Rich took Aaron to Paris, France to visit Nick and to see the sights. They had a wonderful time. Thanks so much Nick!
Below is a small sampling of the 700 or so photos they took. Aaron also took several hours of video. They did a thriller and a documentary, soon to be on youtube I’m sure.
Have you notice the blogs and social networking sites are just loaded with lists. Lists everywhere; the best, the worst, the do’s and dont’s, 10 places I’d like to go, 25 random things about me, favorite movie lists, bucket lists, and on and on.
I don’t listen to music very often these days, but I went out for a short run today with my MP3 player, which has many of my favorite songs on it. So, of course I thought of making a list. A favorite song list could be very long… should it be my top 10 favorites, top 20? I decided to cut my growing list down to a Big 30 list.
Those of you who grew up in the Boston area in the late 60’s / early 70’s will remember radio station WRKO’s “Big 30” song lists. WRKO and DJ Dale Dorman were very popular at that time. I remember looking forward to walking down to the local music store to pick up a new Big 30 lists, which came out once a week. And if I was lucky enough to save some baby-sitting money, I could buy a new 45 record. 45’s actually out-sold albums at that time.
So, here is my Big 30 favorite songs list, in alphabetical order. These are songs that I’ve listened to over and over without getting tired of them. Feel free to comment with your favorites. I might have to update this list if I think of a song or two that I’ve forgotten, which could bump one of these songs off my list.
1. American Dream – Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
2. American Pie – Don McLean
3. Angie – Rolling Stones
4. Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes – Jimmy Buffet
5. Eclipse – John Denver
6. Eighties Ladies – K.T. Oslin
7. Forever And Ever Amen – Randy Travis
8. Free Bird – Lynyrd Skynyrd
9. From A Distance – Bette Midler
10. Greatest Love of All – Whitney Houston
11. Hallelujah – Rufus Wainwright
12. Harvest – Neil Young
13. Hey Jude – Beatles
14. Hotel California – Eagles
15. Imagine – John Lennon
16. In the Year 2525 – Zager and Evans
17. Kokomo – Beach Boys
18. Landslide – Stevie Nicks
19. Love Can Build a Bridge – The Judds
20. Lyin’ Eyes – Eagles
21. Me and Bobby McGee – Janis Joplin
22. Middle Ground – Mary Chapin Carpenter
23. Same Old Lang Syne – Dan Fogelberg
24. Spilled Perfume – Pam Tillis
25. Stairway to Heaven – Led Zeppelin
26. Stay – Jackson Browne
27. Teach Your Children Well – Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
28. That’s What Friends Are For – Dionne Warwick
29. Total Eclipse Of The Heart – Bonnie Tyler
30. Turn The Page – Bob Segar
31. Wonder – Natalie Merchant
32. It’s Gonna Be Okay – Theresa Andersson
Stay – Jackson Browne added 04/30/09; It’s Gonna Be Okay – Theresa Andersson added 05/24/09, now need to remove two song…which ones, which ones?
We took Eric to see a neurologist yesterday. After reviewing his history and test results, Eric was diagnosed with “complex partial epilepsy“. There are many different types of seizure disorders (epilepsy). So, the first step is to figure out the type, as the specific treatment depends on the type of seizure. Below is a list of seizure types from epilepsy.com:
Primary Generalized Seizures (seizures that begin with a widespread electrical discharge that involves both sides of the brain)
* Absence seizures
* Atypical absence seizures
* Myoclonic seizures
* Atonic seizures
* Tonic seizures
* Clonic seizures
* Tonic-clonic seizures
Partial Seizures (seizures that begin with an electrical discharge in one limited area of the brain)
* Simple partial seizures
* Complex partial seizures (Eric)
* Secondarily generalized seizures
As mentioned previously (Seizures and CP), kids with CP are at higher risk of having seizures, also puberty and/or growth spurts can bring on seizures. Eric fits all of these criteria. I was surprised to discover that Eric weight 116 lbs! He has gained 16 lbs in just a few months!
The plan is to start him on Trileptal today and see how he does with that. Trileptal is an anticonvulsant that works by decreasing nerve impulses that cause seizures.
After a busy morning at the hospital, Eric got to go to Disney on Ice at the DCU center in Worcester last night! He is a big Disney fan and especially loves the princesses. Disney on Ice is fun for him. He’s been a few times and knows what to expect. He can make noise without bothering anyone and the music drowns out any crying babies that might bother him.
The count down starts on March 1st and continues until the grand re-opening. Tomorrow (April 1st) is an unofficial town holiday as our local favorite ice cream place opens for the season. Regardless of the weather, getting some ice cream at Swirls & Scoops on April Fool’s Day is a tradition for many locals. Yup, we will see you there:-)
by Emily Perl Kingsley
I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability – to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It’s like this…
When you’re going to have a baby, it’s like planning a fabulous vacation trip – to Italy. You buy a bunch of guidebooks and make wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It’s all very exciting.
After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, “Welcome to Holland.” “Holland?!?” you say. “What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I’m supposed to be in Italy. All my life I’ve dreamed of going to Italy.”
But there’s been a change in the flight plan. They’ve landed in Holland and there you must stay. The important thing is they haven’t taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place full of pestilence, famine and disease. It’s just a different place.
So you must go out and buy new guidebooks. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you never would have met. It’s just a different place. It’s slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you’ve been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around…and you begin to notice Holland has windmills…and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.
But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy…and they’re all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say, “Yes, that’s where I was supposed to go. That’s what I had planned.”
And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away…because the loss of that dream is a very, very significant loss.
But…if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn’t get to go to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things…about Holland.
***
©1987 BY EMILY PERL KINGSLEY.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
