I began this writing project with the intention of it being a tribute to my mother. This idea came from a Christian couple’s weekend that Billie and I spent together earlier this year (2008) in St. Augustine, Florida. One of the references spoke of how rewarding this type of written exercise is to anyone needing a way to remember the great things that your mother did for you and of course your family.

After working on an outline of memorial events and trying to describe them, I first found that my father was intertwined it the memories much more than I had realized and the good times were many more than I had ever envisioned. So, I then started including all my memories and telling each story as best as I could remember with all the family members, not just Mom, talked about as a complete event or activity. I also have found that this is more about my life and how my parents, brother, Tom, wives, children and grandchildren, extended family and close friends have played their individual roles in making me the person that I was and am today. So, here we go with a revised version of a long and mostly boring story of my life and its high lights and some low lights.