Be gone, you!

So it's Wednesday morning, and I'm sitting on my couch instead of at work. The same cold I seem to get every winter has hit me exceptionally hard this year. It started the day after Christmas in what I thought was just a normal reaction to eating too much food. Three days later I still couldn't stray far from the toilet, and had since found out I wasn't alone in my flu symptoms. At least ten of my friends/family had the same exact issues within the same exact time frame, and all of them had been put out of commission the same way I had. Yikes.

I felt better by New Years, so my Lady and I travelled to Ft. Wayne to see our friends Andrew & Lyndsay. Andrew was one of the friends who had been suffering with me (and who I jokingly blamed for giving it to me in the first place), so it was good to see him doing better as well, and even better that neither of our women had contracted the dreadful toilet issues. Unfortunately, those good feelings were short lived and both of them came down with it the next week.

To make it worse, my Lady came down with a cold almost at the same time. The cold brought with it sneezing, coughing, runny nose, fever, and headaches. (We're still blaming Andrew for this as well, as he had a cold when we left Ft. Wayne.) My weak immune system couldn't handle the new junk in the air and I quickly came down with the same cold.

After a week of hacking and blowing my nose, my body completely broke down and last Saturday morning found me with the telltale facial pains of a sinus infection. By Monday, that had turned into swollen glands and strep throat. With the all-too-recent memories of my joint issues at the beginning of 2010 that were a direct result of a viral strep infection, I immediately called my Doctor. I'm a huge advocate of letting the body take care of itself, but I just couldn't risk another round of joint damage this close to the AT.

So, I'm home for three days getting over being contagious, still sniffling, still coughing, and my head still throbbing. I am so done being sick. It's sapping away my vacation time, it's keeping me from working out, and it's keeping me from spending valuable time with my Lady. Grrrr.............

My list of, "Still need to do..."

Since Christmas, much of my thought-processes have been centered around my upcoming Appalachian Trail thru-hike. Keeping with that, I just posted a new journal entry on my Trail Journal page. If you haven't checked it out yet, look at my blogroll right over there ------------------->
and click on the Uncle Sam link. To go directly to the post, click HERE. In these last three months, much of my focus will be on the hike, so if you haven't done so yet, make sure you familiarize yourself with my Trail Journals page, because that's the only place you'll find me after the end of March.

Sunday stealing on a Tuesday

I'm trying to keep my mind off my Dad, so I thought I'd do some stealing from MeMe Kimmy's blog.

1. What did you do in 2011 that you’d never done before? Got divorced.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year? Didn't make any and I didn't make any this year either.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth? My friends Betsy, Megan, and Jen all had a baby. Not the same one, of course, but they all had one.

4. Did anyone close to you die? My old man, Farley cat. I miss him every day.

5. What countries did you visit? None!

6. What would you like to have in 2012 that you lacked in 2011? Get to that magic weight of 250. Only 20 or so pounds to go.

7. What dates from 2011 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? You'd think my divorce date would have stuck with me, but I can't remember it even now. But September 9th is huge to me as it's the day of my first date with my Lady.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? I found a peace with myself I wasn't sure I'd ever find. It was such a calming year for me.

9. What was your biggest failure? Overall, I feel really good about the year, so I choose not to answer this question.

10. What was the best thing you bought? My boots for my AT thru-hike. Man I love those things.

11. Whose behavior merited celebration? I'll echo Kimmy and say myself. I feel really good about where I was in comparison to where I'm at now. Thanks for the kudo's, Kimmy. I feel good.

12. Whose behavior made you appalled and disgusted? Same as Kimmy: a few people, but I would never name names.

13. What song will always remind you of 2011? Not so much a song, but a CD. Abraham James... Storytellers.

14. What do you wish you’d done more of? Hike.

15. What do you wish you’d done less of? Be negative.

16. Did you fall in love in 2011? Yes, yes I did.

17. What was your favorite new TV program? Parenthood.

18. What was the best book you read? The Shack.

19. What one thing would have made your year measurably more satisfying? Saving more money.

20. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2011? I came into a discovery of wearing better clothes with my new weight. I've enjoyed being told I look good.

21. What kept you sane? My own peace, and of course my Lady.

22. Who did you miss? My Farley cat, and my parents.

23. Who was the best new person you met? My Lady, of course. She really is my better half and makes me a better person just by being around.

24. Tell us a valuable lesson you learned in 2011? Learn to like yourself, that's the key to true happiness.

25. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year. I like Kimmy's so I'll steal it: I’m on the edge of glory, and I’m hanging on a moment with you!

2011 In Review

I started out this year of eleven sure it was going to be a sad testament to an otherwise glorious number. In fact, if you had told me when the ball dropped to end the old year and welcome the year of eleven would be anything other than the worse year of my life, I felt I would have had an argument against your case. In sharp contrast, I'm the happiest I may have ever been. But before I end this post right there, here's a blow-by-blow of Sam's 2011...

• The year started out with my marriage of thirteen plus years ending. At that point I really couldn't see what life would look like without my wife, but I really couldn't see it being anything worthwhile. As almost everyone close to us saw it, it was more like a death than a divorce; so much grief with no real explanation. What a horrible way to start a new year.


