Interview You

This blog is an homage to the StoryCorps Project (www.storycorps.net). They're collecting audio interviews and stories from ordinary people, but they have a limited number of mobile studios and they’re only scratching the surface of the stories and memories out there. Think of this blog as a print version of what they're doing on audio. I'll post the questions...you post your answers as comments to the questions. Feel free to post anonymously if the answer is too painful or too embarrassing.

Sunday, June 18, 2006

What Would You Do As A Lotto Winner?

The MegaMillions and the Power Ball Lotteries often get up into the nine figures. Let's take this question in three parts.

#1 Tell us five things you would you do if you won such a ridiculously large amount of money?

#2 What about the publicity? Would you hold a press conference to announce your luck or keep it all on the downlow?

#3 How would your day-to-day life change as a result of winning the lottery?

This question was suggested by Cheryl Overby...do you think she's looking for ideas on how to spend her unannounced winnings? :-)

# posted by WDavid @ 6:03 PM 7 comments

Tuesday, February 07, 2006

Have You Ever Wanted To Take Your Words Back As Soon As You'd Said Them?

It seems all too easy to open one's mouth before engaging one's brain. When that happens the words flow out and seem all too likely to hurt someone. Have you ever said something and, as soon as you'd spoken the words, wanted to snatch them back because you had callously hurt another person's feelings?

# posted by WDavid @ 6:12 PM 4 comments

Sunday, January 01, 2006

Where would you travel if you could?

There are a thousand things that keep us from traveling and a thousand more excuses we make so that we won't have to travel. If nothing stood in your way where (on Earth) would you travel and why would you go there? If you could take any one person with you who would it be and why?

# posted by WDavid @ 8:48 PM 4 comments

Have you "grown apart" from friends you thought would be there forever?

Blood brothers swear to stay friends for life. Sorority sisters share a bond that is supposed to join them for the rest of their lives. But it doesn't always work out that way. Did you have a friend who you thought would be there forever but from whom you drifted apart? Do you think it was your fault or theirs or no ones? Do you think you can ever recapture that friendship? If not, then why not? If yes, then to what lengths would you go to do so?

# posted by WDavid @ 8:43 PM 5 comments

What were you thinking about at your high school graduation?

Graduation from high school is, to many people, like walking through a door from childoohd to adulthood. What thoughts were going through your mind as you graduated? Were you happy high school was over or were you nervous about entering the world at large? Were you hanging on every word from your valadictorian or were you making jokes with the person sitting next to you at the ceremony?

# posted by WDavid @ 8:39 PM 3 comments

Have you lied to protect someone?

We've often heard of "white lies"...those lies that are small or those lies told to spare someone's feelings or protect them from facts they need not know. Have you lied to someone in an effort to protect them from the truth? Did they eventually find out the truth anyway? What did they think of you for lieing to them in the first place?

# posted by WDavid @ 8:26 PM 3 comments

Tuesday, October 11, 2005

What was the last book that you DID NOT finish?

We always hear people talk about the latest “page turner”...a book that was so compelling they couldn’t put it down until they’d read the whole thing from front to back. But what about the other extreme? What was the last book you started with high hopes but didn’t finish? Why didn’t you finish it? Do you think you'll ever go back and try to finish it? Why or why not? Did you recommend it to someone else anyway? Did they finish it?

# posted by WDavid @ 7:18 AM 2 comments

Thursday, October 06, 2005

Did you enjoy school?

From age 6 to age 18 nearly all Americans spend a third of their lives in school. Overall, did you enjoy your time in school? Were you a good student or a slacker? Were you the class clown or the brainy geek? Were you the teacher's pet or kid smoking behind the gym?

# posted by WDavid @ 7:08 PM 3 comments

Tuesday, October 04, 2005

How has your life been different than what you'd imagined?

As kids we all make big plans for our future....Fire Fighters, Doctors, Astronauts...but few of us actually turn those plans into reality. What did you want to be when you grew up? What did you actually become? When did you realize that your real life wasn't going the way your earlier self imagined and why do you think you let that dream slip away? Or, if you did achieve your childhood career goal, how did you do it when so many of us fail?

# posted by WDavid @ 7:25 PM 5 comments

What is your earliest memory?

