Bugs Palace!

Finally the winter appears to be behind us! It wasn’t a particularly bad winter, just felt like it went on forever. Just when the weather started looking good – BAM another 5cm of snow. I don’t want to jinx it, but I feel it has finally ended.

Spring means baseball! And boy does my little family love baseball. The kids have been fully taken in by my favourite sport, and it has been awesome! They have really taken an interest in watching MLB games with Shannon and I and really doing well at learning more of the rules and nuances of the games. Pretty sure they can name nearly every starting player on the Yankees. LOVE it. Also, with spring comes the kids baseball as well! Started about 6 weeks ago with some indoor spring training and also a pitching clinic for Abby. Both have been doing very well! And when at home, anytime there is a free moment, one ore both are outside playing catch with each other or the trampoline we have turned on its end to throw against. Shaping up to be a super fun summer!

Earlier in this month, Joe celebrated his first Holy Communion. Boy was suited up and looking super slick. He did great with his reading and singing and was very proud of himself for doing it. Shannon, myself and the rest of the family couldn’t be more proud. Good job buddy!

Garage update: slow and steady. We’ve hired someone to do some drawings for us to take to the building department. First revision looked great. Needed some minor adjustments to the ceiling height in the garage to allow for the hoist, but overall they are coming along nicely. Hoping for a “final draft” in the near future. Once we have those, it’s time for pricing out the job (materials and labour) and then its time to go to the bank and figure out how to pay for this. So close, yet still so far away. Still cautiously optimistic that we will be breaking ground this summer.

Vehicle updates: Bug is still sleeping. Nothing has been done to the bike other then riding every chance I get. Put some decent km’s on already. Shannon bought me a new helmet for my birthday. So far, I am loving it. It is a Sena Momentum Lite. Basically a helmet with Sena communicator built into it. Quality is excellent. Its breaking in to fit my head perfectly, and the Bluetooth stuff works very very well. Thanks again wifey!  Sierra has a new set of shoes on her. 20″ OEM wheels. Also, I have a small stack of parts in the garage waiting to be installed as well a few more parts on order. Hoping to have everything on hand by end of next week for a install blitz during my holiday from May 19-27. The Jeep has it’s on stash of parts as well! 3 new lights for the light bar are ready for install, as well as 2 more to be installed on the A-pillars with new mounts are sitting at the mailbox ready for pickup. Should be a fairly straight forward job, just lots of wiring to get figured out. Goal is to have all the parts for the Sierra/Sahara installed by June 1.

How the hell did I get here? Well, I guess if I have to be 40, I may as well make it fabulous ;-). Seriously though, I’d like to start by saying a huge thank you to everyone who took time to wish me a happy birthday. I love you all!

Birthdays are a time to think about the past, the present and the future. And with that, I think more about family and friends who were part of my life as I grew from childhood, through my teens and into adulthood; and about the people who I’ve lost through time, distance, or from passing. I think about the people who are in my life now, the people who are important to me each day in their own ways. I also start to think to the future. Who will remain close to me? Who will drift away? Who will become new friends?

I’ve been fortunate to have a lifetime full of people who mean the world to me. Whoever said “siblings and cousins will be your first best friends” probably didn’t even consider how fortunate people like me would be. I’ve got the best cousins anyone could ever ask for – even the ones who aren’t part of my daily life. Add to them amazing aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, in-laws, and grandparents – fortunate is the understatement of the year!

Outside of the family, I can happily say I’ve been just as fortunate. The “crew” may not as big as it once was, but the friends who have stayed in my life these past few years and those who are new friends are some phenomenal people. People I know that at a moments notice, I can depend on them being at my side. The measure of a friend is not how often you see each other, or get together… It’s about how easily things fall back into place the moment we’re together.

And of course, I wouldn’t be here without my parents. Birthdays really have nothing to do with the person celebrating. They had nothing to do with it! The day should be about recognizing the amazing people who are still two of the most important people in my life. Saying I wouldn’t be the man I am now without you; or that I would be lost without you in my life is putting it mildly. I think daily of what you guys would do with nearly every option I face. I still do whatever I can to make you both proud. It’s as important to me now as it was when I was just a little boy.

And if those amazing parents are the reason that I am who I am today, – then Shannon, Abby and Joe are the reasons I continue to try and improve every single day. To be the best husband and father that I can be. There are days that I struggle, but they make me want to be better at everything I do.  My day starts with the 3 of them in my thoughts and heart, and my nights end with them too. And pretty much every thought in between. Everything I do is for my beautiful, brilliant, loving wife and our perfect miniature versions of us.

To my wife, our kids, my family and my friends – I love you all with all my heart. Thank you for always being there. In my next 40 years, I will strive to be as important to you, as you all have been to me.

I just want to wish my beautiful wife the happiest of birthdays. I know she has been dreading this one coming for quite some time. She has no reason to. She’s as beautiful and young at heart as she was when I first fell in love with her over 18 years ago.

In those 18 years she has went from a beautiful, goofy, (semi)hard working student and waitress – to a hardworking and dedicated employee, wife and mother of two. As she worked up the ranks from a private office in Burlington to the City of Hamilton she kept proving over and over just how much smarter she is than I. At this point, I realized I had to marry this woman.

I married my best friend; my better half; the woman I love.

She continued working and upgrading her skills through more online and night courses than I can count. She switched jobs to Haldimand County. It was during this time we started our family. We have been blessed with two amazing children – Abby and Joe. Being a Mom has proven just one more task for Shannon to amaze me with. She is a wonderful mother and our kids couldn’t be luckier. There isn’t another person on the planet that I would rather have as the mother of my children.

As the kids got bigger and maternity leaves came and went, she focused on finishing her OPPI (fancy planning accreditation). One more job job change to Norfolk County and a handful of additional courses and she finally finished off the OPPI and became a member! (Still very proud!). At Norfolk County, Shannon seems to finally be in a place where she feels at home. She loves her job and the people she works with.  And she even seems to like the challenges it brings. It has been a long time since I’ve seen her actually excited and enjoying going to work. — Well…. As much as one can enjoy working I guess….

In the last year or so, as our lives seem to be finally be at a point where things are slowly coming together. Challenges come but together we have been doing a pretty good job of staying ahead of them. As things seem to be coming together, I am seeing more and more of the goofy, fun loving, caring, beautiful girl that I fell in love with nearly 2 decades ago. I couldn’t be more proud of the mother that you are; the woman you have became and the wife that I love.

You are still a Jackass. But you are my Jackass. 40 Looks great on you. Enjoy it!

Love you.