Tag Archives: Stephanie

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An icky and sad experience…….

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I came into the CVS where my daughter works tonight to see if she wanted me to go pick her up dinner and she was visibly shaken. A woman came in who was angry about the Minute Clinic not being open for her young son to get his ear checked out absolutely unloaded on Stephanie, yelling at her in front of customers. To make it even more sad, the woman did this with her young son with her. What a wonderful example.

It saddens me that these types of incidents are more frequent these days…..they should not happen at all. People treat others with disrespect and this takes place all around us. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised though, seeing as that’s pretty much the examples we see on TV. The election itself was filled with a nastiness I cannot ever remember happening before, and there seems to be no end to what is acceptable.

I do hope this woman gets some help, both for her son’s ear, and for herself. Her anger will leave an indelible mark on my daughter, and it certainly wounded me. We all want the best for our kids, and even at 17 I want to be able to shelter her from the pain the world can inflict upon her. Sadly, she will continue to learn a lot of that on her own.

Please pray for Stephanie, for this woman, and particularly for her son. He is learning some pretty poor lessons.

But most of all pray for our society. It’s never too late to remember that we are all God’s children and with that should all treat each other with dignity and respect. I hope you take that to heart. We all can be better people.

Goodnight my friends, and God Bless.

Fr. Tom+

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Go Millers Go!

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Tonight was the playoffs for the men’s indoor lacrosse league. There are two divisions, and Scott plays for the high school in one of them. They played great. They won their first game, knocked off the top seed in the second, but lost in the last two seconds of the championship. That was a heart-breaker, but they played great all night.

Tomorrow night is the finals for the girl’s team. We are in the championship game already, so I hope everyone is rested and ready…..particularly since I am the coach! All our high school teams have fared pretty well regardless.

We will be taking a few weeks off until Winter ball which begins in January, and then it all starts up again. It is a great sport, and I am glad Stephanie and Scott play it. We have lots of fun.

I want to think about just that tonight, in that I was by St. Patrick’s tonight and it is still not even painted. We need to take possession of it in no later than 48 hours because we have no other place to go! Please keep it in your prayers. But for now I am off to bed savoring a great lacrosse evening!

Goodnight and God Bless.

Tom+

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Of birthdays, fatherhood, and ultimate doom……

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Today is my daughter Stephanie’s 17th birthday! It is an exciting day…..especially for her.

But for me, though I am happy for her, personally this birthday seems to terrify me. All her other birthdays seemed tolerable, but this one only marks how little time I have left with her here. Sure, she is only half way through her Junior year, but college is coming in no time, and with it her empty room. Times have already changed. Tonight she is out with her boyfriend and friends, and our birthday celebration for her accommodated that….as it should.

I have thought about all this since the day she was born, and am willing to just enjoy all the time I have with her here. I am proud of her, she is an incredible young woman and just a year from adulthood (though she would tell me she is already there). I could not ask for a better daughter. God has blessed me more than I ever expected.

But it is killing me! Steph and I watched a movie a year or two ago together that came out when she was born…..Father of the Bride. I have always considered it a horror movie, while most prefer to think it is a comedy, but they are clearly not a father to my daughter. At the end of it, while I was in tears, Steph just shook her head in disbelief and told me “Dad, that is EXACTLY you and it is EXACTLY me,” and sadly she was right.

I am sure I will get by. Fortunately for me Amanda is EXACTLY Diane Keaton. Yep, I will need help (as I always have) to get me through the future. But I know Steph will be alright. She is a pretty great kid (okay, young woman) and will do great. I am so very proud of her!

Happy Birthday Stephy, I love you………and I will be waiting up until you get home!

Good night my friends and God Bless.

Tom+

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Ode to a transportation miracle…..

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Tonight I was able to tell my daughter that she could have my car until hers was fixed and she couldn’t have been happier. Her car has been in the body shop for close to a month as parts come in and work is done. What has been sacrificed has been her freedom. She has to hitch a ride everywhere now, and hearing that era was now over produced a big big smile! It made my day!

My car is a 1998 Volvo and it will become Scott’s when he gets his license, but I know he is not too pleased about it. it is a great car, but hardly something a teenager might want. I remember the days. My first car was a red white and blue 1970 Ford Pinto, hardly the “chick magnet” my 16 year old mind had envisioned. But it was good for me. I learned that a car just gets you from one place to another, and how it looks is not nearly as important as how (or if) it runs!

Anyway, tomorrow Steph will take Scott to school in “his car.” It ought to be interesting. I am just glad they will be able to drive and not lug all their stuff on the bus.

In time, lessons will be learned and most importantly I will be a chauffeur to only Ben and his mom. I like them in that they rarely go anywhere after 7! Praise the Lord for that!

Okay…off to pick up Steph from work for the last time! Yee hah!

Good night my friends and God Bless!

Tom+

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Of following the letter of the law………

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My wife is pretty busy, so one thing she has always wanted is a cleaning lady. From time to time, we would find someone, but since we could not afford to pay much, we often got what we paid for. And with both of us working, an infant, and two teenagers, (the kids and Amanda are all very messy…..I am the epitome of cleanliness) we needed to do something. So after a lot of thought and prayer we found the perfect cleaning lady…….the wonderful and talented 16 year old Stephanie Tirman. Steph needs the gas money and entertainment moola, and she offered to do it because she thought it would be fun.

And surprisingly, Steph does a pretty good job too. Not that we took her room as a reference…..it is clearly a Federal Disaster Area. But in the other parts she is careful and meticulous, and even seems to take great pride in her work.

BUT………she has a list from Amanda and cleans to the very letter of the law. If it is not on her list, then it doesn’t get done, and today I got a big charge out of that very fact.

You see, this morning when I went to let out the dogs (they have a room in the basement) I went through the rec room and saw two blankets wadded up on the two couches…..one was Steph’s and one was Scott’s. Our basement gets pretty cold and they often watch movies late into the night and have been doing that a lot lately since Amanda bought them a few. This last time they just left the blankets on their respective couches and went to bed…where they were till this morning.

Now being the great dad that I am, I was going to pick them up, fold them, and put them away. After all it was no big deal. But then I remember that Steph would be cleaning today and that they were HER AND HER BROTHER’S blankets and clearly she would just do them herself…….but what I can clearly see now (since they are both still there) is that they were not on her list.

And it totally amazed me how she moved things, dusted, and swept….all while not disturbing those two BIG blankets there on the couches! It probably took more effort to not move them than to fold them, but of course she was just doing what she agreed to. And the basement looks great too…..all but for those two wadded up blankets.

Now I am not complaining. It really did make me laugh. And Scotty does the same thing too. You could tell him to turn off the TV before bed, and he would every time, but if you don’t say “and don’t forget to turn off the lights too,” well then, you should plan for them to be on. They are good kids, always within the law of our home…..but always following it just to the letter.

No worries though……..I have asked Amanda to add “and pick up your messes” to her cleaning list!

Nite my friends and God bless.

Tom+

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Of lacrosse, awards, goals, and the future……..

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Tonight was a spectacular night! We were able to join a few hundred people for the Noblesville Lacrosse Awards Banquet. Both our boys’ and girls’ varsity teams received awards, as well as our boys’ JV. Next year we will add a girls’ JV as well.

The awards banquet was a big marker for me. It was a goal I had to finish this first season even before I had the stroke. And then after having it, getting to that banquet became even more important to me.

I had to speak at the banquet, and remember things without notes, and do so in front of this large crowd as we presented our part, the girls’ varsity awards. My Assistant Coach Lisa Corry had it all laid out and was there to help me fumble through what I had to say, but it was important to do because the Noblesville Lacrosse community is made up of some of the finest people I have ever met. They were there for me when I had my stroke. They stepped up for the girls during that time too. They brought the entire girls’ team into their already existing club and have helped us to develop. And all they did for Michael Treinen and his family was one of the most remarkable things I have ever been a part of. These are not just people who are good at running a lacrosse program, these are good people. And it was an honor, and important to be among them. I think I did okay, but Lord only knows….I will have to ask my wife.

We gave out the awards and celebrated a great year. It was a blast. I wish I had an award for each of them. They are all great girls and we wouldn’t have been the team we were without even one of them. Our three seniors who graduated will be missed, but college calls, and they are fine young women who will all do well. I was honored to be able to coach all of them this year. I hope that came across.

The hardest part, and a huge honor for me was to bestow the award for the Most Valuable Player which is among a few of the awards that the players vote on, not the coaches. This year it went to my daughter Stephanie, and I got pretty choked up as I read her name. She is a great player among many, and it was a big honor to be chosen by her teammates. As I talked to her about it later she said it was both a surprise and an honor, but then she started to talk about next year. As a matter of fact, most of the girls I talked to did. They are great kids, but they have become athletes and their focus is strong. It is awesome to see them develop as a team.

So today was a great day of both accomplishment and joy. I am glad however that it is over. I will need the night to rest and recover. Few days in my life have been better. I have great kids, I am surrounded by remarkable people, and life is getting better each day!

I best go to bed before something goes wrong!

Night and God bless!

Tom+