Here are some pics from the NY trip. I decided since the city can seem so big and overwhelming to photograph, I would focus on one street. So here is a glance at a stroll on 54th, from 6th to the water. What can I say? I like the cabs.
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Back home (kind of)
MM: Ginny & H went on to meet up with family in Michigan; I will be joining them for the week of the 4th. Glad to be home. Lots to process.
Here are some pics from the NY trip. I decided since the city can seem so big and overwhelming to photograph, I would focus on one street. So here is a glance at a stroll on 54th, from 6th to the water. What can I say? I like the cabs.
Here are some pics from the NY trip. I decided since the city can seem so big and overwhelming to photograph, I would focus on one street. So here is a glance at a stroll on 54th, from 6th to the water. What can I say? I like the cabs.
Monday, June 22, 2009
NY meet the Mooneys
We leave tomorrow morning for Hazel's first trip to New York. Ginny thinks she'll love it; I don't think she'll know we're gone.
By way of details, we will be on The Today Show at 8am this Wednesday (June 24). It will be on at 8am in your time zone no matter where you are in the states, or so I am told.
We'll be placing updates on the twitter account listed in the post below.
By way of details, we will be on The Today Show at 8am this Wednesday (June 24). It will be on at 8am in your time zone no matter where you are in the states, or so I am told.
We'll be placing updates on the twitter account listed in the post below.
Saturday, June 20, 2009
another ripple...in New York
MM: Summer has been a whirlwind thus far. The three of us headed to Waco, TX last week in order for me to perform a wedding for some great friends. It was the first time doing that, and, well, they're married.
I had the paradoxical honor of speaking at Eliot's funeral. Like never before, it was something, for some unknown reason, that I felt I had to do. Wanted to do.
And although "difficult" does not begin to explain the toll of that experience, I no doubt live in light of the satisfaction that being Eliot's father on that day meant that I stood and spoke at his funeral. Being his dad meant doing that. And I always love being his dad.
On that day, near the end of my words, I said, "We encourage you today to not forget Eliot. To not forget whatever his sweet life taught you. Please go & do that which has been stirred in you through his life.
And we look forward to hearing of the ripples he has made in eternity."
I do not think we anticipated the actual weight of these words. And at that moment, if we had never heard of another life impacted by our son, we still would be floored by what we had already witnessed.
But the ripples have become waves, and we just sort of stand on the shore and laugh in bewilderment.
Eliot's story re-aired on the Oprah show last week. The three of us will be heading to the Today Show in New York in order to do a follow up interview. I know...crazy.
Feel free to follow our excursion via my twitter account. We leave on Tuesday. We will be on the show on Wednesday. I believe it will be a later segment in the show, but I will pass on details when we have them. Of course, everything could change, and once they meet me who could blame them for a changing their minds.
As always, we feel that we must explain that excited is never a word that we could use for an opportunity such as this. We are honored to share Eliot's story. As noted earlier, we feel that this is the way that we are his mom & dad now. So, we are thrilled about telling his story and talking about the great folks that make rEcess happen, and for going to New York on someone else's dime. However, we are going before a large audience to share about the hardest thing we have ever experienced.
As this has come together quite fast, we would love your help in spreading the word to anyone who you think might care. We have good friends who currently do not know of our plans.
New York holds a special place in our hearts as its streets were the ones we wandered together on a trip shortly after losing him. Little did we know that upon approaching his 3-year birthday, we would be back to share his life on the Today Show, with his little sister in tow.
I had the paradoxical honor of speaking at Eliot's funeral. Like never before, it was something, for some unknown reason, that I felt I had to do. Wanted to do.
And although "difficult" does not begin to explain the toll of that experience, I no doubt live in light of the satisfaction that being Eliot's father on that day meant that I stood and spoke at his funeral. Being his dad meant doing that. And I always love being his dad.
On that day, near the end of my words, I said, "We encourage you today to not forget Eliot. To not forget whatever his sweet life taught you. Please go & do that which has been stirred in you through his life.
And we look forward to hearing of the ripples he has made in eternity."
I do not think we anticipated the actual weight of these words. And at that moment, if we had never heard of another life impacted by our son, we still would be floored by what we had already witnessed.
But the ripples have become waves, and we just sort of stand on the shore and laugh in bewilderment.
Eliot's story re-aired on the Oprah show last week. The three of us will be heading to the Today Show in New York in order to do a follow up interview. I know...crazy.
