This year had it’s usual twists and turns that I’ve become to expect. As I approached the holiday season my pace became almost frantic. Meetings every time I turn around, The push on retail’s final quarter, family problems, hurricanes and so on. I was hoping to be able to regain some resemblance or normality during this season. Well it worked out this year that my son would be spending Thanksgiving with his mother. Rats! I tried to Arrange a time to take him to see his grandmother for her birthday and to celebrate Thanksgiving, that didn’t work out either. My son flew out to see his mother as part of her visitation schedule. That left me some time to reflect. It was best that I was not going to be around anyone, I had things that needed to be done.
The T/A developed an annoying header leak and I’m solving that problem for good. I was too cheap the last time out and didn’t get Percy’s dead soft header gaskets. They work great on headers with no flange bracing and irregular surfaces. Don’t burn either. So I spent the day being intimate with the old girl. This T/A had served me well on it’s first tour of duty. I promised her that when she hit 10, she would get a facelift. She has over 140K miles now. The servicing of the car has been anal, everything works like new, much quicker than new too! I tried in the last day before Thanksgiving to push everyone away for a day so that I could do an old pastime. Turning wrenches on the car while turning the wrenches on my mind as well. Normally it is an escape from reality. On Thanksgiving day it helped put perspective in reality. It also reminded me how much of a pain it is to do headers on a 4th gen f-body.
I tried to push everyone away and it almost worked. A friend from work insisted that she drop off a Turkey Dinner. She was supposed to call. Here I am up to my elbows in dirt, she shows up. I guess she knew me after all. When she would have called, I would had figured out a way to not be there. The problem is that now I look like hell and she looks like she stepped off a magazine cover. Yikes! She hung around and kept me company for a couple of hours, I ate a nice mix of Turkey, Ham, all the extras and a slice of home made Cheesecake. I really didn’t need to eat it. I had already started to push to avoid the holiday weight gains, I wasn’t telling her that! She’s known me for a few years and is indeed a great friend. Stubborn and hot headed at times, but a true friend. A lot of our lives have a parallel so she understands part of how I felt this day.
In this past two weeks, My two Nieces were born very premature. Neither survived. One death was due to hospital error, The other was a combination of several problems and likely hospital error. Shortly afterward, my Sister’s diagnosis of her cancer is not good. She is in stage 4 and has been given 6 months to live. Dealing with the loss and the wide range of emotions has been a challenge.
Thanksgiving day for me will be an ever renewed reminder of our own mortality and a renewed appreciation for what we have in life. It is a reminder that I should take more time for myself to do the things I love. The T/A has served another purpose. She allows me to work out my problems while I work out hers. My Friend will need my help as well. She too has been diagnosed with cancer. Stage one, so hopefully this was found in time. Her surgery is in a week. It certainly seems like good people are forced to suffer the most. Both my sister and my friend are the type of person who put others ahead of themselves.
So you see, the old girl has helped me in many ways. She reminds me of my youth, when I didn’t have the dough to fix things and had to figure out how to do it myself. I now have a great collection of tools too. She also reminds me that I’m not in my youth, I’m feeling the mild aches and pains that I wouldn’t have had while in my youth. I still had fun though. And it was a very welcome diversion, something that I will be needing as time goes by. And folks, that’s what this place is all about. A place of diversion so that we can all share the friendships, a place to dream about tomorrow, and a place to be thankful for when we need it. Getting even with Ken was something that I needed that morning. I desperately needed a laugh and the photoshop of his rice GTO delivered.
http://www.f-body.com/forum/showthread.php?t=14828
I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and has even a better Holiday Season! Please be safe this Holiday Season so we can celebrate again next year.
The T/A developed an annoying header leak and I’m solving that problem for good. I was too cheap the last time out and didn’t get Percy’s dead soft header gaskets. They work great on headers with no flange bracing and irregular surfaces. Don’t burn either. So I spent the day being intimate with the old girl. This T/A had served me well on it’s first tour of duty. I promised her that when she hit 10, she would get a facelift. She has over 140K miles now. The servicing of the car has been anal, everything works like new, much quicker than new too! I tried in the last day before Thanksgiving to push everyone away for a day so that I could do an old pastime. Turning wrenches on the car while turning the wrenches on my mind as well. Normally it is an escape from reality. On Thanksgiving day it helped put perspective in reality. It also reminded me how much of a pain it is to do headers on a 4th gen f-body.
I tried to push everyone away and it almost worked. A friend from work insisted that she drop off a Turkey Dinner. She was supposed to call. Here I am up to my elbows in dirt, she shows up. I guess she knew me after all. When she would have called, I would had figured out a way to not be there. The problem is that now I look like hell and she looks like she stepped off a magazine cover. Yikes! She hung around and kept me company for a couple of hours, I ate a nice mix of Turkey, Ham, all the extras and a slice of home made Cheesecake. I really didn’t need to eat it. I had already started to push to avoid the holiday weight gains, I wasn’t telling her that! She’s known me for a few years and is indeed a great friend. Stubborn and hot headed at times, but a true friend. A lot of our lives have a parallel so she understands part of how I felt this day.
In this past two weeks, My two Nieces were born very premature. Neither survived. One death was due to hospital error, The other was a combination of several problems and likely hospital error. Shortly afterward, my Sister’s diagnosis of her cancer is not good. She is in stage 4 and has been given 6 months to live. Dealing with the loss and the wide range of emotions has been a challenge.
Thanksgiving day for me will be an ever renewed reminder of our own mortality and a renewed appreciation for what we have in life. It is a reminder that I should take more time for myself to do the things I love. The T/A has served another purpose. She allows me to work out my problems while I work out hers. My Friend will need my help as well. She too has been diagnosed with cancer. Stage one, so hopefully this was found in time. Her surgery is in a week. It certainly seems like good people are forced to suffer the most. Both my sister and my friend are the type of person who put others ahead of themselves.
So you see, the old girl has helped me in many ways. She reminds me of my youth, when I didn’t have the dough to fix things and had to figure out how to do it myself. I now have a great collection of tools too. She also reminds me that I’m not in my youth, I’m feeling the mild aches and pains that I wouldn’t have had while in my youth. I still had fun though. And it was a very welcome diversion, something that I will be needing as time goes by. And folks, that’s what this place is all about. A place of diversion so that we can all share the friendships, a place to dream about tomorrow, and a place to be thankful for when we need it. Getting even with Ken was something that I needed that morning. I desperately needed a laugh and the photoshop of his rice GTO delivered.
http://www.f-body.com/forum/showthread.php?t=14828
I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and has even a better Holiday Season! Please be safe this Holiday Season so we can celebrate again next year.
course .......you know that by now.....LOL
Sometimes doctors make bad calls and people pull through with treatment. Hopefully this will be the case for your sister as well. I'm real sorry to hear about the loss of your nieces, too. It seems like everything that can go wrong for you is going wrong. I'm not sure if it means anything to you, but you know that we're all here for you. Stay strong.
lol 
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