Wreaths Across America 2022

Christie & I began volunteering with Wreaths Across America in 2019. Let’s back track a little on how we got started. On December 15, 2018 my father attended the opening ceremony at Sunset Memorial Gardens Cemetery. After the hour-long ceremony my father made his way to Pineview Memorial Gardens where he is in charge of the wreath laying at that cemetery. As they began the laying of the wreaths my father reached over his trailer and collapsed. He was having a heart attack. Other members of the American Legion Post 71 North Augusta were also on site. They saw my dad collapse and sprung into action beginning CPR until Aiken County EMS arrived. My dad died seven times on the way to the hospital brought back every time. You can read more about his story here. He was in a medically induced coma for a week. When he came out of the coma I made a promise to him that I would be at every Wreaths Across America event with him from here on out.

2022 was our third year involved with this event. We left our house on Thursday night and drove half way. On Friday morning we arrived at my parents house at 11:30am and quickly jumped into my dad’s truck and headed to Wade Hampton Veterans Memorial Park.

This will be the beginning of our weekend. The event at Wade Hampton Veterans Memorial Park was a short event. Post 71 laid a Wreath for all the military branches. After the ceremony we went to Monterreys Mexican Restaurant with my parents and the Wreaths Across America director for North Augusta Tony and his wife. After eating we talked telling old stories about past wreath layings and other things. I found out why Tony got involved with Wreaths Across America and it was because of his son. I don’t know before this if Tony had any children or not but being retired military I figured he did, and I was right. Tony’s son Anthony died while in Afghanistan. Hearing Tony tell his son’s story made me understand even more of why I drive 210 miles to my parents every third week of December.

Saturday morning while we were at the opening ceremony at Sunset Memorial Gardens, Tony said something in his speech that stuck with me. “When you lay a wreath remember the name, go home and Google it. That person has a story.” After the ceremony at Sunset Memorial, Christie, Dad, and myself headed over to Pineview Memorial Gardens. We laid out wreaths on the fallen veterans headstones, said their names out loud, and thanked them for their service. The sad part of the whole event, which is funded by donations,is that we don’t have enough wreaths for all the headstones of fallen veterans. After we finished up at Pineview we went to Sunset Hill Cemetery where my mom is in charge of that location for laying out wreaths. There is so much time invested in this event and so many volunteers every year.

While planning my visit to South Carolina this year, I asked my parents if it would be possible to visit Ft. Jackson while on my visit. Before going onto the actual base my mom wanted to visit Ft Jackson National Cemetery to view all the wreaths that had been laid out the day before. 

It’s such a beautiful view with all the wreaths laid out. Just knowing that these men and women are the reason for our freedom. 

I haven’t been to Ft Jackson since 2000. This is my first visit in twenty-two years. First time in thirty-six years I’ve been on this base with my parents. So many memories jumped into my mind. This is the first time that I get to show Christie one of the places where I grew up. Naturally things have changed a little since the last time I was here. The house I lived in, the elementary school, and the baseball field I played on have all been torn down.

Even though all those places are torn down, the memories will always be there. Just walking on the baseball field where as a kid I was one of the top players in Columbia,SC. I could hear the parents cheering us on, I could see all my teammates in the dugout, I could hear the bats hitting the ball. It’s just a great moment for me to be able to share this with my wife. 

Down Syndrome

I’ve never met anybody with more love for people than a person with Down Syndrome, I believe the first person I met with Downs was when I lived in Germany. His name was Ben. I remember him with his three wheeled bike. He would ride in the parking lot of the Skyline Housing Area in Würzburg, Germany. Ben always had a smile on his face, I don’t think I ever saw him upset. Years after I moved back to the states I heard Ben passed away.

