Welcome Back!!

I've been gone quite a bit and for good reason. My router's not operating well and I've had difficulty getting my computer onto the network. This is the first time in a long while I've been able to read e-mail, check the 'Net, and air my laundry. As my wife is repairing the Internet connections, I have to give her kudos for fixing some of the dumb issues that have plagued the laptop for a while. I can finally read comments left on my blog so now i can begin communicating with those who have left little notes about my thoughts. I'm excited about that; I've always wondered what others have had to say about my posts.

Politics, ah, politics. It's great to see the Bushies stew in their own juices. They had the greatest opportunity to turn tragedy into greatness; instead, they used it to destroy historical principles, trust in the system of government and about a thousand years of the rule of law. It'll be nice to see A.G. the A.G. go. Enough of this stuff.

A couple of good friends have asked about personal issues. I'll indulge, only for the sake of catching interested parties up and not boring others with personal and unimportant details. Here goes:
My wife is officially thirty-two weeks pregnant today with our second and third children. We're nervous and excited together. It's not every day that you see your wife's midsection shake and twitch at the hands (head and feet) of two little people inside of her. We are having a boy and a girl and we do have names chosen for each. They're happy and healthy so far and now we just pray that the twins hold on for as long as possible as they need to get their weight up and we neeed to get their room ready! What a ride, I must say, though I continue to see people and their graciousness continue to spoil us with gifts and favors. I truly feel blessed and see that grace and faith do come out in the forms of people's service to others.

My wife is feeling miserable. She doesn't do pregnant very well and continues to battle nausea and vomiting and the health issues that accompany low weight gain. She's only gained fourteen pounds thus far and eight of it is baby. Her figure looks great and I've insensitively teased that bulemia does work. I just pray for her health and sanity as she questions her ability to parent two newborns. I have the easy job and I understand that; the responsibilities on mom's end will be mindblowing.

My older son is now two and a half. He is simply God's greatest gift on earth to me and I love him tremendously. Of course, every parent experiences the same emotions as I am so I won't bore anyone with the pukey stories of toddlerhood. I will say that Lightning McQueen and Sally were the first choices for the twins' names. Thankfully, my wife decided that the adults will pick the names and the children will play with each other. My son does understand that he's going to be a big brother, which side of mommy's tummy each baby rests on and how they will both arrive into the world. We're doing our best to include him on the changes and make sure his world survives the adjustments. Tough job, though. I guess we all go through adjustments when we receive siblings. Thankfully, I don't remember mine but I hear they were tough. Understandably so.

I'm currently on Spring Break and have been enjoying my time preparing the house and wrapping up projects for the babies' arrival. I've fixed and repaired and built things I never knew I could and I'm now going by Tim the Toolman Taylor. Feels good.

Man, wishing I was back in NYC as I see the nightly update on the Allman Brothers Band's Beacon run. Only four nights in and the list of stand out covers and performances are incredible. I still believe this is the best band out there and the ABB has received the greatest disservice in pop music circles. I can imagine that some of them are self-inflicted but there isn't an ensemble out there that can stand toe-to-toe with the musicianship in that group. Truly mindblowing.

Thank you, Walt, for all of your words and influence and impact on my life. I have assumed what you did and you helped name one of my children. Goodbye, my fancy. One hundred and fifteen times, goodbye!