Feel free to follow our excursion via my twitter account. We leave on Tuesday. We will be on the show on Wednesday. I believe it will be a later segment in the show, but I will pass on details when we have them. Of course, everything could change, and once they meet me who could blame them for a changing their minds.
As always, we feel that we must explain that excited is never a word that we could use for an opportunity such as this. We are honored to share Eliot's story. As noted earlier, we feel that this is the way that we are his mom & dad now. So, we are thrilled about telling his story and talking about the great folks that make rEcess happen, and for going to New York on someone else's dime. However, we are going before a large audience to share about the hardest thing we have ever experienced.
As this has come together quite fast, we would love your help in spreading the word to anyone who you think might care. We have good friends who currently do not know of our plans.
New York holds a special place in our hearts as its streets were the ones we wandered together on a trip shortly after losing him. Little did we know that upon approaching his 3-year birthday, we would be back to share his life on the Today Show, with his little sister in tow.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Fayetteville glow
MM: A storm rolled through this evening right at dusk. We snapped some photos in amazement of the colors. It was quite a spectacular site with the whole sky ablaze with oranges and deep reds.
The three of us are heading to Waco, Texas tomorrow. I am doing a wedding for some good friends of ours. Should be a great time. I have been working on my attitude about officiating a wedding- which whispers to me that all you can do at a wedding is screw it up. Seriously, what is a "good wedding"....one where something doesn't go wrong. My furrowed brow turned the corner somewhat this morning as I did some last minute preparation for the ceremony. I realized how much I love my own marriage. And if I can help start someone else down that path in any way, then fantastic. With that said, I am crossing my fingers that I don't head to the bathroom with my mic on.
The high is 98. The wedding is outside. My suit is black. Weight loss is good.
The three of us are heading to Waco, Texas tomorrow. I am doing a wedding for some good friends of ours. Should be a great time. I have been working on my attitude about officiating a wedding- which whispers to me that all you can do at a wedding is screw it up. Seriously, what is a "good wedding"....one where something doesn't go wrong. My furrowed brow turned the corner somewhat this morning as I did some last minute preparation for the ceremony. I realized how much I love my own marriage. And if I can help start someone else down that path in any way, then fantastic. With that said, I am crossing my fingers that I don't head to the bathroom with my mic on.
The high is 98. The wedding is outside. My suit is black. Weight loss is good.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Scattered
We are enjoying all of the things that summer brings with it: eating on the deck, shorts, flip flops, and longer days. It all seems to fly by as of late. I am sure I am to blame some conglomeration of busyness, getting older or life with a drooler.
Ginny is beautifully juggling motherhood and jewelry design (www.theadditionshop.com) along with the numerous items to which I commit her. I am enjoying both of my jobs: working with communities for my church and business consulting (www.brandvillages.com) with companies and individuals who need some outside perspective. It is two very different worlds in which I dance; however, I do enjoy them both, even though as in literal dancing, I feel as if I am prone to step on some toes occasionally throughout the waltz. My default line about my jobs when persons ask…and they do constantly ask, and they do constantly stare blankly at my attempt at an answer…is that I work with great people at both of my jobs. Without a doubt, the future of my life- if allowed- will be well served by the time spent with the folks that I get to surround myself with (insert pay raise here). And, no, I am not currently practicing law.
On the consulting side, we are currently developing a new offering by which we can assist corporations & individuals with strategy development and problem solving with much less travel. It is aimed at being able to assist non-profits at a lower cost to them. Possibly boring to you, but exciting to me because it could allow a chance for more involvement sans traveling (which I do not mind, but the 2-job thing will not allow much of).
I’ve also been working out for the first time in a decade. I have always been active, but pretty much just ran and played basketball. Nothing else. I am not committed, but so far that has worked well for me. It is a total mind game with myself to do a workout. I have done a week’s worth of P90X. I hate it. If I ever see the leader guy- the one whose muscle-size is only matched by the size of his teeth. I might think about punching him. Of course, this would be the end of my life, but I would have to think about it. The mind games I must play include being mad at someone or something. Unfortunately, he is the current target of my rage. Of course, I could have targeted my own laziness or affinity for white chocolate, but I chose him instead. As I said, these are deep and troubled waters to wade into in order to see what it has taken me to workout. Stay posted. My money is on me being a quitter.
Recently, Hazel has not been feeling too well. Typical baby stuff. She has a couple crooked teeth sneaking into her mouth, and some stomach issues. This season with her has been so much fun. She acknowledges mom & dad and, even cuddles when she doesn’t feel well. This is big. She is typically way too busy and curious to cuddle. So, I hate that she doesn’t feel good, but I’ll take the effects.
