cb.blog

Category: Personal

Per·son·al: of, pertaining to, or coming as from a particular person; individual; private; Concerning a particular person and his or her private business, interests, or activities; intimate. Posts in this category pertain to things happening in my personal life.

  • News From the Hometown

    I ran across some interesting news from the hometown:

    First, Shelbyville’s largest employer, Knauf Fiberglass, suffered a fire in the oldest part of its manufacturing plant. Smoke from the fire caused my old elementary school, Coulston, to close for the day, and efforts to stop the blaze nearly drained the city’s water supply and caused several restaurant and school closures. Fortunately, the plant should be up and running again soon.

    In more disturbing news, my former sixth-grade teacher, Tom Piles, was suspended by Shelbyville Middle School after being issued a citation for indecent exposure on I-74 near Shelbyville.

  • For My Love

    I have never been one to care much for Valentine’s Day; mostly, because I have almost always been single in mid-February (with the exception of one, solitary year). However, this year – and every year hereafter – I have great reason to celebrate what has always been merely a “Hallmark holiday” in the past.

    With the timing of all the things involved with our pending marriage and birth of our baby girl, I didn’t have the free resources to go too overboard monetarily in lavishing my amazing, beautiful love in the manner she deserves; still, I hope I have been able to show her how much I love and appreciate her, and how grateful I am to God for brining us together.

    Valentine's Day 007

    Nothing fancy or extravagant, but every girl should get flowers on Valentine’s Day.
    Photo © Chip Bennett, all rights reserved.

    Valentine's Day 002

    She said she wanted a heart filled with chocolate – so I got her two!
    Photo © Chip Bennett, all rights reserved.

    Happy Valentine’s Day, honey. I love you!

  • Ice Storm Fun

    Saint Louis was hit with another minor winter storm over the weekend. Almost 100,000 people lost power this time around, though we only saw our lights flicker a few times. However, we didn’t escape unscathed. I woke up Saturday morning to a slight bulge and minor crack surrounded by water damage in the living room ceiling. I had hoped that we wouldn’t get any more precipitation, and the damage would hold until Monday morning. Unfortunately, Sunday night’s rains had other ideas:

    Ceiling Leak 004

    Ceiling Leak 002

    Ceiling leak caused by roof leak, due to January 2007 freezing rain/ice storm. (Entire Set)
    Photo © Chip Bennett, all rights reserved.

  • Vote For Randy

    My friend Randy, from my days in Kalamazoo, is a musician in Nashville. He entered a radio station contest, and needs your votes! So, go listen, and Vote For Randy!

  • She’s Moving!

    Today both Steph and I experienced a major milestone: earlier in the day, for the first time she knew definitively that she felt the baby move! And this evening, while she was telling me about it, I felt her move, too! Soon, she will be able to hear and recognize my voice… hard to believe that we are already half way through the pregnancy, and that in four and a half months, we will be holding our daughter!

  • It’s a Girl!

    We had a doctor appointment today, and got new ultrasounds. Thanks to these 19-week photos, we are ecstatic to announce that our baby is…

    A Girl!

    I won’t post the ultrasound that proves she’s a girl, but suffice it to say it was obvious. And without further ado, here she is!

    Ultrasounds_19_Weeks_008

    4-D head/face shot: isn’t she beautiful?
    Photo © Chip Bennett, all rights reserved.

  • Our First Christmas Tree!

    Stephanie and I are celebrating our first Christmas together, and our new home now has its first Christmas tree:

    Christmas Tree 006

    Our First Christmas Tree
    Photo © Chip Bennett, all rights reserved.
    Christmas 2006 photo set
    (See the entire set of Christmas 2006 photos.)

    The tree is a 6-foot, Randolph Pine. It is perfect for our apartment, since it is only 35 inches wide at the base. With two strands of white lights, this set of shatterproof (and hopefully, cat-proof), silver ornaments, along with several ornaments from my grandmother, as well as our family’s traditional, annual Christmas ornaments, our tree is rather well-trimmed for our first Christmas.

    The first ornaments we put on the tree were these three.

    Christmas Tree 008

    Traditional annual Christmas ornaments for our first Christmas together.
    Photo © Chip Bennett, all rights reserved.

    My family has had a tradition for several years now, in which each year at Thanksgiving, every family member gets a gift of a Christmas tree ornament. This year, Stephanie and I each got one individually, as well as a third, commemorating our first Christmas together as a couple. (I still need to find a good picture to put into the “2006 Christmas Together” ornament – maybe a picture of us to be taken on Christmas day?) This year’s ornaments are especially memorable, since Stephanie’s celebrates the expected coming of our new arrival in the spring: hers is a “Mommy To Be” ornament. (I must admit: I’m jealous. I would have loved a “Dad To Be” ornament, but apparently, they haven’t been popular since 1990 or so. I’ll probably blog more about that, later.)

  • Our New Home

    I am extremely happy and relieved to announce that we now have our own home! Due to everything going on, we decided to put off buying a house a while longer so that we could concentrate on preparing for the baby in the spring. So, I found a 2BD/2BA apartment less than 10 miles from the office, at Hazelwood Forest. Not only will my commute to work go from about 45 minutes down to about 10, but trips to Indy and Cincy will be much easier as well, since we can just cross the I-270 Chain of Rocks bridge, rather than deal with downtown traffic and the Poplar Street Bridge.

