Roanoke Report

Currently I'm in a not-so-great motel room in Roanoke, Virginia attempting to entertain myself until bedtime. For some reason I have access to this incredibly fast internet service (chalk one up for finding a motel owned by a family from southeast Asia). Is there not a better time to blog? I think not!

Yes, that is my incredibly handsome son, Ben. I had the distinct pleasure of giving him a big goodbye kiss earlier today. If world leaders had to pass through the "official Ben exit" for a few days we'd have global peace within weeks, if not days. Here's one of my few (okay, MANY) confessions here: I cry every...and I mean EVERY...time I leave town for a show once I've told this child I have to leave for awhile. I used to do the same for Jessie used that she's a teenager? I won't continue that thought other than to say "not so much."

In the past week Jessie had her dance recital - (Memorial Day) weekend. Oh. My. God! My daughter is incredible! Honest to God, I've been wanting to blog about her with all kinds of digital photos and stuff but my wife has reminded me that there are really, really stupid creeps out there who should be our first explorers to Mars. She was....AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!! Talk about some salty stuff under the eyeballs?

For the record Ben is still painting - almost every day of the week. In fact both of his nurses, Tracy and Julie, are awesome ladies in allowing Ben to explore his creative side. Here's the problem: Ben is trying to tell us what he is painting when we cannot understand him. My feeling is that many people reading this shrug their heads and think, "oh, well, I've seen this type of behavior before."

Seriously, I'm not stupid. Okay...I'm not stupid some of the time but those that have worked with Ben KNOW exactly what I'm saying here. Ben is almost always dictating how he wants his paintings constructed. If you were around it you'd agree: at times this really blows my mind. Tracy, Vicki, Lisa, Julie and a host of other nurses know too. It's just so wonderful to be blessed with such creative kids!

Peace out.