Yes, I missed posting yesterday, but it was not without intention.  Sometimes I just have too much on my plate, and that is something I have worked hard to rectify.  Eating it all makes for easy cleanup but an unhealthy body and spirit.  I therefore left what I started on my computer last night (this is not it) and revisited it this morning.  I erased it all, and it is all good to borrow a line from Scotty Tirman.

But tonight I am back at it.  Amanda has yet another Thirty-one gathering and Ben and I (and Viper) did the whole guy-thing with the cat just ignoring us all.  After all, that is what cats do.  But we made dinner, he took a bath-er or a show-ath, depending upon your perspective and we generally enjoyed our night together as Tirman males.

AND, I am happy to report that we and the house sustained no (significant) damage in her short absence from us.  (yes, I am surprised by that) And she will arrive home shortly with Ben, Viper, and the cat in bed, and me just hoping to get there.  Oddly enough, I got a lot done tonight which was not my prediction as he was rather chatty before she left and I figured that would continue on…..it didn’t.

But the highlight of my evening, and perhaps my week was Ben wanting me to come into the dining room and see his creation.  You see, he is currently grounded from his iPad and the TV.  He generally likes to play a few games after his homework is done (our rule, not his desire) but lost that privilege due to misbehavior.  We had a long talk about this yesterday in which he told me it wasn’t his fault as he got his bad behavior from the 19 years he did in “jeuvy,” (he apparently just got out).   I just looked at him with amazement and thought, “wow, all three of my kids are weird.”  He was my last hope (Scotty is just the prototype of Ben, but I had to kick Steph out of the house as a kid to go PLAY….her idea of fun was to stay inside and do math problems).

Anyway, since he can’t play a game electronically, he DREW a game on paper……Angry Birds, and as I watched him explain it he did sound effects.  He seems to get around any discipline I can dish out and enjoys himself.  Life better get ready for this one.

But I suppose I really should not be surprised.  His emotions are controlled and calculated.  After all he had developed them in almost two full decades in jeuvy………13 years of which were apparently prenatal.

Goodnight my friends and God Bless.

Tommy+

The whirlwind tour is over with Scotty leaving this morning for California signaling the end of his leave.  As of the posting of this entry his trip has finished and he is back on base.  We are all pretty sad to say that it is over, for although we only had a few days with all three kids together, we did get to spend significant amounts of time with all of them.

Tomorrow however regular life restarts.  Ben has school, days become routine again, and my truck and the dog will be almost constantly with me.  And although I really do love the routine and predictability of my days, and although hanging with our (really Scotty’s) dog is pretty fun, and although (at third one) having my truck always available makes my life very smooth, I would trade it all in a minute to have them all here again.  The chaos is the challenge, but seeing the dog bag me means one of the kids is around and that makes me happy.  And I’d gladly never drive that truck again if they lived here where I could see them all the time and be what others call “inconvenienced.”

Tonight’s picture is of this morning at the airport.  I realized tonight that I am rarely in any of them as I take most of them.  But I also realized that, to me at least, most of my pictures are really great (because someone is arriving or we are doing something together) or they really suck (because we are saying goodbye) like tonight’s picture.  I suppose it is harder for my future daughter in law to see him go, and I am willing to admit that, but it doesn’t make it any less difficult.

The routine for me will help.  I am sure my dad can explain how to walk through it too.  But for now I will be thankful for the one still here.  

Great times, great kids.

Goodnight my friends and God Bless.


Tommy+

Amanda held her first Thirty-one party tonight and Ben and I hung out a few miles away at the Panera until it was over.  Yes, we were her chauffeurs.

Thirty-one is an interesting thing.  Amanda does not need to be any more busy as she has more than a full-time position with her company,
but she bought some of their stuff last year, and heard about their company (it is a Christian company that makes bags for women based on Proverbs 31) and she was just drawn to it.  She loves the stuff and she seems very excited about doing it.  And of course when that happens, we just stay out of the way.  We are all just thankful that it is not some home project!

But Ben and I had a few hours to kill so we first went to the Sam’s Club in Greenwood where I was surprised that were were not kicked out or arrested as we appeared to be the only people in the store not wearing Indianapolis Colts gear.  (It really was eerie)  But we made it out of there alive somehow and headed for the nearest Panera where he swore he would not just look at his Ipad, but eat dinner. (Incidentally he was wrong and ended up with his Ipad next to me while I watched him wolf down his food.