Please tell us about your earliest memory. What was it? How old were you? Why do you think you remembered this particular person, event, or object? Have you ever dicussed this memory with someone else who was there and did they remember it differently?

# posted by WDavid @ 7:19 PM 5 comments

Who was the most important person in your life?

Please tell us about the most important person in your life. How did you meet them or how are you related to them? How did they influence your life and are you better off or worse off as a result of their influence or actions?

# posted by WDavid @ 7:10 PM 2 comments

What was the saddest moment of your life?

Please tell us about the saddest moment of your life, the people or events that made it so sorrowful, and how it changed your life or your perceptions.

# posted by WDavid @ 7:07 PM 6 comments

What was the happiest moment of your life?

Please tell us about the happiest moment of your life, the people or events that made it so wonderful, and how it changed your life or your perceptions.

# posted by WDavid @ 6:59 PM 4 comments

What Would You Do As A Lotto Winner? No I have not won but it is a question I have thought a lot about.

1. First I would pay off all of my families debt as well as my own. This includes my husband's family as well as a few select others debt. Second I would go out and buy me a Ford Five Hundred - I love that car! Third a good portion would go into some type of savings, money market, that kind of thing so that it would help me to keep the lifestyle that I will become acustomed to. Fourth take a trip to all of the places that I want to around the world. Fifth while I was traveling my dream house will be built with plenty of space for my extended family to either visit or stay for a while! Of course the whole house, guest houses, and grounds will be handicapped accessible!

2. The publicity I would keep on the downlow. I have some relatives that think the world owes them things instead of going out in life and trying to make some of those things happen.

3. My day to day life would change in that I would have somone to clean my house insead of me doing it. Also, my husband would like for someone else to clean the litter boxes instead of him :) I would like to think that I would not change but we all know how money can tend to change people. But I would hope that if I did change it would be for the better and not worse. Gosh I think Cheryl took most of the good answers...

1. Defintely pay off debt of mine and others.

2. Put money aside for my future.

3. Build not only my dream house, but I'd also like to create a small apartment community entirely for the disabled.

4. Cruise around the world.

5. Relax and help others.

Definitely wouldn't go public. You know how shy I am!!

Would it change me? Probably, but hopefully not in a bad way. Well, in addition to all those good ones already mentioned, I'd like to help my church build a bigger one. Then, depending on how much was left after doing most of those things Cheryl and Peggy mentioned, I'd like to hire an independent firm to handle charitable requests from others.

Anybody got some winning numbers they was to give me? Part 1
1) I would give 10% directly to my church home, if they will accept it. I think they would, since I never play the lottery I would obviously have found the winning ticket laying on the ground.

2) Take 6 months hiking the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine.

3) Then I would spend the rest of my life doing mission work in other countries, helping less fortunate people improve themselves, teaching them the selfless love of Christ.

4) Form a charitable foundation to give away every remaining penny.

5) I would learn to speak at least 7 languages fluently before I die.

Part 2
No publicity

Part 3
My day-to-day life would be drastically improved...

No tv, no computers, no cars.

Many hours spent in the squalid conditions of third world countries surrounded by people who have no care for tv, computers and cars.

Many hours spent worshiping and praising God for all that He is allowing me to do for Him.

ps. I am not pulling your legs on any of this. This is exactly what I would choose to do. Fred, can I join you?! That sounds like an exciting adventure!!

What would I do if I won the lottery?

Well, first I would give 10% to our church - (I just love that place). Second, I would pay off all our bills. Third, I would take 6 months to hike the Appalachian Trail. Fourth, I would spend ALOT of time in Phoenix with John and Amy. Five, I would visit all of mine and Fred's family and friends who we have not seen in a long time.

And then...who knows.

Will it change me...probably...

I would have no publicity. That is a set up for an ego trip for which I would fall right into. Of course you can join me! I knew these plans would be perfectly acceptable to you, and almost told everybody you would have the same plans, but decided to let you speak for yourself. 1)I would pay off all of my debt.

2) Tithe to my church and/or support some mission work.

3)I would buy my mom and my dad a small house or condo.

4) I would quit work - no notice or anything. I would probably do volunteer work and would do some short term mission trips.

