My first blog post...

Almost 3 years ago, I made a blog post on my MySpace account. I went on there today just to see if I had any email or anything, and I saw this post:

"Saturday, May 05, 2007

Saying goodbye... Saying goodbye has got to be one of the hardest things to do. It was really tough the other night, because I had to say goodbye to my Rottweiler, McKayla. I had her since the day she was born in 2000. I watched her grow, raised her the best I could, and enjoyed every day that she was with me. A few years ago, it was determined that she had hip displacia in both of her back hips...which means that her hip joints basically didn't exist. Her hips were being held together by muscle, and nothing else. It was tough on her, especially standing up after laying down for a while. But she would never hesitate to run around the back yard and play with me, even if she would hurt. She wouldn't stop until I did. So, Wednesday night, I made the decision to ease her pain. I'm going to miss her, but she's not hurting now, and that's what gives me comfort. R.I.P. McKayla 11/13/00-05/03/07" The pictures are the only pics of her that I have at my apartment, and I had to take pictures of pictures with my phone to get the top 2. The first one is of her at 6 weeks old. The second one is of me and her at the top of Hanging Rock...even with her bad hips. The bottom picture is the last picture I ever took of her.

The holidays...

I don't keep up with this enough as I should. There's always so much going on that I could talk about, but it's also keeping me so busy that I don't think about keeping track of it here. And I want to keep it updated so that people can keep track of me...but the people that I'm most concerned with keeping up with me find out over the phone, for the most part. But I'll try to be better...

So...it's the holiday season. This is a great time of the year because I get to see my family more...especially the nieces and nephew. Don't get me wrong, I love seeing my whole family...but the kiddos are so much fun. Mom's side of the family got together for our annual shopping day for Toys 4 Tots. It was fun, as always. My nieces and nephew are getting so big! I love seeing them and being able to play with them.

Work has been really busy. We just had our Breakfast with Santa event yesterday where we had right at 450 people come through to see Santa. Then, I met dad to look at some motorcycles. After that, I met Casey, Erin, and Ainsley at Costco for a little bit. Saturday evening, we went to dad's church for their holiday dinner. Then I went to a friend's house for a little while that I haven't seen lately. It was a very busy day!

This morning, I helped mom get all of her Christmas stuff out of the attic. She asked me if I need anything to decorate my apartment. I told her I don't get enough company to need decorations, but if company comes around, I know where I can get decorations ;)

Halloween, volunteer dinner, and other stuff...

The weekend after Casey and Erin moved back to NC was Halloween weekend. Kory and Allen were having a birthday party for CJ's 4th birthday, so I went back to Raleigh for the weekend. It was cute to see CJ and all of her friends at the party. She was a princess, and so were a couple of her friends. I spent alot of time chasing Ainsley around, so it's a good thing I took a nap with Rylee before the party.

Casey and I also did some stuff around their new house...put up some shelves, moved the desk from the top floor to the basement, and helped Uncle Ray run some wiring in the basement. It was also determined that I will be Uncle Ray's apprentice so that someone has an idea of how to do wiring when Uncle Ray can't anymore. I think Dane probably has a pretty good handle on it, but I don't mind learning a little about a new trade.

While I was in Raleigh, my laptop decided to crash on me. There's a few things that I lost, but I think I can salvage them from old emails and stuff. So now I'm in the market for a new one...at some point. J.R. is letting me use a laptop of his for right now, so I'm not gonna rush into it. But I'm leaning towards a Mac for my next computer. We'll see.

Last week was a busy week for me. At the YMCA I work for, we had a recognition dinner for the volunteers that have donated their "Time, Talent & Treasure" (that was the name of the dinner) to our Y over the past 12 months. We sent out over 700 invitations, and had over 250 attendees. It was great to see all the volunteers and reflect on everything they do for us.

Speaking of reflecting, I spent Tuesday reflecting on the past 11 years. Alot of memories played over and over in my mind...and it made my day great. Ultimately, the day didn't end the way I had hoped, but I capped it off by watching The Notebook...and that helped a little. Maybe soon...

What a trip!

Well, Casey, Erin, and Ainsley are back in NC! I woke up Friday morning at 3:15 in Raleigh to catch a flight at 6 AM to Texas. I landed in Texas 4 hours later, and met Erin and Ainsley in the airport. I gave her my keys so she could pick up my car when she landed. Then I went out and went with Casey to pick up the second truck so we could finish loading everything. We loaded until 4:30, and then I went to dinner with the ladies I use to work with at the YMCA in Texas. It was so good to see them.

I got back from dinner at 6 PM, and Casey and I were on the road around 6:10. We drove until 6:45 AM Saturday, and we decided to take a short break. We pulled over at a rest stop and slept in the trucks for about an hour. Then, we pushed on to Raleigh.

We finally arrived in Raleigh around 6:45 PM on Saturday. We unloaded a couple things that needed to come off of the trucks (with the help of some folks from the church ward they will be attending), then Casey and I went up the street to grab a bite to eat. When we got back, we both stretched out on the floor in the living room and fell asleep. We figured it out while we were getting dinner...I had been up for 41 hours, and Casey had been up for 38 hours.

I woke up the next morning around 8, and mom, Ronnie, and I started unloading a truck. We got most of 1 truck unloaded by the time Casey, Erin, Erin's mom, and Ainsley got there. A little later, Kory, Allen, CJ, and Rylee came over to help, and then Hannah, Brandon and Brayden shortly after that. We got everything unloaded, and I headed back to Charlotte around 4:30. After dropping Ronnie off at their house, I ended up back at my apartment around 8 PM last night.

It's wonderful to have all of the family in NC now...but Casey and I both agreed that we wouldn't be doing that again. At least, not anytime soon.

