Happy Father's Day!

I would like to say Happy Father's Day to three of the most important fathers in my life.

My English dad: "He is a very tall man". That was my first thought when I met him several years ago.

He is loved and highly respected by all in his family. He is often surrounded by his grandkids and as of April 2011 he is now a great grandad. He likes to play and have fun and I have never witnessed him grumpy or impatient.  He is a perfect example to his grandsons on how to have a good work ethic, how to treat the women in your life and simply how to be a good man. He is one of those dads who will come to your rescue if you are having car trouble or need a hand with moving and home repairs. He doesn't expect anything in return. When I am there I don't feel like a foreign visitor. I feel like part of the family, I feel loved and accepted and missed when I am gone. He is a wonderful man and I am thankful that he is a part of my life. I can see why Vernon is the man he is today.

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My Dad: He is my Superman

I don't even know where to begin. He's the guy who taught me how to play baseball and basketball and ride a bike. Most importantly he taught me that the only way to get the rebound was to "sacrifice my body!" He rescued me from my runaway tricycle as it was taking me down the hill way too fast. He picked me up after I went face first into a tree on a sledding hill. He took me trick-or-treating on the John Deere Tractor. He took me to lots of Brewer games, a Bucks game and I even got to see the Harlem Globetrotters. He taught me how to fish and how to do my taxes. He taught me how to balance a checkbook and look for a job. He coached me on interviews and helped me do my homework. He also made sure I had change when I went out so I could call home if I needed a safe ride, and I always knew I'd be much better off by calling him no matter what situation I was in.  He even didn't accuse me of lying when I wrecked the car on the way to my ACT's and I told him it was a hit and run while parked. He knew better... but never called me on it.  I have often felt like I have disappointed him because I did not follow the path he laid out for me. But then we have moments where I do feel that he is proud of me, and the woman and mother I have become. If it wasn't for the Christian upbringing and the work ethic, I don't think I would be very happy with who I have become or where I am in life.

My dad is also a wonderful grandpa. He has had to pick up a lot of slack left by Heidi's absent inattentive father. He has made sure Heidi had experiences and opportunities that I normally wouldn't have been able to give her.  Heidi and grandpa are best buddies, and that means more to me than anything he's ever done for me.
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My Sweetheart, Vernon, what a wonderful loving dad he is.

His number one priority has always been his kids. Making sure he made time for them and gave them the attention that they needed. If we were chatting, he would tell me one was needing attention and we would say goodbye. If I didn't see him online at all he was spending time with them. I love that about him.  We have had this long distance relationship because of the kids. All three of them. Although I have not been in England, I have watched his two kids grow up through pictures. He has told me of the awards and accomplishments of school, activities and sports. I hear about the friendships, girlfriends, illnesses, sad times and difficult times. I have cried with him and rejoiced with him and even given him advice on the tough stuff.  Most recently, I was able to share his joy of the birth of his granddaughter. He's going to be a super 'granddad'. Bottom line, he's a great dad, and grandpa who is dedicated, loving and loyal to the ones that depend on him so much.

He has also been a wonderful loving father figure to Heidi. As you know her dad is absent emotionally and financially and Vernon has been there to support her and encourage her and make her feel important and loved.

Vernon has dedicated his life to his kids and has made an impact on mine, showing them by example how to have a good work ethic, how to treat others and how to conduct yourself with class. He also made it very clear to them that they are loved. It's these traits that make him very attractive to me, well, it's part of the reason he's very attractive to me.

What were you doing one year ago?

Vernon and I chat several times a week.  I was going through our chats from 2010 and thought it would be interesting to see what we were talking about a year ago today. I wonder if all our chats are like this because boy do I look like I have some form of A.D.D. because I jump around from topic to topic.

One year ago today:

• I synced my Outlook calendar with Salesforce.com. Vernon's response, "You know how to have fun."
• I told Vern about the awards ceremony at Heidi's school, how she was going to get presented with her scholarship to WMU and that my Aunt and Uncle would be there too. (Turned out that they don't present the big awards on award night, they save those for graduation so we sat through that entire thing for nothing.)
• I was very angry. Didn't know why. I couldn't focus. Had a bad case of road rage on the way to taking Heidi to school. Vernon said, "It's good to be angry every so often." 
• A certain co-worker was annoying the crap out of me quite frequently and did something specific that day that really annoyed me. This year I don't have to deal with that person anymore. WOO HOOO!
• I was worried about seeing the Ex next week. I'm thinking that was for graduation. I'm actually shocked he showed up. Was never good at following through with commitments to Heidi.
• Vernon had 46 parcels (packages) for one house. He didn't mention it to his manager because he would have taken them off of him and given him 45 more packages to different houses. That is what my dad would call working smart, not hard. Then I went on to talk about my FedEx days. Oh such good times... (not really)
• Vernon's work got a new computer system and it broke down... is an expensive new system and it breaks down. Frustrating.
• I took my lunch break at home and thought I'd surprise Vernon with a phone call. Of course no one answered. Vernon's reply, "although as I look across to the phone, I see someone has called. Sorry Darling." (I love when he calls me Darling).
• I'm training a new girl, they hired someone yesterday to help me out. She's very tall, young, eager to learn and very nice. 
• Heidi just called, she and her friend are going to study at the park. She's got an Economics test and her friend has a Government test. (Wow, seems like yesterday she was in high school)
• It was a beautiful sunny warm day but I was freezing my boobies off? Vernon's response, "Be careful where they fall!" Apparently it was warmer in the U.P. than in Somerset that day.
• I had an odd dream last night... A Watertown firefighter, my friend NM, Heidi and I were in some unknown living room watching TV. I was only wearing a towel. NM and the firefighter were my ride. I wanted to go home to get dressed but no one would take me.
• I was looking at Vernon's photos in Facebook. He had a picture of the place where we had our dinners during our trip to Copper Harbor. 
• We say goodbye the same way nearly every time. Vernon: "bye sexy"; Me: "bye".

