The Apples of My Eye

Where in the World is D Today?

Somewhere thinking about his sons.

I am blessed with good genes when it comes to not looking my age. Or Taiwanese people are really bad at guessing my age. I prefer to believe it is more the good genes; Combined with a reasonable diet, exercise, and drinking LOTS of water.

So at the age of 48, yes you read that right, I find myself still standing at the crossroads of being a “Grown Up” or being… well goofy. (More about Crossroads is coming in another blog entry.) If you know anything about me, I lean heavily towards goofy.

Having said that, I am a constant thinker and worrier. I had to grow up early in my life. First of all, it often was not always safe were I grew up. My family knows what I speak of with that statement. If you want to know, you will have to ask me face to face. That dark past will not be a feature of this blog. Anyway………

At the age of 48, you should not be surprised to know that I was once married. I have two wonderful boys, Sean who is 25 years old and married to Marcy. And Tim who is 20 years old and has just finished his Sophomore year at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois. I was a single parent. Time were on occaision very difficult but we learned how to take care of one another. I Love them more than my own life. There is nothing my boys can not ask of me. Sometimes the answer is No, because I love them, but they respect me enough not to ask for the ridiculous. So I don’t say no very often. But I also raised them to be independent and self-sufficient, so they don’t ask often either. So when they ask I know it serious. The parents out there understand, Those wanting to be parents will understand someday.

I still giggle out loud when I say this out loud, and my family can vouch for this. But, I NEVER wanted kids when I was younger. I say without reservation, my children have been without question the Greatest source of Joy I’ve had in my life. I am so blessed by them. I miss them terribly here in Taiwan. But I also would not be in Taiwan if it were not for them.

They wanted me to come. To have an adventure, and be able to experience more of what life has to offer; things you can’t do when you’re raising kids. (Boys I hope I characterized our multiple conversations appropriately in that one sentence.)

So now let me introduce to you the two true loves of my life; The Apples of their fathers Eyes, Sean and Tim. The first picture is of Sean (left), Sharese – their cousin, and Tim (right). Yes, Sharese is that short! The women in my family are not blessed with great height. The next picture is of me and the boys on the day of Sean’s wedding. The third picture is one on my Favorite pictures of Sean with his wife Marcy. (I will now acknowledge your curiosity at this point. No Sean does not look Black/African-American. He sometimes like to call himself “White Chocolate” which makes everyone both giggle and roll their eyes. And yes, there is more to the story. BUT, I assure you he is MY son.) And the last is one of my favorite pictures of Tim. He was the lead singer and bassist for the band Thunderclap Douglas and the Eight Track Groove.