I hadn't seen Ainsley in 3 months, and when I saw her at the airport, she looked at me like she knew who I was, but wasn't exactly sure how. Well, yesterday, I walked by the kitchen and saw her with Erin. I stopped, looked at her and smiled, and she looked at me and said "Bob" and came running over to me! She finally remembered who I was! I'm so glad that all of my nieces and nephews are within easy driving distance now!

I spoke to a friend of mine today who was worried about us driving, and I told them about the trip. When they found out that we only stopped for 1 hour for rest, they were not very happy with me. They said that I told them that we would stop and get a hotel, and that was what kept them from completely freaking out. I didn't remember saying anything about a hotel, but they said that I did, and it was a good thing that they thought that we would. I'm happy to have such a good friend that cares about me like that. :)

Going to Texas

Well, in just under a week, I will be flying back to Texas. Casey, Erin, and Ainsley are moving to NC!!! I'm so excited to have them in NC, even though they will still be a couple hours away. But it will be nice to be able to go visit with them. I'm going out to help Casey finish packing up, then we'll be putting Erin's car behind a moving truck and driving back. It's gonna take 2 trucks, so that's why I'm going out. Erin will be flying out about an hour and a half after I land, so that she and Ainsley don't have to make the long drive. I'm only gonna be in Texas for 1 night, then we'll drive back Saturday and arrive in Raleigh on Sunday...at least, that's the plan.

This coming Thursday, I'm planning on driving up to Greensboro to meet Nicholas Sparks on his book tour for "The Last Song". I've already read the book, and it's pretty good. The movie comes out next year, along with "Dear John"...another book-turned-movie from Nicholas Sparks.

I'm trying out a new phone...the Blackberry Storm. I had to take the original one back to the store because it started acting up, so they gave me a brand new one. So far, it's doing good. We'll see how it goes. This is why I wanted to try it out though. I'll use it until the end of the year, and if everything is still going good, I'll stick with it. Otherwise, I'll get a new phone.

The nieces and nephews are growing like weeds. Allen just sent me a video of CJ dancing and singing...very cute! I haven't seen CJ and Rylee much, and it's kind of frustrating. Working part-time makes it tough to make the drive to Raleigh. I get to see them Thursday night because I'll be staying there to be able to get to the airport at Raleigh for a 6 AM flight. I hope that things work out sooner than later to where I can visit more without having to worry about gas.

Work is going great! I love the YMCA that I work for. The people are great, and the atmosphere is awesome! There's always something going on, which keeps it interesting. And the events are great! We had our fall festival, we just had our Grand Opening for our new Teaching Kitchen, and we are coming up on our Volunteer Recognition Dinner. This dinner is big for me, because it's honoring all the folks that I coordinate. We had 700 volunteers devote their time over the past 12 months. That's an amazing sense of devotion to the community!

Dad, JR, and I went to the Panthers/Redskins game this past weekend. We got to witness thier first win of the season! And Kory said that a guy from her office got engaged during the break between the 1st and 2nd quarters. Then, after the game, we were walking out of the stadium and bumped into Raymond Hoover (Brad Hoover's dad). I don't think I've seen him since I was in high school. It's always nice to run into people that you haven't seen in a while.

Anyway, just thought I would update since I hadn't in a while. I will try to update more regularly.

31 on the 31st

I'm 31 now. Time flies by doesn't it? I mean, I look at C.J., and it seems like yesterday that Kory and Allen handed me the card for my birthday telling me that I was going to be an uncle...and that was 4 years ago now. I can still remember holding Ainsley for the first time when I moved back to Texas last summer...now she has already had her 1st birthday. And every time I see Rylee and Brayden, I can tell that they are growing faster than anyone wants them to.

It puts into perspective that you need to make sure you cherish the moments you have. Take time to spend time with the ones you love, and tell them that you love them. Even if that means being up at 3:30 in the morning and putting it on your blog.

It's always nice when people remember your birthday. Knowing that they are thinking about you, and they take time out of what they have going on to let you know they are thinking about you gives me a wonderful feeling. People ask "what do you want for your birthday?" I never have an answer for that, because I try not to get wrapped up in material things. But now I know what I want for my birthday every year...even if it's in the middle of the night. : )

So another year starts, and even though I didn't have any candles in my cake this year, I made a wish. And I have always heard that if you tell your wish, then it won't come true. So I will keep it to myself, but it's nice how parts of the wish come true so quickly.

It gets hard sometimes...

I was checking some of my email on different websites this morning, and I came across an email that had a couple songs in it. I have been listening to them over and over this morning...my mind wandering...my heart with mixed feelings of loneliness and heartache, but overpowered by feelings of complete joy in listening to the words of those songs.

I have been back in NC since July 10th. I love being back here...getting to be so close to most of my family (all of my family soon)...being with an organization where there could be wonderful opportunities for growth and to make a difference...and being close to a really good friend...that I would like to hear from ; )

I see my nieces and nephew, hold them and play with them, and I start wishing for that for myself...to have a small someone of my own to take care of, to watch grow, and to love. That's a hope and dream of mine. But for now, I don't mind giving my attention and love to my wonderful nieces and nephew.

I know the majority of this post doesn't follow the title I chose for this blog, and probably sounds a little like a Nicholas Sparks book. But it's what was on my mind this morning, so thanks for bearing with me.

By the way, Nicholas Sparks will be in Greensboro for a book signing in a couple months...and you know I'll be there for it, and to get his new book..."The Last Song"...which they say is being turned into a movie. They also have said that his book "Dear John" is already in the works as a movie. Just to update those of you who like his stuff. I'm on his fanpage on Facebook, so I get updates : )