The interesting part was that I programed in our family in his contacts, and what tonight’s picture is showing is he and his grandma Skyping after he had eaten.  He did not disappoint.  During dinner I could hardly hear him.  He was mumbling.  But when he was Skying EVERYONE heard him.  Six year olds have some sort of sensor that kicks up their volume in small or public places and another sensor that sees you concentrating and then takes away their ability to be quiet, even when you plead, threaten, or bribe.  Now I am sure I never did such things at six and you could ask my mom if she were still living, or my dad, but at 77 we will just label him confused on such questions.  After all, I remember it like yesterday.

But the day is done, we are home and as I type this we are less than 10 hours from sending Scotty back off to Camp Pendleton in California.  The next time he will be home for sure is before the wedding. Steph will have graduated college by then and it is up in the air as to where she will be.  Home would be great, but I remember that choice not even being on my radar after graduating….by my choice.  I wanted to “superesse diem” (survive the day)

But it will all work itself out in the end I suppose, and in all these things I am but a helper……In the words of Mongo “I am just a pawn in the game of life.”  So be it.  At least I can get five hours sleep tonight.

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

If I was just bright enough to take a picture tonight I would have been able to post a picture of our family, with everyone but my daughter Stephanie (back at school) and my brother Mike who was not home yet at a restaurant having dinner with Scott and Kenzie as Scotty leaves back for duty on Sunday morning.  An intelligent man would have done so, and actually probably even a not too bright guy would have too.  I clearly was not all there.

But we did have a nice time, and it signals (as this dinner always does) three things.  One, Scotty is very close to returning to the Marines.  Two, I am very close to getting use of my truck back.  And three, the dog will soon be saying to me “Where have you been?”  (His world is pretty much Scott when he is home).  And this gathering, always with a variation of these amazingly good-looking, brilliant, and genetically-gifted people (yeah, thanks dad) always takes place as someone is heading back to where they are living.

For me however, (since I delusionaly believe you should be interested is how it is about me) it reflects something I have really known my whole life……..I have a pretty great family.  As a kid I remember going to things among many other Tirmans (cousins and aunts and uncles) and being amazed at how I felt.  As time passed however my generation grew, dispersed and the gatherings were different…..not all the same ones, and I thought it to be over. What I have come to see is that growing and being away is just part of it.  It really was a process of division as this is recreated over and over.  In a way it is a lot like what we SHOULD do in planting churches….plant, grow, divide, plant new, grow, divide and repeat.  In other words, my dad was not at the table with his brothers.  His parents are now gone, as are his aunts and uncles.  He now sits at the table as the Patriacrh.  Of his five children,  two were there, my sister Anna and me.  Mike was not there this time although we thought he would make it.  Our sisters Steph and Sarah we were not expecting as they are hanging with all our other deceased relatives in heaven.

In time however I know I will sit at a table, sans dad, Mike and Anna.  Dad will be gone, I will be dad at my own table with Scott, Steph, and Ben and their children.  Mike and Anna will do the same.  You see, it is not something that ever goes away, it just recreates itself. And it is life and it is pretty cool.

When I was a kid, my Uncle Wally used to tell me I should always be proud to be a Tirman, and although I thought I understood why, I never really got it.  It took me awhile to really get it, but as I did it was exciting to move into my place within it.   You see, he was right, and I am proud.  And gatherings like this just reinforce that.

And next week my dad and I will meet for lunch or breakfast and probably fondly reminisce abut it too.  We meet now regularly as he is old and I am getting older and he is mentoring me in moseying and other old people things.  We both are AARP eligible and it’s just all part of it.  And in truth, for what it is (meaning I only wish we could bring back those I miss) I would not want it any other way.

So tonight please accept my apology for the lack of a picture from last night and enjoy an old picture I have posted before of ALL the Tirmans who will be sitting around a table with me.  Yes, he is my favorite patriarchal picture!

Goodnight my friends and God Bless.

