Great Weekend!

This weekend the kids went to their dad's house so things were a bit calmer around here. Rodney and I had some time to ourselves and he ended up being off work today! Yippee!

Yesterday while Rodney worked, I met Shinobu and Cathy at Magic Closet. This is an old tradition of ours but since Shinobu moved to Abilene, we don't get to do it very often any more. If you're unfamiliar with Magic Closet, it is THE best consignment shop I've ever been to. