A self portrait from 2:00 am. I felt as tired as I look.

It’s nice though. I use to get terrible headaches everyday and I lived on migraine medicine. Since moving back to Hiawassee, I haven’t had any bad headaches. That either means that the headaches were stress induced, or the tumor that was causing them miraculously disappeared. It’s also been greet to be able to stop at home and eat with Michelle or stop at my parent’s house for coffee.

There are some drawbacks to moving back to Hiawassee though. I took a 50% pay cut. This blow was softened with a take home car, a county cell phone, and a free house (provided by Michelle’s grandmother, not the county). It’s also difficult to police in the town you grew up in. I’ve had to arrest a former classmate, and I know most people I pull over. If I don’t know the people I come across at work, then they either know me or my family. I’ll be talking to someone, and they’ll suddenly say, “Are you Stephen Smith’s son? He taught me algebra when I was in high school. He was the best teacher I ever had, and the best thing to happen to the school.” It’s hard to write a ticket to someone after they say something like that, but I manage anyway.

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My grandfather passed away on Christmas Eve. He was admitted to the hospital a little while back, then the nursing home for rehab, then back to the hospital. It's amazing how quickly things happen. Dad, Andrew and I all went to the hospital earlier that day and prayed over him, talked to him, and sang Christmas carols. He tried to talk to us, but no clear words came out. He sang and prayed with us. His lips were moving the whole time.

It was great to see all of the family that came for the funeral. There were many tears, but just as many laughs.

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One night while I was patrolling the rear of a shopping center, I observed the brake lights of a parked minivan quickly go on and off again. Considering that I didn't see anybody in the car, I thought it was suspicious. I drove up a little closer to the vehicle, but still saw no one inside. I told the dispatcher that I was out with a suspicious vehicle, and approached it with my flashlight in hand. Upon closer examination, I found two 17 year old boys sitting in the front seats. They looked at me in shock. I motioned for them to roll down the windows (if I hadn't, they probably would have left them up). Here's our conversation:

Me: Hey, what are you guys doing?
Driver: Oh, we're just hanging out.
At this point I did not see, hear, or smell anything illegal. But I did have a good idea of what was happening.
Me: So... you're not smoking weed?
Driver and Passenger: Um... well... um... we...
Me: So does that mean you are smoking weed?
Passenger: Yes, sir.
Me: Do you have any left, or did you smoke it all?
Driver: I smoked all of mine.
Passenger: I've got some.
Me: Well give me what you have.

They both handed over their pipes and what was left of their marijuana. I called their parents to come pick up the car, and so they could yell at them before they went to jail. One of the mothers said, "Enjoy your ride!"

(It's little things like this that make me happy.)

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I'm now back at 30,000 feet and heading east. My sister and her family are on the same flight as us, and are sitting behind us. It's a beautiful day in Phoenix, but thunderstorms and tornado watches will be waiting for us when we arrive in Atlanta. Hopefully, Michelle will be at the airport to pick up the three of us.

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I'm now back at 30,000 feet and heading east. My sister and her family are on the same flight as us, and are sitting behind us. It's a beautiful day in Phoenix, but thunderstorms and tornado watches will be waiting for us when we arrive in Atlanta. Hopefully, Michelle will be at the airport to pick up the three of us.

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A whole group of extended family members from the west coast came over to the house today to celebrate Grammy's 90th birthday. Mom and dad were in the Holy Land during Grammy's birthday, so they decided to put off the celebration for today. Dad is so selfless. He and his mother share the same birthday, but not once did he mention anything about it. Ever since Grammy moved in with mom and dad, they have done so much for her.

After everyone left, Peter, Andrew and I went to Candyce's house, where they guys were getting dressed for the wedding. All of the gals were getting dressed at Matt's house, since there was more room, and more than one bathroom. We had a five foot sub for lunch, but were still hungry afterwards. We entertained ourselves with the Nintendo Wii. Unfortunately, the only game they had was a cooking game. It was kind of humorous that the last thing Matt did as a bachelor was cook.

Once we were all dressed, we headed to the church and stood around for a while. The Wedding Mass was beautiful. Matt cried as Candyce walked down the aisle with her parents, and they both got choked up during the vows. The reception was held at the Wright House. One of Frank Lloyd Wright's many creations. It was all in the back courtyard of the Wright House. I left with my parents soon after the dancing started and went to bed.

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We dropped the goods off at the house and went to the airport to pick up cousin Laura and Father Tim who flew in fro m Atlanta. We circled the airport several times before we found Laura. She and Father Tim were on the same flight, but he wasn't with her. After circling several more times, we finally found him on the curb. He had been looking for Laura at baggage claim.