• While the previous ten months had been bad enough, a few days before the annual Jamaican Party, I sat alone in front of a stereo speaker listening to a single song and crying my eyes out as I waited for my Ell to walk in the door that she would never walk through again. The devastation of realizing she was truly gone was the lowest of lows I had ever emotionally been in my life. It was the rock bottom I'd heard about in many psychological conversations, even though I couldn't see it at the time. By the time the night was over, all of my emotions, from good to bad and everything in between, were gone. I was blank.


• Two days later I held the fourteenth annual Jamaican Party. It was a starkly different party than all thirteen before it, and to this very day, I barely remember anything from that night except knowing it shouldn't have happened. Many tried to make it a good time, but it was somber at very best.


• After the emptying of hitting rock bottom, I got back into the dating game in the form of a hot, sassy, hundred pound blond girl eleven years my younger. The relationship was fast in every form of the word, and on the eve of St. Patrick's Day, turned out to be a little too fast. At four am, I left her drunk and naked on her bed, too much of a gentleman to follow through on the thing she was literally begging me do. It was not the best moment in my adult life, but it turned out to be exactly what I needed. This cute little blond wanted me just because I was me, and to the heart in my chest that had been so painfully rejected, that may as well have been an angel singing. It was truly a turning point for me.


• Over the next few months leading into summer, I began to realize what I had actually lost, when I had actually lost it, what I was actually missing, and where I had actually lost it. Despite still never having any kind of a real conversation with Ell about our failures, I accepted them. In stark contrast to all the pretending I'd been doing for so long, I finally became alright with what my life looked like as a single man. Before long, I had settled into a peace that was evident to all around me.


• As soon as that peace settled on my spirit, I set some new goals for myself including my health. Before the summer was over I had crossed the fifty pound mark in my weight loss and was still losing.


• September dawned with the event of the year, the Columbiana Street Fair. Friday night I decided to walk the Fair with a young lady I'd met a few months previous. That night turned into another night, and then a hike a few days later, then a dinner the next Friday, and then more and more and more. At a moment in my life where I was not looking for companionship of any kind, in walked a Lady that seemed to have been made especially for me by God himself. There's more to this relationship than could possibly fit into a whole post let alone a single bullet point, so I'll just say the relationship is still going strong and I'm as happy as I've ever been in any relationship in my life.


• In the ever-present goal of thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail, I sold my Log House in November and then held the, "Last Party in the Log House" two weeks later. It was a great time to celebrate memories and to allow my friends to leave their last mark (literally) on this page in my life.


• In December, my Lady decorated the most beautiful tree in the history of Christmas in the living room of my Log House. It was a beautiful moment only made better Christmas Eve as my Lady and I opened our presents under the glow of its lights and bulbs.

2011 turned out much different than I thought it would, and as much as anyone thinks they can guess what the future holds, I sit here in wondrous anticipation of what 2012 holds for me. I share a toast to all of you and wish you the best that life has to offer in this new year. Cheers and love to all of you.

Some post Christmas ramblings

So....... the question post kinda fell flat. I'll pretend it was because people were super busy with the holiday even though it was probably cuz no one cares about my secrets. :)

I've been on the planet for thirty seven Christmas days, and it wasn't until this year that I realized ham is a staple of that traditional dinner. I grew up enjoying very traditional Swedish fixin's, and the sparse other visits to other dinners over the years were far enough apart to not create a link in my brain. Last Saturday through yesterday I attended six parties with my Lady, and every one of them had ham. Hello, lightbulb. Suffice it to say, I ate a lot of ham even though I'm not a huge fan. As a result of all that ham as well as way too much other food, I'm been sick since 4am this morning. Blah............

This Christmas I decided I don't like (for myself) the idea of Christmas lists. I know there are some good arguments out there for their usefulness, but I really like the idea of listening to cues, hints, likes, and dislikes. To me, it shows how much you care about the people in your life to surprise them with things they love without having to ask for them. No slams on those of you who do lists, but I really like the idea of connecting to your loved ones in a deeper way.

I thought I had some more ramblings in me this morning, but that about taps me out. I hope all of you had a great holiday and I wish all of you a great New Year.

Post Six Hundred

Kimmy reminded me I never announced a winner for the NaBloPoMo "Ghost" contest. It is with great pleasure that I can say no one guessed correctly. The "Ghost" post was Thanksgiving morning and was titled Morning Person. To read it click HERE. My Lady is quite pleased that she was able to channel my writing style, and even more excited that she is, in fact, not a morning person. The sentiments contained within the post were hers, but beyond the fact that she loves the beauty of the morning hours, she would much rather be in bed than awake to experience them. Thanks for all who guessed, but we got you. :)

I had wanted to do something special for my six hundredth post, but kept forgetting it was sneaking up on me. To make up for that, I want to mirror some of the writers in ELEVEN's blogroll who answer the rough/tough questions. So here's your chance. Ask me anything. Find out the answers you've always wondered about. Post your questions in the comment section and I'll use as many posts as necessary to answer every question.

Here's to the next six hundred posts.

Baby-Making shopping list

One pack disposable razors
One gallon bottled water
One string white Christmas lights
One bag Christmas M&M's
One pack cigarettes
One bottle male enhancement pills

That was the exact armload of supplies the guy in front of me purchased at the drugstore yesterday. The lady at the cash register must have known him, because as she started to check him out she asked how his wife was doing. In a proud, a bit too loud voice, he answered, "Great. We're trying to have a baby!" The cashier politely rang him out and said goodbye, only to burst into laughter the minute he walked out the door. I, of course, joined in the laughter. Best of luck, dude.