Things I am Thankful For

It being the week of Thanksgiving I feel it fitting to blog about Thanksgiving and that great tradition of stating for what I am thankful. First I must admit that I didn't get to do this during my Thanksgiving dinner. During the dinner the host came in and said, "I don't know how else to say this but . . . Grandpa is dead." If you were ever wondering how to kill all conversation, wonder no more. It wasn't my grandfather who died so no need for condolences, not that anyone other than my sister ever comments on my blog anyway, and I'd feel pretty bad if she was finding out that our grandpa died by reading my blog. Anyway, to not dwell on death as I find my blog seemingly often doing, I will list some of the things I am so glad to have.
1. My Family-this includes my wife, my parents, siblings, cousins, aunts and uncles and even in laws
2. My health and my family's health
3. The ability to read and write-sounds strange but think how different life would be if you were illiterate... kind of scary huh
4. My religion and the hope and security it brings
5. A warm house
6. Being an American living in America-if you don't get this go live in another country for a couple years and then you will really know what screwed up means
7. Clean clothes
8. A warm shower on occasion
9. The right to bear arms
10. The internet and telecommunications with which my generation is so blessed

I could go on and on, but I feel ten will suffice for Sunday night.

Debonair

So ever since the beginning of the month I have been growing out my mustache. I really like how that word can be spelled moustache or mustache, but according to dictionary.com the latter is the US spelling. Because I dwell among the free and the brave, I guess I will spell the awesome growth of hair on my upper lip as so: mustache. You might be wondering why I would do such a seemingly nasty thing as to grow a mustache. You are not alone. Actually by wondering and asking me you are helping me to accomplish my goal. You see, the month formerly known as November has be renamed as Movember, all in an effort to raise men's health awareness. If this tidbit of teasery has tickled your fancy I would mosey on over to the website www.movember.com for further information concerning Movember. To put it simply though, men dedicate their upper lip to the month of Movember to help raise awareness of health issues men can come by and to promote and encourage me to be manly enough to visit the doctor. It is a little ironic that I am doing this since I really dislike going to the doctor's office, but I wanted to do what I could. The whole thing is kind of like a breast cancer awareness month but for men. I wonder if during breast cancer awareness months women should go around topless? Just a thought...Back to the story. I don't really grow that strong of a mustache and usually am ashamed of the fact since I grow, in my opinion, a pretty sweet beard. This month however I have overcome myself and reveled in the questions and stares. I even had a professor stop mid-sentence and ask if I was growing a mustache. I consider that my great mustache victory of Movember. Today was another victory as I walked into my wife's grandparent's house. Her grandma looked at the both of us and said "what have you done to your face?" I was laughing because my wife has some bruises on her face from when she was attacked by a squirrel and thought the comment was directed to her. To my astonishment, however, my wife's grandma then asked if I was growing a mustache. I replied that I was and then she said I looked debonair and if you threw a cowboy hat on my head and pistols at my hips I'd look just like a cowboy. I thought this was awesome. I've never been called debonair before, and to think all I had to do was grow a mustache (which most find creepy). I knew the definition of debonair, but just in case you don't dictionary.com states

deb·o·nair

   [deb-uh-nair]

adjective

1.

courteous, gracious, and having a sophisticated charm: a debonair gentleman.

2.

jaunty; carefree; sprightly.

Also, deb·o·naire, deb·on·naire .

Origin:
1175–1225; Middle English debone ( i ) re < Anglo-French; Old French debonaire, orig. phrase de bon aire of good lineage

Related forms

deb·o·nair·ly, adverb

deb·o·nair·ness, noun

Synonyms
1. urbane, suave, elegant, polished.

Polished is by far my favorite synonym. So here is to men's health awareness and to becoming debonair!

Near Death Experience

I find it odd that my last post was about death. This post is better since nobody died, but a lot more scary since I almost witnessed someone's death. I work at a library and occasionally have to work late Friday nights. This last Friday I was working and my co-worker seemed really tired. I joked with her that if she would watch a movie on the computer then she would be able to stay awake. She was working at the front desk where people check books in and out, and I was in the back scanning documents where I couldn't see her. About an hour after I had checked on her somebody rang the bell asking for service. I thought it strange that my co-worker hadn't helped the patron, but I went up front to help anyway. When I got to the counter I saw that my co-worker was slumped over. The patron asked if she was alright and I told him that she was probably just sleeping. The patron then said that he had tried to wake her up, at which point I became a little worried. As I looked closer at her I could tell something was wrong, and when I tried to wake her she was totally unresponsive. We figured she might be diabetic so I called my boss to confirm this and then we called 911. The paramedics came and helped us resuscitate her. Her blood sugar had dropped to 43 when you are supposed to maintain it at 100. If the patron hadn't come by, I wouldn't have known that anything was wrong and would have left her there slumped over in a diabetic coma for over three hours. The paramedics were able to stabilize my co-worker, but the experience was really frightening, especially thinking about how she could have died. It turns out that my boss had given a training meeting on the fact that this co-worker was diabetic and had experienced this at work before. Unfortunately, I have a class every time my boss gives a training meeting so I was the only employee that didn't know what to do. I don't really know if there is a moral of the story other than to be really careful if you are a diabetic and maybe to pay attention in training meetings, but this experience definitely gave me a crazy start to my weekend.

Death of a Father

The father of a good friend of mine passed away last night. I had really mixed emotions in response to the news. You might be thinking how could you say that? But in my defense, I feel like the family is feeling similar. Over ten years ago my friend's father had a major stroke that left him very handicapped. He has been unable to speak and walk ever since. It has been a very trying experience for his family and he has been sick a lot. It is actually a miracle that he lived as long as he did. Doctors told the family that most people would have died after all the times he had pneumonia and other major illnesses on top of his deteriorated situation. So really the last ten years have been a great blessing for this family. Recently, as I talked with my friend about his dad he said the his father just was too stubborn and really loves his family. So in that aspect I am really sad for the family. It is never a good thing to be separated from our loved ones, and this is a very long term separation. Luckily, I am a man of faith and last night as I was praying for this family I had a renewed sense of peace, love and hope. I am so grateful to know that death is not the end. My belief in the afterlife is something that truly gives me strength in life. I know that this man is in a better place, and can once again communicate. I know that one day he will receive a resurrected body, meaning a perfected form of his earthly body, one that is not subject to disease, infirmity or other ailments. I know that this man will one day be reunited with his wife and family and once again be able to hug them, kiss them and tell them with his voice how much he loves them. This is why I have mixed feelings. I am sad that he is gone, but excited that he can be with his loved ones and will one day have a body that is not confined to a wheel chair. I post this at risk of being too personal, but my faith is what sustains me in life, in all aspects of life, whether it be in great tragedies like death or beautiful beginnings like marriage or the birth of a child.