I just became a grand father for the first time and have had the craziest week ever that led up to it.

It all started with my wife having her shoulder replaced and then me having a doctors appointment to being rushed in for heart issues and then on Christmas eve my daughter Who was 2 weeks past due) was in a car accident which caused her to go into labor to having a healthy baby on Christmas day.

This all started on Tuesday,

All that matters is we are blessed with a new member of the family.

Happy Holidays everyone

Dave

Beautiful :+) And congrats, Dave! I am too blessed to describe well here, but as briefly as possible... I have seen incredible places, heard beautiful music, seen incredible works of art, experienced every emotion life has to offer, have family who love me, and freedom.

Love this! And i want you to know how much of a blessing I truly feel YOU are Al!!! I refer To this site and you specifically to so many thruout the year and over the past 2-3 yrs of finding all your amazing insights have really come to appreciate every word you share and feel blessed when you answer any questions I post here. And to know for a fact seeing past dates on forum posts that you have been giving advice to so many day in and day out for many MANY more years is just so beautiful. Thank you for blessing us with your knowledge!!

Aww! Thanks Elissa.

I feel particularly blessed that I'll even be alive to ring this New Year in. If it wasn't for my older brother, it's a given I wouldn't be. See, when I was four and he was about 7, he diagnosed me with a deadly disease that required me to eat dirt 3 times/day to remain alive. I'll forever be grateful for the good fortune that it was revealed it in time, and to him for his cognitive clarity and kindness.

Al

Bahaha, older brothers are indeed blessings ESPECIALLY when young ;) that’s classic. Hope you can figure out how to repay him one day

I love this also, what a great mantra!

Dave, so glad to hear you’re okay and congratulations!

Paul, your white Christmas looks lovely. We had one in Portland, OR this year as well.

This year my husband started a new job as a police officer with a great department and we’ve had our second baby boy. I’ve also been blessed with the ability to take time off of work to stay home with both boys. We are very blessed this year. Plus, with moving to the PNW from the high desert of California, I finally have been able to have the garden of my dreams indoor and out! I’ve had orchids rebloom twice and that has never happened for me before!

Also, Al, as Elissa has said I am very grateful for the time and energy you have spent answering so many people’s questions and writing informative threads and actually explaining the science behind it all. I have learned a lot and feel many of my plants are thriving based on things I have read that you’ve written (the houseplants love 5:1:1 by the way). I try to pass on as much as possible to others I know. Thank you again.

I’m also grateful to the other wonderful folks on this forum that help out, identify, experiment, etc, it’s a pretty cool community.

Happy New Year!

Thanks, Cassandra. I'm glad you're excited about the move north and
the blessings you listed. Too, it's always uplifting to hear about
someone else sharing what they've learned - 'paying it forward'. I was
thinking the other day that when younger I used to admire people for
many things that I barely consider to be attributes now. The thing that
impresses me most these days is any act of true kindness.
Al

I made a New Year's resolution to walk 6 Miles every day. This morning, I changed my dog's name from Louie to 6 Miles.

Al

Uncle Al, you are soooo bad! ;>)

Boy-o-boy! With the New Year's Eve celebrating now behind me, I would like to share a personal experience with my friends about drinking and driving. Most of us have been known to have brushes with the authorities from time to time, usually on the way home after a "social session" with family or friends. Well, this happened to me on NYE. I was out for an evening with friends and had more than several whiskies-&-water, followed by a couple of glasses of a rather nice red wine and several vodka shots.

Although relaxed, I still had enough common sense to know I was slightly over the limit. That's when I did something I've never done before - I took a taxi home! Sure enough on the way home there was a police roadblock, but since it was a taxi they simply waved it past and I arrived home safely without incident. This was a real surprise to me, because I had never driven a taxi before. I don't know where I got it, and now that it's in my garage I don't know what to do with it. So, anyway, if you want to borrow it, just give me a call.

Al

Al, who knew you were a plant genius and a comedian! You’ve given me great plant advice and now some good laughs!

Although I HAVE written some funny stories and posted them to various forums, most of the funny stuff in this thread comes from recycled or revamped old jokes or stories someone sent me or I read somewhere along the way. IOW, many're sorta plagiarized ...... but not all of them.

Al

A friend sent me this a couple of days ago, and I thought some of you might enjoy it. I'm a sucker for anything with as much beauty in it as the video, and I hope you find it as moving as I. The song comes after the poem.

Al