Tag: Negatives

Mixed Emotions

If I had to describe today with emoji’s, I’d need a lot of them!

Exhaustion – Tuesdays are always difficult. I get very little sleep before having to come into work for the night. I do the best I can to nap when the kids are napping, but things just never seems to line up where we all sleep at the same time.

Confident – Recently I was presented with an opportunity that peaked my interest. It was one of those things that I really wasn’t searching for, but I looked at it very carefully. After much discussion and weighing all the pros and cons, I made a decision that I feel is best.

Afraid – At the same time, looking on the horizon, there is something I stumbled on that has positives and negatives. I took a leap of faith today. It would be a HUGE change. It has been something that has been on the back burner for some time. Whether or not anything comes of it is yet to be seen. If it does, there are some big things to think about and consider.

Angry – Annoyed – Exasperated – Done – One phone call can bring about so many emotions. How many times can the same things be rehashed? When do you just say “Forget it? I’m done?” An hour and 20 minutes of being on speaker phone being accused, judged, called every profane name imaginable, and treated like a piece of crap is not exactly how I want to spend my time. Once you apologize for something, you shouldn’t be expected to keep apologizing for it over and over again. Especially when the other party has said they forgive you. My God, it was a vicious circle of things that are from years ago, yet here we are talking about it again! Enough is enough. If you can’t get past it, I don’t know what to tell you. Don’t feel sorry for me or my family, because quite frankly, we are fine! Please just let it go!

Dedicated – It is time for me to stop letting the outside BS affect me and my family. I am dedicated to being the best husband and father I can be to those who will let me. I have found happiness and NO ONE will take that away from me. I love my family more than I will ever be able to express here, and intend to keep it together. Leave your negativity at the door or better yet, keep it away. There is LOVE, tenderness, faith, and joy in my house! I intend to increase those feelings with every moment I am alive!

Sadness – With every day my kids continue to grow up. Ella will be two this week. I am having a very difficult time wrapping my head around that. Andrew will be 4 months old this week and it seems like time won’t slow down. Sam has often said to me that she feels when she is done with work for the week, she feels like the look older and are bigger. I feel the same way. Despite having gone through this with my two older sons, it feels like time is going by even faster than before.

I will end on a positive emotion:

Happiness – This week, Ella started saying, “I love you, too, Daddy.” and “I love you, too, Mommy” after we tell her that we love her. There is nothing that will melt your heart faster.

Earlier today, Andrew was laying on the floor and he was giggling. I snapped a picture of him and Ella immediately came over and laid next to him and said, “My turn, Daddy!” In an absolute amazing moment, she grabbed his hand and I snapped the picture.

THAT IS WHAT MATTERS! Those two amazing kids (and my beautiful and wonderful wife) are the source of my happiness. There is nothing but joy connected with them. There is no negativity. There is no hate. There are no grudges. There are no hidden motives. There is LOVE. There is JOY. There is HAPPINESS. There is DELIGHT. There is LAUGHTER.

This is what is important! THEY are what is important.

On my bad days, those two special kids remind me to focus on what really matters!

The Importance of a Picture

Many younger readers will look at the picture above and have no clue what it is.

Back in the days before camera phones and digital photos, a person would buy a roll of film, stick it in their camera, take pictures until the film ran out and then drop it off somewhere (like a photo hut or drug store) to be developed.

Unless you have done it, you will never know the excitement of going back to pick up your photos! Opening the envelope and looking at each photo one by one. You’d never know if the pictures even turned out until you picked them up. Oh, how many times I opened up a picture envelope to find photos out of focus, people with eyes closed, or just plain embarrassing pictures!

Take Pictures. Take A Lot of Them!

This blog kind of came out of nowhere, but it was prompted by a few things. First, my friend Tina began posting a bunch of old pictures on Facebook this week. Another of our classmates passed away recently and he was in some of them. There were many faces I recognized from high school in her photos, many of those people I remain friends with today.

The other thing that prompted this blog was funerals/memorials. Recently I visited a funeral home to pay respects to my friend’s brother who had passed away just before the holidays. In the room were poster boards filled with photos of him from various stages of his life.

A radio friend from Ohio passed away just recently, as well. I was shocked and saddened to see the link to his obituary on his Facebook page. When you go to the funeral home obituary page, there is a 20 minute beautiful video montage of family photos and photos from his radio days. Those pictures told an amazing story of his love for his family, friends, and his work.

Memories!

People make fun of me for how many photos I take. Many comment on my Facebook posts with “The most photographed girl (or boy) on the internet” when referring to my kids. That’s ok. I love taking pictures for many reasons. First of all, it will help me to remember them as they were babies. In the first year of life, a baby’s features will change almost daily. Sam and I will see pictures of Ella from a year ago and say, “Look at her! She’s changed so much!”

I also try to get lots of pictures of the kids with Sam and I. I want them to look back at them and see how much we love them. I don’t ever want them not to have photos to remember their childhood.

Life changes fast. With life, comes death. I am grateful for photos of me with my grandparents, and great grandparents. I am grateful for the pictures I have with my mom. My oldest son will always remember the love my mom had for him, because of the many photos he has of him and her.

When my dad comes over, I get as many pictures as I can with him and the kids. Some of the best ones are the candid ones. When I look back at some of those candid ones of me as a baby/toddler with my grandparents, they make me smile. I always want them to have those memories.

The ONLY way to “Pause”

In my almost 52 years on this planet, I have realized that life continues day by day nonstop. There is no rewind or fast forward button. As much as we may want it, there is also no “pause” button. However, that is where the magic of pictures comes in.

Each photograph catches a little moment in time to remain forever. Baby smiles. First steps. Silly outfits. First days of school. Christmas morning excitement. Prom pictures. High school or college graduation. Marriage proposals. Wedding vows. The list of “moments” can go on and on. Pictures are important. They show our lives one image and one memory at a time.

One of the coolest projects I have every been a part of was for my friend Kortny. While in school, she was doing something for a journalism class (if memory serves me right). The assignment was to take like 500-700 pictures, and pick only 10 of then to tell a story. I was working in radio, so she came to the studio and took pictures of me prepping my show, doing my show, and working in the production room. She came to a few personal appearances and took pictures at live broadcasts. It was crazy. She just kept snapping away. I am sure I still have the ten pictures she used somewhere, and they really were amazing pictures. They told – the story of a radio DJ.

Most of the photos we take are telling the story of a vacation, or an event, or something of that nature. In the end, though, what they really are is much more. They are moments in your life captured forever. One day, you will look back over them with joy or sadness. In some cases, long after you are gone, people will look back at them and remember YOU.

Pictures are important. Take plenty of them. Post them on your Facebook. Hang them on your wall. Print them and put them in a photo album. Look at them often. Share them with your kids. You will not regret it. I promise.