Grandma Tyson's 95th Birtday

Grandma Tysons hearing is gone, she is loosing her eyesight and sometimes she forgets, for just a moment, who you are, but she is still very sharp. I hope I am doing that well after living nearly a century. Kenny Chesney sings a song "Don't Blink". He talks about a man turning, I believe 101, and he gives the advice "Don't blink, it goes faster than you think". I will turn 47 next month and in close to half a century I feel the same way. It seems like just yesterday the only "children" we had were Dusty and Butch, our dogs. Those were simple days. It wasn't that long ago that Briana joined the family, now she is 19 and going to school in another continent. Andrea just turned 16, Joanna 14 and Krista, the baby, is 12. There are many days I just wish time would slow.

Speaking of Briana, we talked with her twice on Friday. We used the webcam on my computer and she was on with her friend who also has a webcam and we got to see each other. There was a little delay but it was still nice. While she was talking to Andrea I had a major mishap. I was frying eggrolls. When I finished, I was pouring the grease into a mason jar and the jar cracked sending grease down the front of my cabinets and all over my floor. This was a canning jar made to withstand high temperatures, but it still broke. What a mess to clean up. Needless to say when I sat down and looked into the camera, I was a sight to see.

These are busy times for the Tysons. Busy times don't bode well for slowing time down, it only makes things go faster.

Pete Sampras

I Saw Pete Sampras

I thought I was too tired to post...but I saw Pete Sampras. It was quite exciting. He played Todd Martin. Martin actually won the match, but that doesn't take anything away from the fact that I saw Pete Sampras play. Todd Martin is from Ponte Vedra. When we were returning from Mexico, he was on our flight from Atlanta. He stood out because he is so tall. He is 6'6". He actually had more aces than Sampras. He also had the most awesome service return. But....Sampras was cool. Of course his serve is incredible. He was playing the old school serve and volley...Conners and MacEnroe style but only for the first set. He lost that set and quit going to the net. He won the second set in a tie break. He is much better with the volley. It doesn't matter that he lost. He dropped completely out of tennis when he retired. He did other things which makes him a well rounded man. It also reminds us that there is more to life than tennis. With Pete Sampras' 43 million dollar earnings there can be much, much more to life.

It is Tuesday, and yes it stormed

It seems like we have severe weather every Tuesday. Today was no different. The problem is, Tuesday and Thursday are match days for Andrea. Monday nights she works out hard and is ready for the match the next day. Last week was Fletcher and this week was Mandarin. These are both difficult matches, and both had to be rescheduled. Fletcher was rescheduled for last Friday. Andrea's coach had to miss and for some reason, it was very devasting for her. She lost. The girl was much better than her, but mentally she wasn't even there. Today's match will be played next Wednesday, that doesn't make her happy at all.

The frequency of stormy weather has done damage. There is a huge limb that broke free from a tree. Instead of falling to the ground, it is hanging from another tree. It is quite high up and we are not sure what to do about it. Hopefully, the other trees will break the fall if it decides to come completely down. I would hate for it to kill one of the dogs or worse hurt the kids. There are several smaller branches that have fallen but no other major damage, yet.

Tonight we went out to eat at Moe's and shopped for Easter shoes. This weekend is time change...spring forward and loose an hour of sleep. Sunday is mission night. Next week the Spanish ministry is changing thier service times once again. I am sure that will be the topic of an entire blog. Then we have Easter. It seems it never slows down.