Almost Gypsy Soul

via Yahoo Images #neverforget #USA and congratulations to Football Fan and The Boy From Texas on their bouncing baby boy, The Baby From Texas, who arrived last night!

Lots of people don't like small towns....everyone knows your business, everyone is in your business, there are no secrets, everyone talks about your business, there is nothing to do, it matters what your last name is and on and on. But its undeniable, when tragedy strikes no one takes care of their own better than a small town. I attended a funeral a few weekends ago for a young man from a small town. It was easy to see why you can't beat small towns. The community center was filled to the brim and there were 500 chairs set up. The meal after the service served all those in attendance and could have easily fed another 500. Rumor has it that the family had to get a few extra fridges brought to the house to hold all the food even before the funeral. While I don't like people in my business all the time, I wouldn't trade growing up in a small town for anything. It just can't be beat!

If you remember back when I decided to join the Pay It Forward movement I got at least 5 comments and consequently 5 chances to pay it forward, to make someone's day with a surprise gift. So I've been working on this post for about over a year to share with you what I thought these people would most love getting in the mail from me! #1 Fellow blogger and OSU alumni, Amy - If you guys don't know Amy you are missing a gem. Check out her blog and get to know her a little better! I followed accounts of her proposal, engagement and am looking forward to the accounts of her wedding day....both from her and Football Fan. She lost her dad in a car accident in 2011 and I know she might miss him a little extra on her way down the aisle. So for her pay it forward, I thought she might like a bouquet charm so that her dad could be with her on her wedding day. Congratulations on your wedding Amy, I wish you forever happiness! # 2 Fellow blogger and OSU alumni, Tiffany - Tiffany...

Excerpt by Marie - This fund has been set up to help our family with the expenses that come along with Jeremiah having heart surgery.  For those of you who may not be familiar with our sweet Miah our journey began back on October 5, 2010 on the day that he was born. I was scheduled to have a c-section in Hereford Texas but when I went in that morning they found a blood clot in my leg and decided that it would be best for me to be sent to Amarillo. When I arrived I was in active labor, so much for a easy c-section! I was sent to ultrasound so they could locate my blood clot and get a plan together. To all of our amazement there was no blood clot to be found!!!! A God thing for sure only HE could know that our sweet little man would need the best heart doctors in the area the min he was born. After he was born I had the moment every mother waits for I had a screaming baby that I was shown and then he was carted off to be looked ov...

The Assistant Pack Leader had wanted a weenie dog for as long as I can remember. Said weenie dog had a name long before he entered this world and Critter joined our family one year for Christmas. Critter Jack is the poster child for personality. He was quirky, he was fun and he wasn't afraid to stand up for himself......or any toy who he made the decision to adopt. Critty could "back it on up fat Jesus" into the roping box that looked eerily similar to the corner of the couch. Fist bump, had that one down. Want him to roll over? He'd do it with style by spinning in a circle first. every.single.time. Critter was very protective of his bones, treats and especially of the toys that he found on his own. A hedgehide (which of course is a hedgehog that had his feet chewed off so he couldn't run away and had been gutted....becomes a hedgehide) or a bear that he pulled out of Assistant Pack Leader's garage sale pile, or "Snowy" the snowman that he...

It's something you always knew, just sometimes life gets in the way and it gets pushed to the back of your mind. Friends are my soul food! Unfortunately, last week I was reminded to NOT let life push this little piece of fact to the back of my mind, to love my friends, to let my friends know that I love them, to take a little extra time to send that email or text or pick up the phone and make the call, to spend more than is in the travel budget, to take 10 days 2 1/2 weeks off to drive what I'm going to refer to as the Giant Friend Loop Road Trip (GRLRT) instead of flying in/out in 3 days time, to buy the random gift you know they will love.   As I looked around the room, which was full, at the wake I realized how many lives this young man had touched so deeply in just 27 short years. The next day the sanctuary, the hall and foyer were filled with people wanting to pay their last respects to their friend. I am reminded to strive to be like Joe Don, to strive to be a...

asking why......why did another full-of-life, salt-of-the-earth, one of the REAL good guys have to leave this Earth way, way too soon. He was a friend of so many, didn't know a stranger, one would be hard pressed to remember a time where he wasn't living life to the fullest or a moment where there wasn't a smile on his face. As I sat at my desk, trying to comprehend the news, I realize I couldn't breathe very well. It just doesn't seem real and I don't want it to be. Heaven got one of the good ones yesterday and he will be missed by so many. I don't know anyone who didn't like Joe Don. Photos via Facebook Rest in peace and know you are missed by so many. When I get where I'm going On the far side of the sky The first thing that I'm gonna do Is spread my wings and fly I'm gonna land beside a lion And run my fingers through his mane Or I might find out what it's like To ride a drop of rain Yeah, when I get where ...

Today is the anniversery of a couple big events....Mike's birthday (my pops) and the Limon tornado that hit in 1990. First things first, HAPPY BIRTHDAY POPS! This article was on NBC news last week showing a little bit about how our little town banded together and rebuilt. We were so lucky that newly installed tornado sirens helped to spare the lives of all those in Limon this night. Looking back at the pictures in the article, its hard to believe that a little over 20 years has passed. And for the record, many years after the tornado, Dad was kindly asked to leave town to celebrate his birthday. I mean seriously has anyone else woke up to a scene like this from their birthday party? Mom and Dad were at the bar on this street, eating dinner. They, along with other patrons were in the walk-in cooler during the storm. The top of the cooler was sucked off, but no one was hurt. Afterwards, they all got shirts that said "Cooler Crew" on the back! Photos via Denver Po...

