Young, Broken Hearts

I can think of younger days when living for my life
Was everything a man could want to do.
I could never see tomorrow, but I was never told about the sorrow.
And how can you mend a broken heart?
How can you stop the rain from falling down?
How can you stop the sun from shining?
What makes the world go round?
How can you mend this broken man?
How can a loser ever win?
Please help me mend my broken heart and let me live again. (Bee Gee’s)


Jordan’s heart is broken.
I wish healing it was as easy as listening to a Bee Gee’s tune.
How do we adults explain death, especially a tragic death, to a child?
We can’t.
We just hold them, rock them, love them.
And sometimes…we sing to them an old song that helped us through our own pain of loss, many years ago.

A Very Dark Day

What makes someone take their own life?
Hopefully, most of us will never have to think too deeply about that.
But today…my family does.

The man across the street took his life this morning.
There are all sorts of gruesome and gossipy details I could share.
But none of those matter.
David Voght is dead.

Left behind are three beautiful children and his wife Anne.
Aubrey, Jordie’s best friend, is in 6th grade, Alex an 8th grader looks just like his Dad, and little Emily…a first grader is full of spirit, smiles and hugs.
I’d watch Dave walk Emily to the bus each morning, showering her with kisses before she’d board.
How could someone knowingly leave that behind?

We went to St. Francis-Clare Catholic Church and lit candles for them.
We prayed that God welcome Dave into his Heavenly Kingdom and forgive all his sins.
We prayed that he reach down and offer the family comfort and healing.
And we cried.

Hug your kids tonight, call your folks.
And if you are feeling lonely and hopeless…
Please, reach out to someone.
You are not alone.

Chris
12/07/05

Do You or Don’t You???

There are two kinds of women in the world.
Those who wear Holiday Sweaters…
And those who don’t!

I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with either one.
I’m just pointing out we’re different.

Let’s play a game.
I’ll start a sentence…you finish it.
I’ll give you an example first:

Women who wear Holiday Sweaters…have lot’s of "In-Home (Direct Sales) Parties".
Women who don’t…cringe when they get those invites in the mail!

You’re turn now.
Email me your response at Chris@ChrissyCan.Com
I’ll post them if you play!!!

And for bonus points…Let’s see how well you know me. Tell me if you think I’m a Sweater Gal or not!

Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is…Part 2

I was chatting with my buddy Jeff in Dallas earlier today.
Reminiscing about the vacation our families took together last summer to Texas Hill Country, and looking forward to next June when we’ll meet there again.

We were also commenting on what a lazy day we were both having and our thoughts turned to cocktails.
I told him it was only 12:30 here and that Bailey’s would be the logical choice.
“Well it’s 12:30 here so I’m having a beer” Jeff said.
“No, it’s 12:30 here…Eastern Time”, I insisted.
Suddenly, I didn’t remember changing my watch after figuring out the whole time change debacle last month.
That must be it, my bad; it was actually 1:30 here in Indy.

A couple of hours later, I asked Jordie to run the Netflix movie out to the mailbox.
“It’s 3:30 though” I told her, glancing at my watch. “We may have missed the mailman”.
“No Mom…it’s only 2:30” she said.

Holy Crap...Not this again!!! (Click here for Original Rant)
I set my watch back to 2:30 and poured myself a drink.
And it wasn't Bailey's!

Addendum: Jeff called me last night, (12/13)..Apparently he knew it was only 11:30 in Dallas and was screwing with me. Asshole!!! cb

Focus, Finish, Follow-through

Mike has been trying to teach me that lesson for years.

Often times though, my pathetic excuse of an attention span serves me well.
I have avoided many “near misses” involving brilliant ideas I never acted upon.
The Emu Farm with my friend Robin back in the 80’s comes to mind.
(Although I still think we could have made a go of it, back me up here Robin!)

I was going to move to California with Suzie (Homemaker) back then too.
But that whole waiting on the house to get sold business was a real turn off.
It would have taken months…no patience for that!

Which brings me to this year’s Christmas card.
I had grandiose ideas.
Not far from our house is an open field.
Parked in the middle of it are two circa 1940’s Ford pickup trucks.
Vines and wild flowers were growing out of the slightly open hoods.
It was classic and (I thought) very “Indiana”.

Procrastination gives my (lack of) attention span a run for its money.
By the time we finally went to snap the photo…lo and behold,
Farmer John had cut the field and pulled the vines right out of the engine blocks!

Totally devastated (for about an hour), I moved on.
I found this “beaut” in the “My Pics” file, thought it kind of cute, downloaded it and sent it off to the photo shop, never having seen it in print.

Jordie was the first one to see this year’s Christmas card.
“Mom…these suck, you can’t send them out” she pleaded.
I took a gander and yes they do suck.
And for a very slight moment, I even considered chucking them and starting over.
But guess what?
They’re done, paid for and I’m over it.
Another shining example of my attention span serving me (and my wallet) well!

Next year I’ll do better.
Maybe the weeds will have grown back by then.
Or better yet…maybe we’ll be living in Hawaii.
Now that would be a great… Eh, forget it...I’m over that too!