    Here is a layout of what should be a very decently-sized home for us, our two cats, and our soon-to-arrive baby:

    HazelwoodForest2BD2BA

    2 bedroom, 2 bath, 970 sq. ft.
    Image by Hazelwood Forest Apartments

    We moved into our new home Saturday, November 18th. Our extreme gratitude goes out to my parents, who not only brought us a washer, dryer, kitchen table and chairs, and lots of decoration; but also spent two days helping us get moved. Trekking all of our (mostly, my) stuff up to the third floor certainly wasn’t easy; but it would have been impossible without my dad’s help.

    Now, we’re trying to get everything unpacked, in place, and organized – a job that will likely go on for several weeks. Most importantly, though, I have the living room and kitchen mostly done, and have the DSL connection set up. After more than three years of broadcast-only television, I decided to get a basic cable package, so Stephanie would have more options. (I must admit, I’m already hooked on Top Chef.)

  • Thirteen Weeks

    As of today, we are at thirteen weeks; we are now into the second trimester!

    The nausea of the first trimester seems mostly to have passed, though it still returns on occasion – possibly due to the prenatal vitamins. Not too many esoteric food cravings so far, either. Though, I did have the pleasure last night of making a grocery-store run at 9:30 in search of a cream cheese danish – thankfully, Entenmann’s makes something that fits the bill, that I was able to find.

    Please tell Steph how great she continues to look:

    Colleen's Wedding 007

    Steph and I at Colleen’s wedding two weeks ago.
    Photo © Chip Bennett, all rights reserved.

    Now, we begin looking forward to our first ultrasound and finding out the gender of our baby – though, Steph is convinced we’re having a L’il Chip!

  • Kelly, Rest In Peace

    As most of you know, this summer I moved in with a friend of mine to help be a caretaker for her, her house, and (most importantly) her kids (all her animals, and especially her two dogs). This friend, at 28 years old, was facing a third bout with Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia (ALL). After undergoing several rounds of chemotherapy and finding a suitable donor for a marrow transplant, she was one week away from having the transplant procedure.

    A week ago yesterday, she was admitted into the hospital, complaining of difficulty breathing. The doctors discovered damage to her heart, due to the chemo. Apparently as the week progressed, her condition worsened. She developed an infection that the doctors could not find. I got a call from her mom last night, that her liver and kidneys were failing, and that her heart was operating at only 20% of capacity. This morning, her brother called to tell me that she passed away during the night.

    The words of her mom on Kelly’s Caring Bridge site journal from last night are an appropriate eulogy:

    We are blessed to have a daughter as strong and bright as Kelly. She drives you crazy one second and has you laughing the next. She is always looking out for everyone and every animal. Even the mice that found their way into Kelly’s house were captured in live traps and released into the park. She loves life and animals. No matter what the animal. She is even trying to get over her fear of snakes by getting to know them.

    Kelly took over our family once she was diagnosed the first time with ALL. By that I mean that she took care of us. She is the one who taught us how to fight and how to think only good things and not act terrified but to have a sense of humor. Not that she doesn’t get down from time to time but she always tries to show that she is doing well.

    The last 10 years have been filled with all kinds of unknowns. Kelly never shows how scared she really is during these times. She puts on a brave face and finds something to occupy her mind. Terry and I had a difficult time during her transplant; we tried to protect Kelly from dirt, viruses, and people. But she jumped back into life full steam by buying a house of her own. She was determined to live her life, her way. We are so proud of how determined she can be and how much she can accomplish when she sets her mind to something. I should take a lesson from her because I always stick my toe into the water first; you know just to test it.

    Kelly is always learning. She can’t have enough knowledge. There is always something new to learn. And she never turns down an opportunity to help someone with a pet. Whether that is advice on a certain problem or toenail clippings or someone to take care of them while they went out of town. She enjoys caring. It is a part of her.

    There are not enough words to describe Kelly. I am finding it difficult to put everything down in this space. There are so many stories of Kelly and her animals, of Kelly and her brother and family, of Kelly and her friends, of Kelly and her work…..I could go on forever. But then again why do I have to put it into words, you already know Kelly because you have been there for her and helped not only her but us get through these past years.

    Thank you to friends and family, for your support during this time. Thank you, especially, to Steph and her family for their words of support. As with her family, loved ones, and friends, I take comfort in knowing that she is no longer suffering. I pray that in some small way I was able to help her get the most out of the last few months of her life – and I pray for forgiveness for any ways in which I may have failed to do so.

    Always remember: life is precious, and it is a gift – but also, life is meant to be lived. Kelly exemplified this truth; she made the most of every moment. These are the situations that compel in us a changed perspective. Perhaps I missed opportunities; perhaps at times I took a too-short-term perspective. Yet perhaps, in the future, I will miss fewer opportunities; perhaps I will choose to see each moment not through the lens of the present but through the lens of eternity.

    “Carpe diem: sieze the day… make your lives extraordinary.“