Trying to get back into the swing of things. I finished phase 1 of my home projects. And I also completed the work deadline. Today I have successfully made it around our Sun for another trip. I straddle the line depending on what article you read if I’m a Baby Boomer or Gen-X. But it is really just a label, and anyone who knows me I’m not much with labels. Before I jump back into architecture, I wanted to pay a small tribute today. My birth and upbringing are due to 2 amazing people, yet they lived very simple lives.

My Dad’s Birthday is exactly one month before mine. I’m really proud of what he has done with his life and he turned 81 this year. He has guided me to be the man that I am, and we still try to spend every Sunday together. But, I really reflect on this day as Mom just missed her last trip around the sun by one week. She would have been 83 last January. I was close to my Mom, she was an amazing woman. She started life in very simple way. Just at the end of the great depression, my Mom was born to this crazy blue ball. With a simple upbringing, she was the daughter of a share crop farmer.

I was lucky enough to know her Dad (my Grandfather) he was born in 1888. Grandpa raised his children with great values. Mom carried that into our lives and she was the glue that kept the family together. While, it has not fallen apart with her passing, each of us had a piece of our heart taken away. The hardest hit of course was my Dad. Just 5 days ago on April 19th, they would have celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary. Both on my parents wanted nothing more than to celebrate that mile stone together. One of my Mom’s last words to my Dad was, “I’m sorry, I’m not going to make it.” My Dad cared so much for my Mom and knew she needed to peace and told her “We will celebrate when we are together again.”

Shortly after 9-11, I remember asking my Mom how here parents dealt with explaining World War II. She simply said that they did not have electricity until 1950 and had no idea that a war was going on. Indoor plumbing came shortly thereafter. But an indoor toilet was a luxury for rich folks. The first one she had in her home was after she married my Dad. My mom saw quite the change in her life time, reading by candle light as kid to seeing man land on the moon and technology going leaps & bounds.

Mom never feared technology. I think that is where I get my knack for it. But I do remember a couple years ago. I got a new iPad and gave my older one to Mom to goof off on the internet, read email, play games and watch Netflix. A week later she returned and said she was too old to learn something new. We laughed about it and in classic Mom style she returned to reading her books. My Mom could read, a book a day and found that to be enjoyable and never really needed the iPad.

My Mom had a good life, those were her words spoken that last year. She let us know she had no regrets and proud of her family. Mom, we all miss you, but with all the confidence we know that you are in a better place and I can only say that I’m just as proud of her as she was of her family.

…and now for something completely different.
James Buchanan, the 15th U.S. president continuously bought slaves with his own money in order to free them.