Fast forward to 2003, I met a guy who was a year younger than me. His name was Jon. He was a funny guy, always trying to make you laugh. To him, he didn’t have an extra chromosome, to him he was just like you. Little did I know at the time, but he was going to change my life forever. He was going to be my brother-in-law. I added the in-law, but he was really more of a brother to me. Jon and I would do everything together. We participated in Special Olympics Bowling and Golf. We bowled in a league on Wednesday nights for years. We went on vacations together. We would take our Saturday’s and drive around and go different places. To Jon, he was hanging out with his best bud. We enjoyed spending so much time together. November of 2020, we started to notice Jon was becoming forgetful. Which to us was very strange. He began to forget where he was, what his name was, what our names were. Things just didn’t seem right. To us, that was strange because Jon used to be able to tell us when a certain TV show would be coming on and what channel. You could give Jon a number of a NASCAR car and he could tell you the driver’s name. Jon wasn’t dumb, he was very smart. That’s where people don’t know. They figure since he looks different and is slower than a “normal” person that they are dumb….WRONG! Back to November 2020, things weren’t right, so Christie left her job and began to be his caretaker. Hoping and praying things would get better. Maybe it’s just a phase. Well, it wasn’t. Things continued to deteriorate. Jon wasn’t getting better. I’d take him on rides around town and he didn’t know where we were. He would talk about playing golf and look at me and ask if I played golf. He wouldn’t remember us playing. It was sad to watch. Things just kept getting worse. In November 2021 Jon had his first ever seizure. He was taken to RMC and released four days later. They didn’t do anything to help him because we didn’t want to put him in a nursing home 30 minutes away from our house when we have one directly across from where we live. Three days after he was released from RMC, he had an episode and this time we took him to Tanner. I never knew that two hospitals could be so different. The staff at Tanner was so much more helpful and caring. Jon stayed in the hospital for a week. We got him approved to become a resident in the nursing home across from us. He went back to Tanner two more times. His mind wasn’t getting better,, but it was definitely getting worse. On August 9, 2022, Jon passed away, and that’s when I had a hole placed in my heart. Jon is in Heaven and not in any pain anymore. I miss him daily and think of him all the time. Down Syndrome is just a thing that someone has. It has become a part of my life. 

Christie and I have friends named Christy and Brian. They have a son named Matthew. Yep, you guessed it, Matthew has Downs. I met Matthew in 2012. We have been friends ever since. Matthew was nonverbal for a long time and his only way of communicating was signing. When we would visit, I always had to have Matthew sign to his mom and have her translate for me. Today Matthew speaks and sometimes I struggle to understand what it is he is saying, but he will spell it out by signing to me. We visited Brian, Christy and Matthew quite a bit. Usually when we go to a festival or event Christie, Brian,Christy walk around and Matthew and I do our own thing. Matthew always tries to joke with me. One thing he does is he will look at me and say, “Steve, watch.” He will lean over to Christie and kiss her on the cheek. He then goes into a big laugh and I stare him down and say to him, “You kissing on my girl?” His reply is “Yeah.” It’s little things like that that make me love all these guys. You see, downs may be an extra chromosome but that extra chromosome is an unconditional love chromosome.

More to Come Soon!

I’ve realized that I haven’t done much on here. When I have down time I have these thoughts. Instead of having these thoughts and forgetting them about thirty minutes later I guess I need to write them down. I’ll be adding them to the site as time progress. I will try to go thru the stuff I did this summer and put it on here. 

Hidden Talent

Woke up this morning and as I always do I check my Facebook to see what’s going on in the world. That’s when I came across this post from my daughter. I couldn’t believe what she wrote I was in shock, not because of what it was about but how it was written. So I couldn’t wait for Christie to wake up and see her reaction to what Aubree-Anna had written. About an hour later I was going to see that reaction and it was just as I thought. Christie opened Facebook and started to read what Aubree-Anna had written. She looks over at me and says “Did she write this?” As tears are rolling down her face I said “I know right.” Little did we both know that she has such a talent. I was truly amazed at what was written. This kid has such a great talent I can’t wait to see what else she writes.

Aubree-Anna wrote this

Happy Anniversary

Just want to thank my beautiful wife for being who she is. With her I’m a better person today. I probably wouldn’t be where I am today without her. I love you with all my Heart & Soul.

Vacation Day 2

Today wasn’t all that great weather wise, but we made the best of it. Christie and I walked on the beach this afternoon. When we got back I needed something to eat so we headed to Tacky Jacks 2 had some Mexican Garbage which filled us up then headed down to the bar had a few drinks and watched the sunset. Not tooting my own horn but I got some pretty decent sunset pictures. Now we are back at the condo just relaxing and having adult beverages.

Enjoying the beach

We have made it to Ft Morgan and now we are enjoying some beach time.

Auburn Football

One of the best times with Christie, Tyler, Aubree-Anna, Mike & Erin. The Chick-fil-A College Football Kickoff Game Auburn vs. Louisville. Great memories and great times

So the Vacation Begins

So tomorrow starts off with 4 hours of work, then off to Baby Claire’s awesome first birthday party, after that it’s off to Gulf Shores,Alabama for a week. Christie and I will be celebrating our 7th anniversary. I’m looking forward to this trip.

