This is Your Life, Part 2 (Video)

Today marks three months since Al's passing. It has taken me that long to figure out how to post the video that was played at his funeral. I wanted to share this pictorial of his life. It's a little long, almost 12 minutes, but it's hard to show his life story in a shorter time frame. Listen to the music...as soon as I heard these songs I knew they were meant for this video.

I'm sorry, but I can't figure out how to get back to the blog from YouTube, so you will end up on you YouTube. Just 'x' out and you should be ok, or maybe someone can tell me how to do it?

By the way, he would hate all the fuss and would tell me to do something productive!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odsboAhw2eM

Unstuff Your Life...It Feels Great!

Al and I had a lot of stuff. I must say it was mostly his because he was a borderline (maybe more than borderline) pack rat. He kept things for years and never could remember what were in all those boxes in our garage. I liked to live with no clutter on countertops and always cleaned closets, especially mine at least every 6 months. We were so different in the things we considered important to keep. I agreed we needed to keep income tax returns, but didn't agree with him that we needed to keep every golf ball he ever hit.

The house we were living in when Al got sick was a little under 4,000 square feet. That means that we had 4,000 sq ft of furnishings and personal items. The condo that I moved into is 1,000 sq ft. I guess I don't have to tell you that a problem arose quickly after I sold the house. What to do? Well, timing is everything. Jessica and Javier bought a house that they are remodeling. They are going to "borrow" my furniture until I need it. When I moved, I basically moved my clothes and personal belongings.

When packing up the house, I knew I couldn't take much and I didn't want to store it. I have never rented a storage facility due to the fact that I felt that if it was boxed and stored I wouldn't miss it, so why keep it? This was my opportunity to get rid of things that had been in boxes for 10 years and were moved from house to house. My rules were:

1. If I hadn't used it in 6 months, it was out.
2. If I didn't love it, it was out.
3. If it didn't fit in my condo, it was out.

"Unstuffing" my life has been the most liberating experience I have ever been through. You should try it. There is something to be said about having all your belongings in one compact place. Javier told me he could build shelves for me in the garage. I said I didn't want them because I would just put "stuff" on them. I can honestly say that I know everything that I have and where it is.

There was one problem moving into the condo...It had no closet. When we originally remodeled, we had a small open area (like a hotel closet) to put things, since this was just a getaway home. That was not going to work for my clothes/things that made the cut. I stressed out about this closet/storage more than anything after I moved in. I thought that if people in NYC can live in 500 sq ft or less, then I could make this work. I thought about getting a storage cabinet from IKEA, but freaked out over the "assembly required" part. I also called a well-known closet design company from San Antonio. Their ideas were great, but were very $$$$. My wonderful son-in-love came to my rescue again and built me the most amazing closet space. It was completely finished today and is now home to clothes, shoes, luggage, accessories or anything I want to store behind the beautiful doors. My final rule for my new unstuffed life....when this closet gets full, it's time to unstuff again!

Wordless Wednesday

This is Your Life

Today would have been Al's 64th birthday. To commemorate, I am not going to have a pity party, but thought it would be fun to share some little known attributes about my husband. Hope you enjoy....

1.  Al couldn't remember the punch line on a joke for anything! As he was telling a joke, you could see his brain drift as he was trying to remember the punch line. So, he would stall and drag out the joke until you were so bored you begged for him to just forget it.

2.  He was a great cook, but an incredibly messy one. He would use every pot and pan in the house and leave his ingredients scattered around the counter top. It was my job to clean up, but it was worth it!

3.  My husband was what you would call technologically challenged. When I met him, his lack of knowledge in computers, cell phones, answering machines, etc was pathetic. After ten years, he was a lot better, but I'm still not sure if he could have changed the temperature on the thermostat if he had to.

4.  Al was a meticulous dresser, especially on Sunday mornings. He would spit (gross) shine his shoes often and as we all know, had a perfectly coiffed hairdo. We traveled to San Antonio once a year to custom order new shirts and suits. That is the only time he would shop. Everything else he wore, I bought, even if that meant bringing home 3-4 pairs of shoes for him to try on to pick the one pair that fit and was 40% off.

5.  Al took his duties as the Adult Sunday School teacher very seriously. He studied his Bible every morning for a minimum of one hour, usually calling someone to discuss scripture with him. When most teachers would take off Monday, he was right back at it, telling everyone, "we have a great lesson this week".

6.  He loved, loved, loved golf. For 10 years I asked him to take an afternoon off each week so we could do things together. Well, he took the afternoon (or two) off, but it was to play golf. Most of our vacations were to golf resorts, but I was happy to accommodate him, since I ventured to the spa while he played.

7.  My husband loved to talk on the phone. He was worse than any woman!!!! I am not a phone talker, so I say my business and get off the phone. Not him, he would move from subject to subject with anyone that would listen.

8.  He was the sixth grade spelling bee champ in his elementary school.

9.  He sold and drove Chevrolets, but couldn't tell you how any of the buttons on the dashboard worked. He begged me to change the clock after daylights savings time and could never figure out how to get the overhead light to come on when he opened the door. It didn't matter that we showed him how to do it every time he changed cars...guess that goes back to #3 above.

10. Al yelled "Praise the Lord" one year after I told him that we had to pay thousands of dollars in income tax for the year. I said, "excuse me, did you hear me correctly?" He said, "I heard you, that means the Lord blessed us tremendously for the year!" I love that one.

11. He loved all kinds of animals, especially his dogs, Barkley, Max and Coco. I always said that with him, the Lord was first and his dogs were next. I followed a distant third!

12. Due to his stint in Vietnam, he was practically deaf in both ears. I was always "yelling" at him across the room to do this or that. He always responded with "Love you too".

13. His suburban always smelled like dirty socks. I complained all the time, but he thought I was just imagining it. I think it had something to do with all the dirty towels, socks and golf shoes he left in the back of his vehicle. I'm telling the truth...ask any of his employees.

14. Al was very tenderhearted. He cried often, not only at church, but during commercials and movies.

15. He would eat leftovers until there were no longer any leftovers, even if it meant eating the same thing for a week! Yuck.

16. He was so competitive that no one wanted to play board games with him, especially Scrabble. Just ask Jessica about that one.

17. Al loved to make money, but once he did, he couldn't wait to give it away. He would give you the shirt off his back and was a great philanthropist to many charities.

18. He never, never complained while he was sick.

19. He never, never gave up hope while he was sick.

20. He was the most caring, generous, loving husband anyone could ask for. Just ask me...I'll be happy to tell you!