Six Months Ago...

That was me six months ago (thanks Philip for the well timed iPhone snap). We had a great wedding. I can't express enough my appreciation to all our friends and family for coming to share in that day.

I Love You Girlfriend.

No Day but Today

My last blog post was shortly after I proposed.

Today is the day of my wedding, in a few hours I will begin a new stage in my life.

Am I excited? Yes.

I'm probably not showing it much... yet.

My bride, The Girlfriend, is off doing bride things... getting her hair done, etc.

I am sitting here enjoying our Hacienda and thinking.

The last few days have made me really appreciate things in my life. I still have lots of family around and I am about to acquire a whole lot more.

All of my closest friends are going to be here. Some still live close by, yet many of them do not. All of them are coming. I'm thankful for that, more that I will probably be able to express to them individually today. Friends from all points in my life: childhood, high school, college, and now from my vocation. One of my life long friends is the officiant for our ceremony today. Another friend will be our musician. The majority of them will be standing by my side. I considered going through everyone one by one, but I will undoubtedly overlook someone; you are here.

Both of our parents have contributed to making decorations and the clothing. It means a lot to both Erin and I.

I don't really have a point, here just thought I would capture some of my rambling thoughts as I sit here and "hurry up and wait."

For Erin, the Girlfriend, and my bride... I love you. I'm excited and looking forward to our future together.

Let's get started...

She Said ,"Yes."

I thought I would share the story of my proposal to the Girlfriend. Rather than describe all the work and sneaking around I did to pull it off; I will let her tell you. Below is copied from her post on her blog. Enjoy!

They say a photo is worth a thousand words, but here is the story behind this photo:

I got a phone call from my friend Shelly in Farmington last Friday night asking if I knew of a scrapbook store called Memory Lane. She said they were having some sort of awesome sale and wondered if I would be willing to swing by the store and pick something up for her co-worker, Lindsey. She told me what it was that Lindsey wanted and that Lindsey had already called the store to make sure they had one on hand.

I told Shelly that I'd gladly pick up Lindsey's stamp set, but that I didn't think I'd be able to get over to the store until Sunday afternoon and asked her to have Lindsey pay for the stamp set over the phone and have the owner hold it behind the counter. I explained that Saturday was going to be a busy day, that the store was way up in the heights, and that we'd be on that side of town on Sunday for Father's Day to visit Dan's parents. She said she thought that would be okay and that she would call Lindsey in the morning.

A few minutes later, Dan comes out to the kitchen and asks "So, what did your friend Shelly have to say?" I told him that we needed to swing by Memory Lane on Sunday to pick something up for Lindsey. Dan said okay and proceeded to ask about Father's Day: "What do you want to do about Father's Day? Do you want to do Father's Day stuff with my Dad tomorrow and then Father's Day stuff with your Dad on Sunday?" "Sure! That would be great. We can pick up Lindsey's stuff tomorrow then!" Problem solved.

Saturday arrives and we take Darby to his 9 a.m. Family Dog class. After class, we come home and I make us an yummy little breakfast, complete with turkey bacon, eggs, and salsa! I never cook, but I did that morning and it was delicious! By this time, it's about 11 o'clock. I then decide to plan the tomatoes that have been sitting in the sink for the past couple of weeks. I needed to get them planted planted and out of the sink before my trip to Minnesota. Dan reluctantly helps me plant the tomatoes and then says, "Okay, it's time for you to get in the shower so we can get over to see my parents." It's now noon. I get into the shower thinking to myself, "What's the big hurry? We have all afternoon." I take a nice long shower and finish up around 12:30. I dilly dally around trying to find something to wear and we head out the door around 1 p.m. My hair is still wet, but that's okay. I figure I'll just quick curl it when we get home before we head over to the zoo for my office's annual party.

When we get to Memory Lane, Dan asks if I'm going to take all day and reminds me that we need to get over to his parents' house. I tell him I'll just run in and get Lindsey's stuff and be out in a flash. He says "Yeah, right," and starts to tease me about my shopping habits which then prompts me to quip, "Just for that, I'm gong to look around and see what all there is to see and, if I find something I want, then you'll just have to buy it for me because I didn't bring my purse!"