5) I would travel alot.

I would keep it on the down low.

I would want my day to day life to be less stressful - especially until Keven is grown. Have You Ever Wanted To Take Your Words Back As Soon As You'd Said Them? I've done this twice and grievously hurt the feelings of close family members each time.

The first was at Christmas about seven or eight years ago. I was sitting in my room working as usual and Peggy tooled down the hallway all happy and cheerful and decked out in clothes I'd never seen, red and black and frilly and just totally unlike anything I'd ever seen her dressed in before. The first words out of my mouth we "Well, don't you look like the whore of Babylon". The look on her face and the tears in her eyes turned my heart to ice. I'd never wanted to crawl deeper into a dark place than that moment. She spun around and changed clothes faster than you might believe and I burned inside for the hurt I caused. I'm sorry, Peggy.

The second time was just last night. Chunnan asked me to proof read his next Toastmasters speech. It was a take off on a sportscaster relating a badminton game (Chunnan's recently been playing in weekly badminton matches). I hadn't even got half way through the text when I pronounced it boring and said that it didn't make sense. I tried to backpeddle and apologize at once but the damage had been done. He's a braver man that I'll ever be just to get up there and give speeches in front of a crowd of people, but to do it in an adopted language...well that would be like me trying to climb Mount Everest, and all I could do was tear him down. I slept alone last night and I deserved it... and much worse... for my insensitivity. I feel like a slug who deserves a good salting. I'm sorry, Chunnan.

The moral of this story is pretty obvious...think about what you say before you say it. Be kind and helpful at all times and in all you say because once you've spoken there's no taking it back no matter how many times you say "I'm Sorry." I once asked a pregnant lady when the baby was due, and found out she wasn't pregnant after all. Won't do that again. Thanks for the apology David. I'm not going to lie and say it didn't hurt. Your opinion of me has always been important. However, I forgave you long ago. Seems like I wrote about this a long time ago.

As Your Words Flow

Whatever you say, wherever you go,
someone is listening as your words flow.
The person you are, the views you share,
the love you have that shows you care,
it all comes forth in what you say
or what you write along the way.
So be creative, be gentle and kind,
be bold or adventurous, but always find
a way to show love and faith and hope
in a world where so many just can't cope.
Never allow the words you share
to hurt or anger, defy or dare.
Treat others as you would want to be treated.
Say nothing to make them feel defeated.
Build them up. Don't tear them down.
You too may need friends as life turns around.
So let your words smile, and laugh, and play,
then save a few, and kneel, and pray!

Yes, I've spoken words I regretted many times. I guess that's part of why I'm normally such a quiet person with few words to say. Where would you travel if you could? I have always wanted to go to Israel!! I think that would be an awesome place, and it would give me more understanding about the culture and places where Jesus walked. I think it would be exciting to see, in person, all the places talked about in the Bible.

Our church is going every year, so maybe we can go sometime. Well gosh, Alice just took my answer. Hmmm, where would I go? Well you eliminated my second choice, outer space.

Ok here it is. I would hike all 2160 miles of the Appalachian Trail from Springer Mountain, GA to Katahdin, ME. It would take at least 6 months to accomplish. I would start in GA in March or April and finish in ME in September.

I can't take only one person. I am already planning this adventure several years from now with my wife, Alice and my friend, Berley. Neither one would allow me to go without them. Anybody else want to go? You know Fred, I've always thought that would be fun to do too. However, I don't think my back and legs would allow me to do it now that I'm into my "senior years". I hope you get to go though. I'm not really sure where I would go. I've always wanted to take a cruise. I've also always wanted to go to Australia. But now that I'm married to Eric, I'd also like to go to France and Germany where he spent a good deal of his childhood. I know he would like to go back some day. Have you "grown apart" from friends you thought would be there forever? Yes. I had three best friends in high school; Greg, Brian and Mike.

After high school, Greg was leaving for the Air Force Academy and a career flying jets. I figured I would rarely see him again, as he would probably be moved around alot by the Air Force. But his plans changed, and he settled down and we live five hours apart. So we see each other a couple times a year, and occasionally email or phone each other. I have known Greg since 1979 and am blessed to have not grown apart from him.