Dear Donor Family, My name is {Gatekeeper} and I received your loved one’s heart. The most important thing I want to tell you is that I am so grateful to you! There are no other words to express my gratitude other than Thank You!  I have thought about what to say over and over, and I want to say the right things but I’m not sure what those words are. In your time of grief you made a decision that saved my life. I would not be alive if it were not for you. I know very little about your loved one, but I would love to know much more! What I do know is that he must have been an incredible person. The fact that you have allowed him to live on inside of me is a testament to how much he was loved by you.  There are so many thing I would like to tell all of you, but I don’t want to overwhelm you. I do want you to know that I was sick for a very long time, and I do not take for granted a healthy heart! When I was 14 I was diagnosed with a rare cancer so I began che...

So as I started out writing posts about Grimes, I was having trouble getting the words quite right. I took some time to shift through old scrapbooks and yearbooks. And everyone knows you can't pull that stuff out and spend just a few minutes. I read some notes on the cover of my yearbook with this one especially sticking out from the Assistant Pack Leader. And I asked some others for a few words about Coach Grimes......some footprints left by Coach Grimes: his loping run - he made it look easy. he took such damn long strides that it was hell for short people to keep up. his irritation and aggravation at the members of our team who didn't "get it" and weren't out for track to win. Those that were there for social reasons. (You know the ones on your team I'm talking about!) him nearly killing Shane Stone for hitting me on the inside of the knee with a baseball pitch when they were practicing inside. I had gone to get ice out of the concessions sta...

You remember those special people who have left this world, some way to soon, some having lived a full and wonderful life. Are you like me where your memories fade, you can't quite remember the specifics of the relationship? The one thing you will always remember is that they changed your life, maybe not in big ways, but lots of small ways that made you who you are today. Footprints were left on my heart by Coach Grimes (his footprints look more like track spikes) and I knew it while he was here and I REALLY knew it after he was gone. Today is the anniversary of this great man's passing and I couldn't be more honored to be "one of Grimes' track girls" Grimes believed in me even when I didn't believe in myself. He chewed my ass when I needed it, he encouraged me when I needed to know that someone believed in me, he joked with me when I was so nervous I couldn't speak for fear of throwing up somewhere on that infield and he was ALWA...

What better trip to revisit to than Washington D.C. to celebrate Memorial Day. Washington D.C. is rich with history and memorials remembering the fallen ones of our country. Past, p resent and future military...... THANK YOU! Happy Memorial Day! Did you thank a veteran today?

When I moved there it was so hot I was fairly certain it wasn't God's Country, but everywhere I went I heard "Welcome to God's Country" by the time I graduated and it was time to leave, I was sad to leave God's Country. Even when we start to question how and why horrible things such as the huge tornado that hit Moore Oklahoma this week, God is there and there is not a doubt in my mind that God is in Oklahoma, the day the tornado hit, the weeks of recovery and reconstruction and until the end of time.   As I watch the news and look at pictures from Oklahoma, I can't help but think back to 1990 when I had just recently finished 1st grade. It was June 6, 1990, my parents had dropped us off at Lynn and Lisa's so they could go celebrate Dad's birthday. When we came out from the crawlspace, scenes that I see on the tv were before my very eyes. Luckily, in the Limon tornado, fairly new warning sirens were credited with saving many lives, givi...

Even when I was the young age of 16 and getting my first drivers license I made the choice to be an organ donor, after all, if the question of if I am an organ donor was needed to be asked......its pretty obvious that I didn't need them anymore. It wasn't a choice that I gave alot of thought to, it just made sense to me. On Sunday, it hit me what my choice really means. It means that I will live on through someone else.  It means that my family can be proud of the difference that I could make in a stranger's life even through tragedy in our own. It means that someone else gets to spend more days, weeks, months, years with their loved ones. It means that a stranger might welcome my family into theirs and my family might welcome a stranger into our family. This weekend, Coach Grimes parents and Stacey got to meet the lady who was the recipient of his heart when he passed. They got to listen to his heart and heard the words "I am not the owner of his heart, I am merel...

January 27, 2001 is not a date that I remember ed specifically, until I attended grad school at Oklahoma State University. Even though I wasn't yet part of the OSU family at the time of this horrible tragedy, I am now and I will remember the ten who lost their lives that day in Colorado from the men 's bas ketball team . Then the unthinkable happened, it happened again and even though I had already graduated I do remember this day. November 17, 2011, when the women's basketball team lost 4 of their own and again the entire OSU family shed tears. This was supposed to be a day of Super Bowl revelry in this college town, with the only worry being whether stores would run out of popcorn, beer and peanuts. Instead, the mood Sunday was as cold and dreary as the rain soaking the streets following the crash of a small airplane bringing people home from Oklahoma State's basketball game against Colorado. "It's like a part of the school died,...

Last night I had a crazy dream A wish was granted just for me It could be for anything I didn't ask for money Or a mansion in Malibu I simply wished, for one more day with you One more day One more time One more sunset, maybe I'd be satisfied But then again I know what it would do Leave me wishing still, for one more day with you First thing I'd do, is pray for time to crawl Then I'd unplug the telephone And keep the TV off I'd hold you every second Say a million I love you's That's what I'd do, with one more day with you One more day One more time One more sunset, maybe I'd be satisfied But then again I know what it would do Leave me wishing still, for one more day with you Leave me wishing still, for one more day Leave me wishing still, for one more day Well, in the past year  we've said goodbye to four great people on my mom's side of the family. Our family has come together to laugh, cry, ask why, remember and honor more times than one...