Christmas Lights 2014 Phase 1

Aubree-Anna & I started our annual Christmas light display. This is the first phase of it and more to come.

Iron Bowl 2014

Loving the Iron Bowl with the Family.

A Little Friday Night Lights

Got to enjoy Seeing Dawson & Aubree-Anna perform tonight at the villa Rica vs. Hiram. Hard to believe that they are growing up so fast. What a great night.

Hanging with Jon.

As we were leaving Publix tonight I decided to have a little fun with Jon. 

Just follow this link to see this video:
https://flic.kr/p/pdyrTm

I Jumped out a Perfectly Good Airplane.

10:30a Today I will get my birthday gift from my wife and friends I will be going skydiving at Skydive the Farm in Rockmart, Ga

This is what the sky looked like at 10:45am. I’m hoping it will clear up for a good view from 14000 feet.

Got to Skydive the Farm at 3pm due to low clouds they were delayed.

At 3:45 this is what it looked like in the sky. We went airborne about 5:50. We jumped at 14000 feet, when we jumped out we did 3 flips and going damn fast free falling at 6000 feet I pulled the cord to open the chute and we coasted down for awile. Jerald Freeman my tandem guide tried to get to a cloud and a rainbow to get a pic of our shadows on the cloud but then realized that his gopro wasn’t working right so we were at 3000 feet and said “Shit we need to get back towards the farm.” So we floated back to the farm and as we did we turned left then turned right a few times getting pretty sideways. Then landing.

This is by far the coolest birthday gift I’ve ever gotten and YES I will be doing it again. Thanks to everyone that helped make it possible. You are the best.

Here are some pictures from the jump.

Baby Claire Diaper Party

Our day at Nocalulla Falls

Started at the bottom now we're here.

Just walked under the Waterfall

Always watching over me

Walking the Trail

My Rebel

      

My Late Fathers Day Gift

Today Christie, the Kids and I went Helen,Ga to go tubing at Cool River Tubing. It was something that I had not done. It started off a little hard but once we got going it was fun.

All storm no rain

I set the GoPro out tonight doing the lighting storm we had here are some of the shots I got.

Alma Esther (Meyer) Hastings

Birth Date: 08/12/1914
Death Date: 06/02/2014

Alma Esther (Meyer) Hastings, 99, of a longtime resident of Hudson, passed away peacefully at the Fairview Nursing Home in Hudson, surrounded by members her loving and devoted family on Monday evening, June 2, 2014.

She was born on August 12, 1914 in Kearny, New Jersey, a daughter of the late Emil and Emma (Beifuss) Meyer.

Mrs. Hastings was the widow of Alfred W. Hastings.

She is remembered as a loving and devoted wife, mother, grandmother, sister and aunt. She enjoyed sewing, knitting, crocheting and cooking.  She was a member of AARP and had served as a treasurer and the Board of Directors at one time.

She had worked for the J. Lawrence Hall Company as a secretary and bookkeeper for many years.

Mrs. Hastings is a member of the Main Street United Methodist.  At one time, she served as the church secretary.

In addition to her husband and parents, her brother Alvin E. Meyer and a granddaughter, Natalie H. Hastings, predeceased her.

Mrs. Hastings is survived by her son and daughter-in-law, Donald Hastings and Geraldine Brosnan of Hudson; her daughter and son-in-law, Carolyn and Ralph Wainright of North Augusta, SC; her grandchildren, Stephen and Christie Wainright of Austell, GA and Deborah and Donald Courson of Milwaukie, Oregon; and her great grandchildren, Dawson Wainright and Emily Wainright, both of Temple, GA.

Mrs. Hastings family would like to thank the staff and caregivers at Fairview Nursing Home and Amedisys Hospice Care for the kind care they gave to their mother, grandmother and great grandmother.  They would also like thank their mother’s personal caregiver prior to her moving to the Fairview, Geraldine Brosnan for her many years of care as well.

SERVICES: A Private Graveside Funeral Service in her honor will be held at Maplewood Cemetery in Marlborough, MA at the convenience of her family.  In lieu of flowers, those planning an expression of sympathy are asked to consider a memorial donation to the Building Fund, Main St. United Methodist Church, 154 Main St., Nashua, NH 03060.

Dawson’s Baseball

Enjoyed the evening watching Dawson play baseball.