Brian moved ten hours away within two years after high school and we have rarely seen each other or talked since. I have probably seen him only five times in the last twenty years. We used to try to keep in touch over the phone and email but that has ceased also. I think I will try to reestablish this relationship.

Mike also moved away within a few years after high school. However, unlike Brian, he gave no notice he was ever moving. And I have not seen or heard from him since. Very strange. I have done some internet searches over the years trying to find him. I called somebody in Milwaukee once but got an answering machine and didn't leave a message. Would try again but I wonder if by now it has been too long for it to be the same. I have had several friends like this. And unfortunately, you end up just being too busy to keep these friendships going. They can be rekindled, but it is difficult. You have to make time for your friends. Also, as you meet and get close to new friends, it may be difficult making time for everyone.

I think girls are probably better at staying close as friends that guys. I think girls are much more likely to have typos than guys. Some I have grown apart from. Some I left and came back too. Fred, try searching in Gainesville area. I swear I saw him there once in a doctor's office or a hospital. I think I even mentioned it to Peggy years ago. But I couldn't remember his name at the time so I didn't approach him. What were you thinking about at your high school graduation? I remember thinking that graduation was BORING!!! I also remember that my wheelchair at the time was making this gosh awful high pitched squeal so I was slightly embarrassed by that. I was stupid and quit high school, so did not finish. My priorities at that time were partying, and partying, and then some more partying. But of course, I totally regret it now!! I was never one to realize when a "life moment" was happening. To me, it was just another day. I had no direction planned for my life after high school so there was no feeling of transition from one thing to another. I was sad that I would no longer being seeing many of my friends everyday, if at all. Have you lied to protect someone? I have lied, and have had the same lie told me. It is the same lie that has been told to millions of people worldwide. The lie of Santa Claus. However it is a relatively harmless lie, not meant to hurt anyone. We all eventually find out we were lied to but I suspect most, like myself and the one I lied to, are forgiving enough. I do think however, that Santa Claus, although he gives some a warm fuzzy, should be assassinated! Well aren't you the cheerful one?? You have obviously been reading too many of David's stories and are in the mood to kill someone!!

I'm sure that I have lied to protect someone in the past, though the stories don't seem to come to me now. I can think of times when it might have been nice to be lied to. Allright - no guns for Fred!!

Yes, we all tell these little lies. Most of us probably do it in an effort to not hurt someone's feelings. Like - "yeah you look great today" or "no, I can't tell that you've gained weight" or "i love your hair" etc, etc.

So, as long as we are considerate of other's feelings, we will continue to tell these little white lies.

I can't really think of any examples of this coming back to haunt me. I know it has though. What was the last book that you DID NOT finish? The last book I started but did not finish is Charisma vs. Charismania by Chuck Smith. It is about the gifts of the Holy Spirit. It emphasizes a biblically based approach to understanding how we are to react to the Holy Spirit. I was reading it because it is required by our church for those who want to serve in the church, to move up to the next level of servanthood. The reason I stopped reading it is that I suddenly decided to add more work to my already busy weeks. In spring this year I started a landscape nursery in my backyard and have spent most of my spare time either working in it, reading books about it or doing online research. So I am stuck at level 2 servanthood in the church for awhile. Eventually I will get back to the book. I didn't stop reading it for a lack of interest. But I will definately have to start back at the beginning. I have 2 books - Runaway Jury and Message in a Bottle - probably because I had already seen the movie. I do want to read them. Also, A Beautiful Mind for the same reason, however I didn't even really get started on that one. The words were really small and the pages were really big in that book, so it just seemed hard to read! Did you enjoy school? I think in Elementary School I was the kind of kid who wanted to do the best possible work. I remember once in 2nd grade my mother picking up me and my sister after school. I handed my mother my math paper the teacher had all marked up. I was very upset, I had gotten all of the questions wrong. Mom looked at it and told me I had actually gotten them all right, not wrong. Oh, I felt much better.

I always thought it strange when other kids would act up in class and misbehave. My feelings were, that's against the rules, you must follow the rules.

