Happy Valentine's Day!

Well, just wanted to get things back to normal here. I have been struggling with what to blog about, not wanting a hard transition from the previous two posts back to T-Bone mode. I thought I'd take Valentine's Day as a good opportunity to get back to posting.

With that, I wanted to share with you the wonder, the mystique, the awe that is my wife, Julie.

She just plain rocks. She is beautiful, she is funny, she loves to take care of me (the baby that I am), and she is HOT!! I am so fortunate to have had the opportunity to shack up with such a babe. What the hell did I do to deserve her? I love how she loves to make me laugh and be silly, sometimes to the point of absurdity...something that I just adore. Just look at those eyes peaking out from under the blue hat....drives me crazy....

We have been married almost 12 years now and I can honestly say that I love her more now than ever. It seems that our relationship has gotten stronger over the years. Even though we hit our rough spots sometimes, I wouldn't trade it for anything. She has given me three beautiful children (sorry Cameron), make that one handsome son and two beautiful daughters. What more could I want?

So, on this Valentine's Day, I just wanted to share with you how special Julie is to me. Julie, I love you honey! Happy Valentine's Day!!!!

Goodbye, for now....

Man, I can't believe it has been two weeks since the last post. To me, the time that has passed went by in the blink of an eye. Yet, it seems like I took those pictures, in the last post, so long ago. Now I am back home, sitting in front of my computer trying to think of how to put into words what happened these last two weeks.

My Grandmother, Angie, left this Earth on Sunday, January 8th. She was 91. She lived a long, good life. She was a strong woman and sharp as a tack up until the last days. She said goodbye on her terms and, it seemed, in as little pain as possible. And, I am thankful for all of that. Prayers were answered. It still sucks though.....

As I sit here with my fingertips on the keyboard, I struggle with what I should write about; how much should I divulge? It was such a private, intimate experience and I think that I shouldn't be plastering this on the Web for all to see. At the same time, I want to share every detail.....to help process it all. This was my first direct experience with the death of a loved one.

I am fortunate in that I got to say goodbye to her and she got to say goodbye to me. I thanked her for being in my life, for all that she did for me. She said it had been a long journey and that she was onto the next. She told me that we would meet again in heaven. I can't begin tell you what that meant to me. It was a double-edged sword....very hard to hear and comforting at the same time.

I had the honor of doing a scripture reading at her funeral and joining my cousins as a pallbearer of her casket. We had a luncheon at the Church she attended after the service. My uncle shared some memories of her and then invited others to come up and say something. I eventually stood up and took a turn at the microphone. One of the things I said was that 'she was a classy lady and, to me, she was royal as any Queen' and I meant it with all of my heart.

She loved to laugh. She loved to beat the pants off of you in Scrabble. She spoke her mind. She was confident. She was independent. She loved her family and her family loved her. A favorite quote of mine is from the musical 'Les Miserables,' "To love another person is to see the face of God." I think, through my Grandmother, that was possible. Goodbye Grandma.......for now. I'll miss you. Until next time........

A Trip I Don't Want to Take

It has been a whirlwind of a day for me. I woke up in California this morning not knowing that I would be on a plane to Minnesota later in the afternoon. Now I am writing this from a hotel room in Minneapolis at 1 AM. I am here to see my Grandma. It's not that I don't want to come here to see her; I just wish it were under better circumstances.

I don't want to go into too much detail, but she is not doing well. I have known this for a little over a week now, but things took a turn over that last couple of days. I don't know what is going to happen. If you are reading this, I just ask that you pray for a safe journey for me. Pray that I can be there for my family, whatever that may be. Pray that I am not numb to what I am experiencing, that my heart is open to what is going on around me, and that I can express what I am feeling. Pray for my family. But, most of all, pray for my Grandma, that God will do what is best for her, that she is happy and comfortable.

Woof! (A.K.A. Confessions of a Pessimistic Dad)

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! I know I did, although I wasn't sure if it was going to turn out that way. Why? you might ask? What could be possibly be wrong with Christmas? Are you some kind of Scrooge? Well, yes....I am...well..was.

Mrs. T-Bone, my lovely wife, has a special passion for animals. From what I understand, she has always had a pet growing up. Dogs, cats, birds...I think she has done it all. And, I think animals have a special passion for her. Everywhere I have gone with her where there has been an animal of some sort (someone's home, a pet store, the zoo) the animals in attendance seem to flock to her, there is some sort of magnetic attraction there...they know. It's uncanny. If she were a superhero, her special ability would be to talk to the animals and get them to do her bidding to save the world from some evil genius. I think that this passion has been passed on to our daughter Chelsea (and maybe Madison too, but its too early to tell) and she has been asking for a dog for at least the past year. She has yearned for a dog like no other has ever yearned before. She only wanted one thing from Santa this year and you can guess what it was. Everyone in my family, grandparents included, wanted her to finally get that dog. Evryone, except me.

You see, I don't share this passion that the female half of the Cloyd clan has. In fact, I wanted to make sure I did everything in my power to prevent that dog showing up in my house. Well, a series of events was put into place that made getting the dog inevitable and I was FREAKING OUT about it! What was this dog going to do to my house? How much of my personal belongings is he going to chew through? How much was I going to have to clean up after this thing? MY HOUSE IS GOING TO SMELL LIKE DOG! ARGH!!! I literally had a couple of anxiety attacks over this. Yes, I know.....I am a tight-wad. After talking it over with some friends I realized that I need to 'let-go' and stop worrying about it. Also, I was putting Mrs. T-Bone through hell over it. I was only looking at all the negatives, not any of the positives like how happy the kids could be and how it would be a good lesson in responsibility for them.

