Friday, September 18, 2015

Time to Blog Again

Due to difficulty in recovering my old blog, The Original Princeton Plankowner Proceedings , I've just given up and will start fresh. (I still like the name of the original blog though)

The older blog may be an interesting reference as it will shed some light on thinking I had for some time.

Well there's a couple of important reasons for a new blog anyway.  The older blog was discontinued in 2006 after I left the practice of real estate.  That was a long time ago, and by no means shall I catch you up on the last nine years of my life.  Suffice it to say I have returned to software development as my primary source of income.

But what's the motivation and focus for the new blog ?

In a word:

CANCER

As of 9/8/2015, I have been diagnosed with what looks like a typical prostate cancer, and it has metastasized and attacked my spine.  It's not in a great place, and I am facing my mortality.

Of course there were all the recent phone calls re-connecting with a family I was too self absorbed with my own life over the past nine years and couldn't be bothered to pick up the phone and stay connected.

So now there are the recent flurry of calls as word gets out to all those people I should have kept in my life.  Everyone wants to lend sympathy, prayers, and "any thing they can do."

Well the message to everyone is that I am a traditional Roman Catholic (attending the extraordinary form of the Mass) and that I am in a very correct religious disposition about this.

At this time, I don't want to disclose my my oncologist's prognosis, or give what I like to call my "Mean Time Between Failure" (MTBF) guess.  A lot can happen in that time, and it's only a guess anyway. It's an average and not a hard number.  But what it does mean is that I get the incredible grace from God to stare at my mortality in the face.

Most people run their lives as though they will never perish, giving very little thought about their preparation to meet final Judgement.  It is a gift that I can now see the ribbon at the end of the race, and be able to put out my best strength from now until I cross the line.

On this first post I may sound a little dramatic.  In a recent call with a good Catholic friend he stated that I was "not yet on my final mission", but that was before I got the MTBF from my doctor.   But in reality, we are all on our final mission, we just rarely think about it as we should.

---

As this is my first post in the new blog, let me run down a couple facts about my life.  I recently moved to Charlotte, NC, from El Dorado, AR.  Since the real estate fall-out in 2006, I was also working in Cincinnati, OH, and Shirley MA.

I have eight lovely children, and I am still married to my first wife Laura.  Our 25th comes up this December 29th.

I am proud of all my children, four of whom have left the nest, and four remain at present.
My oldest daughter, Kimberley is an Electronics Technician Second Class serving in Japan on the USS Stethem DDG-63.  

My daughter Sarah, has completed her Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) while in Arkansas, and is currently discerning a vocation the St. Vincent's Daughter's of Charity in St Louis, MO.

My son Michael is an Electronics Technician Second Class Serving as a Reactor Operator on the USS New Hampshire SSN-778 out of Groton CT.

My next son, Stephen, is serving as a Seaman, currently training in Groton for communications and cryptography to support a fast attack submarine when he completes his school. He also will become an Electronics Technician Third Class before long.

As a former Electronics Technician Second Class - you can imagine how immensely proud I am of all this.

The children still at home are all doing well. No doubt you'll hear more about them in other posts.


2 comments:

  1. I am watching The Song of Bernadette. I love it!!! Thank you for telling me about it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. You are not alone. You do love and others love you!!! I love you so very much my big brother!!! Jesus loves you!!!

    ReplyDelete