Text Message Dreams from My Sister

My sister Kim, oh look there she is!

She's a bit of a "crazy rabid squirrel"... if you've ever seen Over the Hedge, you'll know what I'm talking about.

I woke up this morning, and I had 8 TEXT MESSAGES, which was needless to say, a little bit alarming.  When I realized they were all from Kim, I was very worried.  We generally operate on the 'no news is good news' philosophy, so 8 texts before 10am... well that's news.

TURNS OUT... She's just nuts.  As proven by her sub conscious or whatever it is that controls dreaming.  Here you go, please to enjoy:

I had a dream that you and rita (Sara - Sarita - Rita) stayed at our house for twelve weeks and on the last day you were there you went to DD and bought donuts and munchkins, but while I was showering you at all the donuts.  When I tried to open the munchkins you yelled at me and told me they were for Risa, who then ran in laughing and took the box of munchkins away :(


Also, we had a pool and a mexican man servant.  He tried to take my towel before I'd used it so I said "no no es lo mio" and he said "eres la reina" real sarcastic like, so Rob (Kim's husband) fired him.


A couple of nights ago I had other crazy dreams which included such fun things as having dinner with the Kardashian family and five of my teeth broke, and having hours of dental work to repair them (poorly) and Rob being pantsed and then 'violated' by two blonde nurses swimming in the ocean.


So there you have it.  Hope you enjoyed my dream stories.  I'm off to go buy munchkins...


WOW.

I did enjoy your dream stories Da Kimmaz... and I hope the world does as well.

Strength

One of Sara's grandmothers I never got the chance to meet.  At times that deeply saddens me, especially when I do or say something that makes Sara smile and say "My Grandma L used to act like that" or "say that" or "do that".  It sucks to know that you had a friend and you never met.

Her other grandmother, I did meet.  I also had the good fortune of getting to know her a little bit before she ultimately lost a battle with cancer that simply wasn't going to be won.  I'm not sure when Grandma D was born, but I do remember 2008 when she passed away.

She was tough, but gentle.  She never retired, just worked and worked her whole life, raising 3 kids and provided for her family.  I remember she once took Sara and me out for lunch at one of her favorite spots - Abbots.  Even though she still needed to work (which would imply she didn't have spare cash to blow on grand kids and their significant others) she still insisted on paying.  She was a giver like that.

I remember the first time I saw her after her first bought with chemo.  Her long hair was replaced with a wig, which just didn't look right and when she took it off it just broke your heart to see the top of her head.  But her spirit didn't seem to mind.  She didn't care what anyone thought - she was mentally tough.  I never heard her complain about her condition, or say that it wasn't fair.  She never whined to anyone with a "woe is me" tale or sad sob story.  I didn't realize it then, but I respect that a lot now.

The night before she died, Sara and I drove down to CT to see her.  Everyone sort of had a "feeling", and I tend to trust those when they pop up.  I was glad that Sara got to say goodbye to her grandmother, but man it was just so sad.  This strong woman had been reduced to a small framed women gasping for air laying in bed.  She had the strength to offer her hand out to her family members as they announced to her that they were there with her.  She just looked so tired and worn out with her fight.

And then she did something absolutely amazing.  When I said hello to her, as soon as she heard my voice she sat up and she gave me a hug.  All I can attest that to is she was pretty weak, and didn't know me extremely well yet - so she wanted to conceal some of the weakness in her body.  To me though, it showed her amazing character.  It also showed her inner strength.

I will always remember her respect she showed me with that hug.  I'll remember the courage she showed when taking off her wig.  I'll remember the kindness she displayed by treating Sara and me to lunch.  I really wish she had been there for our wedding.  I hope she somehow knew before Sara and I did that we were going to wind up being together.  I hope she knows how much I love her for the family she helped create because that family has done so much for me in my life.

But man, I will definitely never forget that hug.  Although I only got to meet her a handful of times - I have a lot of respect for my late grandma-in-law.  Those memories are something that I'll always treasure, and best of all is they bring me a joy that no one can steal.

My New Job

I guess today would be the official day to the start of my new job!  I'm pretty pumped about it, even more so now that I've actually gotten to see what a-day-in-the-life of a Customer Experience rep at BatchBlue Software could be like.  I'm sure there will be bad days, and I'm sure there will be better days.  One of my favorite quotes from my former boss is "Good days aren't always as good as they seem, and bad days aren't always as bad".  It helps keep you level, and that's muy importante.

Although, he had a lot of good ones...but I guess that is one that stuck with me.  Along with "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over but expecting different results".

Which is why unfortunately, I had to get a new job.  My old boss is great.  He's a great guy, amazing business man, and he very much cares about his employees.  My co-workers are hilarious to work with.  I'm still convinced throwing a web cam in that office and turning it on from 12:00 - 12:45 would produce Hollywood level comedy.

The big problem was I love helping people.  The sales took a backseat to my interest in becoming the go to guy for my customers.  It was fulfilling to receive an email or a phone call from someone with a problem and be able to fix it.  Even if I couldn't fix it, it was great to say "I can't do that for you, but here's the guy who can".  It built trust.  It built a relationship.  It allowed me to help an entrepreneur do what he or she does best - entreprenu.  Every company needs a team of support people who look at the box, say that's nice, and do everything they can to think outside of it.  When people have problems they don't need automated messaging systems (where you have to always listen carefully because the menu options have ALWAYS recently changed), they need solutions.  I liked providing that, but it just didn't...