About six weeks ago I wrote about a reunion Peggy and I attended in Dallas for members of the Youth Choir we sang with as teenagers; the group where Peggy and I met.

Coincidentally, three of our friends from that Youth Choir all live in Colorado. They were unable to make the reunion in Dallas, so Peggy and I brought the reunion to them! Another friend of ours happened to be visiting Colorado at the same time, so the six of us and our spouses got together in Idaho Springs and had a wonderful evening together. Here are the six choir members from the 70s and early-80s:

The group looks pretty good except for the old, gray-haired dude in the back.

We stayed at the restaurant and visited and laughed until late into the evening. It is amazing how funny some of the stories still are after more than thirty years. The husbands were incredibly gracious and seemed to enjoy themselves, as well. At least many of the stories were new to them!

So many things have changed in the last thirty years — children, relocations, divorces, remarriage, job changes — but these are still the same wonderful friends we grew up with. We reminisced about other friends that we would love to see again, but mostly we talked about what is going on in our lives today. All of us are extremely blessed in our lives, and it was great to hear how everyone is moving on.

Thanks for the evening, folks! I would love to think we would do it more often, but I know how real life gets in the way. So we will enjoy these times when we get them and be thankful. And if we get to see you next year we will be thankful all over again!

I am a cat guy.

I know I run the risk of losing some of you by opening with that statement, but it’s the truth. I love dogs, too — Peggy and I have had at least one dog for the past twenty-five years — but I get cats.

One night my brother and I were driving back late at night from a business dinner with a couple of other guys in the car. We were tired so we stopped at a truck stop. After walking around a bit I sat on the curb outside the building, and a big white tomcat came out of nowhere and jumped in my lap. I petted on him until the others came out of the truck stop. When the other two guys saw the stray cat sitting on me, my brother noticed their confused looks. “That’s been happening to him since he was a baby,” he told them.

Today we had to put down the feline matriarch of the family. We got Pepper from the vet’s office when she was a kitten. We had just lost a cat (to coyotes, I think) in San Antonio, and Peggy thought she was too cute to leave with the vet.

From the very beginning we were convinced she was some special breed of cat. She is the most intelligent cat I have ever known, and the vocabulary of words she understands is ridiculous! If you talk she knows she is supposed to answer, so she tries to involve herself in every conversation. And I have never seen a cat that jumps as high as she does. We have nine-foot ceilings in the bedroom — she jumps from the floor to bat the chain on the ceiling fan!

She was never a mother, but she has raised four kittens since we got her. The first two she even “nursed” for a few weeks (she had no milk) before “weaning” them. It was just natural to her. 

Pepper owned me from the very beginning. Every morning when I get up she stands on the bathroom counter, puts her paws on my chest and rubs her head under my chin. She likes to stand on my shoulders and rub her face in my hair, and I can’t shave without her jumping up to sit on my shoulder. If I sit down in the house she gets on me, and she fusses at me every time I make her get up.

At a little over six pounds Pepper is the smallest cat we have ever owned, but she is fiercely protective and does not like strangers. More than one person has told us they were afraid to enter our house when we were not with them because of the “crazy cat”. Once we got a call from Mike’s babysitter, a 180-pound high school athlete, that he was stuck in the laundry room because Pepper wouldn’t let him out.

She has mellowed somewhat with age, but she still has the same reaction to anything that scares her — instead of running away she runs toward it. What a great life lesson from a cat. Attack the things that cause fear instead of running from them.

Pepper turned 18 in April (all of our animals are rescues, so we celebrate all of their birthdays on April 15. It gives us a reason to celebrate the day). Up until the last few months she had been her usual active, spry self. It became apparent lately, however, that she was suffering and in pain. When the doctor told us today there was nothing he could do to alleviate the issue or her pain, we made the decision. She is the sixth pet for whom we have endured this, and it never gets any easier.

I will miss her tomorrow morning when I get up and she is not on the bathroom counter to greet me. It is amazing to be loved like that.

Rest well, Pepper.

Peggy and I like to take a trip every year at Mother’s Day. It started when our son went away to college and it quickly developed into a wonderful tradition.

Last year we went to Nuevo Cancun in Mexico and had an absolute blast. We decided that we would like to go back often. Then we came home and began the journey with Peggy’s mother.

This year Peggy was not comfortable with the idea of leaving the country in case something happened with her mother, so we had to adapt. I decided we should spend the week in Cajun Mexico and go back to L’Auberge.

I know what you’re thinking — you go there all the time — and that is true. However, we have never gone for an extended stay. Our trips are always quick, two or three night excursions. This is the first time we have ever come here and stayed for a week.