Ginny & I had the opportunity to speak on grief recently at Tyson Inc. Yes, the largest meat provider is right here in good ole Northwest Arkansas. Apologies to all vegetarians and vegans. I am not sure what the marketing pitch looked like for this one but I can only imagine…on your lunch break, come hear about loss and grief and grab some tenders. With that said, people actually showed up. It is always extremely hard & gratifying to share of our son and of losing him.
In regards to the everyday and not really the speaking stuff.- for us, it is never harder to talk of Eliot. Always harder not to. I think some people think that when he comes up, they have opened up a sore subject that we would rather they not. But the truth is, it is a sore subject, if by “sore” you mean it hurts. However, the myth is that one could never bring it up. It is always sore and always on our mind. Thus, we prefer to talk about, remember, and acknowledge our son every time it is possible. I do think we may sometimes skirt bringing him up, but it is a sacrifice done for the other person, not out of preference.
No question this week. I am open to suggestions.
-->above is Matt writing, but I (Ginny) just hacked into his post to add some pictures of Hazel. the first is sad b/c she's crying but i couldn't help myself b/c it was a sure way of capturing the teeth. the last is her 2 cowlicks that swirl into a fabulous mohawk.
Ginny is beautifully juggling motherhood and jewelry design (www.theadditionshop.com) along with the numerous items to which I commit her. I am enjoying both of my jobs: working with communities for my church and business consulting (www.brandvillages.com) with companies and individuals who need some outside perspective. It is two very different worlds in which I dance; however, I do enjoy them both, even though as in literal dancing, I feel as if I am prone to step on some toes occasionally throughout the waltz. My default line about my jobs when persons ask…and they do constantly ask, and they do constantly stare blankly at my attempt at an answer…is that I work with great people at both of my jobs. Without a doubt, the future of my life- if allowed- will be well served by the time spent with the folks that I get to surround myself with (insert pay raise here). And, no, I am not currently practicing law.
On the consulting side, we are currently developing a new offering by which we can assist corporations & individuals with strategy development and problem solving with much less travel. It is aimed at being able to assist non-profits at a lower cost to them. Possibly boring to you, but exciting to me because it could allow a chance for more involvement sans traveling (which I do not mind, but the 2-job thing will not allow much of).
I’ve also been working out for the first time in a decade. I have always been active, but pretty much just ran and played basketball. Nothing else. I am not committed, but so far that has worked well for me. It is a total mind game with myself to do a workout. I have done a week’s worth of P90X. I hate it. If I ever see the leader guy- the one whose muscle-size is only matched by the size of his teeth. I might think about punching him. Of course, this would be the end of my life, but I would have to think about it. The mind games I must play include being mad at someone or something. Unfortunately, he is the current target of my rage. Of course, I could have targeted my own laziness or affinity for white chocolate, but I chose him instead. As I said, these are deep and troubled waters to wade into in order to see what it has taken me to workout. Stay posted. My money is on me being a quitter.
Recently, Hazel has not been feeling too well. Typical baby stuff. She has a couple crooked teeth sneaking into her mouth, and some stomach issues. This season with her has been so much fun. She acknowledges mom & dad and, even cuddles when she doesn’t feel well. This is big. She is typically way too busy and curious to cuddle. So, I hate that she doesn’t feel good, but I’ll take the effects.
Ginny & I had the opportunity to speak on grief recently at Tyson Inc. Yes, the largest meat provider is right here in good ole Northwest Arkansas. Apologies to all vegetarians and vegans. I am not sure what the marketing pitch looked like for this one but I can only imagine…on your lunch break, come hear about loss and grief and grab some tenders. With that said, people actually showed up. It is always extremely hard & gratifying to share of our son and of losing him.
In regards to the everyday and not really the speaking stuff.- for us, it is never harder to talk of Eliot. Always harder not to. I think some people think that when he comes up, they have opened up a sore subject that we would rather they not. But the truth is, it is a sore subject, if by “sore” you mean it hurts. However, the myth is that one could never bring it up. It is always sore and always on our mind. Thus, we prefer to talk about, remember, and acknowledge our son every time it is possible. I do think we may sometimes skirt bringing him up, but it is a sacrifice done for the other person, not out of preference.
No question this week. I am open to suggestions.
-->above is Matt writing, but I (Ginny) just hacked into his post to add some pictures of Hazel. the first is sad b/c she's crying but i couldn't help myself b/c it was a sure way of capturing the teeth. the last is her 2 cowlicks that swirl into a fabulous mohawk.
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