Tommy+

Yes, I know this is a second shot of an event over the holiday, but it does express how Ben, as a true Lapel Bulldog (how convenient I went to Butler so the Bulldog theme fits) felt to find out this afternoon that school has ONCE AGAIN been cancelled.  Yep, he got an additional week off.  And the ever popular Lapel Elementary song “Bulldogs Get Your Paws Up” is probably being sung today all over our community……by everyone but the parents.

But I am happy for him.  Scotty is still home for another few days, Kenzie is around too, and it really IS like a vacation to him.  Of course if things keep going his way he will never get out of first grade, but the good news is that  he seems quite content with the possibility (as I am sure most of his friends are as well).

This however takes me back to growing up in what was then a small place, Mishawaka, Indiana.  Of course we had school too and I won’t make up any stories like we had to walk to school 5 miles up his everyday and both ways (I will leave those stories to my dad’s generation) but we did have snow.  And here is the big tada in all of it, when it snowed WE WENT TO SCHOOL.  Whether it was just 4 inches (summer) or 16 feet (the rest of the year), our Superintendent would wake up, get a coffee, walk to the front door of his house, open it up, see nothing but white and think “What a wonderful day to go to school!”  He did this of course for two reasons, one, on this issue he was clearing incapable of saying the word “no.” And two, he was from my dad’s generation and clearly projecting.  Either way where I grew up you would wake up and think, “I wonder if I have school today,” and then you would laugh hysterically.  It was just like living in Wisconsin, but without Aaron Rodgers.

Anyway, thankfully I am able to hang with him all day.  I am now a Lapel Bulldog parent, but will forever be a Beiger Junior High School Bulldog and a Butler Bulldog too.  And I will get my paws up along with him.  After all, I am a kid at heart and a snow day is a snow day for whoever gets it! Congratulations Bulldogs, you finally have accomplished that of which we never able.

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

It’s just another day here at the Tirman home.  My wife is working, I am avoiding being in the way, and Ben is clearly studying Quantum Physics.  Only a real boss could read such things with a silly straw behind his ear like a pencil.  His grandma sent us this one.  He looks pretty studious.

But don’t kid yourselves, it is most probably a ruse.  Ben is about 123% dedicated to goofing or slacking off and there is a very clear and discernible difference. PLUS we cannot discount that there may be something going on with Ben and his grandma.  They are always in cahoots about something and this odd duck attire just may be part of a larger more fun filled thing they are planning.  After all, she took the picture.

He however is still on a pretty tight leash here, and when I say tight leash here I mean only when we can catch him.  Each day is different from the rest. And although we miss the sweet little easy going guy a lot, he just continues t get better and better.  These are always hard weeks.  Steph had to leave but misses him.  Scotty will be leaving Sunday.  And soon it it back to just the three of us (which we define as living life without backup)  We will however survive.

But is a been a busy week……no school means no rest….and no rest means doing a lot.  It  is a great blessing though to have any or all the kids around.  Ben is not my first rodeo and the other two have turned out fine (okay, maybe not Scott…but Kenzie keeps him in line)  I know we are just thankful for them all, crazy ear pencils and all…..because they wouldn’t be real Tirmans if a little crazy wasn’t part of the description.

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+  

It may “look” like an intelligent conversation, but it is not.  Conversation implies a two-way street, and one of them is not talking.  And I will also confess that this is NOT a posed picture as cats cannot and will not pose for anything.  It is just one of those moments that the cat must have found chicken nugget or macaroni and cheese breath worth her time.

But these two are pals.  Our cat “Puddy” (like pudding) has actually mellowed with age.  She is 11 now, but at one time was most probably the meanest cat (or animal) at our vet’s practice.  And after paying to have all four paws declawed, they still got her out of the carrier wearing welding gloves.  She is about 6 pounds of pure fire, and is not to be trifled with.

Ben however loves her, and she Ben.  She sleeps on his bed every night and it is probably meant to be a witness to how tough she is as taking any kind of rest with Ben (whether a nap or when he sneaks into our room) is about as comfortable as sleeping with a zip-tied bag of wet squirrels….he is always moving.

Oh sure he looks sweet in those fake glasses, and sure Puddy looks all docile, but it is an illusion.  These two are the modern day equivalents of “Pinky and the Brain” with no Pinky, two brains, and a lot more ill intent.  He will talk you out of anything he wants and if you don’t comply she’ll bite you. And the scary part is that the two of them hang together.  It is Sharknado at its best, just with fur and delusion.

