Catching up

Need to catch up; this contains a few updates since this past Saturday:

The following is an assorted list of activities that have taken place since my last posting starting on Saturday, October 11th: This was Rangerette day in Conroe, kicking off with pictures bright and early at 7:30 AM and finishing with the world famous Conroe Catfish Festival. Well, as mentioned, 7:30 AM came a bit unexpectedly and none of the Weems’ were quite awake and it was a madhouse scramble trying to get our little lieutenant up and out the door for her pictures. As mentioned in an earlier post, we are very proud of Emma for making lieutenant and she is responsible for several girls in her troupe and has been very good with reminders and meetings while at the same time excelling in her class work at school.



We had a fun filled Saturday with a visit from friends Scott and Margie Schneider, daughter Alex and her special friend Brandt. Brandt is quite the gentleman and he thoroughly entertained Ethan during the visit. Arriving with the Schneiders was another good friend, Catherine St.Wrba (from Dallas). The St.Wrba’s were our neighbors in Houston prior to all of us moving around the same time in 2002. The big question of the weekend was “Where’s John?” (Catherine’s husband). It’s not typical that we get Catherine solo and I missed John coming down and playing the guitar. We have been assured another visit very soon. I really figured John would want to come down sooner rather than later so that he, Scott and I could have our annual 3-man golf tournament; especially since I’m a little down in the back right now. Shoot, in my current condition neither Scott nor John would even need pencil erasers this year!

Later that day we were blessed with another guest, Suzanne Perron from Hendersonville, NC and she would be staying with us until Monday. Nicola and Suzanne have been close friends since junior high school and I have known Suzanne all those years as well. We reminisced about old times and talked about Pete and Suzanne’s wedding night. It was so much fun... during the reception they dedicated a song and dance to Nicola and I to celebrate our recent engagement. It was a blast! A few years later, Pete helped me enter into the world of pharmaceuticals, telling me about the pay, benefits, company car, expense account, and the biggest lure of all…UNLIMITED GOLF THAT YOU COULD EXPENSE!! Those were the days.

Decisions we make in life are funny and going into this industry (albeit for strange reasons) has proven itself to be one of the soundest and most beneficial decisions of my life. But now the truth is out, I did it for a game that I still really stink at playing! I’m just hoping that it was really the back (all these years) that has kept my game so honestly in triple digits and now that I’m partially bionic and bullet proof (as Ethan has termed) I will now be able to break 90 (HA!).

Projects: This weekend Ethan and I made a racecar. It is a 1966 Fastback Mustang:

At this point Ethan was saying “Dad could you just scoot over a little bit?”

Ethan is definitely a fit behind motorized vehicles and has great hand/eye and reaction instincts. I could see him actually driving a real one of these some day! Ethan also is mastering the bicycle role and he has been popping wheelies and practicing his one-arm riding skills. Makes Nicola pretty nervous!


Sunday: We went to church! I had been looking forward to being able to go since finding out that I was getting out of the hospital on Tuesday. In fact, I was up at around 5:00AM trying to decide what to wear. I was pretty excited about the whole thing and it was a blessing to attend. Jan and Tony (in-laws) arrived at the church before us and secured my regular pew, and having them there has meant so much to both Nicola and me.

We had a nice lunch on Sunday with visits from friend-John Baxendale, my Uncle Rodney, Aunt Billie, Gareth, Pam, Jake and Rhiannon. It was a very nice afternoon and we all enjoyed the company. Van and Teri Wischan dropped by with their daughter Tori. It was nice having a yard full of kids running around playing, loud but peaceful sounds!

Sunday evening, Suzanne made a superb Tai-chicken salad with candied almonds. All I can say is that it was restaurant worthy! The girls got a chance to relax and have a little vino and it was nice not having to face an empty house on Sunday evening.

Keep praying, have faith, and we'll beat this thing together, David
[editors note ;-) ... David started his treatments this week. Daily trips to MD Anderson for the next two weeks, but he gets to come home every night. More details to follow - Gareth]