Language Barrier, Blogging and a List

Today we spoke on the phone. I was on the computer and Vern showed up on the IM so I told him I'd just call. We always have a good time on the phone. I love hearing his voice, that sexy southwestern British accent. Whew! Vern read my blog and liked it. I wasn't worried, he is supportive in anything that I do but since this involves him, I did ask if it was OK... and he approves.

I asked Vernon if he noticed that I used the word "dodgy" in my blog. He said "yes" and that he's very impressed. Funny. Why is it that his language is rubbing off on me? Yes, I do watch a lot of BBC and he sends me lots of DVD's but sometimes I don't get all the jokes. There was one joke that I heard over and over again, never understood it until lately, and I can't seem to remember it... Oh yes! In one episode of "Vicar of Dibley" the group is discussing the vandals of the town, and how they vandalized the sign at the "Tuck Shop". Well, it sounded like they said "tuck" but what the heck is a tuck? So I figured they said "Tack" as in horse stuff, but then I thought, "How do you turn 'tack' into a bad word?" So I just gave up on understanding the joke. Then one day Vern used the word "tuck" in a sentence. I asked him to repeat it, and then I was like, "There is that word! What does it mean?" And when Vern explained to me what a tuck shop was it all came together. I felt as if he answered the question of the universe... to which the answer is 42 but we can discuss that on another day. For you Americans who don't speak "English" a tuck shop is like a convenience store, a 7 Eleven, Kwik Trip, something of that sort. I just felt that "dodgy" was the only word I could think of. There are other words I use... I call my linen closet a cupboard. I keep linens, towels, and bathroom items in there, not cups... yet I call it a cupboard. Don't worry, my bedroom closets are still closets for now. Half the time I say "shop" instead of "store" and "film" instead of "movie". I asked him today why it's happening to me and not him... but he confessed... "I say 'sure' instead of 'of course'". I laughed!

As we were talking about our kids and the challenges we are facing right now with our 18 yr olds, he was checking out this Blogger site. He was quite intrigued (oh yeah, I say "quite" a lot more too) with this whole blog thing. He asked me how it works and I really didn't have many good answers for him because I'm new at this. I do want my blog noticed, but not by everyone that I know, just people that can relate to our situation and a few of my closest friends who I know wont think I'm being stupid by keeping a blog. I've always been a writer. I kept journals all my life, until the day I found pages missing from one of my books. It was my "now" ex-husband who went through my sock/underwear drawer for whatever reason and found it. Not sure what the hell he was looking for, but he couldn't read English so ripped out some pages and took it to someone to translate. What a dick. Well, that was the last entry I made. I tried keeping journals since, but it wasn't the same. Things are different now, technology has changed, and I need some sort of outlet since I don't get to talk to Vernon every day. I think he will feel closer to me with this blog, he will read things that we talked about, read about my memories of our times together and also read about things I wanted to tell him that day or that week and couldn't because one of us couldn't make it to the computer. He's all pumped about this blog of mine, and I am too even more now. He wants to start one, he's not sure on what topic, but he will have that to think about as he goes about his day at work tomorrow. I suggested he browse other blogs to get ideas if he needs to. I can't wait to see what he comes up with. Then we got to the topic of Google. I said to him "I Googled myself this morning" and his response was "That's a bit vain isn't it?" I couldn't stop laughing. Because of my job, I pop up. Then I guess he Googled himself while we were talking and he said, "I found my name, but it isn't me. That's OK though, I don't want to be all over the place." He's so cute.

He's got the day off on Tuesday and is all excited about it. Sounded like a kid who woke up to a snow day. He was naming things he wanted to do and then I suggested he write me a letter. "You mean on paper?" UGH! MEN! He's a computer guy but can't type worth crap. I love when he writes me letters. Then he said he was going to make a list of things he wanted to do on his day off. He names several things, then "take cardboard and bottles to recycling guys, write Kim a letter". I enjoy messing with him and got all upset, "I'm below 'take cardboard and bottles to recycling guys?!?!?!'" Of course, he said he wanted to clear everything off his list so he could dedicate all of his attention to me. Good answer. I rarely get one over on him... he's too smart for me. One of the reasons why I love that guy.