I loved going to the library and would usually look for books about racing, or the Hardy Boys. I loved class spelling bees, and I think I was better at them because I liked to read so much. Also, it made me feel good to be able to spell better than the others in class. I got to participate in a school-wide bee of all the classes best spellers. I thought for sure I would do better than I did. I think I made it through one round then had to spell "hoax". I had never heard this word before and I think I spelled it hoxe because that is how it sounded to me, but I knew I would be wrong. Today's spelling bee kids could spell hoax in their sleep. Nobody ever gave me a dictionary to memorize. I was very disappointed in my performance.

In Junior High School (now called Middle School) I still wanted to do my best work but found it harder to do so. The friends I hung out with were not the best influences. I experimented with cigarette and marijuana smoking, pornography and petty theft. I also started fighting. I remember I would antagonize this one guy alot, but especially when he wore his Ted Nugent T-Shirt. I would say something like, "Ted Nugent sucks!", even though I actually did not even know who Ted Nugent was. This would make him mad. I seemed to enjoy just making him mad, even though I knew eventually he would kick my butt. One day he finally had enough of me and sought me out between classes. Being just a skinny geek against a hard rock fan (those guys are tough, right?) I was surprised at how well I managed. That was quite an adrenaline rush! I probably got into half a dozen more fights with other people during Junior High School. I think I was probably the antagonizer in each instance.

In High School I was a total geek, the fighting days were over, (at least in school) replaced with reading fantasy books. In 9th grade (still Junior High School back then) I was introduced to The Hobbit and I was hooked. Every spare moment in High School was spent reading fantasy books, and even some moments that were'nt spare.

I was on the chess club, and actually beat the instuctor once. I had friends now who were good influences. I actually had a girlfriend for 3 weeks in the 11th grade, my family affectionately naming her "vacuum lips".

Looking back on it all, I wish I had spent more time being social than reading books. I am akward around people still and just find it easier to be alone sometimes. (A fact my wife finds very frustrating.) However the ease of being alone does not decrease the need to be with others. I am an introvert who craves social situations, yet when I am in them I revert to my introverted ways. In general, I would say I did not enjoy school, but it wasn't school so much my circumstances and the things that happened to me during those years. I always felt that I was a good student and never really had to try too hard to get good grades. I think that elementary was probably the best and the place I felt most accepted by my peers. In Junior High Schhol and High School, I just felt "not normal" and as if I was never good enough. Throughout my school years, I never felt accepted by most of the parents of my friends. It was always as if they didn't want their child to be friends with someone in a wheelchair, and I never really understood why. I enjoyed school. But I was very shy and had very little confidence. I also felt like an ugly duckling. I can remember being made fun of because of the way I dressed and my glasses. Then by High School, my priority was partying rather than school. And party I did . . . How has your life been different than what you'd imagined? I always thought I'd grow up to be a psychologist. Listening to other people's problems was always what I felt I did best. Why didn't I? I think I just got tired of school/college and took the easy way out by staying in the clerical field I had started in high school. Life. Who ever knows what it will turn out to be? When I was young I imagined myself as a medical technologist one day. Who knew then that I'd quit school in my senior year to get married and never again darken the door of any institution of higher learning?

When I was young I imagined the (50's) American dream of a Donna Reed family and a lovely little bungalow with awhite picket fence. Who could have known that my domiciles would be mobile homes in mobile home parks and my family of four children cut to three so early in life and "far flung" across the country in their later years?

When I was young I imagined a long and happy life with one husband and grandkids about my feet in my retirement. Who would have guessed that I'd know many men and have two husbands and only a (loveable) dog to stumble over in retirement?

Life, and the living of it, changes everything on a daily basis. And, really, I don't think we'd want it any other way. It's the challenge of meeting each new day with courage and hope and faith and love which makes it all worthwhile! As a child I was never challenged to think about my future and what I wanted to do with my life. We just kinda were. As a result, I had never given any thought to what I might want to do with my life. Then at 16 years old, I became a Mother which gave me some direction. I now had another person dependant on me so I went to work.

Several careers later, an absolutely wonderful husband, and a great son and daughter-in-law I now have a plan!!

I have started taking classes to become a Certified Nutritional Counselor through Trinity College of Natural Health. I should have the courses completed within 5 years. Where I go from there is still a bit uncertain, but I will be considering my options along the way.

