Ah, yes.  I hit the big “5″ this year, and I found myself at Coffee Springs Elementary School for the first time.  It was kindergarten, and I did not want to be there.  I remember pitching a fit my first day, but it was all better after I got to know the other kids.  I knew one or two of them already.

My teacher was Mrs. Yolanda Parker (no relation).  She was a very sweet lady, and I immediately took to her.  In fact, during the next couple of summers, she’d babysit me.  Anyhow …

Let me try to get the gears going … I remember The Letter People more than anything from kindergarten.  I also remember a sixth-grade girl that helped with our class, but not her name.  She had blonde hair, and I asked her if she was a boy because it was cut like a boy’s.  She got offended and never really spoke to me again.

Our classroom was between the main part of the school and the football field.  It was just a small, rectangular brick building with two rooms.  The school burned down a few years ago, although I’m not sure what remains.  I can’t remember the last time I was physically in Coffee Springs.

Anyhow, I always got a shorter nap time than everyone else because (and I’m not bragging) of my reading ability.  Mom always read to me, and I learned how to read early on.  After all the other kids went down for their naps, I would have a one-on-one reading session with Mrs. Parker.  I was reading on a first-grade level, so they fostered that.  After my reading lesson, I would lay on my mat and try to sleep.  I hardly ever did, but the teacher bribed us occasionally (the one treat I remember was a balloon with the Statue of Liberty on it).

I’m trying to remember the kids in my class (my yearbook is still at Mom’s house).  I remember Rodney, Velisha, Jennifer, Randy, Brandon, Cheryl, Tonisha, Jenora, Erik, Chad, Cristy … oh heck.  That’s all I can think of right now.  Randy, Chad, Brandon and Cheryl all became my “inner circle.”  Oh, yeah!  And Amanda.  She was my first little crush, but I think most of  the boys had one on her.

She was c-u-t-e.  A little brunette with a beautiful smile.  She’s probably the underlying reason my favorite hair color for a woman is brown.  Anyhow … I remember going to her birthday party and even talking to her on the phone from time-to-time.  It went nowhere because she transferred schools.  I think it was to Enterprise.

Lunch time was always fun.  I always had a can of Shasta Root Beer.  I can’t stand the stuff now.  Don’t know why.

The gymnasium was close to the lunchroom (not like anything was far away on that campus).  We were in the gym one day, and someone asked me if I knew how to tie a shoelace.  Ummm … sure.  I attempted it, at least.  I don’t know if they ever got the four knots out.

As you can tell, I’m just throwing random thoughts out.  I really need my yearbook.  I might add to this after I see Mom for Christmas.

For our graduation, we wore white caps and gowns with blue tassels.  We sang something, and I was so proud of that little diploma.  It wasn’t until after I got it on stage that I noticed it was blank.  I got very upset and stayed that way until they gave us the real thing later.  Hey, a boy is proud to know he excelled in his classes, and he wants proof!

I can’t really remember much more from my first year of school.  Like I said, I’ll add more if I something pops in there.  If you went to school with me there and remember something, please comment on this so I can add it.

First grade is next!  Back to 1980 …

I think I’ve been a little too open about my life on Facebook and Twitter.  I have alienated a lot of people with my political views, and a lot of people have alienated me with their venom and obscenities about my alma mater.

That’s the tough part of having friends who went to and/or cheer for the rival school.  I can’t stand seeing people on either side of the fence bash the other.  Unfortunately, I let it get to me because I do have a tremendous amount of love for both.

So, to fix this, I have shut down my tweets from the outside world (unless I approve you to see them), and I have shut out anyone who has anything bad to say about either school from my Facebook wall and status updates.  Even if you’re a close friend in real life, the moment you bash a school I went to/work for, you’re done.  I even block your updates from my news feed.  I feel that’s nicer than simply unfriending you (it lets you know I still like you in real life).

That’s not the only criteria.  I’m blocking a lot of Facebook access simply because too many people see too many things.  One of the reasons I got out of TV news is too many people knew who I was.  I honestly got tired of being recognized and wanted to slip back into obscurity.  Instead, I opened up for the world on those two platforms, and now it’s causing me to have ill feelings toward people I wouldn’t have in the first place.

