Adro found this photo today, the cool thing is the name of the photo includes the date the pic was taken. So this is from Dec. 27th, 2006. Evey was 20 days old!!!
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Watching Thunder vs. Rockets. Probably Westbrook's last game in OKC. He averaged a triple-double this year! The NBA has been insane the last couple seasons. They got rid of fighting, but some of the players have become supernatural. Steph Curry, he's like 6'3", had the best season I've ever seen anyone play, bombing threes from all over, steals, assists. Clearly the best team in the NBA. And then they lost to LeBron in the finals after they were up 3-1!
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So I turn 40 in 2-and-a-half hours. Don't worry, I've only had a couple and I'm going to go to bed soon, before I get sappy.
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War's greatest hits is on the jukebox, btw.
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Got sappy on Friday night at Uncle Jesse's funeral. Everyone wanted to tell me Mom stories, it got to be too much, like it was Mom's funeral. ALL those guys knew Mom. But not many made it to her funeral (Uncle Jesse, Doug and Marilyn and Jesse did!) So this was, for a lot of them, an opportunity to pay their respects to Mom.
All good. Glad it's over. I told Judy as we drove away, "That's the last time I'll be in Lamar, Colo." Because, with Uncle Jesse gone, I just don't see when I'd go back now. You know?
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Big lightning strike. Going to lose DirecTV soon, surely.
Yup. Jost lost it. Switching to "notepad."
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So we still live in that house you saw when we showed it to you when you were sick. Eight years ago now? The house has been good to us. We love it. You should see the yard right now! DIALED IN. I’ve got help, I hired a lawncare company to spray it… but the mowing, trimming, landscaping, etc., is all me and Adro!
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Donald Trump is the president. Of the United States. No bullshit.
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Me and Adro, the kids, we’re all fantastic. You should see Evey. She’s so tall, and she’s only 10! VORACIOUS book reader, like you and me were. The 5th graders told the 4th graders today that there was a “summer book reading contest” and Evey said everyone just turned and looked at her! HA!
Boyd is great. Really growing up all of a sudden. Knows how to fish. Loves basketball. Jayhawks fan. Ladies man. Has this eyebrow thing he does when he’s trying to be charming. My only problem with him is he’s a cooler dude than me now. (Check him out, he's on the far right in the Superman T-shirt.)
Adrianne is awesome. Loves her job, it’s not even work to her. Loves the kids, loves the house, still thinks I’m OK!
We celebrated 10 years last summer, a trip to Red Rocks. Honestly, we’re more in love today than ever. Today, after work, we just sat on the back porch, enjoyed the weather, shot the breeze. The saddest thing was when the sun went down and we had to go inside.
We have a dumbass dog, too. But you’d like her.
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Barry Manilow, turns out, is gay. On a somewhat related note, Bruce Jenner is now a woman.
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Elvis is still dead, far as I can tell. Still on the look-out, though.
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Work is good, really good. Today I took my... 77th issue of Golfdom to press. Hey, 77 — that's convenient. I was born in '77...
I remember when you used to tell me that you thought Ed was grooming me to take his job. That didn't quite work out. We both left GCSAA within days of each other, under different circumstances. But I ended up as editor-in-chief of Golfdom, and now he's semi-retired and he helps me with Golfdom.
Cool moment: I saw Ed and Clark at the Golfdom booth and they were both laughing. I walked over to see if I could find out what was so funny. Turns out they were reminiscing about how awful their old jobs were... and how it all worked out at the end of the day because now they work for me, and that's such a chilled-out, laid-back proposition.
I liked that. Funny, I had to ask Clark to call Ed to convince him to come work for me! He was actually worried it would be like GCM days...
It's cool to work with like-minded, cool people. I remember how much you liked Ed.
And my new co-workers (well — I've been there for seven years now), are such great people. My CEO and publisher came to Mom's funeral from Cleveland! Such good guys. You would love this company, these guys. Such a cool place.
I really wish you could have met Boyd, and I really wish you could have seen how cool my new/current job is.
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BTW, I lucked out in the in-laws department. Judy, my mother-in-law, is the best. (Tell Mom not to be mad.) Judy is definitely the 5th Beatle of our family. Heck, she even came with me to LAMAR last week! I'm pretty sure she knows more of my family than I do!
And Alan is good to me too. Easy to talk to. Probably hates Trump more than you would.
Kind of like what I remember of you... you were tight with Grandma JoJo, tight with Grandpa Nick... but I never met your dad, and Grandma Iris passed when I was little... it did seem like, to me, that the Gomez family was the family you grew up with, though.
My extended family is very, very cool. Not enough Gomez or Jones — it's almost all by marriage at this point, like what you had — but cool. Actually reminds me of the Gomez family, circa 1988. You should see our Christmas parties! Tequila shots, pasole, Adro even brought in a little gambling last winter!
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The Wichita Wings, after a short comeback, are still defunct.
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Movies are really, really good these days! They're making new Star Wars movies now, the kids love them. The super hero movies are great, you would have loved the Avengers and especially Thor.
I still remember when you, me and Mom went to see Lord of the Rings, and you said after one of the early battle scenes, you wanted to stand up and give me a high-five because it was so badass. Just like the NBA is really good, the movies today are awesome!
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No more championships for the Jayhawks since you past. I know, right?
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Me and Jess are still tight, of course. My best friend for 39 years and running. I'm doing my best to look out for Sis. And her kids are amazing. Jett is going to be taller than me soon, which is fine with me.
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So you turned 40 in... 1987? You would have had a 17-year-old and a 10-year-old. I have a 10-year-old and a 5-year-old.
So that's kind of good news for me in a sense in that I remember you whooping me at basketball when I was young, probably didn't beat you until I was 14 or 15 the first time? But you would have been 44 or 45 at the time... I'll be 49 or 50 or 6-feet under when Boyd is that age... so I'll have a good excuse if he beats me when he's 11...
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I'm still driving your truck! It's actually growing on me. It's a good truck.
And I've still got the Impala! WHEW! Was worried there when Mom passed. But it's still in the garage.
Now that it's in my name, I'm hopeful to get it going again. Still looks sweet.
They did auction off the house last week. Sorry. The poor decisions were rampant in the wake of your death, but I think even if I had a time machine, it would have still ended up all f*cked up in the end. It is what it is.
I'm not angry with myself on all that, at least.
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So I'm about to turn 40. Better go to bed.
See, I told you this wouldn't get sappy. I'm good.
I think the thing to know is, the last eight, nine, ten years of my life have been the best ever. I hope the next decade is as good to me. If it is? I can't even imagine.
Hopeful for another Jayhawks national championship, you know? But really, who cares? So long as the kids keep doing their thing, I'm good.
I'm good.
... Had to walk from downtown Lincoln, Neb., to the Lincoln airport following the Pixies concert, because Lincoln didn't have taxis... 