One of Grammy's cousins lives in the Phoenix area, as well as her cousin's children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. They all showed up for dinner, which consisted of leftovers from the night before. It was just as good the second time around.

The bachelor's party was at a restaurant named The Monetary. It's a cool bar/grill where you cook your own food on outdoor grills. There were volleyball courts, horseshoes, pool, and ping-pong as well as many other games. Unfortunately, a very unexpected wind and rain storm came through the area. We spent most of the time inside socializing. Some of the guys ventured outside to cook their food. It was open mike night at the bar, and Matt Maher just happened to have his guitar in his car. The musicians who were playing were mostly just background noise. No one was paying attention to them, and they weren't that good. It wasn't really fair when Matt, who just signed a label with the same record company that signed Third Day, took the stage. He started off with a couple of cover songs, which were played just as well as the originals, and then played one of his own. He said, "This is a song I wrote the other night." By the end of the first song, everyone was gathering around the stage and singing along, including some people who were there for a birthday party. He closed with American Pie, accompanied by one of the earlier musicians on harmonica.

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From there, we went to the rehearsal and then the rehearsal dinner, which was at the rental house. It was a Hawaiian theme, so dad brought all of Matt's old Hawaiian shirts. After dinner, I entertained the crowd by throwing people to the ground how I learned in the academy. I managed to stay up until everyone left and finished the day by watching Dirty Jobs.

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It took a while at check-in because Andrew was on the watch list. Once they figured out that he wasn't a terrorist, they let us through. We ran into more trouble at security when Pete forgot to place his water, lotion, and sunscreen in his checked luggage. While TSA was escorting Pete and the water battle outside to empty it, I put the lotion and sunscreen in my bag, which had already made it through security.

Once we got to the gate we discovered the flight was leaving earlier than we realized. At this point, Pete and I lost Andrew. We met up on the plane and after a little while we took off.

We should be landing shortly so I'll end this here.We landed at the airport and called Matt. He arrived before we got our luggage, so I stood at his car at the curb so they wouldn't make him leave. After we got the car loaded we attempted to leave, but the car in front of us wouldn't move. Matt honked, then hopped out to get them to move. The man asked Matt a question to which he replied, "Yes". We asked him what the man had asked and Matt said, "He asked me if I was from Germany."

We got to the house mom and dad had rented for the family. Pete, Andrew and I were to share the master suite. Andrew opted to sleep in the closet (which was a room in-and-of-itself), and Pete and I shared the California king.

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Atlanta to Philadelphia

I'm on a flight to Philadelphia to see Chris and to surprise Matthew. Chris's church booked Matthew to give a speech in Reading, PA on the 13th, and Chris thought it would be a good chance to meet me and to surprise Matthew as well. He generously bought me tickets to and from Philly. My flight was scheduled to leave at 6:40, but when I got to the gate I found out that it had been delayed by an hour. The plan was to meet up with Chris, have coffee, and then go get Matthew at his gate. I called Chris and he told me that I should still arrive about 15 or so minutes before Matthew.
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I'm sitting next to a rather large man who is working on his laptop as well. Only he doesn't quite fit into his seat like I do. Maybe on the flight back I'll have an empty seat next to me, or at least someone who fits into the seat.

When my flight landed I called Chris. He said that Matthew's flight had been delayed as well, so the surprise was still going to happen. I met with Chris and Jonathan at the gate. Jonathan is a sixth grade teacher at the school that Matthew will be speaking at. We found some seats and chatted until Matthew's flight was to arrive. I hid to the side and we all let Matthew walk by us without saying anything. I caught up with him and put my hand on his shoulder; he turned to me and said, "What are you doing here?" He was in complete shock for about five minutes.
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On the ride home we got lost, and that took us about thirty minutes out of the way. We all talked and had fun the whole time. We stopped at a 24 hour diner and had dinner. Afterward, we came about six feet from hitting a large deer scarring us all pretty badly. Matthew simply screamed "Oh Shit!" We had a good laugh, and proceeded to about hit a raccoon, a rabbit, and several cats.
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I think we arrived at the rectory around 3:00 AM, but I'm not really sure. Matthew and I picked out our beds and went to sleep.

Matthew's speech was great. We all had a fun time. Afterward, Chris took us to see an old Asian building which was perched on a mountain side. (I'll get pictures of all of this on later).

Well. it's December 1st now, and I think it's time to update.