If you want to see what’s going on (in a more controlled manner), then keep checking this blog.  I don’t update much, but I’ll be putting up only things I want everyone to see … which isn’t a lot.

Today our boy is a year old!  It seems just like yesterday we were bringing him into the world, watching and waiting to see if he’d pull through his heart condition and surgeries.

I vividly remember the sights and sounds of the NICU at UAB.  I remember scrubbing up and carefully manipulating the wires attached to him just to be able to touch and hold him.  We saw him for all of two minutes after he was born, then had to wait six hours to see him again.

He was the biggest baby in the NICU, but he was still tiny and had a hard road ahead.  I remember seeing him for the first time that December morning.  I cried so much looking down at him.  We prayed, and we stayed with him.  We loved on him as best we could.

Three days later he had his first heart cath.  Three weeks after that he had a shunt implanted above his heart.  Three weeks later, we brought him home.

Now the little man is eating us out of house and home, and he brings so much joy to our lives.  He’s a happy boy.  He smiles a lot, and he loves to flirt with the ladies.    That’s my boy!

He’ll have another heart cath in January, but they’re not expecting anything major.  In fact, during our cardiologist visit last month, his ventricle is growing nicely, and his oxygen levels are awesome!  We don’t know what’s next, but we know his doctor is very happy with his progress.

I haven’t updated the family photos page recently, but I hope to over the Christmas break.  If you’d like to read and remember with us, you can go back and start here.  There are more entries about him before that one, but that’s the entry after he was born.

Happy birthday, my precious David.  I love you so much, and I know God has so many wonderful things planned for you.  I’m so happy you’re mine. 

Just like the title means, it’s late.  I am pretty tired, but finally got a little urge to jot a few things down.

These last few months have been hectic to say the least.  We’re finally in our new house, and we’re loving it.  Much more space and places to escape the kids’ constant volume issues.  Santa, can we have two muzzles for Christmas, please?    I’m teasing.  We love our kids, but as any parent can attest, these precious children are LOUD.

Speaking of the house, the garage is far from being cleaned out.  We got a lot of stuff into the house, but then we moved everything from our storage unit into the garage so we wouldn’t have to keep paying monthly rent.  The pile is shrinking except for one corner.  That’s the yard sale corner.  The pile is growing, and thanks to “Clean House” and Dave Ramsey, we’ll sell what we can out of it, then it’s off to Harvest Evangelism’s thrift store to donate the rest.  We didn’t have enough time to clean everything out we wanted before we moved.  We got rid of some stuff, but now I’m to the point of letting a lot of my past obsessions go.  It’s a shame no one is really spending a lot of money on fun things right now.  I’d make a killing.

My hobby is taking off very nicely.  I’m sure you’ve seen how much I love “Ghostbusters.”  I’ve been part of the Birmingham Ghostbusters group since earlier in the year.  Well, my friend Mike (who was the head of the group) has moved to North Carolina for the time being.  He resigned his role, and I’ve been named the new head.  That happened Thursday/Friday of last week, and we’ve since changed our name to Alabama Ghostbusters.

I really want different areas of the state to form groups under our umbrella, create different “chapters,” if you will.  That way we can represent ALGB without all of us having to travel so far for an event.  We can cover many more charity and community events that way, too.

I’m trying to come up with a lot of ways to promote the group more.  So far, I’ve stepped up our Facebook and Twitter activity.  I’ve also announced the change on GBFans.com.  So, if you’d like to join a fun group of guys that simply loves to help others and loves “Ghostbusters,” then we’d love to have you.  The site has all the info and serves as our central hub.

I guess that’s all my brain is letting me come up with right now.  It’s way past bedtime, and I haven’t felt well in a week. I need some sleep.  Maybe I’ll get the itch to do this again this week since I’m off for six days.  Nothing like being home and relaxing … unless you’re cleaning out your garage.

Well, at least for the time being.  These last two months have been severely hectic.  We’ve almost finished getting everything from our rented storage unit into our garage.  At the same time, we’ve been getting stuff cleared out of the garage and into the trash/yard sale pile/house.

I’ve got some more ideas for my “Life by the numbers” series, but it’s hard to write anything here for now.  I’m hoping by the end of the year I’ll be able to catch back up with this.  I still need to add some photos from Halloween, so I’ll try to do it soon.

Vacation can’t get here soon enough.