WebWalker's Blog

It's Veterans Day 2009. I just returned from the cemetery where I visited the grave site of my father, a WWII Veteran. I'm sitting in my comfortable office in my comfortable home, in my comfortable, quiet neighborhood, in a state and nation that respects me and allows me to live freely, voicing my opinions as I like, whether or not those opinions agree or collide with the majority or the governing body. And I do this during a time of war, not peace. How is this possible? In a world where there is so much grief and strife, how is it that I can live such a comfortable existence, especially when our country is in the middle of a war, the loss of which would mean the annihilation of this type of existence? The answer is our Armed Forces. It always has been. The men and women, who for over 233 years have put their lives on the line for the rest of us. All gave some, some gave all. From the men at Valley Forge to the men in Iraq, I owe gratitude. To every person who has ever served ...

I'm so sad. Our dearly loved pet is gone. Dagesh was nearly 13 years old, a german shepherd and pointer mixed breed dog who grew up in our household, first as our youngest son's pet and then my husband's and mine when David joined the Air Force. She had a good life till her arthritis got so bad she could not stand up, and then she lost control of her bowels, and it went downhill rapidly from there. Today when the vet said he could do nothing more to ease her suffering, we finally said goodbye and she died peacefully in our arms, just like she was going to sleep. It broke my heart because I truly believe she was a sentient being, she understood things on the level of perhaps a 4 year old child, and she was a loved member of our household. My dad used to be awestruck by how much she understood, and how she developed her own little 'language' to communicate with us. Dad used to say that if he ever had a dog again, it would be her. No, not a dog LIKE ...

Today would be my dad's 91st birthday, if he were alive. Sadly, he passed away just before his 88th birthday. Today I saw this poem by Theodore Roethke and it made me smile and reminisce of so many times with my dad, I just had to post it. I hope it causes you to pause as well and have fond rembrances of your own Daddy and times you had with him. -- Susan My Papa's Waltz by Theodore Roethke The whiskey on your breath Could make a small boy dizzy; But I hung on like death: Such waltzing was not easy. We romped until the pans Slid from the kitchen shelf; My mother's countenance Could not unfrown itself. The hand that held my wrist Was battered on one knuckle; At every step you missed My right ear scraped a buckle. You beat time on my head With a palm caked hard by dirt, Then waltzed me off to bed Still clinging to your shirt. # # #

Following is a letter I received from a soldier, a man I have never met but to whom I sent some care packages... It had quite an impact on me. As we remember our fallen Veterans this Memorial Day, I thought this would be appropriate to share. It gives an insight into WHY a serviceman is ready to risk his life, why they do what they do in spite of knowing it may require them to give the Ultimate Sacrifice. I may go to a BBQ on Memorial Day, but not before I have attended the Memorial Service at the Veterans National Memorial Cemetery. If you have a National Memorial Cemetery in your town, I urge you to do likewise. If you do not, then please seek out people from the WWII generation, ask them if they Served, and if they did, be sure to shake their hand and say Thank You. Then and only then go out and enjoy those Freedoms which their sacrifices made possible. ~~ Susan Susan, I wanted to thank you for the continued support you send to my unit. I am often asked by people back in the sta...

OK all, this is Sherry trying to enter the 21st century, with massive assistance and encouragement from Susan. First off I'll try to post a simple picture. This is another picture of my new kitchen -- if I did it right -- Debora is opening the fridge door. Love to all.

Sherry and Vernon have finished the remodel of their kitchen, and all I can say is WOW. Isn't it beautiful?! Here's a pic of it. Congratulations, Vernon and Sherry! I understand they are now working on re-doing the living room. Can't wait to see pics of that! I think you can click on the pic to see it in a larger format... Of course, to really appreciate it, you have to realize what the kitchen looked like BEFORE renovations (Good pic of Vernon, but the kitchen needs some updating, wouldn't you say? I'm glad they finally realized their dream!):

It's my son's 27th birthday today... but he is in Korea, and I am in Arizona. Since he is on contract work, he does not have a physical address to which I can send mail, nor does he have a telephone which I can call. We had some email correspondence about it; it went something like this: Me : This sucks. It's your birthday in a couple of days, and I cannot send you a birthday card, nor a gift, and not even a telephone call! Dave : Mom, Don't worry about it, I'm a guy. I don't care about my birthday any more than I do the second Tuesday of the first month of the fiscal year. Me : Wow, I had no idea that the second Tuesday of the first month of the fiscal year was so important to you! One would think that would have gotten a response from him, but I haven't heard a peep.

