Grandparents

 Tracy and I are going to be grandparents in 2025.  Whitney (daughter) and Trey (son-in-law) are expecting their first May 2025.  We currently do not know the sex of the baby.  We, personally, do not care if the baby is a boy or girl.  The baby will be loved no matter what.  Due to all the excitement I don't recall what their planned names are at the moment.  I will have to do a follow-up post with the name choices.

 

Top Ten Things To Avoid in a Marriage

Through some reflection of my past relationships/marriages and internet scrolling.  I found these 10 things to avoid in a marriage and I agree with them 100%.

1) Lack of respect for your spouse.

2) Not listening to your spouse.

3) Little or no physical intimacy.

4) Always having to be right.

5) Not walking to talk.

6) Hurtful teasing.

7) Dishonesty.

8) Nasty habits.

9) Being selfish or greedy.

10) Having temper tantrums.

I know Tracy and I are guilty of a couple of these but we have managed to work things out.  We are still going strong after 12 years of marriage. We have outlasted our previous marriages.  

From Goldberg Jones October 2023:  

DIVORCE STATISTICS: FROM THE INTERESTING TO THE SURPRISING

In reality, with each subsequent marriage, the chances of divorce greatly increase. The numbers break down like this:

• 41% of first marriages end in divorce.
• 60% of second marriages end in divorce.
• 73% of third marriages end in divorce.

Twenty Years Since Christina Nicole Slack Earned Her Angel Wings

It has been 20 years since I held you. Cuddled with you. Covered you in hugs and kisses. It has been 20 years since you lite up a room with your bright eyes and sweet smile. There isn't a day that goes by that I wonder what you would be today as a beautiful young lady with the world at your fingertips. Would you be driving your brother crazy with your choices of men in your life? I am pretty sure you would be giving me mini heart attacks every single day. What I wouldn't give to be able to hold you, hug you, kiss you, hear your laughter, and to talk to you as a young adult of today. I often imagine what you would look like today. Would you still have the red hair? Would it be long and wavy or short and curly? My heart will never be whole until we are together again. There is a poem I read earlier that speaks volumes.

If Roses Grow In Heaven

If roses grow in Heaven Lord,

please pick a bunch for me.

Place them in my daugther's arms

and tell her they're from me.

Tell her that I love and miss her,

and when she turns to smile,

Place a kiss upon her cheek,

and hold her for a while.

Because remembering her is easy,

I do it everyday,

but there's an ache within my heart

what will never go away.

I remember the Valentine's photo of you In Memory of Christina Nicole Slack and Brian Guthrie. In the photo you are holding yellow rose. This was of course a month before you earned your wings.

This is the last picture of you In Memory of Christina Nicole Slack and Brian Guthrie exactly 20 years ago to the day. You earned your angel wings roughly 2 hours after this picture was taken.

Whitney's and Trey's Wedding Day

 Whitney and Trey were married on 14 Oct 23, day before our 12th wedding anniversary.  It was a small ceremony at Hawk's Nest State Park with me, Tracy and my mom, in attendance.  It was a cool, crisp, fall day.  Mom officated the ceremony and even provided the little decor to make it a special day for them.

 

Trip to Indiana

 Tracy and I went to Indiana to pick up Whitney and her fiance, Trey to bring them home to West Virginia.  She called Tracy asking if they could come live with us and move into the second house when it was done.

Some pictures of the trip out there.

While we were there they had engagement pictures taken.

NEW ORLEANS TRIP WITH FAMILY

 Road trips with family are never boring.  They are very entertaining to say the least.

Pictures from some of the stops down to Louisiana

Beginning of Trip in West Virginia

(me, with Darryl, Mr. & Mrs. Gnome, and E.T.)

Virginia Welcome Center

(Me, Mom (Arietta), and Lisa)

Tennessee Stop

(Darryl with Mr. & Mrs. Gnome)

Alabama Stop

(me, Darryl, Mr. & Mrs. Gnome)

Alabama Stop

(Gnome or Fairy Tree)

Days Inn, Alabama

(Darryl, Mr. & Mrs. Gnome and E.T.)

Days Inn, Alabama

(Darryl, Mr. & Mrs. Gnome, Uncle Sam, and E.T.)

Me and Darryl, Mr. & Mrs. Gnome

Mom (Arietta) and Me

Lisa and Me

Darryl, Mr. & Mrs. Gnome, Uncle Sam, and E.T.

The trip down was pretty uneventful except for the Days Inn. It wasn't the greatest place to stay.  The bathroom was pretty unsafe as the toilet wasn't secure to the floor.  The whirl tub didn't have any hand rails or hand grips much less steps for a person to get out of the tub safely.  We will not stay there again.

Me and Mom (Arietta) on Bourbon Street

Lisa and Mom (Arietta) on Bourbon Street

Me, Lisa, Mom (Arietta) and Diana on a street car

Me, Mom (Arietta), Diana, and Lisa in front of Lake Pontchartrain

I have two story times for you.