What I know so far is that I could start my own practice, or work at a Health Food Store or continue my education for a Doctor in Naturopathy. I will consider all my options and make the decision as I get closer to having all my classes done. I can't remember having any plans for the future until the 12th grade. I took drafting and technical drawing classes and really enjoyed that. I imagined I would go to college and get an engineering degree and become a designer of bridges or houses. I applied and was accepted to Wingate College. The plan was to go there the first two years then finish the engineering degree at Georgia Tech. Actually this was the Wingate recruiter's plan. I had attended a college fair and happened to talk to this guy from Wingate. I had never heard of them before, but he told me that was a good plan. However, I came to the realization that my parents could not afford this, though they never told me that. It may have just been the excuse I told myself so I wouldn't be separated from Jean, the girl I was semi-dating. She had decided to go to a local community college. I decided that sounded like a better plan to me. So we both went and signed up together. I even went to orientation, but then she told me she didn't want to date me anymore. I lost all interest in school and cancelled everything I had signed up for. So I just bummed around the house for several months, jobless, before my momma gave me an ultimatum, pay rent or leave. I got a job cutting grass for a landscape company, got married a year later and settled down to my new life.

So no, my life didn't go the way I had planned. But that is a blessing, because if I were actually the one planning my life I would have screwed it up real bad by now. But God has plans for me that are better than I can imagine. All I have to do is look at my wife and son to see proof of that. When I was young, I wanted to be a teacher. By the time I got to high school, I knew accounting was what I wanted to do. I do not have a degree, but have been able to work my way up into management. Several of my jobs have been stepping stones from one position to another. I was a Payroll Manager from January 2000 until February 2005. Then I took a position as an Accounts Receivable Manager. I feel I have been very blessed with the positions I have held, as well as the companies I have worked at and the people I have worked with. What is your earliest memory? Gosh this is hard because what early memories I do have were sometime before the age of 7, but I can't pin it down more than that. I also can't pin down which of those memories came before another one. I remember my brothers putting me in the go cart at the top of a hill and letting me go at which point I fell out about half way down. Of course they claim I wanted to go, but I don't remember that. I remember my brother used to put crawdads in my swimming pool. I remember this pony that used to come through the trailer park in the summer and give rides to the kids. I remember vacation bible school being held in the yard too. We lived in a basement apartment. My older sister and I were huddled in the living room, while my mother was on the floor of the bathroom. My father was yelling at her and hitting her.

My sister was about 6 at the time, and I was 3. I resented my father for a long time because of this vague memory. My mother later told me that the reason he was so upset is that she had tried to commit suicide. I have a memory which isn't mine according to my sister. She says I only remember seeing a photo of me riding on the back of a horse behind a couple of other kids when I was two years old. She's probably right.

Other than that I remember a church group holding Sunday School services in the fertilizer plant offices just down the street from where we lived. That was when I was probably 7 or 8 years of age.

Oh, I know! About that same time when I was 7 and just started school there was a mobile dentist bus that came to the school and I had to have six fillings all at once. I've never liked dentists since and I avoid them with a passion!! I have many memories from the time I lived in Nebraska, which means I was somewhere between 4 and 6 years old. But I can't distinguish what age I was other than that. While I do have memories of riding that go-kart Peggy mentions, I just can't remember the event she wrote about. Must have blocked that one for some reason. When I was about 5, I ran through a glass sliding door (they had just cleaned it) and cut my leg. I remember being in the emergency room getting stitched up. Based on the scar I have now, the cut must have been the entire length of my leg at that time. Who was the most important person in your life? I'm really not sure that I can narrow this down to just one person. If we are talking spiritually, then Jesus would be the answer as He alone is my Lord and Saviour. If we are talking about every day people, the answer is my immediate family in general. Each and every one of them means the world to me. Sure there have been rough spots in our lives, but I know that all I have to do is ask and each of them would be there for me as would I for them. I am thankful that I have a family who really knows what family is. In this day and age when so many are out for themselves and will stoop so low as to fight over who gets what when someone passes away, I can't help but smile when I think of the family I have been blessed with. Jesus is...He created me and knew me before I was even conceived. He knew who my parents would be, what experiences I would encounter in my life and He has a plan for me. Each experience I have, it did not surprise Him because He knew it would happen that way. He knew who my friends would be, what choices I would make at life's crossroads and how I would respond to life's disappoitments and rewards.

