become clear soon.  or maybe, just maybe, our needs are already being met by our saviour.

everyone is asking how darla and i are doing…

we're crushed.
we're stunned.
we're scared.
we're playing the waiting game and we're sick of it already.
we're emotionally unstable.
we're asking “why?”.
we're trying to find hope.

thanks for all of your prayers and support so far.  we appreciate it more than we can express in words.

i told darla last night that this is going to be a big scar.  but it isn't even a scar yet… and the wound keeps getting bigger.

once upon a time, i promised to keep a blog…

and now, i got nothing. i'm trying to think of something noteworthy in my life to talk about, but i got nothing.

darla and i went to a resort in scottsdale, courtesy of furious d's parents. we had fun, although i now remember why i hate scottsdale. everyone there is so snooty. it's like they're trying to be beverly hills. all of these posh stores all over the place. it just makes me sick. darla and i were talking about how we would still shop at the same stores if we had millions of dollars. i have this ingrown sense of frugality. for example, i can't for the life of me spend more than $40 on a pair of jeans. why would anyone want to do that?

i started a new photo gallery with pictures from my camera. hopefully someone will find them interesting.

i saw your vehicle tonight. i saw it on the freeway as i passed it. i tried to look through the dark tinted windows to see if you were in there, but… it was dark. i saw you again as you passed me when i got behind a slow-moving vehicle. i wondered why there wasn't a glow coming from your dashboard. i looked at the arizona license plate and nearly shed a tear.

maybe it's just the mood i was in. who knows. it was sad though.

everyone misses you, but tonight i missed you most.

you know… we set ourselves up for stuff like this. we're only lucky it happened when it did.

people buy pets and seem to forget that cats, dogs, fish, and other animals all have short lifespans. in my case, it's dogs.

my parents had a dog named maggie - a chocolate lab - who they bred with a yellow lab three times. after the final litter was born, my parents decided to keep the firstborn. they named her mollie. mollie was a brilliant dog from the beginning. my mom taught her to sit, speak, lay down, and do lots of other non-standard tricks like the “go outside and go potty”. we first started picking up hints of her genius when she learned words like “biscuit”, “paper”, and “walk”. we were no longer allowed to speak those words unless we really meant it.

so we figured out a way to trick mollie. we decided that we would spell the words when speaking them to each other. this trick would have worked had it not been for mollie's incredible mind. she began to put together the pieces and soon we were unable to use the spelling as an alternate to saying the words.

mollie took after her mother in that she was a very gentle dog. she could be peacefully laying while guests were over. she was very comfortable in her family and we grew accustomed to her.

mollie was also a very loving dog. she was rare in that she would initiate ways to show that she loved us. we could be sitting in another room and she would walk up to us and lay her head on one of our laps.

mollie died of cancer yesterday. it was a bitter moment for our entire family. there has been, and will be, much grieving for us. mollie was the best dog ever. she will be deeply missed as a member of our family.

in memoriam

we have more photos of daisy in the photo gallery.