Thursday, February 19, 2009

RIP Patrick Joseph Reed

Much too early this morning, Gumby woke me from a goofy sleep. I was pointing the completely wrong way on the bed, waiting for him to come to bed, for a completely different reason.

He pushed me to wake me and growled to come downstairs. I stumbled down the stairs, unable to understand what was going on.

there he sat in the recliner, with a look of such sadness, distraught. His beautiful eyes, completely devastated.

"I got a call from Mom."

I immediately thought something was wrong with his Dad, that the unthinkable had happened. Obviously it was not the unthinkable as I had just thought it, but I froze on the landing.

"Patrick died tonight."

"What?"

"Patrick died tonight, he was in an accident with his motorcycle XXXXXXXXX." (more words I didn't hear).

"WHAT? WHAT ARE YOU SAYING?"

He repeated it again.

This truly was the unthinkable.

My Patrick. My dear, sweet Patrick. Annoying, infuriating Patrick. He drove me insane and made my heart swell with pride all in the same breath. The man, yes man, that was more responsible than most of the people my age that I know.

I knew he was in full motorcycle gear. I knew he was hyper-aware of his surroundings at all times. I knew there had to be nothing he could do.

I pulled John to the couch and cocooning myself around him and I sobbed. God bless him, in his pain, he let me have my moment.

To which I try to tend to him, but he's not having it. Not ready for that pain. He's a dude, I get it.
So I do what comes natural, I turn into a Tasmanian devil, throwing toys into the toy room, dishes in the dishwasher, you get the general picture.

I ask if he wants to go to his folks, which of course he does. I can't let him drive, so I call my folks at whatever un-Godly hour it was. Left a rambling message on the machine for my Dad to call back ASAP. He calls back and gets Gumby, who bluntly says, "My brother Patrick died, we need to go to my folks, can you come watch the kids?"

Bless my Dad, he hauls himself out rather quickly. Off we go. Fucking freezing last night and with the shock of it all, we were already shaking, so the cold did not help our cause.

We get to my in-laws in short order (OK, there was a minor incident where I made the truck go sideways in the subdivision on the slick snow...opps....I was a bit preoccupied. Then Gumby yelled at me for driving like a "granny". Nice.)

I'm glad we went, but it was awful. My in-laws were understandably in shock. We stayed for a few hours and hobbled home to relieve my Dad.

Patrick was an interesting person. He was a genius. And honest-to-God genius, with some ridiculous IQ. And he was a pain-in-the-ass. He loved to argue debate and had to be right. And he was a spaz as a teen.

But he was freakin' hilarious. Just when you would resign yourself that he had turned into a complete computer geek, he'd come out with something that I'd be laughing about for days.

And he had the world's biggest heart. His ability to love never ceased to amaze me. It was so pure and good. He loved who he loved and he did it with the same intensity he did everything else in life, which is more that most people can say about their lives.

He broke 3 promises to me. The most trivial being, he was going to go skydiving with me. We like to give my MIL some heart palpitations, keeps her young, heh. Unfortunately we never had that chance.

But he promised me he wouldn't die and wouldn't make me cry.

Because when he left for Iraq after he'd come home for a bit, I was beside myself when he left again. I just didn't want him back there. I wanted him home, where he'd be safe.

And he finally had enough of Iraq and was coming home. For at least a year and we could breathe easy. Because, he had survived all the bombing in Iraq, certainly he could handle a small desert town in California.

I want nothing more for my Patrick to be home with us. Giving my children looks that they are some alien force, but he was so patient with Baby Girl as she would talk his ear off and he smartly would interject a "uh-huh" or "wow" at the appropriate moment. They freaked him out at babies, but as they are older now, he interacted on a more comfortable level, knowing he could actually reason to some degree with them.

And then there's his Godson, Little Man. Little Man adored him and would just hang out, watching him playing video games. I have always been so completely pleased with our choice of Godparents. Each suits each child so well. But now Little Man has lost his Godfather. His uncle.

And I can't stop crying.

And I don't know how to tell my children and how to not scar them.

this fucking sucks monkey butt.

Sunday, February 8, 2009

Grammy Edition of my blog

I'm late.

But I've decided to give the lowdown on my take of the Grammy's.

Jennifer Hudson - Looks great (though I suspect some Spanx was being used..nothing wrong with that, but it's bad if you can see the line). Sang wonderfully.

Jonas Brothers - WTH? Are they the new NKOTB? And I'm trying to figure out if they are really playing guitar.

Craig Ferguson cracked me up, very inappropriate jokes. Katy Perry, I'm not so sure about. I like her songs, but I really find her to be not such a great performer live.

Kanye - Dude, I love you, but what's up with that hair? The 80's called...well, you know the rest.

I'm glad Adele won the Grammy for best new artist, but isn't there some "curse" that goes along with it? That worries me.

Morgan Freeman - Introducing Kenny? Wow. And they're "friends". Goes to show you that Morgan really is a freakin' hippie (nothing wrong with that). I'm loving Kenny as per normal. Continues to feed my bizarre love of all things musical.

Diddy couldn't dress up more? Seriously, you're a good looking man, but a frakin' suit on. Robert Plant and Allison Krause won, good for them. I really need to pick up that CD.

Dean Martin is dead, how the hell is he getting a lifetime achievement award???

GOOD GAWD. Holy preggers. Polka dots were NOT the best way to go. I like M.I.A., but dayum.

OHHHH...TI is looking mightly yummy (when doesn't he?). I do not understand the fascination with L'il Wayne. Jay-Z, always dapper.

Kate Beckinsdale, ohhhh, very yummy. (oh, and M.I.A. is due today, poor thing. I was wondering if she was going to drop that kid right there, ha.).

