Shelley, I had a "steam" period too at our family get together. We have a nephew who has decided to be a minister and is going to pastoral school. His church has different beliefs & views then most. He sat right next to me and made comments I (nor anyone else) appreciated. I should of stood up for my faith and now I'm feeling guilty but I didn't want to start anything because of Steves parents and his fathers health.
Some people just "feed" off of making snotty comments. You did the right thing by putting her in her place instantly and telling her not to discuss it. BRAVO GIRLFRIEND!

Speaking of family moments, I haven't shared but I will:
We had an anniversary celebration to go to a few weeks ago. Mom went with us and instantly, as we walked through the door, a lady was up in her face. I glanced around and placed who the lady was...it was my sister who has not visited nor seen my mother for a good 15 years. She looked VERY different, her face was swollen and I'm not sure if I would of even known who she was, other then I spotted her husband. Anyways, she stands right in front of mom and says: Are you going to hug me?
Mom responds: Who are you? Are you a relative?
She responds: You don't know who I am and your not going to hug me?
About this time, I am right behind mom so I say: Mom, it is Betty. Mom goes ahead and gives her a quick hug, I quickly separated them and said, mom lets find you a place to sit. Steve takes over getting mom seated somewhere and as I'm walking off, I hear my name. I turn around to have my sister ask: So what, are we talking or not?
I responded: NO, not now, NO and I turned my back on her and walked off.
She left and later I found out she was crying to an Aunt in the parking lot. Because mom didn't know who she was. Well I'm sorry, but after this many years and the drastic change in her appearance, not even a well person could place her, how was my mom to know.
I know I should feel bad, but I don't. She and another brother and sister have been nowhere around before, during or after moms heart attack. In some ways it was a release to be able to see one of them, not say much, but yet get the point across very clearly I am not happy with their behavior.
I told mom to not feel guilty in anyway...what goes around comes around and they are now just starting to face the conquences of their behavior over the years.
Enough rambling for the day!! LOL!!!

Ramona, praying daily for your family. I hope Dan is starting to recover from the accident & surgery. I LOVE YOU!

Gayle-I'm right there with you, girl! I am proud of you for what you did. Your mother certainly deserves more that what your sister and brother gives, which is nothing!! You go girl!!

Gayle....YOU GO GIRL!!!!! that is the same i would do with my sister if she came around....That is my mom's favorite saying " What goes around comes around".

Well off to family-inlaws dinner....Wow aren't i lucky today!!!

Ok girls, I have the choice between polishing off the last of the pumpkin pie and ice cream or venting to you all...I'm choosing venting to you all first and if that doesn't help then I'll try the pie. ;)

I was at WalMart this afternoon and saw a couple we know through some other friends. They asked if I had heard anything from my son lately (they both know he is in Iraq) so I proceeded to tell them that he is driving a humvee escorting convoys of supplies and or troops to different locations (he's an MP). It was at that point that the man says "You know they don't call them humvees anymore...they call them targets." I just looked at the guy...I was absolutely speechless! I couldn't think of a thing to say...I just made a comment that I had to get back to my shopping and walked away. Of course now that I'm home and have thought about it some I should have turned to the guy's wife and said "I'm so sorry that you are married to such an insensitive (insert proper profanity here)!" and then walked away. I'm sure the look on my face said it all, but I wish now that I had said something to the stupid jerk. I just can't believe that someone could be that insensitive!

Suzy-How unthoughtful and insensitive of that jerk that calls himself a man! I'm sorry that you had to even experience such a loser's comments.

Suzy, some people never even think before they speak. His comment was crude and uncalled for...maybe to him he was just trying to add humor to the conversation. I hope when he made it home, he actually replayed the conversation in his mind and realized he should of thought before speaking such a comment to a mother with a son in war. I hope you know here, we are saying prayers for your son and wish him a safe return.

Speaking of nasty comments: one time when my dad had cancer he ran into a former coworker in town. Dad told him about his cancer and the guy responded: "so, your going to die soon, huh?" Dad was speechless at the time. Dad lived probably 4-5 more years but I know that one single comment from a non-thinking person continued to bother him through the years.


Vickster: Did ya have fun with MIL??? LOL!!!!!!

Shelley: When will Patty start driving? I know you mentioned it but I forgot. We must have nerves of steel to get through that rough period in life!! Hopefully she won't rear-end the judges wife like Liz did!! LOL!!!

Where oh where is everyone??????

Sending prayers again to Ramona & family!!!