Yet He still loves me and wants me to have a personal relationship with Him. He died on the Cross to take the punishment of my sin.

John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believed on Him should not perish but have everlastin life.

Thank you Jesus! What was the saddest moment of your life? The saddest moment was a day when I sat in my bedroom with the door locked and a hacksaw blade in my hands thinking how much I hated being a burden to my family. I wanted to end it all...I just didn't have the guts to do it. I still feel that way and think I always will. For me, the saddest moment of my life was when I realized that my father was incappable of loving me the way that I thought he should. I have always craved the attention, adoration and praise from my father, but he would run in the other direction just as fast as he could. I never understood that until years later when I was in counseling and realized that my father just has no idea how to love me. The more I thought about that the more I realized that not only does he not know how to love me, he does not know how to love my sister, my half-brother, or his 3 wives.

Jesus says to love other's better than yourselves. To put others before yourselves. To lay down my life for my husband. This is hard to do, even for me. But for my dad it is impossible. His desire to be rich has overshadowed everything important in his life. The saddest moment in my life was the morning I realized that no matter how much love and care and prayer you give, death can still come in the dark of night and steal away all you hold dear... and never has to ask permission. It is hard to find a precise "moment" of sadness. Rather I find that I have a saddest event, which lasted several months. It involves the discovery of a stomach cancer in my friend Brian's mother, Pat. Brian was a high school friend who moved to another state, along with his parents, within a couple years after graduation. So I was not present for the months the disease was killing her. If I had been present, this "saddest moment" would have been much worse. I loved spending time at Brian house during our high school years. It was a refuge from my own which usually seemed to be a hostile environment. I adored Pat. I remember Brian's parents always told him they loved him. That made me feel good, yet strange, because I never heard it at my house. Thinking about this now, I guess I would have to say seeing Pat in her coffin would be the saddest moment of this saddest event. The saddest moment of my life was when my father in law died very suddenly. He went to the hospital at 8:00 pm on a Monday night and died Tuesday at 8:00 am. Everything in our lives changed at that moment, never to be the same again. Pap was more of a father to me than my own dad, and I'll always miss him. It was the 4th of July 1994 when I lost everything and became homeless. I had gotten out of the military 2 years earlier, was living in Florida and unable to find a fulltime job. What was the happiest moment of your life? The day I got married was the happiest day of my life. I really never thought I would. I can not pin down an event, but events that have been the best things in my life.

The birth of my son, my graduation from High School (I never thought that would happen), I married a really great guy (although I did not really know him then). When I got saved, then John and then Fred. And we as a family started going to church!

When John officially became Fred's son, when John graduated from High School, when John went to college, and John got married. Then John graduated from college!! WooHoo!! (Ok, maybe these were not really "my life").

But all of these events have played a role in my being in the place that I am now.

I have been married for 18 years (and in 7 days) 11 months. As I look back over the last almost 19 years and feel the sense of security and peace that my family has brought me, I am just in awe at how God has blessed us. There is peace in my home, and a spirit of unity between Fred and I that when I got married I never knew could be possible. This is God's greatest gift to me. A wonderful husband, my friend and my companion who I love very much. Fred has brought such happiness to my life and I thank him for that. I love you Fred!! It's hard to decide something like this, as you can see from Alice's post. All of those are good examples of happy moments, and there are others involving other family and friends.

But I am going to go with a very recent event. My wife, Alice, spent nearly 13 years as a truck driver, hating almost every moment of it but being financially unable to get out of it. So after so many long years of wanting something so badly, I believe the day she finally quit driving was the happiest moment of my life. And to be honest I am surprised she didn't put it in her list too. I have a happiest period of my life rather than happiest moment. At the time Keven was born, Tim was playing state level soccer. We would travel the state for his games - he was an awesome player. It was around this time that I worked part time, which was the best of both worlds. I was home so could take care of the house, but also got out for work. So this period of about 3 years was probably the best time for our family. Keven was precious and it was a joy attending all of Tim's soccer games.

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