First One with pictures to follow: This trip to Bourbon Street was just me, Mom (Arietta) and Diana. Saturday night, 3 June. We walked to Bourbon Street from Drury Hotel passing several as we went. We spent several hours checking out the different venues Bourbon Street had to offer. Things were going smoothly until our walk back to our hotel. On the walk earlier in the evening we talked about the lights in the middle of the sidewalk squares in front of the Marriott. We didn't think anything else about them until hours later when I and the New Orleans sidewalk became very aquainted with each other. We were walking along, those lights in the sidewalk was pretty blinding. The next thing I know I was face down on the sidewalk. Glasses thrown in one direction, my nose is bleeding and the middle of my forehead hurts. My body heat evaluted to the point I felt overheated. My family helped me up, walked me over to a "window ledge" in front of the Marriott, of course this wasn't helping as it was already hot being it was New Orleans. They walked me into the Marriott's lobby has me sit down on a chair to lay back but again it wasn't helping as I was still hot. I insisted on laying on the cool, tile floor. While laying down on the floor a off-duty, on vacation fire fighter came over. Talked to me suggested I have them to call 911 to at least check my vitals out. Now, remember I am alert this whole entire time. I didn't black out or anything. I went ahead and had them call 911 to at least make sure my vitals were back to normal. NOFD showed up took my vitals, asked several times if I was sure I didn't need to go to the hospital. I said no, I am good. They even said they weren't sure when one would get there but they would stay if I wanted to go to the hospital. Nope, I am good. During this whole ordeal I don't have my glasses on so everyone is a blur. In walks a young guy or at least I think he was young. He was definately younger than me. He is in a blue uniform, I just assumed he was an ambulance driver. He asked me if I could walk. I said yep, I walked myself in here. He said good. Stand up for me so I can see you can walk. Once it was established that I could indeed walk. He proceeds to tell me he had a few questions to ask me. First question: What city are we in? I was like ahh, New Orleans. Second question: How many quarters in a dollar? I am thinking to myself, duh?? 4. Third question: If the grass is green then what color is the sky. Blue, of course. He was satisfied and left. Now, as for going to the hospital. I think I was pretty well covered. Three mother hens in the room like a hospital would have been any better. We walked back to our hotel. I was given an ice pack for my forehead and was told to lay down. My forehead and nose was sore to the touch for the week but other than that I was good to go. All this while STONE COLD SOBER!!!! Oh, and the next night we walked down to Bourbon Street, the Marriott put a orange cone over the offending light fixture. It should not have taken me kissing the sidewalk for that to happen because you can tell this breakdown of the sidewalk didn't happen over night. 

Me getting my vitals checked by the NOFD

The reason I tripped and fell.  The brick had caved in around this light fixture in the sidewalk in front of the Marrott on the way to Bourbon Street.

This is what it should have looked like but wasn't the case on the one I tripped over.

Another view of the lights in the sidewalk

Of course we went back to Bourbon Street the next night they put up this orange cone over top of the damaged fixture.  I will nedver know what it took me falling for them to do this.

Second Story no pictures though.

Another night on Bourbon Street, this with Arietta King , Lisa Boggs , and Diana Taylor . We went to Pat O'Brien's Bar to sit in their courtyard to have some drinks. I ended up just drinking RC Cola. Yes, RC Cola all the way in New Orleans. The rest of the gang had some drinks especially Diana. As the evening went on the weather went from calm to not so calm. It started lighting and thundering in a distance. We had hoped it would stay at a distance away from downtown but we weren't so lucky. It started raining at first then it picked up with lighting and thunder. Many of us tried to ride out the storm thinking it would just blow on by. Nope, we were wrong so we as well as many others headed back to our hotels. Diana, didn't want to get her shoes wet so she took them off and put them in a bag. Off we went trying to stay as close to the walls as we could because by this time the storm was like a monsoon. We were walking against the wind and rain. Bars and stores were closing their doors in your faces. If you were not already inside their establishments your were not getting in. Diana slip and landed on her arse at least twice that I can remember. We were let into one of the adult clothing stores. Diana almost got the employee in trouble because she didn't have her shoes on. Lisa and I hung out close to the doors as we didn't want to drip water all over their floors. Diana decided she would go shopping. She bought red stockings and red ruffle panties. Lisa and I were in the lead as we approached the Walgreens on the corner we noticed an over hang along the side of the building so we planted our backsides against it just a few arms length from the group in front of Walgreens to wait for mom and Diana. As they approached we told them not to go around the corner as the NOPD officer(s) had the store doors closed and didn't appear to be letting anyone in. I, also, said the crowd was a little frustrated and heated voices were already at play. Oh, no, Diana didn't listen so off she went into the crowd with mom right behind her to hopefully steer her away from any danger. The next thing Lisa and i know, there is yelling and punches being thrown. The NOPD officer is shoving them away from the doors and calling for back up that never showed all the while mom and Diana are inside with Diana buying wine to take back to the hotel. Lisa and I had no idea they were even inside until we looked inside. While we waited for them to come out we found out the group that were fighting had been at it earlier in the evening with the same NOPD officer dealing with them with no backup in sight. The rain storm had let up by the time mom and Diana came out of Walgreens. We headed back to the hotel with hopes the rain would hold off until we made it back to the hotel. Needless to say, there is never a dull moment in the city of New Orleans.