After looking at the picture above, I understood what an idiot I am. How could I deny my daughter such joy? I mean, look at that! How could anyone say no to that? And, wouldn't you know...I am getting fond of the guy. Who knows, he might even like me too. He is a good dog, very mellow and loving. So, to Dash (that's his name, he is a golden labrador) and the family I say 'I'm sorry!' Here is to some great memories with the newest member of our family.

Merry Christmas

Julie, Cameron, Chelsea, Madison, and myself wish you all a very Merry Christmas. We hope your holiday is filled with family, warmth, tasty food, and good cheer!

One Bowl of Chicken Soup Please

It has been a busy year for the Cloyd family doctor. Chelsea is the latest victim (again) of whatever bug is going around. She hit the equivalent of a Palm Springs high temperature of 104 degrees yesterday and is still not feeling well today. It is times like these when your parenting instincts kick in and you just want to do whatever it takes to get them to feel better. She looks so bad and yet so adorable at the same time.

Christmas Time is Here.....

Well, it is that time of year again. Time to break out all of the decorations, untangle all of the lights, and plop a tree (in my case, a fake one) in your living room. It seems that every year that passes by, I have a harder time getting into the 'Christmas Spirit.' Why is that?

I think I know a couple of reasons why...

One would be the over-hype/commercialization of Christmas. Around Nov. 1st every year I drive my friends & co-workers nuts with my annual "It's NOT Christmas yet!!!" rant. 'What would that be?' you ask? Well, take a seat and I will subject you to it as well. You see, there is this other holiday called "Thanksgiving." Maybe you have heard of it? It falls on the fourth Thursday of every November? Sound familiar yet? I happen to like Thanksgiving...a lot. What other holiday can give you family, food (lots of it), and football? I like the ideology of Thanksgiving; after all, I have much to be thankful for. I also like all of the decorations that go along with it....the fall colors, pictures of cornucopias, pilgrims, & pumpkins....oohh!! yes....pumpkin pie....mmmmmmmm...(drool). Why would anyone want to skip over such a wonderful day? Yet, that's what it seems like. Christmas seems to come sooner every year.

For example, one year the Cloyd clan went to Disneyland on Nov. 1st and, much to my dismay, there were Christmas decorations everywhere! It made my blood boil. Heck , it was Halloween just 12 hours prior and now, on this 80 degree Southern California day, the Mouse is telling me it's Christmas???!!?? It doesn't seem right! Another was a few weeks ago, the second week of November to be precise. My buddy, Jody, and I took a break at work and went over to Starbucks. The whole place was decked out for X-MAS and 'White Christmas' was playing over the sound system. C'mon man! It's only Nov. 9th!! As I asked the guy working behind the counter if he thought it was ridiculous that they were serving up X-Mas cheer in the early weeks of Nov. Jody was quick to point out my hypocrisy as I took my first sip of a peppermint mocha...darn that Jody! And don't even get me started with the playing of Christmas music on some of the radio stations starting Nov. 1st, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week! As great as Christmas is (and, don't get me wrong, really, it is!!!), people need to stop cheapening it and wait until after Thanksgiving to bring it out.

Anyway, there are two things I can count on to get the Scrooge out of me and get me into the holiday spirit and they are "A Charlie Brown Christmas" special on ABC and the soundtrack to "A Charlie Brown Christmas" by The Vince Guaraldi Trio. There is nothing better at Christmas Time than to hear Charlie and Linus talking on the bridge, watching those kids dancing to Schroeder's jamming on the piano, and Linus reciting the birth of Christ from the Bible....it's magical. And now, I have the privilege of watching it with my kids. And, ah yes, the soundtrack......it brings me comfort listening to it. Especially the track 'Christmas Time is Here." Listening to that wonderful, melancholy melody can make the So. Cal. heat go away and then I can almost see the snow falling outside the window. That album should be a staple in everyone's holiday music collection. I think I'll put it on now....

My first Blog-EVER! Be gentle....

Wow. I am actually posting my first ever Blog posting right now. I have been standing at the edge of the 'Blogsphere' wondering if I should just dive in. Will anyone actually read it? Probably not...well, except for you, of course. It seems that many people I know blog now....it's 'the' thing to do....a new way of communicating, to keep in touch. Maybe I can get my wife to set up a blog and we can just blog each other to keep up with what is going on in our lives.
"Hey honey...what do we have going on next week?"
"well, did you check my blog?"
"uh...yeah, meant to do that.......I love..."
"Can you just e-mail that to me?"

I don't know....it could work. She could let me know how I am doing as a husband/father by leaving a comment in the 'Add Comment' field.

Life just seems so busy as it is, with raising three kids, work, other commitments. Will I have time to sit down and post the lastest adventures of T-Bone? Heck, I have a hard enough time just replying to e-mails....takes too much time.

I'll just see how it goes. What do you think? Just leave a comment...but remember, go easy on me, it's my first time.