With that, into the store we went. I immediately found Becky and said, "Hi, I'm here to pick up something for Lindsey. She lives in Farmington and prepaid for a stamp set over the phone." Becky replies, "Oh, you'll need to talk to Robin, the store owner. She's right over there." I walk up to the counter and repeat the statement to which Robin replies, "I've got the stamp set right here (picking up something from behind the counter), but I'm going to need to look into whether or not she pre-paid. Would you like to look around the store while I do that?" "Sure, no problem." I begin to look around. Dan then asks to use the restroom. He stands at the counter for a minute, waiting for them to direct him to the bathroom. When he emerges from the bathroom, we start looking around the store together. He points out some paper and I say, "Oh, I've got some of that paper. I plan to use it when I scrapbook our high school days." "And when are you going to do that?" Dan asks. "Someday," I reply. "Yeah right, and when are you going to finish an actual album?" "Hey, you just leave me alone. I've finished albums, just never one for myself!" We emerge from the paper room and start looking at rubber stamps. Robin then comes over and says she has an album she thinks I should see, handing me a pretty little album about 1 inch thick. I've looked at albums in the store before, getting inspiration from the work of others, and didn't even give it a second thought when she handed the album to me. "Sure," I say, "Let's have a look."

When I opened the book, the first page read, "Dan & Erin." "What?" I turned to the second page and there was a photo of me from high school, as well as one of Dan. "We met in 1991 at Eldorado High School." It took me until about the third page to realize that I was looking at a scrapbook that Dan had made, chronicling the six years we had spent together as a couple. I was immediately overcome with emotion and tears began to well up in my eyes. The hustle and bustle of the store just seemed to disappear. I know there were several customers watching and waiting, but, from that moment forward, it was if they weren't even there. It was just me, Dan, and his beautiful album and the tears began to fall. I carefully turned and read each page until I reached the end of the book and there, on the very last page, I found a ring, a very special message and photo, and the words, "Will you marry me?" By then, Dan was down on one knee and repeating the question. With tears streaming down my face, the answer was a resounding, "Yes!"

The photo above captured the very moment Dan put the ring on my finger. It was taken by Becky, one of the ladies who works in the scrapbook store. She was supposed to be off that day, but, after hearing about Dan's in-store proposal plan, she found a reason to be there (and even skipped her lunch date with a friend when we didn't arrive at noon as anticipated)! Dan added the star burst or "chispa" in photoshop, but there wasn't anything he could do to fix my wet hair! Thank God I had enough time to put make-up on before leaving the house!

My Girl's Gift to Me...

Hi Pretty Girl
Originally uploaded by dcumminsusa

I haven't blogged for some time and have been meaning post something.

Disclaimer: this post isn't about a significant event in my life, just a quick entertaining story.

This is Daisy, our only female dog. The Girlfriend claims she is a "Daddy's Girl."

About 2 weeks ago she brought me a gift; twice.

I came home from work and let the dogs outside like usual. The two males, Scout and Darby, came back inside while Daisy remained out in the backyard. I heard her run through the gravel just as she does every day.

This time it was different; something about the sound made me pause and then go to the back door to look outside.

There she was standing in the middle of the yard holding a mourning dove in her mouth. I did not want her to bring it into the house, so I went out into the yard and called her to me.

She stood there. She knew she had something good and wasn't about to hand it over.

I called her again.

She turned and went to the far corner of the yard; just holding the dove.

We played cat and mouse in the backyard for about 20 minutes. I took a step, she would take a step. Finally I cornered her and pried the bird out of her mouth (she refused to drop it on command). As soon as she dropped the bird the two males dogs moved in... I reached to grab them, releasing Daisy. In a flash she scooped up the dove again and was gone.

I found her in the hallway in the house, holding the dove. Once again I got the dove away from her and proceeded to take it to the front yard. I set it under a bush and let it be.

Ten minutes later, I was on the computer checking Twitter, Facebook, and Flickr. She came in to see me much like she does a few times a day, simply standing right next to my chair. I didn't look down at her and just proceeded to pet her. Then I realized the two males we simply staring at her and she wasn't moving.

I looked down at her, only to see her look up at me and then every so gently set a second dove down on the floor at my feet.

I took this bird to the front yard as well and as soon at I set it on the ground it flew off.

I'm waiting for her to bring the Girlfriend a "gift" while she is lying in bed; that will promise to be exciting...

A Blessing and a Curse

Working Late
Originally uploaded by dcumminsusa

I am fortunate that I have manager that allows me to work from home even though that is not the standard practice of my employer. I have been working from home for nearly three months straight now.

It's been really nice, I'm always home when the Girlfriend gets home. No commute to deal with (although my normal commute is about 10 minutes) and I have no dress code to adhere to.

However, there are a lot of people in my department that assume that when someone is "working from home" what that really means they will answer an email every few hours to give an appearance they are working, but they are really taking the day off.

