Attitude is Everything

A few weeks ago, I wrote about part of my trip to North Carolina to attend a fundraiser for

my friend, Rick Allen. He had lost his arm in an scuba tank explosion...

Well, I just read a wonderful tribute to him in one of the local newspapers.

If you have a moment, it is an inspiring read:

http://www.fayobserver.com/articles/2011/10/30/1130243?sac=Home

 

Keanut Gump

So we get rid of the hearing aids (hopefully) and two days later

we replaced them with orthotics for his legs.

His ankles are really "floppy" (not sure that's the correct medical term)

and he is hyper-extending his knees.

Hence, the orthotics.

Byron has resorted to torturing Kean's therapist, Maureen by calling our boy "Keanut Gump".



 I must say, they seem to be working.

Just look at him standing. 

He would never do that before.

That's Maureen holding him and Sarah-- his Developmental Specialist on the left.

She's another part of his posse.

Our goal is to have him walking along the couch for Christmas!



Lessons in Love

Nothing has changed.

Reesey still thinks she is Kean's mother, best friend, head therapist and teacher of all things great and small.

After Kean masters Chopin, Reese will be starting on Latin lessons next week.



The Trendsetters

For once I'm speechless.

 There really is no explanation.

And yes, that is underwear.

At least it is clean.

They're not that crazy.

Ramp Up to Halloween

                                                                                                  The festivities have begun.

The girls went over to the Angus' house, where Mike-- bless his soul-- helped

the girls carve out their pumpkins.

Holland told him it was part of our family tradition to have a "pumpkin guts" fight.

Yeah, right.

So Mike, being the good sport (or the easy mark-- you choose) agreed!

By the time I got there to pick 'em up... all the pumpkin mayhem

was cleaned up.

I did, however get a picture of Reese in her scary teeth...

The girls had gotten the pumpkins from our neighbor and Holland and Greer's former 2nd grade teacher,

Mrs. Kwid's.  Each fall, she invites all her students, their families... and a couple of hoodlum

girls from the neighborhood (that would be my girls) over for

hay rides and the picking of a pumpkin out of her patch.

This is our fourth year... with likely more to come.

Reese won't hit 2nd grade for another 2 years.

We love where we live!

Skinny Minny

Greer came home from school today with a surprise

for me.

She had thrown on Capri's this morning,

only to get to school and realize they were Reese's

size 3 jeans.

We sure did laugh.

But does that give you an idea of how super skinny Greer is?

Poor kid-- she sure takes after her mom.

I remember my brothers calling me mosquito legs when I was a kid.

A Happy Ending To A Very Happy Trip

I think it is about time I post about the rest of my trip to Carolina.

On Sunday, we headed down to Fayetteville, the town I always so

lovingly referred to as Fay-raq.  It is where Fort Bragg is based.

Anyway, we went down for a fundraiser for an old friend of mine.

Rick Allen was a photographer at WTVD-TV when I was there.

He left the biz years ago and has emerged as the top underwater

videographer-- he was always an avid diver.

If you watch the Discovery channel, any Cousteau specials or

those shows that search for Black Beard's and other pirate treasure...

you are likely watching Rick's handiwork.

Last January, he was in his garage when an oxygen tank for scuba diving

fell and exploded.  He was severely burned and lost his left arm to the explosion.

His wife, Cindy was in the house brushing her teeth.  The explosion caused

the mirror in front of her to shatter and glass shards to fly into her face and eyes.

It's quite a story, but she could hear him screaming that he was on fire.

Somehow, she had the presence of mind to feel her way to the

fire extinguisher and put him out.

I'm sure she saved his life.

Rick was life flighted to UNC.  Just to give you an idea of what kind of

character he is... he asked the paramedic if he'd ever play the piano again.

The poor paramedic, I'm sure realizing that he was severely burned and would lose

an arm-- stuttered and stammered that he wasn't sure.

Rick responded with a "that's okay, I couldn't play the piano before the explosion"!



So we head down to this fundraiser to help pay for hospital bills and his new high-tech prosthetic arm

that will allow him to dive and shoot underwater.

And you can't really tell... but Rick shows up in a T-shirt that says:

I really suck at playing patty cake! 

 Talk about an amazing attitude.

He is a true inspiration and quite the stand up comedian.

So therefore, it was of no surprise that the fundraiser was amazing in its own right.

Everything... from the estate, to the killer live band, to the countless silent

auction items, to a number of restaurants with their yummy food-- was donated!

 Just look at this place.

It was sprawling and immaculate, impressive and well, you get the idea.

 That's part of the mansion on the left.  What you can't see is

there is a second "mansion" on the right... that houses their

art gallery.  This place was right out of the picture books.

 This last picture is of Cindy, Rick's wife.

Not only is she a wiz with a fire extinguisher, she is a very accomplished

photographer.  As a thank you, they gave out this poster of

one of her shots-- wild horses on a small deserted island off the coast.

Holland (even though she is horrifically allergic to horses) has a great

love for all things horses... so Cindy signed this to her.

 

Oh, how I love Carolina.

It's such a beautiful place filled with people I love.