As many of you know, I love to travel and love to take pictures when I am on the road. The last big trip I went on was in March of 2006, so I am long overdue. Next month I will be going to Aruba for a week of scuba diving and deep sea fishing. In June or July I am going to try to make it over to Yosemite and hike a good portion of the park (taking 20 pictures every step of the way). I am also working on a hunting trip to Kansas late in the year. Kansas is considered one of the best places in the U.S. to bow hunt. Hopefully I will be able to draw a buck tag and be successful out there. After a rough 6 months, It is really nice to have things to look forward to again. Anyone have any big summer trips planned?
For reals though, I'm glad you got to get away for a little while. Try not to get arrested, ok? Whom will I have fun with in Hotlanta if you're in some Caribbean prison?
Monday afternoon I got home from work and realized it was very cold downstairs. Every once in awhile my furnace will short out and I will have to go up in the attic to fix it. I got up in the attic and changed out the air filter, no big deal. When I stood up and turned around to go back to the attic stairs, my foot hit a pvc pipe which caused me to step over to the right side of the attic (which had no plywood to step on). The next thing I know I am falling through insulation and sheet rock and finally come to rest on the bottom part of my steps. The fall was about 20 feet. My lower back hit first on one of the steps going toward the upstairs. My lower back is the last part of my body that needed to hit, because I have fought lower back problems since a football injury in high school. I was in shock, so I wasn't sure how badly I had hurt myself. I looked at my right hand and noticed that end of my right index finger had been pushed up above my knuckle. I slowly stood up and hobbled over to my neighbor's house to drive me to the emergency room. Once I was admitted to the ER the doctor looked down at me and grabbed my index finger. He said, "I am a good doctor." I responded and said, "Does that mean you are about to set my finger?" and he nodded his head yes. He counted to 3 and yanked my finger as hard as he could. The pain shot through my entire body and all I could see was red. About 20 minutes later the doctor came back in to see if there were any vertebrae broken in my neck or back. Everything checked out okay, but my lower back had already turned black and purple. The x-rays of my hand showed that part of my bone had been broken off and was floating around the finger. I will have to see an orthopedic dr. on Tuesday to see if I need surgery. After they checked to make sure they was no kidney damage, they let me go. Since Monday I have tried to stay off my feet and today is the first day I am starting to feel better. Hopefully the hand doctor will tell me nothing major will have to be done.
So, after all of this happened I have found a new way to look at things. I was pretty upset when all of this happened, and I was kind of depressed of the state I was in. All of this has happened on top of one of the worst breakups I have ever been through. I have been emotionally and physically beaten. On Tuesday I started thinking of what could have happened. I fell 20 feet and landed on my back, yet I was able to stand right after it happened. I very well could have broken my back from that distance, especially in the position that I landed in. If I had been a few inches over to the left my neck or head would have hit the banister, which could have killed me instantly. Instead of feeling sorry about the situation I was in, I very slowly and carefully got down on my knees Tuesday night and thanked the good Lord that I was not only still alive, but that I was able to walk. Everyone who has come over to my house and has seen the hole in my ceiling and where I landed has said it is a miracle that I am alive. I am beginning to agree with them. In all our hardships in life, we need to realize that in most cases the outcome could have been much worse. I now see that is the case in my last relationship as well. I feel without a doubt God was looking over me that day, and for that I am eternally thankful.
Photos are here:
The last one is of my back- it's small but you can still see the enormous bruise.