I, on the other hand, have been over-working myself while working at home. One reason is to counter-act the above assumption. I get an email, I reply ASAP. The phone rings, I answer it.

However the real reason for my long hours is part lack of discipline and partly the nature of my current project. It's too easy when I get up in the morning to turn on the laptop and start answering emails while the coffee is brewing.

I'm also working on a global team; literally. Two of us are in New Mexico, another three are in Arizona, another one in Oregon, and another one in Israel. You expand my immediate circle by one more order of magnitude and suddenly Malaysia comes into play. In order to make sure the guy in Israel is feeling like part of the team, mornings work best to work with him (time difference is 8 hours ahead). The folks in Malaysia are 14 hours ahead, sooo that means at around 5pm my time... they are just starting their work day. Emails come pouring in and phone conversations start up.I have meetings and phone calls with them until about 8 or 9pm every night. This makes for a 12 to 13 hour work day.

I have also found that by working at home I have less interruptions, i.e. less breaks and that I miss queues for things like... lunch. I can often be working and realize it's 2 or 3pm and I have not eaten since breakfast.

I'm planning on returning to the office again real soon so I can take it easy again.

All this work is really getting in my way of playing around on Flickr, Facebook, Twitter and the rest of the InterWebs.

Heeling Us Until The End

2009 has been a different year so far to say the least. First let me see if I can get anyone reading this to a basic level of understanding. Regardless of how you, the reader may feel, The Girlfriend and I love our dogs. We do not have children; we have dog-children. Our dogs go everywhere with us and are loved more than probably many children in the world are loved. I know a lot of people don't understand this and simply look their dogs as... dogs.



She had Scout and Bandit when we first started dating. If Scout and Bandit not taken a liking to me the first time I came to her house; The Girlfriend and I would probably not continued to date. For the longest time we joked that if it came down to me or the dogs, I would be the first to go. Over the years we have adopted two more dogs to bring our pack to four. Four is the maximum number of dogs allowed by law in my hometown.

We have a much larger devotion to our animals than most; we know this.

Bandit has been sick for almost 4 months now. He can no longer walk or stand. We carry him outside and lie him on the grass to use the bathroom. We carry him from room to room as we move about the house. We bring his food to him, instead of him coming to it. He can no longer reach the water bowl on his own, so we water him with a big syringe He is on more medications than most would think to provide their pet.

Through all of Bandit's inabilities, he has continued to do what cattle dogs do best; he is making sure the herd stays close together. The last four months has been about "We."

I had several ways in which I wanted to articulate the way we had become closer. However, after plodding through several of them and deleting all of them; I have realized my ineptitude for describing how things have changed.

Bandit's illness has caused a lot of emotional highs and lows in the last few months and we have been riding that roller coaster together. Sometimes only one of us in the lead car and the other in a trailing car. Other times we are sitting side by side; holding hands and holding on tightly; sometimes laughing and sometimes screaming.

All of this because of a little dog. Our little dog.

Screw it... I re-written most of this blog post about four times now...

We are going to miss you Bandit. I'm going to miss you. Our home will soon feel very different. I worry how your mom is going handle it. She has surprised me several times in the last few months; but this will be one of the hardest things she is going to have to experience.

Thanks accepting me into your home. Thanks for giving me your approval six years ago when we first met.

I was told, "It not fair we out live our pets, when most of the time they are a better person than we are and they are the ones who deserve to live a longer life."

No More Happy, No More Running...

HAPPY!!! RUNNING!!!
Originally uploaded by dcumminsusa

Most people won't "understand" where I'm coming from on this...

This blog post is more a coping mechanism for myself...

He's only 10 years old.

Like most 10 year old boys, he loves running and jumping and playing.

He really liked his PE classes.

Playing chase with his brothers and sister.

Around Thanksgiving we thought he hurt his back.

He just collapsed in the kitchen.

We took him to the doctor. The doctor recommended acupuncture and some non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.

We made sure he was taking his pills and every week took him for acupuncture.

Then he started dragging his left foot.

The doctor switched from traditional acupuncture to vitamin B12 injections into the acupuncture points along the spine.

12 shots; every week. He took them like a trooper. No complaining; no crying.

He would improve for a day or two after the injections and go back to dragging his left foot.

After many attempts we got him into see a specialist.

He had to stay overnight for a Myelogram and CT scan.

Again like a little trooper he did it. His first time away from home with strangers. No complaining; no crying.

The results came back.

He has an inoperable tumor on his spine.

Our baby will eventually become paralyzed from the neck down.

No more running...

No more jumping...

No more playing..

Just

no more ....