Same Kind of Different as Me

I know that I haven't been posting my completed reading this year, partially because I haven't been posting much of anything and partially because I haven't been doing a whole lot of reading. I have been listening to a number of books on tape, but this post isn't really about that.

Today's post is about a book that I just finished last night called Same Kind of Different as Me.

Now, I'm not a religious person, but did find this to be a really good book and very moving. The amazing thing is that this is a true story and takes place right here in the DFW area. This book was recommended to me by one of the nurses or volunteer folks at Harris Hospital when we (my mom and sister) were hanging out waiting for my Dad to get out of his surgery in January. It was recommended because my Dad's surgeon is mentioned in the book and we had been talking about what a nice person he is, however, as I read the book, it turns out that not only is Dad's surgeon, Dr. Senter, mentioned but also his other doctor, Dr. Redrow.

I would really recommend this book to folks. While it is very heavy handed with the religiousness, I am willing to look past that to the core meaning of the book, which is to look past the exterior "cover" of a person and into who they really are and that people, when given the opportunity, will sometimes really surprise you.

What to Do with Devil Dog

Last night as we were winding down for bed, I should have known that something was wrong.

Like most kids, Leo fights going to bed. He gets this big burst of energy and wants to run around and play. Last night, though, all he wanted to do was lay on the couch in my lap and then as we were headed to bed drank a little water. When we actually got into bed, instead of taking up his normal position as described in Sleeping with the Devil, he opted to sleep at the foot of the bed where my feet normally go. I was okay with this as I just stretched out diagonally across the bed, which is how I slept before he came into my life.

Unfortunately, at 3:05 AM I hear and feel some movement as Leo gets up and jumps off the bed. This, of course, wakes me up a little. But then I start hearing heaving breathing and the starting sounds of retching, which wakes me bolt upright and out of the bed. I start herding him towards the door and actually get him to the outside door and open it. Sadly, he cowars away from the open door and the darkness and promptly throws up on the living room carpet. As I stand there and sigh and tell him it is okay, he goes over and vomits again on the tile floor. Great, two spots to clean up. After he finishes, he just looks at me all pitiful-like and then walks out the open door to sit on the patio while I clean up.

After I get everything cleaned up and sanitized and he comes back in, he heads to the couch to curl up. So, I was like, okay, we'll sleep out here for awhile and went to turn off lights and get my phone/alarm, but he followed me back to the bedroom where we crawled back into bed. This time, though, he didn't want to be at the foot of the bed. Instead, he wanted Mama to hold him, so he curled up next to me with his head on my shoulder wheezing into my face. I eventually managed to shift him so that I was spooning him and he was breathing into my elbow (I love him but can't take the breathing in the face).

This morning, now that we are up, he continues to wheeze and sleep and has not appetite...I put his breakfast out for him and he hasn't touched it. So, I'm giving him a couple of hours to perk up and then we are off to the vet again.

As I think back, the last time he get sick like this was right after I took him to the groomers, maybe there is a correlation....

I Can't Believe I Did It!!

Well, this past Saturday I did something that I wasn't sure I was going to do....I went Skydiving!! It was a beautiful day...sunny with not much wind, although it was starting to pick up a little as our time was approaching. I went with my friends Sara and Gauri, who each had their personal reasons for doing the jump. Last week when Sara and I were talking about doing the jump, I almost backed out because I started thinking through all the things that might happen, but on Saturday when I got there I had no worries. It was really the weirdest thing that, as I look back now, I sorta floated through the morning as if I was having an out of body experience, because it really didn't feel like I was doing this thing.

My instructor was great. His name is Ernie, and he is quite the old hippy. However, after the jump when we signed his log book he told me that this was his 59,889th jump, which made me feel a lot better....although yeah that was after it was all over with. All of the guys that we jumped with, the instructors that Sara and Gauri had as well as our vidographers and the other jumpers on our flight, were great fun, full of life, and really happy people. I guess if you choose to stare death in the face for fun then you must be a horse of a different color and part of me wants to drink up that koolaid and get dyed to match them. I had one guy, Mark, who was making a solo jump, but for some reason was also jumping with Ernie, so he jumped out with us and at one point during the freefall held onto me. When we landed on the ground and were getting out of our gear he came over and told me congratulations and was carrying the sweetest little baby girl... I bet you anything, she'll be out there jumping first chance that she gets.

Speaking of the jump, itself...Both Sara and Gauri said that the freefall part of it was their favorite, personally, I hated that part of it because I could not breath and based on the pictures I don't look like I'm enjoying much of anything. However, once the parachute opened and Ernie and I were floating down to the ground, it was fabulous. You could see forever away and it was so beautiful.

I really think this is something that I will do again, especially if I come across another coupon for it!

Oh, and if you want to check out the video, you can go here: Skydive Dallas - Student Videos. I almost didn't share the video because I look like a giant blue marshmallow and am a babbling idiot in it, but deep down, that doesn't really matter, does it?