The first time I read about Henley and what this little girl is going through was on a FB post her granddad had put up. It really hit home because I too have a granddaughter about Henley's age.
The love between a granddad and granddaughter is nothing short of magical.
I told Kent, Henley's granddad that I'd be praying for them in the comments of that original post and he asked me to play a song for her : )
So here's that song, a tune by singer songwriter Brent Mitchell that he wrote for his daughter. I asked him if it'd be alright to put an unplugged version of his song on the web and explained why and he said "of course" and that he'd be praying for Henley as well.

I posted this about a month ago but it somehow slipped under the radar. I don't think it ever made it out into the cyber world. So, here's Henley's story one more time.

​Help!
I've met someone who's stolen a part of my heart!

Every now and then someone or something comes along that really grabs our attention, you know? 
Everyone has a story and it's only a click away.

Meet Miss Henley.
Henley is a little girl with some big issues to deal with.
​Wait a minute Dip, you say. We've all got plenty of 'issues' to deal with, you say. Yeah, well, we do have plenty on our collective plates and Lord knows it just keeps getting piled deeper but like I said a few lines ago, every now and then someone comes along that stops us in our tracks.
Someone who in the blink of an eye puts things into perspective. 
 
​ -From the Brave Campaign web site, a site dedicated to helping Henley:

​"Henley is the sweetest 7 year old you may ever meet. Through all of her pain she is constantly smiling. Henley was diagnosed with Chiari Malformation at 9 months old and began having significant neurological symptoms at 18 months old. She suffered a major round of seizures in October 2011 and was hospitalized for several days to undergo extensive testing. In December 2011, she was diagnosed with an extremely rare genetic deletion called 16p11.2 which causes neuromuscular, speech and learning difficulties. At this time she is one of only about 500 people in the world to share this same diagnosis. Henley's health began declining rapidly from age 20 months - 25 months and she underwent brain surgery in January 2012 in an attempt to relieve her symptoms. Most of the symptoms resolved following the surgery and it appeared that all was well. "

"Appeared that all was well."

​Henley is now preparing for her second brain surgery that happens on March 8th, 2017 in New York.
That's a long way from the Lone Star state where this sweet  little Texan lives but that's where the best doctors are.
Please check this link to Brave Campaign where you can read Henley's brave story.  Another  place to get to know her is Caring Bridge where you can read a blog her mom updates and leave a message of your own if you'd like. 
 
Now, I've never asked anyone to "share" anything on social media. Ever.  But if these few words, written on behalf of this little girl have found their way to your heart, and if her story has touched you like it has me and so many others  please, please share this post anywhere and everywhere you can think of.
​And if you're inclined, please keep this girl, her family and her doctors in your prayers

 Thanks

dM

"He's eight years old with a flour sack cape tied on around his neck, Climbing up on the garage he's figuring what the heck.
Screwed his courage up so tight that the whole thing come unwound,
He got a running start, and bless his heart, he's headed for the ground.


He's one of those who knows that life is just a leap of faith.
Close your eyes and hold your breath and always trust your cape."
- Guy Clark

I've performed that Guy Clark song for years and on more times than I can remember I have dedicated it to my father in law, Frank Stivison. He really was 'one of those that knows that life is just a leap of faith.'
Frank was born in 1916 in Oakdale Louisiana. He grew up in that small town with his parents and brother and sister. After high school he enrolled at Southwestern Louisiana Institute (now University of Louisiana at Lafayette) where he graduated in 1936 with a degree in engineering. His very first job out of college was with Continental Oil Co. later known as Conoco. He must have liked the job because he worked for Conoco the next 46 years. From Lake Charles, LA, Hamlin, TX, Grand Junction, CO then back to Lake Charles until retiring in 1982 in Eunice LA.
Amazing.

" Now he's all grown up with a flour sack cape tied all around his dreams.
Full of piss and vinegar and bustin' at the seams.
Licks his finger and checks the wind, it's gonna be do or die.
He wasn't scared of nothing, y'all and he's pretty sure he can fly."

Even more amazing, he married his sweetheart, Cathrine Lewis on a warm August evening in 1938 and they were married for 76 years until her passing in 2015.
S E V E N T Y - S I X - Y E A R S. Now that's amazing!
They had 4 kids and a lifetime of adventures.
They had a martini or cocktails every night. He worked the crosswords in the papers every day. He loved to play cards - gin was his favorite and we played many a game while sipping scotch or a glass of wine.
He also loved playing golf and outlived all his golfing buddies.

Frank lived across the street from the golf course in Eunice and the first time I ever played golf, I mean sure nuff' real no kidding 18 holes of golf was with Frank on May 21st, 2006.
His 90th birthday.
He beat the socks off me. (Well, he had been playing golf for a while...)
We played again the next year on his 91st birthday.
The first time I had a martini was in 1993 in Houston, TX on Frank and Catherine's 55th wedding anniversary. He always made double martinis. The first one was so good I had a second. Then we had champagne to toast the occasion. It was Mexican food for dinner so we had to have margaritas. Dessert? Tequila shots. About 1 o'clock that morning I walked a friend out to his car. We went through the garage. When I came back in and hit the button to close the garage door I guess those martinis and tequila kicked into overtime and I just had to sit down for a second and rest. Three hours later Lorna woke me up when she and my daughter Whitney realized I was missing : )
Great memories have always gone hand in hand with Frank 'Pawpaw' Stivison.

