A Post For Two

I owe two people a response.  Mike from rambling stuff tagged me to produce a list of seven odd things about me.  My wife, over at the Corner of Insanity and Chaos posted a poem that I have the match to, so I will be posting that today.

By the way, I started a new blog, The Natural Inquirer.  It is a science blog.  If you think of anything you want a thorough scientific or logical investigation of, just let me know, it will be my pleasure to give it a treatment.

Ok, I was tagged to present you with seven weird or odd things about me.  The challenge will be limiting it to seven. :)

1. Probably the thing that shocks people the most, when they find out, is that I have been married four times.  My first divorce is the result of just not knowing what I was doing.  Poor communication coupled with egocentrism left us frustrated and after five years she wanted to leave.  Wife two and wife three had affairs while I was on military deployments and eventually left me for other men.  Wife four is stuck to me like a booger.  No matter how difficult I am, she shows no signs of wanting to leave me.


2. When I played, I could play the clarinet exceedingly well.  But I could not read music to save my life.


3. I am now a stay at home dad.  Take it from the perspective of a 20 year disabled veteran, raising kids is a real challenge.  A very satisfying and rewarding challenge.  Stay at home parents deserve a lot of respect.


4. I've had a great opportunity to 'get around', mostly due to military necessity.  I might forget a few, but I have been to many states in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Wales, England, Denmark, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Spain, Germany, Sardinia, Kuwait, Turkey and Israel.


5. My wife is a whopping 16 years younger than me.  Fortunately, I am so immature that you can barely tell.


6. I had an opportunity to home school my two oldest kids using the most awesome program ever, called Connections Academy.  If you have kids, check them out.


7. I have four biological children and four step children and two step grand children.  And, I dated one of my step daughters...before I met her mom.

Ok, enough weirdness.  Now for some prose that goes with a poem that my wife recently submitted.  Her poem is Song of Love. My matching prose is called Pink and Orange Carnations.

Written 21 July 2003,

Pink and Orange Carnations

.    Pink and orange carnations, arranged in a bouquet.  Thoughtlessly delivered to a door without a name, they were nearly discarded.  Where did they come from and what do they mean?  There was, at least, a stanza from a poem on the card.    Watching the sun rise   Bathed in golden hues of    Pinks, and orange,   Colors you gave me.    There have been many dark and lonely nights.  Nights filled with tears and remorse.  Nights filled with longing and dreams, for a better day filled with love and happiness.  Night after night, the darkness weighs down, crushing spirits and dimming the glow of soulful fires.    In sadness or misery, in a hurry or just plain inattentiveness, lonely nights run into lonely days and the sunrise is often ignored.  But each day is blessed with a sunrise.  The phoenix reborn from it's ashes.    That new sunrise every morning promises a fresh start.  The rebirth of hope.  It presents a challenge, to make each night's dream today's reality.    So, what do those pink and orange carnations mean?  They are a message, whispered reminders across the miles, there is a new sunrise.  They are a hand, gentle and caring, wiping away those tears.  They are a fresh hope for brighter days and happier nights.    Who are they from?  They are from a messenger of love.  An engineer of hope.  An architect of dreams.  They are from me.

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