2023
You have to imagine how stressful fifty four years of being Elvis Presley’s daughter really was. This is a celebrity death that doesn’t hit me hard.
Prince, Walter Payton, David Bowie, Robin Williams… those were painful losses.
It happens in three’s most of the time. So who are the other two celebrities that will be tied to Lisa Marie? It sure as hell better not be Willie Nelson! That will be a hard one to take.
Dead Pools were always a New Year tradition on the trading floor. There was some big money thrown around at the expense of pop art life. The trick was picking someone young who didn’t live a real volatile life.
It was easy to pick someone long in the tooth, but if you parlayed a long shot into your selections… you’d win a nice chunk of change. Someone picked the girl from TLC and made a boatload of money one year. It will go down in Chicago Board of Trade history, “the Rosemary Clooney, Mayor Bilandic, “Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes Dead Pool.” I know I was in the running because I took Dudley Moore that year.
Today in Boston a statue will be unveiled before the MLK weekend. It’s a bronze statue of arms. The arms of Doctor King and his wife Coretta. It is designed after the embrace Mrs King gave here husband after he won the Nobel prize for peace.
Speaking of embracing…. I’ll continue to embrace this weather tightly. Very little snow and one Arctic blast so far this winter. I know we are going to get jagged over in March or April. We are going to pay the price for a mild winter in someway. Probably at the Saint Patrick’s Day parade when it is twelve degrees and my Guinness freezes up.
Have a great Friday and don’t worry about today’s date.
2022
In August of 2006 my life changed for the better. I was forty years old and I finally became a man. I became a father.....
I was given the gift of a son. A son that was high maintenance right off the bat. I didn't know any better because I was new at this parent thing.
He walked right away, he talked right away (loud and quickly), he was reading right away....
He was also having difficulty sleeping every night, he was putting playground chips in his mouth all the time, he was taking off his itchy clothes all the time and he was pushing his mother and I to our limits all the time.
We couldn't find the right daycare or a perfect babysitter and the stress was getting thick around the house.
One day I told a guy at work that I was starting to understand why crackheads throw their crying babies out of six floor windows.
My ex wife tried homeopathic methods, she tried diets, she tried everything. She found therapists. She got him an IEP and that was a blessing. Finally we took him to get tested.
When the Doctor told us our son was on the Autistic Spectrum my ex wife started crying. "Mrs. Shepley.... the halls at Northwestern and the University of Chicago are full of kids Like George!"
I have watched George go from being a boy on the Spectrum to becoming a young man on the Spectrum. He has watched me grow older as well.
Many of us have a Special Needs Child. From Autism to Downs Syndrome to Diabetes.
The thing is these are not handicaps... these are lights that shine differently.
We all belong in a category..... all with different challenges.... all with endless possibilities.
Parenthood brings the joy and pain of watching our children grow and without knowing it our children are watching us grow as well.
I hear my dad everyday say, "Did you give them a good example before you blew your top?"
I wonder where my dad came up with that brilliant theory..... Live and Learn!
Our job as Parents is to leave the world a better us.... I'm better than Don Shepley and George will be better than me....
Monday night everyone should go out and howl at the full moon!
Already the middle of January and this winter has been uneventful! Let’s keep it that way!
2020
Already the middle of January and this winter has been uneventful! Let’s keep it that way!
So we got a little more snow then predicted... enjoy a Sunday Funday! Geaux Saints!
Cold Saturday just gonna cook dinner and binge watch TV programs! Tomorrow though.... Sunday Funday Geaux Saints!
.......the 4th grade waterboy for Saint Cletus will have a bottle of your finest please!
