Dunham Family and My Stroke Story!

On Thanksgiving morning, the paper was thick with "Black Friday" ads enticing recession-weary people to stores in hopes of grabbing a bargain for Christmas. For the Dunhams , that involves not just Christmas but planning for a trip to Disney World in March. We need a new portable DVD player. Ethan has now gone through three or four in his brief four-plus years of life, and, despite admonishing him not to touch the "guts" of the DVD, he routinely does so. The last one lasted only a few months. So, I carefully went through every ad and considered the aggravation factor of heading out for 5:00 a.m. sales on Black Friday, a tradition that I consider idiotic at best. Yet, as a parent, I have succumbed to the idiocy by considering trekking out among the rabid crowds. Not quite. At 7:15 this morning, I awoke and thought "What the hell. I'll head to Target for the $47.00 RCA product." I got there, found a parking space amid the madness, and walked in to find l...

Is it wrong to ground a little boy for stating the obvious? Ethan is very excited about Christmas this year. Being a four year old (two months shy of five), he is getting into the decorating, the excitement, and, of course, the speculative toys as we read newspaper toy inserts over and over. He will say, "Oh Daddy. I want that and that and that and that! Oh, and Daddy? I'm REAAALLYYY gonna get that for Christmas!" His excitement has translated into decorating earlier than normal. As we pulled out boxes from under the stairs, he said seriously, "Daddy, we've never started this early before." He has so much experience.... As I sat on the living room floor last night unpacking Christmas decorating treasures, he stood over my shoulder exclaiming, "Daddy! I remember that one!" However, one exclamation gave Daddy pause. Ethan, during a lull, rubbed the top of my head, and said, "Hey Daddy. I can see your skin." In the spirit of the holidays, ...

I was in Washington DC for three days attending meetings for the College of Western Idaho along with Guy Hurlbutt, a fellow trustee. Guy is the quintessential Southern gentleman, and he visited family in South Carolina prior to our meeting. Guy asked me during the session in an apologetic way if he could use my laptop to access flight arrangements. Almost as an aside, he told me he needed to head back to South Carolina after our meeting because his older brother had died. It was bittersweet that Guy had the opportunity to visit his 85 year old brother and was there when he passed. But, nevertheless, Guy lost his brother. My oldest brother arrives tomorrow for the first visit with the family in about 18 months. Our mom and step-dad arrive tonight on the bus for the visit. My brother turned 59 a few weeks ago, and I'm 48. Our brothers are 57 and 54 respectively. I couldn't help but think of my brothers when Guy delivered his tough news in his typically gracious manner. I simply c...

The Dunhams had a very busy Halloween weekend. The adults attended a neighbor's annual Halloween party where Mark dressed as a vampire at the urging (i.e., insistence) of Ethan while Heather wore her grandmother's signature polyester fur trimmed orange 70's outfit. The next day, Mark again donned his vampire attire (and, sigh, the full face make up and black hair spray) to join Ethan "Eddie Munster" Dunham for a packed day of parties and trick or treating. After spending time with his cousins at cousin Zoey's 1st birthday party where everyone -- including Disco Heather -- was required to be in full costume, we headed home to trick or treat with the neighbor kids. After a rush around the neighborhood it was home to answer the door which Ethan insisted on doing alone in his vampire regalia. The next day as we put away the Halloween decorations, Ethan asked, "Daddy, today is Thanksgiving isn't it?" I replied, "No. Thanksgiving is in a few week...