I just went to check my email before getting off the computer. Here is an update from Ramona!!!!

Hi Gayle. Ben and I came home tonight for a little while. It is one hundred miles to the hospital, so we are just camping out there.
Dan had surgery on Wednesday. It lasted seven hours and was very difficult. He has two rods from the base of his neck to the base of his spine. He has two broken ribs and a puntured lung. As of right now, he is paralyzed from the waist down. They have given us virtually no hope, but we are not giving up. The doctors have done their part, now we have to leave it up to God. He took the news really well, but of course he is understandably angry. The good news is that he is chomping at the bit to begin rehab, so we look at that as a good sign. He will be flat and in ICU for another ten days or so. Then he will move to a regular room for a period and then begin therapy. He will probably be in the hospital for at least three months.
Of course someone has to bring in a paycheck, so I will return to work on Monday and drive to Little Rock in the evenings every other day or so.
Please don't stop the prayers and please ask everyone else to continue. We need them desperately.
Thank you for everything.
Love,
Ramona

Thanks so much for the update on Dan, Gayle! He has been on my mind almost constantly since I read about his accident. My prayers will continue for Dan and I'll also be praying for Ramona and the rest of the family. They will all need prayers to get through the difficult days ahead. God bless them all.

Thanks for the support everyone! I decided that the idiot's stupid comment wasn't worth 500 calories so I didn't eat the pie and ice cream. It still blows my mind that people can be so insensitive, but I guess it takes all kinds to make the world go round.

Gayle-Thank you so much for the update. I have been praying for Dan and waiting. Please, if Ramona gets in touch with you again, let her know how much we care about him.

BTW, Patty's bday is Jan 13. That's dday, if she is able to get an appointment to get the license. With hearing about these accidents, it is so scary to send your kids off on their own. No matter what age.

Shelley, I sent Ramona a note back telling her that she & her family are mentioned on almost every post here on the board. I also told her we love her dearly and all of us here are continuing to pray for Dans recovery. I thought it may make her feel a little better knowing we continue to not give up hope for Dan.
D-DAY???? I think it should be B-DAY!!! LOL!!!! I will be thinking of you!!!! LOL! Has Patty ever driven much? Here in Kansas they are required to get a restricted and get in so many hours of day/night driving time before they can get the actual license to drive without supervision.

Suzy, way to go!!! Great job not giving in to temptation because of a comment. I hope he went home, realized what he said and now has a major case of the guilts. Hopefully he learned his lesson and will not make the same mistake again.

Dee, are you ok?

Sher??????

Where is everyone?? No Doni, no Carol....
no Cheryl...Janice?.....Vickster....Deb??? The list can go on & on.......

Thinking of Dan today, praying for the strength he needs to overcome the difficulties placed in his life right now.

Dang girls i am here...

Gayle had so much fun with the family-in-laws i was sick all day yesterday and still don't feel well. I am sure one of them lovely people spiked my meal some how so i would be sick...(kidding but wouldn't put it past them).

Suzy....Sorry you ran into an insensitive person,Dumb people say the Damnedest things when they can't think of anything else plus he is probably fustrated for them over there and just didn't know how to say it in the right way. Glad you held yourself and didn't also eat that pie b/c i sure would have and been in the same frame of mind at the time.

Hope everyone has a good week.

Prayers to Ramona and her family. I am saying extra prayers for Dan.
What a terrible thing to happen, to such a brave young man.
Suzy - Congratulations on not giving in to the pie. When I am stressed my anything I eat. Stay strong.
I should have taken a picture of the snow storm we had last week. It was wild.

Gayle-Patty is using her restricted license. She has to have it for 1 year before she gets the regular one. She drives with either me or Mike in the car quite a bit. I just hate for her to go alone!

Thinking of Dan and praying for his recovery....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, RAMONA!!!:hug: :gift: :woo: :hb: :bravo:

I know this is a trying time right now, but remember I love you and am praying for Dan's speedy recovery.

hello girlfriends,
ramona,
prayers for you and yours!
i am so sorry for all of this!
your in my thoughts and prayers!

gayle,playstation 2 is my pick!

janice,hows your hand doing now that the stitches are out?

dee,please be careful on the exercise.
ive had 4 heart attacks,believe me there no fun!

sherry,wow,18 stitches?
he mustve torn the whole thumb!ouch!
how are you feeling?
is your puter fixed now?


suzy,man that remark was cruel and shitty!
people are so stupid!
dont let there remarks get to you hon!

everyone have a great day!
hugs,