A Sad Day

This entry is a little late but I feel I need to get it out there:

My older sister Misty passed away a few weeks ago. She was two years older than me and we were especially close. For those who don't know, Misty suffered from bipolar disorder. She has been struggling with this illness for several years and it seems to have gotten terribly worse. As a result, she committed suicide on March 3rd.

I don't think Clint and I will ever forget the day that we heard the news. It was Tuesday and Clint had just called me to let me know he was almost to my work. He was stopping by on his way home from one of his company's locations to say hello. I had just hung up the phone with him and was preparing to go down the elevator when he called me again. He said "Emily, get your things." There was something about the way that he said it that made me feel uneasy. I thought he was just trying to get me to come home early with him so I told him I couldn't leave for another 30 minutes. And he said again, "Emily, just get your things."

I stood at the elevator with my purse in my hand and hesitated. My heart was pounding so hard and I was shaking. I knew that if I went down that elevator and saw Clint my life would never be the same. As I stepped outside the office building I saw him coming toward me. All he could say was "It's Misty. She died." After that it's all a blur. I know I screamed. I cried. I hit Clint several times. Cried some more. And then I spent the drive to my parents home in disbelief...hoping that Clint had misunderstood and that Misty was ok.

Planning the funeral was very hard. I never thought I would be picking out the casket for my sister or writing her obituary. But we somehow got through it all. I spoke at her funeral. I'll put my talk on the blog for those who want to know more about her.

Misty was married to a great guy, Shawn. They have three little girls that are probably the cutest things on this earth. Colette (5), Camille (4), and Heidi (2). She had so much to live for! And it is for that reason that I am not angry with her for her decision to end her life. To have so much to live for and still feel that dying was the best thing: I cannot even imagine the torment she must have been feeling...I cannot begin to understand what was going on in her mind. But I hope she is now at peace.

Even still, my life won't be the same without her. Aside from Clint, Misty was my very best friend. Easter was especially hard for me because Misty loved the holiday. She loved peeps and speckled robin eggs. Growing up, she was especially nice to me during this time of the year because I HATE peeps. She knew she could always get my Easter candy if she played the nice card. When we buried Misty I put peeps with her casket.

Misty's death has given me some clarity: Treasure life! Enjoy life! Spend each day with the people you love!

3/25/2008

Hows that for a clever title?

Life is continuing to be pretty good. The weekend came and went and now we are firmly in the work week again. I am not sure who decided the work week should be 5 days but that person sucks. We only get one life to live and we are stuck spending 40+ hours a week doing a job that you wouldn't do if you had a choice. Then we have to go and waste 1/3 of the day sleeping. Seriously, who planned that?

Today is an important day in the Cunningham house: it marks the two week anniversary that our neighbors have not had the MASSIVE RV in their driveway! This may seem petty or insignificant but I assure you...it is not. We live in a circle, so anytime someone has guests over we lose 1/4 of the road. Well, imagine a 50 foot long car ALWAYS parked in the circle...........for two years! We do not know if it is coming back, but we pray it doesnt. Let's just hope our neighbors discovered how to use a tent.

Let me pose a moral question to anyone who may be reading. If our neighbors have 5 cats yet they spend all their time in our yard, does that mean I own them? Or can I do what I want to them while they bury their poop or dig up Emily's flowers in our yard? I have gone the humane approach thus far and merely sprayed them with the hose but I am considering drastic measures. The only thing keeping me from taking more serious action is the realization that I do not desire to hurt the cats, merely the owners. These are the same owners who decide to let the fire hydrant in the circle babysit their 7 kids. Any suggestions would be great, otherwise Animal Control is coming out.

(Disclaimer- This paragraph, however random, does contain references to adult material. All those of an unsuitable age or who may be sensitive to such remarks should just skip it and move to the next random paragraph) March is almost over and I couldn't be happier. Every March people seem to perk up but I know better. The warm weather starts and I am cautious. The sun finally shines and I shudder in fear. Then BOOM! Another friggin snow storm or rain cloud or whatever. March is the biggest tease on the planet. The only thing I can relate it are those girls who give all the signals of being interested and then act like you are a pervert when you wana make out. You know what I am talking about. March is the flirt slut. Shame on you March, shame on you.

I was somewhat surprised by the ease in which I was accepted into SLCC for a class I need to take. To get into the U, atleast 7 years ago when I applied, I had to fill alot of crap out and prove my worthiness through ACT scores and GPA. Not SLCC. I pretty much had to prove I was a real person, and that was enough to get me in. I have nothing against SLCC, and I completely understand the difference between the two but come on.... I have to admit though, I am ashamed to say that I am a bit of a snob. Whenever I hear people who go to SLCC complain about how busy they are or how difficult it is I want to tell them to try going to a hard school with TA's (Teacher Assistants) who don't speak English controlling your grade. I can't help this reaction, it is the evil within me. Then my wife tells me of her experience at BYU and I am just glad I don't have to cut my hair before taking a test. So the spirit can't reside in hairy temples? Hmm.

I actually considered going to BYU when I was on my mission, when I was more spiritual. It is a great school with alot of student activities and desperate women. One thing stopped me from going there though: My habit of rebelling against rules for stupid reasons. I honestly think I would have gotten Honor Code violations for the dumbest things (I wont say which is dumber, the rules or infraction) and been booted by the end of my freshman year.

So that is the difference between me and half of the student body at BYU; I realized what I would be getting into. I feel ZERO sympathy for anyone kicked out of BYU. None. Zip. Zilch. Why should I feel bad for them? They knew what they were getting into when they decided to enroll there. BYU has the right to have higher standards, and I have the right to have long hair. I am still shocked they can field a football team.