Jimmy and I have been at Lake Tahoe now for 5 days, and I cannot accept that we will have to return home in just 3 more days. It is so beautiful here, and this is considered the OFF season! I've wanted to visit for years since Daddy and Mama visited here and raved about it so. Daddy kept telling me that Lake Tahoe CA and Angel Fire NM were two places that I 'must' visit. Daddy, it is 100% as gorgeous as you said, and I am sorry it took so many years for me to come and witness the beauty. I just wish you were still alive so I could share my thoughts with you in person. Mom would have come with us, but she is not up to the 14 hour drive to get here, so she has been re-visiting Lake Tahoe vicariously through my daily phone calls to her. Just since arriving, we have watched an eagle swoop down from the sky to scoop up a vole for lunch; a black bear crossed the road right in front of us, looked at us and then ambled along his way; and then when we went out on a dinner cruise t...

My beloved husband Jimmy had a heart attack on March 25th and we are grateful to God (that's an UNDERSTATEMENT !!) that there were no lasting effects from it. He is home now after a 5 day stay in the hospital, and is recovering nicely, other than tiring easily and still sore from all the poking and prodding. His previously-placed stents are not clogged, and that is a miracle in itself. The docs thought they'd have to do open heart surgery after this heart attack, but when they went in via angiogram, lo and behold, nothing beyond some minimal blockages. Nothing really to pinpoint as a culprit for the heart attack other than a branch vein that occluded and then sealed itself off... in effect the heart healed itself. Well, that's what the docs say. We and everyone else who was praying with us know that it was Someone at work. So Thank You Lord for your mercy. And thank you to everyone who was out there praying for Jimmy. God bless you all. All the time Jimmy was in the hospita...

Check it out -- I am now officially a Great Grandma, and it's awesome. Jezriell Malaya Walker-Jinnes was born today, March 17, 2009 to our granddaughter Acacia Walker and Andrew Jinnes. She was born at 7 am and weighed in at 7 lbs, 6 oz. She is 19 inches long. Both mom and daughter are doing fine, but Grandpa Randy Walker says he's worn out from the long night preceding Jazriell's birth! He and Grandma April were there for Acacia, along with Andrew. Jimmy and I went to the hospital to see Acacia and Jezriell today about 8 hours after the birth, and I got the honor of burping Jezriell for her very first time, ha! For more photos, check out my pics on my MySpace page - www.myspace.com/thewebwalker ~~ Great Grandma Susan P.S. While you're there, you can see some great pics of our other granddaughter Nakaia Walker at her recent high school concert. She's a violinist of no small talent, and we are so very proud of her! Go Nakaia!!

A note from our man in Korea (until May, anyway)... Hey everybody! So here i am (okay, i'm no longer using capitalization because i am typing on this european pc of my roommate's and the keys are all different!) and all is well. the apartment is small and furnitureless, but will do fine as we start to stock it up. the surrounding area is easy to get around, with all the bulgogi i can eat!!! just finished my first day today - didn't go in on the first day since i got in so late and they weren't even there to pick me up! yeah. ahem, anyway, things are great now, the peeps here are great (if old!). i think i'm the youngest here by 20 years!! not much to tell right now other than i do not have internet yet on MY pc. again, this is my roomie's Dougie, who is a very good roomie from scotland. for some reason we cant get my pc to connect to the internet, but other pcs have been having this same trouble, so he (the IT guy) may end up getting a new router. so until that...