But if I didn’t have this to write about, what topic could I choose?  The world of these two is pretty cool, and I love walking in it……..at least for as long as they let me.

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

Sub-zero temperatures, school cancellation, travel advisories, and just another day here at the Tirman home!  Yes, I was out for a few short trips in my truck, but it was well before I was informed of any travel restrictions.  Ignorance of the law I understand is no excuse, but we are taking care of some friends’ pets, and the very cold weather makes that even more important.

But despite the stressful weather, inside the house it has been pretty fun.  Viper and Ben are all about Scott, and as you can see from tonight’s picture, Viper trails him wherever he goes, so much so in fact that as Scotty stopped on the stairs to talk to Amanda and me, Viper just sat down (poorly) next to him. He cracks me up.  Scotty has said that he sleeps right on top of him…..too funny.

As I write this it is -13 outside.  It is pretty hard to imagine it much worse.  Steph thankfully drove back to school on Saturday and made it there before all the bad weather hit.  She too is stranded at her house, but she is warm and safe.  I just pray this night for those who are not….it is brutal out there.

But for now I will just call it a day.  There is nothing too bizarre or spectacular to report.

But on a day like today I have to confess I like it that way.

Goodnight my friends and God Bless.

Tommy+

Although this blogpost is for January 5th, I waited to post it until the morning of the 6th (The Epiphany for those of you who follow the Church Calendar) since it was what everyone considered a “major storm.”  And here, in parts south of Indiana, those words should be heeded as we just do not have the equipment down here to handle such storms….PLUS the temperatures will be BELOW ZERO.   And with the amount of snow we have, it just won’t look like enough, thus a picture from The Epiphany (or January 6th for those of you who follow the secular calendar).

But I am also pleased to announce that in my running around in the snow a bit today (when people from where I am from say the words “running around in the snow” they mean out and about in their truck) I actually witnessed a MIRACLE……the resurrection of what we call PLOWS.  Yes, I saw them with my own eyes, and I also saw them spreading ice melt.  (We used to say “salt,” which it indeed still may be, but it is now a very distinguishable BLUE….more like icky cake sprinkles than salt).  And all and all, they did a pretty good job with the Tom Tirman Award for BEST Snow Plowing, once again going to my town, Edgewood, Indiana.  (A Dynasty of snowplow domination in the making!)

But my assumption is that these next few days, although quite cold, will be nostalgic.  A foot or so inches of snow on the ground will look like what we called “WINTER” up in my hometown of Mishawaka, Indiana.  The roads, while still covered, will be pretty clear I imagine, and everything else will look very clean and pure, covered in a blanket of white.

Call me crazy, but I enjoy it!

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

Sarah, our mom, and Steph

Today is my sister Stephanie’s birthday, and had she not passed away November of 2001 she would be getting a phone call from me harassing her for being 51.  My search for a picture of her, as I have MANY, proved unsuccessful and did nothing but irritate me.  My sister and I drove each other nuts, but we also had a great deal of respect for her.  And she and my sister Sarah (who died in 2004) were two of the most amazing women I know…..okay they were really not women, they were sisters. (brothers will understand).

Steph

But I think about them both often, particularly on their birthdays.  I tend to look at pictures on those days and yes, it generally depresses me a great deal because quite simply I love them both and miss them terribly.  They were total pros as sisters, devoting their young lives to constant covert attacks upon me, and quite often, more than not in fact, I deserved it.

Deep down however, behind all the sibling nonsense of our youth, we knew we cared about each other and could count on each other.  And we did.

Steph

Both of them had children too.  Steph’s daughter Amelia lives in Southern Indiana and Sarah’s two kids Griffin and Katie live in Virginia.  And believe me, it breaks my heart that they all did not have more time with them.  I would have liked more time myself.

BSU – Steph is the short one

So tonight I went back and downloaded pictures I have posted on this date for the last few years.  There is even one with both of them with our mom who passed from Alzheimer’s in 2011.

Stephanie and her namesake my daughter

Sure I admit, it does depress me because I miss them.  But few people have the blessings I had in growing up with them all.  Happy Birthday (you old goat!)  I love you and miss you!

Steph and her namesake Stephanie my daughter

Steph at Ball State BSU Gymnastics

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+