On October 23, 1999 I said "I do". Nine years seems like it flew by. Not every single day has been the romantic ending of a Nicholas Sparks novel or a perfect scene in a Tom Hanks/Meg Ryan movie. But more days have been than have not! In nine years of marriage I have learned several things...

First, I can choose to be right, or I can choose to be happy. If you know me well, you know that I'm usually smiling.

Second, I have learned that after Gina leaves this Earth behind, she will no doubt be eligible for sainthood for the miracle of putting up with me!

And third, in every marriage there are clearly defined roles. To have a great marriage you must know your role and perform it. And gentleman, don't be so naive as to think that you have a say in your role. Your role will be thrust upon you whether you like it or not and whether you are able to perform it or not. Let me share with you my roles...

I get to kill things in our house.

I get to pick up things outside of our house.

I get to answer the door when certain people come to our house.

I get to fix things that break in our house.

I get to make sure that I have unwrinkled clothes when I leave our house.

I get to hang things from our house.

Last night Gina and I had an awesome evening, celebrating our 9th wedding anniversary. It started with wine tasting at the Irvine Hyatt, sponsored by one of the wine vendors from my work. Then we went to The District in Irvine and had a nice dinner at J.T Schmid's. Then we played a couple of games of bowling at Strike. When then walked around, got a coffee and wandered in and out of some shops.

Then it happened...as we walked to our car we saw two gals trying to change a flat tire. We were almost passed them when I thought, I'd better do the gentlemanly thing and offer some assistance. One girl was struggling with the jack and the other girl was standing by her and watching. I said, "Are you girls ok? Do you need some help?" The girl standing watching turned to me and said, "I don't have a tire iron." Then she totally staggered and almost tripped to the ground as she turned to me, to which I replied..."or the ability to walk appearently." It was an innocent wine enduced comment. I was trying to make light of her situation. However her situation happened to be MS, or cerebral palsy, or a wooden leg, or something else that causes her to walk with a ginormaous limp. Just then AAA pulled up and I quickly walked to our car pretending that didn't just happen.

I thought Gina was going to piss herself from laughing at me on the way home.

In the words of my dear friend Kristi, "Jon is an ASS!"

Last weekend Gina, the kids, and I along with seventeen other west coast Michells traveled to Fort Wayne Indiana to celebrate my Grandma Michell's 100th birthday. What an adventure. First of all traveling with twenty-one Michells on one plane was quite an experience! I'll let your mind wander with that one.

We had a great time. All of my aunts, uncles, cousins, great aunts & uncles and second cousins were there for the celebration. It started Saturday afternoon in the basement of Forest Park Methodist Church for refreshments and cake. This is the same church that all three of her children got baptized and married in. The same church that most all of my cousins and I were baptized in. The same church that she work at as the church secretary. The same church that most of my cousins were married in. The same church where my dad would sneek in the the boiler room and smoke cigarettes on the nights that grandma would drop him off for youth group. And the same church that we held funeral services for Grandpa Michell in, several years ago.

After that grandmas immediate family (her three children and their descendants) had a big dinner in a banquet room at the hotel where all of the west coast crew was staying. A lot of speeches, wine and tears made for a wonderful night!

While researching 1908, the year of Grandma's birth, I was amazed to find out some of the highlights of that year...

The year began with the first ever ball dropped in Times Square for New Year's Eve...

...the Cubs win the World Series (for the last time)...

...Ford launched his Model T...

...Robert Baden-Powell founded the Boy Scouts...

...England hosted the IV (that's fourth!) Olympiad...

...and it was the first Mother's Day!



Here are some pictures of all the festivities...

This is Grandma with a beautiful bouquet of 101 red roses. One rose for each of her birthdays and one for next year.

My sister had all of Grandma's twenty great-grandchildren make a square for this quilt by tracing their hand and coloring it. Then she pieced them all together. (That's not a really big quilt, that's a really short woman, under five foot!)

My Aunt Sharon read a proclamation from Indiana Governor, Mitchell Daniels, recognizing Grandma as a distinguished Hoosier. (It's pretty cool when your cousin is the special assistant to the Governor of Indiana!)

We also got to visit with my mom's mom who is a spring chicken at 94.

And no trip Fort Wayne is complete, without a visit to John "Johnny Appleseed" Chapman's grave!

I'm giving away only one, so hurry up and be the first one to contact me or you might miss out on this once in a lifetime opportunity!
If you want a myopic, eighty-nine year old, dirty-white, American Eskimo, she's yours.
You must be willing to deal with a few issues. She eats only boiled chicken, plain rice cakes, and outrageously expensive kibble that can only be bought from her vet. You must be ok with non stop barking that sounds like an elderly woman that has smoked since she was twelve. Periodic vomit, that is really just her last six drinks of water with a few blades of grass, must not upset you. Flatulence so bad that GITMO, has deemed it cruel and unusual punishment must not be a problem for you. She has absolutely no concept of where she is, in relation to other objects in the room. This causes her to walk too slowly in front of you or, makes her try to occupy the space that you are currently occupying. You should be willing to scrape crud out of her Sammy Davis Jr. eyes every forty-five minutes. And please, do not forget to administer her phenobarbital every morning or theses issues may worsen!

If interested, call me ASAP. And please, don't tell Gina or her grandmother about this. It will be our little secret. I just have to figure out what to tell them!

Tomorrow is a day of remembrance at Dylan and Megan's school. All the kids will be wearing red, white, and blue and there will be a moment of silence. At dinner tonight we were talking about it. Megan asked what we will be remembering tomorrow. Gina explained that it is a day to remember a bunch of people that died.
The kids immediately began listing names of dead relatives. "You mean like Grandma Birdie?" "Are we remembering Grandpa Gundry?"
Gina and I started to explain it, but just tapped danced around the subject. I guess we felt that it was too much for a kindergartner and a second grader to digest during family dinner.
Then I thought, where do I want my children to hear about important things like 9/11? From friends making casual comments about it, or wait until they get old enough to surf the web and come across idiotic conspiracy theories like 'Loose Change'?

So I began to explain it to them as best as I could and realized how do you sum up such a horrific cowardly act to your child. How do you make them understand that there are people in this world that hate them, simply because of where there were born. How do you explain to them that tomorrow they might see mommies, daddies, teachers and friends cry for people they never met. How do you make them feel safe and let them know this won't happen to them. How do you let them know that there won't be terrorists on our plane in October when we travel to Indiana for their Great-Grandmother's 100th birthday party.

I guess you just do your best. You put it plainly and simply and if they have more questions, they'll ask. And at the end of the night you tuck them into bed, kiss their check, and snuggle them a little tighter, and pray.

Is this really all there was to talk about in the news today?

I cannot wait until the first Wednesday of November.

I always wondered what happened to the dad on ALF.

Apparently he's changed his name to Joe and he's stumping for McCain.