DAVE GROHL....excuse me while I wipe up the drool from the keyboard.

So my question is this....why wouldn't Sir Paul McCartney have Sir Ringo Starr up there with him? He's obviously the only other living Beatle. Not that I mind Dave drumming, but I just found it odd (of course I wasn't paying enough attention, so was that a tribute to the Beatles or just to Paul? If just Paul, then I get it).

OK, seriously, I like Nicole Kidman, but tone that lipstick down!

Kid Rock is Pop? Oh, I love Jason Mraz. When I met him, he was just so awesome. I hope he wins.

Damn, John Mayer won. I like the damn song, so I guess that's good. thankfully he's sticking with the shorter hair. But what's with that suit?

Jay Mohr, seriously, how did he land Nikki Cox? Knob.

Oh SugarLand! Love 'em. I'd love to see them live, but I'm pretty sure Gumby would spontaneously combust at a "country" concert. I blame my Grandparents for my love of country.

"Grandma, can we listen to xxxx?"

"No. Put the country station on or some Johnny Mathis."

Country it is...Thankfully Garth Brooks was HUGE when I was a teenager, so I've got crazy love for him.

Oh, Adele is on now. I love her voice, but I'm not sure about that dress (or the shoes, actually). Damn that girl can sing (of course so can Jennifer from Sugarland).

HA HA. Trace Adkins wife did NOT look pleased when the camera went to her. (you know for a gal that listens to a lot of "alternative" music, I know much too much about country, oh well).

Radiohead!!!!! With the marching band, how fucking cool is that! Note, I managed to keep swearing to a minimum until Radiohead came on! Fucking genius'.

Wow. I just had my ass blown out. Amazing. And I mildly teared up. I'm at a bit of a loss for words.

Fuck. Now I lost the remote. Fucking thing should have a locator on it.

Sam L. Baby! He is a badass Mo-Fo. Oh, JT and TI. Mmmmm...there's some damn good eye-candy. Isn't T.I. going to jail? Oh, felony possession of firearms. Seriously, why did he need to buy 3 machine guns and 2 silencers?

How did this yutz become president of the Recording Academy? What's his claim to fame?

OK, I'm cool with Ne Yo playing with the "Four Tops" but Jamie Foxx? He annoys me. 'Cause it's all about getting that ass with him. dude, give it a rest. We know you're on the prowl.

Awww, Jordin Sparks looks so cute!

So tired. I have school tomorrow. I may have to postphone the rest of my thoughts until tomorrow......

Christina is schilling for Target?!?

Neil Diamond, Sweet Caroline. 'nuff said.

OK, I stepped away to make the kid's lunches for tomorrow and Gumby laughed quite hard. Apparently during the dead people montage, the dude that wrote the original Batman song was on for all of 3 seconds.

OK, freakin' John Mayer can play, I give him that. Keith Urban, love 'em (back to that whole country thing *sigh*). BB King, could never tire of him.

Apparently John Mayer irritates Gumby as well.

I'm gonna cry, I wanna be done...

Robin Thicke. You know, I don't see how Alan Thicke is his father. Robin is just one freakin' cool cat.

Ok, so I was going to make fun of T Pain, but I have to make fun of myself instead. Here I was all giggling that the Grammy's did a 5-way split screen for the best rap album and I told Gumby that Lil Wayne would win, but I was hoping that either T.I. or Lupe Fiasco would win and when they read Lil Wayne, I was all, "TOLD YOU!". Like he was arguing with me.

I'm an idiot.

OK, I may miss a bit, had to rewind to Radiohead for Gumby. I feel his ass should also be blown out :)

Allison Krause and Robert Plant were awesome.

See, Diddy, take note from Green Day, they wore suits.

I'm rooting for Coldplay for album of the year, but Radiohead is my next choice....

But Robert Plant and Allison Krause get it. They are awesome together, but let's face facts, is that really what the "kids" are listening to. This would be why the Grammy's are criticized for not being "relevant". Whatever.

Hmpf. That was not how I wanted to end.

Shut up Robert, I love the music, stop rambling, you're getting played off.

Nice, they abandoned Stevie in the middle of the stage by himself. Ha.

Well, tune in next for the Oscar's!

Friday, February 6, 2009

'Bout time for updates

School has been back in session for 2 weeks now and holy crap is the intermediate algebra hard. Ding dang, I need to study more. Economics of the Black Community is cool, nothing real ground-breaking yet, but I suspect it will be a lot of fun this semester.

But a class at 8 AM on the UWM campus, when I live in Waukesha is a bit much. Try as I might I'm typically a bit late to class, which sucks, but I'm trying to be better.

Baby Girl is in gymnastics and loving it. I may put Little Man in basketball, but it's 2 nights a week and before Gumby gets home and I'd need someone to watch Baby Girl.

We're going out tonight and tomorrow night! Yowsers, two nights without kids. How about that.

My MIL is still deciding on a single mastectomy versus a double. Today she gets the results from the Geneticist to see if she has the cancer gene. If she does, it will be a double for sure. If not, she still has to decide. She's been out of the hospital for a week now from the other issues. I made them chicken noodle soup, chili and wild rice soup yesterday for freezing, so they will have good stuff on hand.

Next up is some shepherd's pie and a turkey/squash casserole.

The weather is warm today, giving a small taste of spring. I can't wait to not have to bundle the kids up in boots/hats/mittens/snowpants, etc. To just be able to leave when the time comes. Winter is exhausting.

I'm waiting for the new Park and Rec book to come out to sign them up for swim classes. I plan to have them in the water all summer long.

Oscar is getting along better with out Fred, but he still feels he has to be EVERYWHERE we are. And the little bastard really is Gumby's cat. Fucker.