What's everyone up to right now?

[Silver]

Feeling that stomach burn.

A little exercise each day before work to tighten my midsection.

[Tonus]

We've finished celebrating the birth of Jesus.

Now, it's time to prepare to celebrate his execution...

It's the circle of life!

[arewethereyet]

Just spent an hour on the phone with someone very special to me. He was (still is) a very good friend of my son. They will both turn 38 this year. That 'kid' had such a hell of a life when he was young. For several years he spent a great deal of time at my house. He would even call and ask to come and stay...he'd ask me without my son even knowing what was going on. I tried to give him a soft place to land. His mother was not all that emotionally stable and his father became a really bad drug addict and even did prison time. It's hard to believe that my house was his sane place to be. I coordinated a lot with his grandmother when it came to his care though she was often busy with his younger sister and a bunch of cousins.

He called to tell me how much he appreciated our family being there for him and that now as an adult with kids of his own, he realizes how important we were in shaping his life. Makes me a little misty. I love that young man like one of my own. What a way to start the new year on an uplifting note.

He's full time National Guard in South Carolina and has been for quite a while. He served two tours in Afghanistan (where I used to send him coffee, creamer, and sugar). He got blown up there while in one of the vehicles they used to sweep for IEDs.

He is a stepfather of a daughter from his first marriage. Has a son from that marriage and has two sons with his now wife.

He is an E-8! A Master Sergeant! I am so proud of how things have gone for him. Hearing from him healed a bit of my heart that I am not sure I knew needed to be healed.

It's been a good day.