A few months ago I sent in a couple of photos for a Coastal Living Magazine photo contest. The pictures that I sent didn't really match what they had asked for, but I went ahead and sent them anyway. Out of the nationwide contest there were 5 photos selected as winners. The winners got a few thousand dollars and got their pictures printed in the magazine along with a little write up about them and their photo. I got home a few weeks ago and noticed I had an email from Coastal living. I got really excited, but when I opened the email I found out that one of my photos had made honorable mention. I was a bit disappointed, but later found out that there were only 11 photos chosen for honorable mention. So out of a nationwide contest I was one of 16 people selected. I guess that is some consolation. Anyway, the picture is on their website this month. Go to http://www.coastalliving.com/coastal/living/people/article/0,14587,1647343,00.html to see the pictures that won, then below click on honorable mention. One thing that stinks is that they put my picture in low resolution and ended up squeezing the borders of the picture. I thought the grand prize winning picture stinks, but maybe I am a bit biased. :-)
Ok, so like Phil and Tammy are the only hard core peeps I know so I'll send you their emails so you can give them the info. I'd love to come but I'm out of town that weekend for a conference in Baltimore. :-(
thank you for your encouraging post. I know there are so many other Christian families who have gone through or are going through the same thing we are. That's just one of the reasons I love Pleonast. I can connect and talk to those people, so I don't feel so alone in this battle.
Ok, so Geisha House is 1/2 off food on Sundays. Which is a pretty sweet deal. Have you ever been to Geisha House? It's in Atlantic Station. Would you maybe want to meet up there Sunday for either lunch or dinner after church???? Just a suggestion. I know how you love your Ichiban
I left town early Friday morning to go work on my hunting property out in east Georgia. It was a great day of moving stands, digging ditches, and chopping down trees in 105 degree heat. After a long day of work, and a 3 1/2 hour drive I got home late Saturday night. I walk into the house and I notice that my gas oven has been left on for the weekend. First off I am glad that my house didn't burn down and I am thankful for that, but then I realize that this month's bill will probably be over $250.00. Not to mention my power bill this month is right at $400.00. Anyone else done anything dumb lately that cost you some $?
But yeah, I think my big thing is just I don't keep good track of money that I spend. So, I've put myself on a money "diet" and thus I only have a certain $$ amount to spend on entertainment/eating out per week...and no new clothes/shoes until I pay off my credit cards.
I guess I should identify myself on here! This is Matt Caudill, and I live in Atlanta, Ga. I attended FC 94-96. I have a couple of websites- one is www.mattcaudill.com and www.caudillphoto.com. Would love to hear from old and new friends.
Thanks for not poisioning us with the bbq. Or shooting us with one of you large weapons. I'm very proud of you! I know having all that power over your quests can sometimes go to your head.
Well I must have over-shot Drive or something. But to be able to brake that smoothly down the hill, then transition to reverse that smoothly would make for quite an impressive driver. You should try it ourself though, its really cool. Actually if you coast down the hill coming the opposite direction you'll accelerate up that hill instead of slowing down.
With Rosie out of town, it doesn't surprise me that he came over and cleaned out your fridge...I hope he brought Heather with him so she wouldn't starve either...
Ah yes...Getty Lee and the boys. I'm sure it was great. I've probably only been to 20 concerts in my entire life...and I think I've only seen Guster twice. Aren't you also a fan of some of the 80's hair bands like White Snake and Poison?
The reunion was pretty good actually...nothing wild happened and my brother didn't yell at his kids too much, so all was good. We even went on a ghosts and graveyards tour. I would like to go back and have a weekend with a bunch of people down there...maybe rent a house on the beach.
This weekend I'm back to Boston for her wedding. What about you? Got any plans?
I'm seriously afraid of you and the pistol whipping.
I gain muscle at such an alarming rate that I have to be very careful with my exercising. I think yoga and pilates is best for me..everything else makes me bulk up like an american gladiator.
I knew you'd bring up the pistol whipping. But that's ok...I deserve it.
Legal was amazing. The lump crab cake was...it was basically just crab. It was delicious. Everything was delicious. And low carb. It made up for all the sugar I ate.
I think I signed a provisional contract allowing my use of the term "crack house" or "the homely and desperate" (home depot) in exchange for being snowed-in at Jason and darren's one weekend where they forced me to play Risk with them. I still wake up with nightmares.
We are living in N. AL and just had our third child. We have 2 boys and now a little girl. I've got the boys playing baseball already and they love it.
