"I write, therefore I am."

Remember that one time in 2009 when you all got to see a real-life piece of my writing, because it was being featured on Utah Children's Writers blog for their 30 days, 30 stories project? Well, the loverly Sarah has coerced (just kidding, love!) me once again into participating. So, without further adieu, here's my latest insane creation . True confession of my soul: I only had like 2 hours to work on this, so I don't consider it "polished," nor am I particularly like "Yes, this piece. is. AWESOME." But it is what it is. It's writing, it's from my weird brain, and I hope you like it. Cheers!

For my Grandfather Today I wake Knowing you are gone Yet always here In my heart Which urges sorrow. But I push past Into Time spent Experience shared Memory cherished And Life remembered. I will mourn Forever The things lost Because they will never Be done by you again. The buildings no longer repaired, The poetry not written, Gospel books never read. The garden no longer tended, The places not explored, Wisdom never shared. Yet all the while I will celebrate The memories The remembrances And the mark. If you break me open You will see The impact The influence Now cradled And offered So others see you still. You lived so rich and full So tall and vast So wise and gentle. A man of duty, dedication, and commitment To country, To faith, And to family. None moreso than your dear Lorraine. The best way I can honor you Is to make your steps, my steps Your deeds, my deeds In essence, your life, my life. I salute you And celebrate you By continuing to be Me, And in so doing, Reflecting You. I...

Part 5 . After the students and staff spoke, it was time for my parents to share their part in what the Graduation program called the "Journey of Vulnerability." This was really hard for my mom because she's an amiable personality who doesn't like the spotlight. She prefers to not draw attention to herself. But, she said, if my sister can jump off a 4 inch beam to go after her success, then my mom supposed she could speak. Recognizing her nervousness, my sister moved closer and put her arm around my mom in solidarity. My mom said she was going to read a story, a true story. "A long time ago, there lived a little girl. She had three big brothers, but she longed for a sister-" My mom choked up. My sister whispered some words of support in her ear. My mom continued, "She had friends, but that didn't stop her wishing for a sister." She choked up again, and exclaimed that she couldn't do it, and was once again reassured by my sister. Seeing my M...

Part 4 . [Author's note: Well, this ended up being really long, so a la Harry Potter , I decided to split it up into two posts. Just more for you!] Two days before my sister graduated, she had a breakdown of sorts. This school didn't make her perfect. But we knew that - and don't expect perfection. We just wanted our sister/daughter back to her loving self. It was time to do school, but my sister felt she needed to prep for graduation, and wanted to get ready. She felt the staff's expectations for her to be prepared were unrealistic. So she was typing... but not doing the scheduled activity. Oops. Staff said go to school or go to regroup. After 40 minutes, they threatened escort. When they tried, my sister wasn't having it. She shoved the staff away. They wrestled, and two of them tried to get her into a hold, but they were newer staff with less experience, and couldn't manage. Finally, they brought in a more experienced staff and he took her to the ground in a ...

Sorry readers, I know you are eagerly refreshing your browsers every 30 seconds, hungry for the last installment. It's taking longer than I anticipated and I've had a busy couple of days. Likewise, things are completely up in the air at work... and I've been working hecka extra hours. This week will be no different. I'll get to it just as soon as I can! Stay tuned!

Ordinarily I am adverse to more than one post in a day. I don't want readers going "ugh, he posts too much" and to stop reading - be honest. I do this with some blogs I have in my reader. If they are too inundating with posts, and the posts are super uber long, I glance, skim, or skip. And I'd hate for that to happen here. But I feel in this case it is justified. This post in itself is in many ways belated. It couldn't be helped. This is the first I could get to it. Brian Jacques died over the weekend of a heart attack . Which is heart-breaking. I literally stopped breathing for a minute when I found out. I'm still not over it and I've known for like four days. Granted, he wasn't one of my best friends, but he had a large part in my life (well, his books did anyway). I mean, in the time of this blog alone (very short), I read and reviewed 6 of his books ( 4 here , one here , and one here ). Here's the thing about Jacques: I can't go so far as t...

Part 3 . In May I got to visit my sister. In order to meet my parents at the airport, I had to fly out of Salt Lake at 12:50am. Which meant I didn't go to bed. Sacrifices. It was a surprise visit for her birthday, and I was so excited! I got her an expansion for the popular card game, Dominion . Just so happens that cards in a box like that apparently scan as C4. T_T Awesome... no, not really. That landed me in a security hotseat, though once they unpacked everything and explained it, I was sort of laughing inside. I mean, I guess if they packed with C4 and shrink-wrapped it BEFORE I bought it, then yes, it legitimately could be C4. *shakes head* Since it was like 1am, I hoped to get some shut-eye on the way there. And then had to have the ONLY person on the entire plane sitting next to me who decided they weren't tired and wanted to read. Serious? Oh, and the row right in front of me had the only baby also. SERIOUSLY?! Why do I have such rotten luck with planes?! I finally dri...