"Now he's old and gray with a flour sack cape tied on around his head.
He's still jumping off the garage and will be till he's dead.
All these years the people said, he's acting like a kid.
He did not know he could not fly
So he did!"

On Saturday, December 3rd, 2016 he decided it was time to start his next adventure in his Heavenly home after 100 amazing years.
Here's a link to his obituary if you're interested.
One of his favorite songs was "That Lucky Old Sun"
The last verse goes:
"Oh, show me that river, take me across,
wash all my troubles away.
Like that lucky old sun, gimme nothin' to do,
But roll around heaven all day."

So long old friend, you'll be missed.

Today would have been my dad's 91st birthday. He was born on the same day as his dad, my grandfather. Granddaddy was born in 1899 and was decorated with the Medal of Honor for his bravery in WW1.

My dad tried to join the army twice and was turned down both times due to a leaky heart valve. He never told me but I'm guessing he would liked to have been a photographer in the trenches as taking pictures was his passion. His photography career took off at the age of sixteen when he sold one of his prints to Life magazine and went on to become an award winning professional photographer.

He taught me about the importance of shadow and sunlight - how one affects the other. The balance of light and dark.
Its a lot like life really. The ups and downs, lefts and rights, the balance of it all.

Dad would have had a field day with his camera the past few days here in Colorado. Between the Super Moon, the deep blue sky of the high desert and all the contrasting colors I know there would have been some amazing photos!
​

Here's the first, last and only thing you'll hear from me concerning this political fire storm we are all living in right now. It's my hope that maybe, just maybe some of this crazy, mean spirited polarization that has people saying ,"mark my words" or " there'll be civil war if my side doesn't win" will be still long enough to realize that we are better than this. Really.
I've followed conversations from friends - or they used to be friends and am amazed to see words being hurled like Molotov cocktails at one another. Listen, if we believe that our world is falling apart for (fill in the blank) reason and we preach that in all we do and say. If we let that seed, that belief consume us and control us, our beautiful minds will see that it comes to pass. It works both ways too.
We can believe it's all going down in flames or we can believe everything is gonna be just fine. It's really up to us.
So," come on people now, smile on your brother, everybody get together. Try to love one another right now."

I hope you'll take a couple of moments to read this. It's not trying to sway you from one side to another - just much needed common sense.

​

Sitting in a mexician food restaurant in Kerrville, it occurred to me that Gene, Pablo, Larry, my dad, me and all my friends were suppose to grow old And gray together. We were all going to sit around and talk about the old days and get advice from one another and laugh about the stupid things we did and lament about the bad times. Maybe wind up like the pic of the two old guys that limped in here on their canes obviously old pals that had countless stories. Ok, maybe limping in on canes was never part of the picture but you get the idea.

I was in Luckenbach today and took a picture of Gene's and Pablo's license plates that are nailed up behind the stage and posted a verse and a chorus of a song I'm working on for Gene to FB

" You'll be there in the sunrise and the gentle rain

Out across the mountains and through the dusty plains

And when we stop in Luckenbach, at a table in the shade

You'll be there in the live oaks and the music being played

So, here's to you my old friend

To the days we dressed in black

And all the miles we ever traveled

I knew you always had my back"

.

So this is day 3 of the Taming of the Forbs . Sheesh... It's become quite a large project.

Ginormous in fact. We've filled up a 15 cubic foot dumpster mostly with Marvin Herrings stuff he walked away from almost 2 years ago and could probably fill it up again. Then there's the r30 fiberglass batts I've hauled outta the 'basement' that takes a lotta space. But at $425 a pop we'll figure out another route.

Lorna and I have been staying at 'The Lodge' in Ft. Garland... an old but clean motel for $55 a night. Tomorrow we will brave the cabin as we got the plumbing in working order today and had the electrical system checked yesterday. There's a huge hole in the roof where there used to be a chimney for the wood burning stove . We have two guys replacing that tomorrow ( $1250 )

At least we have hot and cold running water , a flush toilet and lights. We brought our cots and camping stuff so we ought to be jest fine.

Gene's memorial service was an amazing, emotional at times, day. The lake behind his house that was all but dry when he bought the place last September (that he insisted would be full by this summer as Larry and I told him there was NO way) was MORE than full by this morning. Such a bittersweet day spent with his family and friends. Pablo said he looked around a time or two for Gene - he should have been there.

Lorna and I left Graham this morning at 10:00 headed for Ft. Garland, CO to get started on the cleanup and rebuilding of the cabin we are about to buy in Forbes Park. And so the adventure begins!

Here it is, Saturday morning, the 30th of May and I'm sitting on the back porch of a friends house in Graham, TX trying to process the fact that I just retired from my UPS job I started 31 years ago. I'm not sure it's completely sunk in just yet but I'm positive it won't take too long!

Now, I'll finally have the time and energy to keep up with this blog and web site.

Here's a link to a little song I sang on the last day at work.

https://youtu.be/M6kkJf0k1gk