Family and Friends. Appreciate and Love. Everyday.

July 21, 2012

Family and Friends. Appreciate and Love. Everyday.

One Night Out.
Two days ago a horrific tragedy took place in in the United States.  At a premier showing of the latest Batman movie a gunman opened fire inside an Aurora, Colorado movie theater killing and injuring many innocent people!  WHAT?  
We go to the movies for a night of entertainment and popcorn, a date night, a celebration, watch our favorite stars, root for the good guy, laugh at the comedy, cry at the romance. Who knew it would be the last time a mother would see her daughter, or a father would talk to his son, and many more scenarios like this.  So very sad.


Never Leave without saying Goodbye and I love you.
An occurrence like this makes me realize how valuable life is. A tough reminder to appreciate every single day we have with family and friends.  Admittedly, my son and his girlfriend went to the midnight premier of Batman at one of our hometown theaters.  As with any time he leaves the house, I told him to be careful and we exchanged "I love yous".  He woke me  when he got home (3am) and couldn't wait to tell me about the movie and how much he liked it.  He returned home.  Not once did either of us fathom anything like what happened in Aurora, Colorado. 


For This I am Thankful.
The picture you see above is one taken on a recent vacation with my family.  Two of my sisters, my brother and our families spent a fantastic week together in a beach house on the Gulf Coast.  This has been our tradition for 13 years.  We love this week together and truly enjoy every minute with each other.  We laugh together, cook together, eat together, drink together, play games together, soak up sun together, sing and dance together, and so much more -seven days straight!  This year we enjoyed a few "firsts": each night at dinner we shared our high/low for the day, one of my brothers-in-law threw a cast net for the first time (and caught his first mullet), my nieces put a music video together, we went "out" to eat one night, we woke early to capture the sunrise on camera, and we had vacation t-shirts made.  We created memories we'll cherish forever!  I'll share more pictures at the end of this blog.

Reach Out.
I'm sure many of you share wonderful moments with your family too. We all need to appreciate the family and friends we have in our lives. Tell them you love them. If it's been a while since you spoke, pick up the phone and make the call. Appreciate everyday. Love and spend time with family and friends.


My love~  Joni 

More pictures as promised....

 

 

 

Waffle House hat for my Bro who cooked breakfast every morning!!

Sunrise!

You Had Me at "Letters For My Daughters"

I was inspired to publish my first personal blog post after reading an enews letter one day at work. It was one that I recently subscribed to and was not very familiar with it's content. Admittedly, I was surprised that I would find what I now call "one of my favorite" blogs in this enews.  The "teasers" intrigued me just enough that I started my click through.  It was there that I came upon a link to another blog page that was being highlighted by the author of the enews.  I did not hesitate to click on the link.  The name of the blog captured me.  It was as if nothing else mattered except what was behind this title.

I specifically chose this day, Father's Day, to share my post. As you continue to read  I hope you understand why.   Just a few days before I received the enews, a long time best girlfriend of mine lost her daddy. While talking with her, and being by her side during one of the hardest moments of her life, brought all kind of memories of my own father's death and the love and memories I hold tightly of him.

The name of the blog, that I instantly clicked to get to, was titled, "Letters For My Daughters", authored by a man named Bruce D Johnson.  I was so drawn to his blog and touched by his purpose and goal for creating this blog. I had to make contact with him and let him know.  Below are the actual emails between us:


             Hello,

I just landed on your blog page and am already a fan. Funny though, I haven't even read one post! Just the fact that you are a father of two girls and started this series of life lesson letters to them reeled me in. I cannot wait to read them all.
As the fifth of five daughters, I was a self proclaimed daddy's girl and his favorite I might add (just ask me) haha. To me, my sisters, my brother, mom, and many who knew him; my daddy was one in a million!
I lost my daddy in 2002 to a very rare cancer, mesothelioma. He was 69. In his later years, he had become very intrigued with computers and was determined to try and learn as much as he could about many of the software programs that interested him, emails, and the Internet. I loved receiving emails from daddy; photos, poems, jokes..you name it, he sent it. I still have the last email he sent me.  I truly believe, had he known about blogs at the time he would have loved the idea of sharing his knowledge, ideas, and life lessons with all of us!
For this reason, I am drawn to yours. No, I am not a teenager, nor am I in my twenties anymore - but we all can learn from each others life lessons, right? No matter what age?
I have two children of my own, one daughter and one son. I hope you don't mind if I share your stories with them.
What a beautiful and infinite gift you are giving to your daughters. I hope they treasure it forever.
My warmest regards,  Joni

Joni

Thanks for taking the time to write and for your encouragement! Also, thanks for sharing your story about your relationship with your father. Sorry he had to go through what he went through, but you seem to have made peace with it.
And yes, you may share these stories with your kids (and enjoy them yourself). In fact, I've heard from a number of mothers who have enjoyed reading them for themselves as well. We all need to be reminded of these lessons, all the time.
Hope you're having a great day! You've made mine brighter!
Bruce

My sisters and bro,

I had to share this with you. It really tugged at my heart. Coming across this blog is something I needed this week... Spending time talking with Rita and truly feeling her pain has led to many "moments" of thinking of our daddy and the many , many memories. Who knows, he is probably the one who put this in front of me.
Anyway, my sensitivity this week plus this man's inspiring messages led me to email him. Check out his blog page. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
I love you all, Joni

My sisters, brother and I are extremely close and will forever share our largest pain and the triggers that cause our "moments".  To date, Father's Day is the toughest day to get through.  I am so thankful for the incredible person my daddy was and the life lessons he taught me. I think of him daily and miss him endlessly.

Happy Father's Day Daddy.  I love you. Your baby girl.

A special thank you and Father's day wish to Mr. Bruce D Johnson.  You are an inspiration.

Happy Father's Day to Mr. Howard L Fields; Rest in Peace.

Finally, Happy Father's Day to all of the wonderful fathers ~ may you find the time to share your life lessons with your children.  

This blog post is dedicated to the greatest man I've ever known: