Well I got home and everyone seemed excited to see me….particularly Ben and the dog.  But beggars cannot be choosers, so I will take what I can get and be thankful for it.  And yes, the picture for tonight is of my bedroom door!!

Yes, we have crosses on all our bedroom doors.  They have been on our doors for well over 10 years, and  I have always thought it is one of the greatest things that we do as a family.  And although we do not have grandchildren, or sons and daughters in law (yet), my hope and prayer is that they all might continue the tradition.  And of course I will be buying them as gifts just to “grease the wheel” as they say.

But my day has been fun, interesting, and beautiful.  The desk clerk at my hotel I found out was a retired (big plane) airline captain.  He reached the retirement age and still wanted to work with people.  He had to be one of the most personable, helpful, and interesting people I have ever met.  It was a real blessing to speak with him.

The drive home was spectacular.  Although when I stopped to go to the restroom at a rest area in the mountains of Maryland, a Mexican man who was my age came up to me and asked me in very poor English if I knew where some town in New Jersey was.  I told him I had no clue, and not in Spanish either.  But as I got into my car I remembered that we were in the rest area on the side of the road headed WEST.  But I had a McNally atlas for the US in my car and I got right out and gave it to him.  He thanked me and my last sight of him was in my rear view mirror as he and about 6 other guys began looking at it on a picnic table.  I sure hope and pray that they got to where they were heading.

And as I drove further I remembered a lot of construction on I-79 from Morgantown WV to just south of Pittsburgh, so I reprogrammed my Tom Tom and cut through the mountains on a more scenic path.  It was so well worth it.  I drove by a few battlefields and even tried to call Scotty as he is a big history buff.  I drove by the grave of General Edward Braddock and the Battlefield of Necessity.  Scott did not answer and when I got home I looked it up….and when I just talked to Scott he told me about it.  Okay, he passed the test.

But things like this relax me and make me quite happy.  Getting home however, is the icing on the cake.  In fact I am excited to go in my door because my bed is waiting for me.  Thank God for it too….it has been a busy few days and I am tired!!

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

Today was a day of many blessings, yet a day of great confusion for me.  Today my brother and friend Rick Kramer was ordained as a deacon in for the Anglican Ordinariate of St. Peter.  (He will be priested on June 23rd, but I will be in Alabama)  It was a beautiful service at the Basilica of the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington DC.

But why was it both for me?  Well one, obviously because I was blessed by this.  My earnest hope is for the church to be ONE.  Yet as I participated in the Mass and listened to what was being said, I was aware that we really are not all one.  And although I desire this, my heart and my soul tell me that like Moses, I will most likely not see this for me in my lifetime.

As much as I heard, and hear, the call to this, I became convicted to the people I serve.  I am the Superior of an Order within the Anglican Church and to that end I must set my sights and must serve.  Yet I pray for the unity of the Church in the end..

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

No, he is not with me, I am just traveling and miss him.  But I have arrived in the Washington DC area for a ordination tomorrow at the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.  In all honesty I am exhausted, in that I slept only a few hours last night before leaving for a very long drive in rain all the way.  And to make matters worse, when I arrived at my hotel that rain had apparently decided to spawn a bunch of tornadoes which made things even more interesting when I was tired.

But this blog post will serve as evidence that I survived it all.  And tomorrow morning, hopefully after a good night’s sleep, I will be able to see one of the very first ordinations of the Anglican Ordinariate of the Roman Catholic Church.  I will not post the details, but I will tomorrow and hope to have a picture of it as well.

But for now I will head to sleep and try to regain the 6 hours I lost last night and add them into the 8 I want to get tonight.  Of course with 7 hours till my wake up call and 14 hours of hopes, I am anticipating a bit of disappointment in the morning!

Oh well, it is what it is…..

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

He is actually pretty normal, although here in the picture (taken Sunday) he is wearing my reading glasses, and he spent the majority of the day today as a “good guy” pirate of some kind.  He did stab me around 5 or 6 pm, but I probably qualify more in the “bad guy” standard of pirates so I feel like I deserved it.

But Ben got his hook and eye patch today.  He had been “eyeing” it for quite some time, and short of actually losing a hand and an eye, which to get all that I would not put it past him, he settled for the props.   I actually got myself an eye patch too, which did not bless my wife one bit, but I figured I deserved it as they stiffed me on getting one when I had my eye surgery a few months back.  PLUS, how can you be a pirate dad, good or bad, without an eye patch?  I know my wife thinks she is smart, but she clearly doesn’t know the first thing about pirating.  She needs to stick with stuff she knows, like microbiology and how to marry a trophy husband.

So Ben is a pirate and I am a pirate dad.  Scott has not been home all day, but he is entering the Marines, and I wonder if they deal with guys like us, or do you need the Merchant Marines?  I don’t know.

All I know is that in a house that I believed couldn’t get weirder, things got even more weird today…..the weirdiest…….(I know that’s not a real word, but it is the pirate way!).

So avast ye mateys and goodnight…..and oh yes, God Bless ye too!

Tommy+

They did not call it a graduation, but a ceremony, and it was a good thing too as I had not bought a gift.  But today Benjamin Scott Tirman had his end of year preschool program and received his certificate meaning that he is able to attend Kindergarten next year if we decide to head in that direction.

Of course I am leaning that way, whereas Amanda is a bit more pensive on it.  I started school after just turning 5 and was graduated at 17….just before turning 18.  It would be the same for Ben and it was for Scott too.  There is no doubt, the extra year would have been helpful for everyone, yet there is also the belief that if you are old enough, and that you can do the work, you should go.  I am 50, 51 in three weeks, and 13 more years verses 14 more….plus 4 more for college or more, makes a difference to me.  I did it, and do not regret my life.  

But I need to remember that life is more that just my wants and desires…..it is ultimately about my children providing me GRANDCHILDREN who like me better, who allow me to spoil them, and who I need to have the energy to spoil…thus I need them to arrive before 80.

So today was a good start.  Another child well on his way, and the picture is of that bowl of chocolate ice cream I bought him for a job well done!

Congratulations Ben, we love you!

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

I always like to think that I am okay, but today I have been haunted by my Sunday’s post.  Ben and I went to Brown County and had an adventure and I posted not only a picture from the day of Ben, but also a picture of Steph and Scotty at the same place around 2000 or 2001.

What I didn’t share was my picture from that day with Steph and Scott.  It was me with them at my” pre-stroke” weight.  Oddly enough I look nothing like this anymore, but if I want to see grandchildren and be a burden to my family for many years, I need to get back to it.  Yes, when I HAD my stroke in 2004 this is pretty much what I looked like.  With meds that help my mind, but not my weight, I am way off that look now.

To say “it is killing me” would be an honest description of my mental state, but even more so, it is quite literally a description of my physical state as well.  It needs to change.

I have mentioned this before, albeit with intention and not desperation.  This time it is different.

Sure, I can still be very active, and still shovel mulch like a monster 30 years younger than I am.  Yet I do believe that sooner or later this catches up with me, when without the weight I may gain an additional 15-20 years.  I want that, believe me.

Please keep me in you prayers as I continue to struggle with this, but more than that, as I begin to make progress.  I need it I swear, and with God’s help, maybe, just maybe this summer will be one to remember for the right reasons!

Thanks so much!

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

Today was Amanda’s birthday, and although I spent the lion’s share of the day moving mulch in 90 degree heat, after all the kids arrived (and I had a shower) we were able to have a cookout and enjoy a birthday celebration.  She seemed pretty pleased by the day and handled it pretty well.

Yes, she used to not handle her birthday well at all.  It was like we were to wear black bands on our arms or something.  But now she seems much more comfortable with the idea of another year passed.  My general belief is that the ice cream cake always helps, but what do I know.

So the yard is mulched, the birthday is done, and I did it all without an emergency trip to see a cardiologist.  I would say that is a pretty successful day!  God Willing, I hope to have another one tomorrow!

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

Today was the Indianapolis 500 and I must confess, I had to work.  My dad however has tickets and did not want to go in the blazing heat, so Amanda, Steph, Scott, and their foreign exchange student (Yu) went to the race.  They all had a great time too.  My dad has had quite a few students stay with them a school year at a time, and Yu has been my favorite.  She seems the most like family, and really is…..but I digress.

The big deal was that apparently 4 year old children are not allowed to be home alone in Indiana.  (Yeah, if I just lived in Ohio it would all be okay)  So Ben and I set off on an adventure together.  He went with me to Nashville today and we left bright and early, although he wasn’t feeling that bright.  He attended TWO church services, and during the first one he actually sat up in one of the clergy chairs next to me.  And when I mentioned him a few times in my sermon, he RESPONDED, or more aptly defended himself.  It was all a great time, and he really did a stellar job.

I then changed into some “regular clothes” and we went off for a father son lunch.  No, we were not having the fun of people sitting in 150 degree heat with missiles flying by just feet away and eating $7 hot dogs.  We had to suffer in the air conditioned “Holy Cow” restaurant eating out lunch and playing “Angry Birds.” (actually HE was playing it)

After all this suffering, we walked around a few shops in downtown Nashville before heading to Brown County State Park to take a “hike.”  We stopped a very special spot to take a picture (it was posed) at an overlook where I proposed to his mom.  You can see from BOTH pictures why the “pose” was important.  Scott hasn’t seen it, but Steph had a good laugh.  Now I have all three of them being birds on that same table in that same meaningful place.  It was pretty cool.

We then headed to get Amanda’s birthday gift, as her birthday is tomorrow.  I bought it WITH him, yet he does not remember what it is, nor does he remember buying it.  He is a total goofball.

And to prove my point as we were almost home (it is close to a 2 hour drive each way) I asked him what his favorite part of this VERY MEANINGFUL day was.  And without hesitation it was when I bought him a Spiderman action figure at the Walmart for being so good all day.  So I said “No Ben, not the toy, what was the favorite part of our adventure together.”  And he said “The hike.”  The hike we never took because it was too hot…..unless you count getting out of the car and walking to 50 feet to the picnic table. But no, to him the hike was the drive in the state park, and I have to agree.  It was beautiful scenery, it was air conditioned, and all and all, it was worth it.

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

I am not quite sure why he doesn’t know his name, Lord knows he hears it all the time.  But such is the life of a four year old.  They are off in their own worlds most of the time (as he always has been – see this old picture where he was already in the Space Cadets at an early age), and everyone just keeps calling to get him back into theirs.

Of course I love it.  It is fun watching them try, yet it is about as effective as herding cats.  He just always seems up for the challenge and seems to win more than he loses.  He is a real pro I swear!

But I know my name, and they all call me too.  I am just thankful I do not hear as well as I used to.  And the reason is that your kids generally want something from you, and your wife either has a project or is complaining about something the kids need to do……and Ben is just still wandering around having fun!  It’s no wonder I envy him!

My hearing means I may miss some bad things, but I miss some good things too. Ben however is just Ben, with no apologies.  He has a heart of gold and just enjoys his life.  I could learn a lot from him.

In fact I already have.

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

Today was a monumental day for me, as I went today to a NEW dentist.  My former dentist, who I have been seeing for just shy of 15 years, is 15 miles away, and I wanted to find someone in the community we now live in….since we have been here for a year and a half.  What is hard is that I really like Dr. Green (my former dentist), but with 5 of us, it seemed a lot to drive 30 miles each time, when there was likely a good dentist here.

But I had another reason as well.  If I was going to move here, I told Amanda that it would be the last move I would make in this life short of the funeral home or a facility if I need one.  But as a former ice hockey player, and therefore an experienced dental patient, I also wanted to make sure that this dentist would be young enough to see me through all my dental needs until the end or until I lose all my teeth! (not an issue…I am keeping all the ones I have!)

And I actually found one!  It is a dentist that went into practice with her father, and who is my wife’s age (approximately 18)….. It is the very first female dentist I have ever had, and I have to confess, she is stuck with me.  The kids and Amanda will now schedule with her too, and I am just happy today is over.  I really wanted to be happy with this, and I am.  I never have a bad check up, and since I have given up hockey, my visits there have never involved pain!!  So she can watch me grow old (older) over the next 50 years, and I can walk to her office after they take away my license.  It is the best of all worlds!

So it’s just another thing off my list, and one I am quite thankful for.  I love where we live and love that I can hang out here locally.  And all of it with great teeth too!

Goodnight and God Bless!

Tommy+