When we went to Mexico last year, I realized that Peggy really does not want to spend time in the ocean. We spent virtually all our time at the pool. While the view of Lake Charles is not quite the same as looking at the Caribbean, the resort here is comfortable and beautiful. And the food and drinks are certainly comparable. More importantly, the fact that Peggy doesn’t have to worry about how we would get back to her mother if necessary immeasurably increases her ability to relax, and that is the point of the vacation.

We’re not telling anybody where we’re going. We’re staying here just like we stayed in Mexico last year and leaving our phones alone. I can’t make the reason for her constant travel back and forth to Dallas go away, but I can make sure that she gets the opportunity to go away, at least for a little while.

And I have asked our son to drive over from Baton Rouge on Mother’s Day as a surprise for his Mama.

We couldn’t do that in Mexico…

Peggy and I are back in Lake Charles this weekend. We just decided we needed to get away for a couple of days, and nothing helps Peggy relax like endless hours by the pool followed by endless hours in front of a slot machine.

I am up in our room at the hotel — a suite this time due to L’Auberge largesse — and a picture popped up on my computer from ten years ago. Here is the picture:

This is a picture from my son’s eighth grade play (yes, that makeup and costume were created by eighth-graders — unbelievable). The show was incredible and he was even incredibler. Truly the king of the forest.

It got me started thinking about how quickly time passes. When that picture was taken, my mother had been dead for less than a year. Peggy’s parents both attended the production. A little over two years later her father would pass away. Her mother is now dealing with Alzheimer’s disease.

We lived in the same town we live in now but in a different house. We moved into our house that summer, so we have been living in our house for almost ten years. I have never lived in a house that long in my entire life. I have changed employers twice since this picture was taken. My son has graduated from LSU and is now three years into his professional life.

I remember every detail of that play. Peggy was the choreographer, so she and Mike were at rehearsal for hours. I would sneak up to the school to watch them both work. Mike was running track at the same time, so I would take him to the meets and then we would hustle back to the school for rehearsals. It just doesn’t seem possible that it was ten years ago.

But it was.

Earlier this week I was scanning old photographs of our lives, but I didn’t come across this one from the play — most of the pictures I was looking at were much older. It is even harder to believe how long ago those memories took place.

Time truly flies. We must be having fun!

I never promised that all of my thoughts would be deep…

I keep a pair of glasses in every room in the house. I have no idea how many pairs I own.

I don’t wear glasses for distance, just for reading. I don’t need glasses to watch TV, but if I get a text message I need a pair to see my phone. I need a pair to read instructions in the kitchen. And, yes, I keep a pair in the bathroom in case I want to read something in there, too.

At the office (multiple pairs, as you can see below) , in the car, in the briefcase, in the suitcase… I have begun to buy in bulk, and the ones that are available in bulk are naturally the most stylish glasses you can find.

I am pretty sure that at least two pairs have been to “borrowed” from other people. I know this because they were clearly designed for the ladies. Fortunately, at this stage in life, seeing is a bigger deal to me than vanity. 

If you need them, rock them! Even with rhinestones.

Now, where are they?

It is rodeo time in Houston!

If you are not from Houston, you really would have to visit to understand the sheer size of the event. If you are from Houston those words conjure images of 80,000 people in a football stadium and the best rodeo cowboys and music acts in the world.

My company is a corporate sponsor for the event and we buy tickets every year to entertain our customers. Additionally, Peggy and I are sponsors so we get passes into every night of the rodeo for all three weeks. We attend as often as we can.

Contrary to popular myth, not everyone in Texas is a cowboy or cowgirl. But just about everyone in Texas owns boots and a hat. The rodeo is the place to show ’em off.

We have attended three nights this week and it is just a blast. The best cowboys in the world show up every year because the money for the event is higher than at any other rodeo in the country except the National Finals. The quality of the competition is outstanding, and the rodeo runs like a well-oiled machine. No downtime is allowed and everything moves speedily to get the musical acts on stage before 9:00.

So far this year we have seen Alan Jackson, Styx and Lady Antebellum. Not all of the acts are country performers, so there is something for nearly every musical taste. We’ll be back later this month to see Bruno Mars, Blake Shelton and George Strait. It’s a blast.

If you ever get invited to the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo you need to drop what you are doing and go.

It is a spectacle you just need to see to believe.

So, why should you read what I have to say? What makes me any different than the millions of folks clogging the blogosphere with their ideas and opinions?

Nothing, really…

The best thing about this vehicle is that it allows people with wildly disparate views the exact same access to the public, and the public decides what it wants to read. Without the judgment of third parties determining what is “fit to print”…

The worst thing about this vehicle is that it allows people with wildly disparate views the exact same access to the public… Well, you get the point.

The only thing that makes me different is that I am me. I may (or may not) have original ideas that occur only to me and that may make an occasional visit worthwhile. If I do, come back anytime to see what’s happening. If I don’t, thank you for stopping by and no hard feelings.

Either way, I am going to be here. I hope you come and see me in the movies…