Mary Borrelli (94 years old) has been visiting her 89 year old sister Emily Tate here in Arizona for the past couple of months, and now it looks like she is nearly ready to wend her way back to windy Chi-town. She will be here till April 12th so if anyone else wants to visit with her while she's still in the Wild West, better do it now. This weekend I'll be taking them to visit with Mary Wroten, and they are excited about that. Cheryl will be there too, and I'm looking forward to seeing her again. We live so near each other but somehow don't get to visit each other often enough. And the best treat of all is that Cheryl will have Melonie's twins, Robert and Brittany, with her - so Mom and Mary Borrelli will get to see them as well. Mel's funeral was the last time Mom saw them, and the Chicago reunion was the last time Mary Borrelli got to see them. So hopefully it will be a wonderful weekend... why not join us?

David left for Korea this morning and I miss him already. He won't be gone that long, the job contract is just through May with a possible extension til December. And besides, he doesn't even live in the same state as me any more, so what's the big deal? I think it's a Mom-Radar thing. He's flying out of my Mom Radar, and I won't be able to track him any longer, at least not as easily, ha! *sigh* Seems we can't wait for our kids to grow up and then when they do, it's WHAMMO we miss them so much.

I received the very sad news from Janice Weston that her sister Gloria just passed away. The Moore clan are very good friends and as such are quasi-family members, and our hearts break with them at the loss of Gloria. Here is an excerpt of a message from Janice, for those who would like to send condolences or flowers. It is with a broken heart that I tell you we lost our big sister Gloria on Friday evening. She was recovering nicely from open heart surgery but evidently had a blood clot that hit her heart. It was very sudden and completely unexpected. We are all saddened and grieving, especially our mother. This is the second child she has lost in less than two years and at her age it takes a great toll. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers. Gloria's will requested cremation so there will be no burial but there will be a service for her on Thursday the 22nd at 2:00 PM. The service will be held at Truth Tabernacle, 1232 Bingham Road, Boonville MO 65233. Ron, Mom and I will b...

Mary Borrelli has never been one to sit quietly and let the world pass by. She may be 94 years old, but she decided that Chicago is just too cold to stay there the rest of the winter. And not daunted by a recent hospital stay, she decided to fly out to Arizona to visit her sister Emily. So to all the extended family in Arizona: Call Mary at Emily's house, she'll be thrilled to hear from you, and hopefully to see you during her stay here. Hopefully she will stay through February or March, we'll see. (If you need the phone number, email me at susan@webwalkerdesign.com and I will send it to you.)

As I listened to the news this morning about the "Miracle on the Hudson" I found myself reminiscing about my dad. He was a pilot as well as a copilot and navigator at different times throughout his career, and I remember a few stories he told about the awesome responsibility he felt up there in the cockpit. Responsibility for the lives of the people riding in the cabin of the airplane. Over the course of his career he had only one "belly-flop" landing, and even when the landing gear would not deploy he managed to bring the plane safely home with no injuries. He was rightly proud of that. Today, Captain Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger, III, a former USAF F-4 pilot, is justly hailed as a hero for bringing his passengers down safely (albeit wetly) in the Hudson River, after a freak accident of two geese flying into his two engines and shutting them both down shortly after takeoff. Kudos to you, sir, and I join many other Americans in saluting you for a job ...

A dear friend wrote the following essay, you can read more of his musings at http://www.mainstreetoutloud.com/ . For that matter, listen to his radio show every Monday at 4pm on KFNX 1100AM radio. Enjoy, and I look forward to reading this Chapter of your Life, as Rudi put it. You have been selected, by the publisher, to write a great novel. God is the publisher, your family and friends are the proofreaders, and you are the author. We know the title of the book is "The Life of (insert your name here)." A new year is like a chapter in this great novel. We know this chapter is entitled "2009." Each day is a page that you write. We know... let me correct that... we think this particular chapter will contain 365 pages. Of course, the publisher does hold the exclusivity of a deadline, and this may alter the length. What we don't know is how pivotal this chapter is to the entire novel, nor do we know how this chapter will end. Will this chapter be filled with such posi...