Sweet Catastrophe

I’ve known Pete for most of my life. His mother and mine were once best friends, and as infants, so were we. Our mothers lost touch and so I didn’t meet Pete again until we were around 8 years old. He’s never been a consistently prominent facet in my life, but he’s absolutely always been there.

I took off work Friday to go to the viewing. I went to town on my own so I could go see the babies first…sort of my way of keeping the day from being totally heartbreaking. I got to the funeral home around 6:30, which was when everyone was planning on getting there. No one was there yet, but I went in anyway. I got as far as signing my name and I had to go back out. I couldn’t walk in there alone. Finally a handful showed up and we made our way in. I was okay until I walked into the room, and when I saw him, aside from the absolute sobbing, all I could think of was, “I guess it is him.”

The service on Saturday was, overall, nice. A lot of us had some gripes with the preacher’s section because he really and truly turned it into a conversion service. Pete had faith, but Pete was not religious, nor was he Baptist. It was angering to have this man who didn’t even know Pete, harping on Pete saving our lives by us giving ourselves to Jesus…fortunately, I wasn’t the only one who was so infuriated.

I drove Andy to town Saturday, and he had asked if I’d take him to some places Pete had always said he wanted to take him. We decided on lunch at Danny’s Pizza, and somehow everything snowballed and our group took over Danny’s. There were only two tables not occupied by our group. It was good though. It was good to all be together and laugh.

Andy and Laura were both riding home with me and so we went to Holt’s Bakery as well for one last ‘Pete food stop.’ I believe they were both satisfied with their introduction to Holt’s and will drool with me in the future when we discuss it.

Seeing Pete helped a lot, but it still seems unreal. I’m still half expecting to walk out of the apartment and find him with a glass in one hand and a smoke in the other. The pain is numbing a bit as well. I’m on the road to normalcy.

It’s not something most of us care to think about, but at some point in our lives, most of us will eventually experience the effects of Alzheimer’s. Though more than 5 million Americans have Alzheimer’s, relatively few understand just how severe the disease can be.

Progression of the disease strongly varies from case to case, but can develop to a point where the individual cannot perform such simple tasks as brushing his or her own teeth, or using the restroom alone.

At this point, my grandfather has never been officially diagnosed, but for quite some time now he’s shown symptoms characteristic of not only stage 2, but as severe as stage 6. There’s a lot I haven’t witnessed on my own, but I’ve had conversations with my grandmother about the more serious aspects. He goes to bed quite early these days, and it’s not uncommon for him to accuse her of being unfaithful to him, simply because she’s not going to bed immediately when he does. He’ll lie awake, and even though he can hear her in the living room on the phone, or doing dishes, etc, once she goes to lie down he becomes very hateful and lets wild accusations fly.

While there’s no cure for Alzheimer’s, but there are drug-related, and non-drug-related treatments that can help with cognitive and behavioral symptoms, to make living with Alzheimer’s easier. Best of all, we’ve learned most of what we know about Alzheimer’s in just the last 15 years, so there’s still an ongoing effort, worldwide, to to find even better ways to treat it, delay it, or even prevent it altogether. That’s where we come in!

The Alzheimer’s Association Memory Walk is the nation’s largest event to raise awareness and funds for Alzheimer care, support and research, raising over $225 million since 1989.

These walks are held annually,in hundreds of communities across the nation, at various times throughout the year. There are 21 scheduled walks within the state of Georgia alone. I’m happy to say the one for Valdosta is scheduled for October, so there’s still plenty of time for me to work out all the details for that. Sign up, and sign up early!

The best help you can offer is awareness, and these walks bring much needed awareness, and much needed funding to the cause as well.

What’s wrong with you people? We’ve graciously asked for your help, yet, you’re not quite flocking to help us cure Fab of his sick obsession. I’m fully aware that Colleen has a sweet ass, but Fab’s focus on this has caused irreversible damage on his already frail psyche. Help us stop him from further slipping into his own reality where Colleen’s sweet ass roams free.

Skeet, Cass and I have already done our part. Now, even these sweet animals who’ve probably been attacked or molested by Fab in the past have literally put their asses on the line:

What’s holding you back? He’s slipping further every day and you’re just sitting there, letting it happen. Even worse, you may actually be contributing to it!

An ass is just an ass.

Skeet needs our help, and bless her soul, she’s not asking for herself! This is the big one; this is what it’s all been in preparation for. It’s time to cure Mr. Fabulous of his psychosis. It’s time to cure him of his obsession.

What obsession? How to cure it!? His obsession with Colleen’s sweet ass! Skeet’s done it; she’s gotten to the bottom of Fab’s insanity and she’s absolutely right! It all begins and ends with Colleen’s sweet ass!

But what can you do? Firstly, no matter how much he begs, no matter how many sexual favors he offers, do not give in to his pleas to add the phrase, “Colleen has a sweet ass,” to your blog! Just by mentioning that Colleen has a sweet ass, you’re fueling his obsession and undoing any progress that might’ve been made!

I admit, I was tempted to splatter my blog with hidden messages stating, “Colleen has a sweet ass!” All in hopes to find myself in Fab’s good graces, but we’ve got to take a stand! Just say NO! You remember that from elementary school, right? It still rings true today.

What else can you do? Bring on the proof!!

See Fab? Skeet’s right. An ass is just an ass. Keep repeating.

If we unite in our quest to cure him, maybe one day Fab will be a productive member of society again…just maybe.

Andreas Bard is hosting a link back contest on his blog where you can win a trendy 1GB USB wristband. Make sure to check out Andreas blog that contains a lot of motivational articles that can help you improve your business.

I’d love to have one! I’ll be starting all my computer based classes this Fall and I’m sure this’ll be greatly needed. In fact, I didn’t even think about it until now that I’d be needing one!

…and while I’m on the other end of the spectrum–working there–I can certainly appreciate her taking time to let others know about her experience on her new review blog.

It’s still really new but I’ve gotten sound advice from Lisa on the PPP message board before, and her other blog is certainly up to par so I’m expecting great things out of this one. I’m loving the color scheme and layout but she may want to format the wording for her Home Improvement category as it hangs inside the actual post for me in both Firefox and IE. Of course, if that’s the only thing I can find wrong, I’d say she’s in business!

It’s looking like we can expect reviews of just about everything from entertainment, to products, stores, etc. I wonder if she’ll take requests? Of course, reasonable ones for common things.

No, Smorty isn’t my great, great uncle or my neighbor’s dog, Smorty is the new blog advertising company I’ve signed up with to try out! Honestly, I’m still fairly new to the hardcore blogging world, but who wouldn’t want to get paid for blogging?

I’d heard of Smorty before, but wasn’t quite ready to dive in myself until a friend of mine mentioned them and started up. I decided it was time to do a little investigating myself and so I headed over to see what kind of setup they have there, and I really like what they’ve got going on. I read though all the details before I signed up and before I got ready to take my first post, and everything is really straightforward. Your list of opportunities is really easy to navigate and leaves no guesswork.

The love is in the details though. Post approvals are done within 5 days; after 5 days, they’re automatically approved. From what I’m understanding, pay day is once a week. Once a post has been approved, you’re paid on the very next payment day–so basically instant gratification They also pay through PayPal which is a definite plus. I’m all for using any company that doesn’t make me feel like they’re itching for my bank account information.

It’s so exciting to be a part of the paid blogging world and I’m so glad I’ve been able to find a good company to work with. You should probably get paid to blog too. I don’t really know what you’re waiting for? All my friends are doing it. Come jump off the bridge with us!