Today...hmm...today, I found out my 35-year-old cousin, Nathan Visger, died. Its sad enough that he died, and died so young, but the circumstances for why...you can probably find the article on mlive.com...he was in a high-speed police chase when he lost control of his vehicle and hit a mobile home. He was thrown from the vehicle and pinned under it. He died on the operating table.

It brings back some really bad memories of my Uncle Ed's death. My Uncle Ed died in a motorcycle accident, going 70 coming onto the highway, he hit the back of a utility vehicle and died in the ambulance. He was 42...it was 10 days after my birthday and my Mom, sisters, and I were in Whitehall/Montague looking for houses so we could move up here from Lansing. We hadn't seen him in 2 years. We haven't seen my cousin Nathan in several years either. Its also sad that it takes something so tragic to get my Dad and his sisters all together. We live within a 30 minute drive from both his sisters and my cousins, but we haven't seen them in forever. We last saw my Aunt Sue probably 6 years ago, my Aunt Diane (with the exception of a "hi, how are you" at meijer), my cousin Beth we last saw at my Uncle Ed's funeral almost 8 years ago, and I can just keep going and going.

What upsets me even more is that I don't really have someone to call and talk to about how I'm feeling. I'm sad, lonely, and having a really bad week, and the only place I feel I can share my feelings is here. Its just sad...so kids, the word of the day is "sad".

Pain...

This weekend was pretty good...Saturday we got another Basset puppy and named him Elvis. He's adorable, funny, and smart. We just love him. Trixie is already pretty good with him, although she is a little green eyed monster...she's been a brat today, escaped out of the house (for the 1st time) and took off, she stole dog treats off the table, and she doesn't want to share her toys (her and Elvis played tug-of-war, it was so cute)...but other than that she likes to play with him.







I also worked Saturday, for the first time in a month, and it was nice. Its kind of depressing when I say that going to work was a nice break away from home and doing homework. Its only going to be the beginning of spring and then summer.

Other than that, I'm in pain and kind of feel blah, and I DON'T LIKE IT. I never like it when I hurt, but this kind of pain could have been prevented. I turned paperwork into my doctor almost 3 WEEKS AGO. I need her to fill it out for me to send to the prescription company so I can continue getting my Lyrica for free. 3 WEEKS AGO when I turned in my paperwork to her, I had 2 WEEKS left of my Lyrica, which was plenty had she returned my paperwork that week and I got it sent in. But NO, its 3 weeks later, I still don't have my paperwork filled out, and I'm OUT of Lyrica. So now, I'm in more pain than usual. I was sitting upstairs, watching TV, when all a sudden my knee feels like I was just rolled out of surgery...I HATE THAT...ok yes, thats been happening more lately anyways, but now my whole body hurts more...for example, my ankle is killing me, my back hurts, my neck hurts...EVERYTHING HURTS...I've learned to deal with my pain, and Lyrica makes it easier for me to do so, but without it I'm a mess...and I'm supposed to be working on homework, but I can't concentrate because of the pain. Its ridiculous...she better have that paperwork filled out this week, or she won't be happy with what I have to say to her. Here's to hoping for a better week and less pain.

So here's what's been going on in the lives of the crazy Hanes family...

Friday, May 19th, my Mom turned 50! but we didnt celebrate until Saturday. Reasons being, we had the Cancer Benefit Dinner for my friend Steven VanKammen. I am very happy to say that it went great. We had a good crowd that came and made some good money for Steven, but I'm glad its over. My Mom was working so hard on it and I must say that I am very thankful to have a wonderful mother like her.

Saturday we celebrated Mom's birthday by trying to surprise her with having my Uncle Steve, Aunt Gaylynn, cousin Alaina, and my younger cousins come up for dinner. It was a great dinner too...Dad made brisket (corned beef) and "heavenly potatoes. Aunt Gaylynn made a wonderful red cake and Alaina made a great cauliflower salad. It was really nice having them come up and visit. Its been a long time and I missed them a lot. Mom was happy to see them and cried when they left. All in all I think it was a good birthday dinner for her.

And last but not least, we're getting a basset hound puppy on Saturday. He'll be named Elvis and will be my Dad's dog. Hopefully he will help my Dad get some exercise. I know, you're probably reading this, thinking my family is crazy (as always) and yes we are. The thing is, when/if I move down to Lansing in a couple years, I'll be taking Salem and Trixie (and possibly China), so my parents want their own basset babies. Well we can't wait.

I think that's about all for now. I'm sure I'll be posting pictures of Elvis soon.

Well, this week has been a busy one...and its only going to get busier. Two things happen Friday...my Mom turns 50!!! and we have Steven VanKammen's Benefit Dinner.

Its been a long few weeks leading up to this Friday, so I REALLY hope we have a good turn out at the dinner. We've received donations from Coke, 7up, Pepsi, and Frito Lay (to name a few). We've also had really good luck getting donations for a Raffle we're doing to raise some more money for Steven, we've got stuff from Michigan's Adventure, Double JJ Resort, local businesses in Whitehall, North Muskegon, and Montague. Its so exciting that people are so generous, especially with the state the country is in right now. Again, I hope we have a good turn out and that we can definitely help Steven fight Cancer.

I'll write all about what happens at the end of the week. But until then, I ask that anyone reading this, PLEASE pray for Steven. He's a wonderful guy, great friend, and way too young to be defeated by Cancer. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE pray for him.

Thanks. Randa