This Mother’s Day is a little more special for me as it is the first year in at least 14 that I have been able to spend with my Mother. Thankfully she was able to come out for our wedding and stay a couple of extra days, thus allowing me this rare opportunity that I am very thankful to have. I always call and send a card but the distance has always prevented us from being together. I think that was one of the hardest realities of growing up and pursuing my life, having to leave those I love and pursue that life elsewhere. Regardless of this, I am blessed because my Mother has always supported me and offered her guidance and support, even over the miles that separate us. Thank you Mom, for everything you have done for me over the years, for being there for me, and always loving me. I am so happy and thankful to be able to be with you today. Happy Mother’s Day!
Author Archives: Ed
Husband and Wife
I am very happy to announce that today was a great success! It took a log time to happen, and many (including myself!) 
never thought it would happen, but today Melissa and I are finally husband and wife. The weather was beautiful (though a little windy) and Melissa was even more beautiful! The ceremony went off without a hitch and I was blessed to have my beautiful daughter, Kylie, participate in the ceremony. Additionally, my mother was able to come out from NY to join us for this celebration, and that means more to me than I can express. It was a small personal ceremony and we are very grateful that we were able to have the ceremony on the campus of the university where we met. Afterward everyone went over to Tower Inn to celebrate with us. The ceremony and reception were small and lovely, just like we wanted. While we both would have loved to invite more people to be with us today, we ultimately choose to keep it small and personal both for financial reasons and because planning anything larger was really causing us emotional stress. We are very happy with how everything turned out, and thank everyone for their participation, gifts, thoughts, time and well wishes! Photos from the day can be found here.
Rehearsal Night
Tonight was the rehearsal for tomorrow’s big event, and I am happy to say that it all went quite well. We first brought everyone who is going to be in the wedding (and their families) out to dinner at a local Asian Buffet. Everyone seemed to really enjoy dinner and because it was a buffet everyone certainly had their fill. Afterwards we all went over to EMU’s boat house so we could rehearse for tomorrow’s event. The rehearsal went smooth and we are looking forward to tomorrow.
Pawning Around
Today we took a trip down to American Jewelry and Loan which is the Detroit pawn shop featured in the show Hardcore Pawn. 
Mom is a big fan of the show and wanted to go down to see the store and hopefully meet some of the people she sees on the show. While she was hoping to meet Les she only got to see him while he was filming a piece for the show. She did get to meet Seth though (picture to the left) and that was good enough for her. Surprisingly none of us were very impressed with the store itself, it definitely seems better on TV. After our trip down into Detroit we swung over to Chris and Tracey’s house for dinner and so Mom could spend time with the kids.
Mom’s Here!
Today Mom arrived to spend a few days with us and to be here for our wedding. For some reason though, she tried to leave as soon as she got here. I was waiting at the arrivals gate for her when she called to tell me she was at another gate, so I drove over to the new gate, but no Mom. So after a bit of communicating back and forth I finally determined that she somehow managed to pick up her bags and instead of going out the doors by the baggage claim, she went upstairs and out the doors by departures. So I had to go up there and pick her up where everyone else was being dropped off to leave. So for the rest of the day I picked on her for trying to leave as soon as she got here. But we are very happy she is here safe and sound!
Another Year
All our Love.
Another Birthday
Happy Birthday Melissa!!
Tonight we went to dinner at Outback (Melissa’s choice) to celebrate and enjoy an evening out. I also surprised her with an Open Hearts necklace from Kay’s that she had been eyeing for a while now. Unfortunately because her birthday landed on a monday this year we really didn’t have anything large planned. Besides, all of our focus has been on the upcoming wedding. It was still nice to have a night out, even if it was only a couple of hours.
Daddy-Daughter Date Night
Tonight I surprised Kylie by showing up after work and taking her out to dinner. I didn’t get to see Kylie last weekend and I won’t see her this weekend either, because she is spending both weekends with Mommy. This week Mommy is out of town with Mimi, Aunt Sissy, and a few others enjoying a cruise for Mimi’s birthday and Neil has taken the week off to watch her and make sure she gets to school. Seeing that I missed her very much I arranged this little surprise with Neil. So when I knocked on the door and entered Kylie was very surprised and happy to see me. She yelled “Daddy!!” and ran to me with a big hug. She asked what I was doing there and I said “I am taking you to dinner, anywhere you want to go.” As I expected she choose Texas Roadhouse, and off we went. After we both enjoyed a nice meal and some very nice quality time we headed back home. On the way back she asked if we could get a McFlurry from McDonald’s for dessert, so we made a detour and each had a snack sized one and talked some more. Afterwards I brought her back to Mommy and Neil’s and came home. It was a very nice dinner and I enjoyed spending some much needed Daddy-Daughter time. I hope when she is older, she will look back and enjoy these memories as much as I do. Daddy loves you Kylie, whole bunches forever.
Engagement Photos Done
Melissa and I finally got around to having Engagement Photos taken today. The pictures were taken at a few locations around the area by Sarah Sturgill of Captured Moments Photography. She has done pictures for us in the past and so we are confident that the pictures will turn out great. I have to admit, having the pictures taken was a lot more fun than I anticipated. There are few non-self taken pictures of Melissa and I as one of us is usually behind the camera, so I find that I am anxious to see, and have, pictures of us together. Sarah will also be taking the pictures at the wedding, so this will also give us an idea of what we can expect from that as well.
Predators of Today
Today we went to our local district library for a presentation on present day Predators and Prey. The presentation ended up being a series of activities that we were all able to participate in preceded by a short talk about how all organisms interact with each other to create an interconnected web we call the ecosystem. There were three activities that we all took part in, mainly helping Kylie through them as they were mini science type experiments. One was designed to show the various impacts that humans and animals have on our environment and those of each other. The second was a mock dissection of various types of fish and the types of things we would find in them including different chemical elements that humans have introduced into nature that end up in the fish. The last one, and by far Kylie’s most favorite, was the dismemberment of a real owl pellet (the regurgitated non digestible portion of an owl’s meal). During this activity Kylie discovered the remains of an entire Shrew skull in her pellet and thought that was pretty amazing. The lecture and activities were presented by a member of the University of Michigan’s Museum of Natural history, which we found ironic as we just visited there two weeks ago. It was an interesting and engaging few hours and we look forward to attending other such seminars and workshops.