Saying goodbye..

I know this will ramble some but I'm doing this for me as it comes to me..

John August Anderson..known as Sandy to his close family passed away on January 29th 2009 at the age of 60. In November he was diagnosed with brain cancer and even though he had surgery to remove the tumor he never rebounded. He had 2 sons David and Jason and daughter in law Amanda. He had 2 grandsons Brian and Tylar. He was born in Texas City in December of 1949. Even though he was 11 years older than me, he was closest to me in age of all my brothers. He was also the one I felt closest to in all things.

He was the bottom step of 5 stair step boys... the youngest of 5 for 11 years




he was finally an older brother when I was born in January of 1960. Richard..the oldest shared a bed with him when Sandy was little... then when Sandy was older he had to share a bed with me. It's kinda like Richard was to Sandy as Sandy was to me... Richard was even Sandy's best man in his wedding and Sandy was my best man in my wedding.

We used to go fishing together.. we used to go to Oilers games together. We both loved the Oilers...the Luv ya Blue Oilers with Earl Campbell and Carl Mauck and Bum Phillips.

He was the shortest boy in the family and was the only one to get a basketball scholarship. He loved basketball...

He was the brother that came to my house just to visit.. not for a family get together or other event.. he came just to visit.. he did that with all the family. Sandy was the brother that intersected his life in everyone elses life.. he knew all the grand kids when most of us brothers had gotten so involved in our own lives that we had not stayed in touch well enough.

He worked retail from the time I was 7 until he got sick.

He liked guns.. mostly pistols. I never was a big gun freak..not like the rest of my brothers anyway... I've got my shotgun..rifle..and couple of pistols but my brothers love guns.

We went shooting together a few times...

When I was in college I used to take mid day road trips to just go visit with him for a few hours. Because we were close when I was young I always felt close to Sandy as an adult.

Sandy was the kind of person that made you feel pretty good.. he was an encourager. He was full of joy.. he loved to laugh. He was a blessing to everyone who knew him. He helped me with some personal course corrections in my life regarding my attitude and my outlook on life. I will thank him forever for that much less the subtle impact he has had on me that I cannot detect because it's just a part of who I am...

This doesn't even come close to expressing all that I'm feeling and thinking but I can't get it all together or even express it. He chose not to have a funeral/memorial... so this is my little memorial for my own closure...

Sandy I will miss you. I love you!

Doesn't it always happen???

I'm two weeks in to what seems to be a fairly reasonable change I want to implement in my life... eat just a little smarter and move my body more..

So what happens? 2 weeks in I'm 2 lbs heavier.. man I love this...

On top of the fact that this day that was pretty good most of the way it ended with me discovering some crap at work that really bummed me... just day to day service stuff but just when you think you might have a really good day something bites you in the behind and then I'm lookin for fudge in all the wrong places. Anyway...this week...Tuesday I played about an hour of something like racquetball..the other three were playing it, but I was limited in my motion.. my legs felt like rubber and I almost ate the wall a couple of times.. but it was pretty fun.. until the next day and my knees were killing me. I walked the next day but Thursday my knees couldn't take it. I wasn't feelin it Friday either.. Got walks in on Saturday and Sunday and felt I was getting back in the swing. I blew it off tonight because I got home late from work and it was cold and I wasn't in the mood. I was really tempted to blow this whole thing off but to be honest with you one of my motivations is that some time in 2010 I would like to purchase one of these... and I know I can fit in one already.. already done the test drive.. but I'd like to be comfortable.. sideways.. in the car. I've got head room and leg room and I fit in the seat but I want to enjoy it...I'd also like to begin riding a bike again some day and I've got to keep moving. A bump in the road, I'm in a funk but I do plan to keep going forward.

Moving my body

Dropped a little weight.. ate more often.. did less gorging because I didn't feel starved. Walked 1.5 miles 4 times.. got a blood blister on my left foot.. had to sit it out for a few days.. hope to get active again tomorrow.. birthday was today so had cake.. that will hurt.. but that's ok.. moving forward in my quest.. down 2 pounds from last week.