Ok, this was a completely random blog to cover up the fact that it was an uneventful weekend (Minus hanging out with Jon and Briana of course! Go Tepanyaki!). I will try to discover the intrique secrets of camera operation. But don't hold your breath.

Egg on my face

Apparently TSA read my blog, because on my way home I experienced something new.....an airport shutdown. I was walking toward my gate when 3 TSA officers sprinted past me (one even jumping down over an entire flight of stairs) to shut down and secure the terminal. All the exits were blocked and shops closed. All we knew was that there was a security risk. 10 minutes later the airport opened up and I finally was able to get my breakfast but it did show me that the airport security officers actually did something.

Emily just accepted a new position with First West Benefits Solutions to do Human Resource consulting, something she truly loves. It is very unlike her to leave a job after such a short period of time, but this was just too good of opportunity to pass up.

We just got back from visiting the inlaws and a tentative trip was planned for Labor Day. The interesting part about the trip is the bet that goes along with it. Emily and I and her parents (David and Lisa) set fitness goals to achieve by September first. If I fail to achieve my goal, I have to pay for David's trip. If David fails, he has to pay for mine. If we both succeed, we break even and get to go on a trip together. If Emily or Lisa fail, they can''t come on the trip.

My goal is to simply lose 26 pounds. While that might seem like alot, my tight fitting pants would beg to differ. When I got married I hovered near 180 lbs but now find myself pushing the envelope at 211. Since Emily is half that weight, I rather avoid looking like an odd couple.

Emily's fitness goal is to work out regularly and run a labor day 5K with me, Lisa and David. This goal is made complicated by an extreme hatred of running from Em. She looks great but just wants to be healthier.

We both gave up carbonation. I lay awake weeping the loss of my friend known as Diet Pepsi.... Further complicating our goal is the season of girl scout cookies. I swear, those little cookies are made with pure lard....lard that tastes amazing.

March Madness began, and BYU is out. This continues their proud tradition of joining the tournament simply to print t-shirts saying they went to the tournament. Utah is too proud for the NCAA tournament, instead holding out for a tournament made up of teams that didnt make the NCAA OR NIT. True champions let other people win occasionally....atleast 13 outa 29 times (Utah was 16-13 I think).

I washed our cars today because it always makes me feel like summer is really here. The funny part about this story is that our neighbors had 7 kids (I suspect cousins) over and I "accidently" hit them with water from the hose. . . two or three times. It wouldnt have been so bad but the kid was on a tricycle. Ah well, he seemed to like it. Or maybe he didnt, children's cries all sound the same to me. But to put what I did in context, he was playing with no supervision on the road. Getting him wet was atleast giving him some sort of adult attention.

I was told that I needed to put more picture on here. Yeah. Still need to do that.

Quick update

I am currently in Renton, Washington auditing a property. It is boring so I just wanted to take a quick second to do a short blog.

When I flew in yesterday, I noticed how laid back airport security workers have gotten. The processes have gotten more intense but the workers seem pretty easy going. I am not sure what I am expected, but if I have to take my sweater, shoes, belt and dignity off I want to feel the TSA workers are taking it seriously. A-holes.

The hardest part about being away from Emily, I have noticed, is not being able to steal her body heat and blankets at night. My circulation is crap, so normally I have icy hands and feet. Nothing makes my night more than cuddling up next to Em and hearing her squeak in protest. I am mean, yes, but she also sends the dogs in "by mistake" when I am sleeping so that I have to get up whenever she does. There are no innocent parties in our nightly wars.

Thats it, but I thought I needed to form a habit of posting updates.

Also, if you know how to list other people's links in your blog, let me know....i would like to list people.

Slackers

As most people probably announce at one point or another, we have seriously slacked in the blog department. I will quickly try to give a general update to whoever will be reading this....probably noone.

Emily recently started a new job at a start up company calle Velossum (sp?). She deals primarily with Customer Relations as far as I know and seems to be enjoying it thus far. As always, she could get paid more for doing less but it seems promising to this point.

Clint (me) is continuing his work for Horizon Realty Advisors as an Operations Trainer. It is a really fancy way of saying he (I) fly around to different appartment communities in the company to train employees how to use the accounting software. This is both sad and amusing because he (me) is both horrible at accounting and terrible at computers. The travel is a bit difficult with Clint (myself) being on the road 6-10 days a month. But everyone knows of the famous parties thrown by Emily in his absence.

Enough of the third person, just know that I am writing. We are both trying to survive my remaining time in school, which seems to be dragged out by the constant amount of work I have to do. I am at the point where I am merely trying to get my diploma so I can move on. Woo!

I should go back and re-read the previous blogs but I am way too lazy. So, instead, I will merely give a summary of us.

Family-We are still trying to get the money together to adopt, though we are willing to accept donations if you know anyone who got knocked up and is willing to share. And no....we will not get pregnant as soon as we get selected for adoption. Unless that paperwork somehow creates a sperm in my body we will just have to rely on the adoption.

Our dogs (Molly and Tess) are little devils but somewhat like children. Molly is the older, bossier dog who steals the toys and takes up the most space while Tess is the yappy dog who causes us to cuss in the morning at 6:30am when she starts howling for food. They may not look like us, but they are part of us.

I am bored and dont really want to keep writing. I will try to update this atleast once a week when I have time but don't count on it. I also probably will never link other blogs to ours just because I dont know how. Feel free to comment or just email me directly (clintkael@hotmail.com). I would love to get in touch with old friends etc etc so fire away.