"#2 son sounds like an A #1 guy!!"
He is.
I was quite proud of #1 son too, who worked as a line tech for the cable company, and one of the crew who made the RoadRunner Internet System work here. He was also a pilot and was working on his multi engine endorsement. We had a Piper Cherokee Arrow airplane together, and flew much of the East Coastal States with it. One hour and ten minutes put us in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, so going to the beach was no longer a 1/2 day drive from here. I lost him June 22, 2000 to a heart problem, only a month after he had passed his flight physical. He was 35 and married, with a 2 year old daughter, who herself just married a year ago. He had helped me through my first heart attack and my following bypass surgery, only to have his own problems 4 months later. Of my 4, he was the one who had shown the most talent, and who had the best future ahead of him.
#2 son was a slow starter, who finally developed direction in his life and became something to be proud of very quickly. He has always been a "McGuyver", who could make almost anything from nothing, He is also married, and he has three daughters through the marriage, with 4 grandchildren, soon to be 5.
#3 son was a machinist/toolmaker, but developed muscular dystrophy. He was building aircraft parts for Lockheed's Skunk Works, to be used in new secret aircraft, when he could no longer work. He is now living with us and almost entirely wheelchair bound. He has a very rare form of Muscular Dystrophy for which, as of now, there is no cure. He's 6' 4" and 300 lbs, built like a football player, but he almost can't stand or walk.
My daughter, actually #2 in line, and is the only girl. She went to broadcasting school and became a DJ for a radio network in North Los Angeles. The shows are uplinked to satellites, and then downloaded from the satellite to be broadcast on radio stations across the country. There are 16 DJ booths there, all located in an industrial park building, with satellite dishes located next to the building. So, up to 16 different radio show formats can be produced at the same time 24/7. The benefit is that she doesn't ever work alone, like at so many small radio stations. Between shows they take coffee breaks together, and with so many working, they have a security guard to, so it is much better than working alone in a little radio station somewhere.
I'm very proud of what they all accomplished in their lives. I just wish that we had not had so many health problems. But my father's side of the family all died young of heart problems between 40 and 55 years of age. He had 5 brothers and one sister. My dad was 48 when he died. Back then, when you had a heart attack, they told you to go home and rest for a month, and gave you a bottle of nitro pills to take whenever you had pain. Now, you get heart bypass surgery and stents, plus the nitro pills. I have now had 7 heart surgeries. Stents were installed each time since the bypass surgery, and I had a pacemaker installed 3 years ago. I've lived 22 years since my first heart attack and bypass surgery that also included a valve repair.
Charley
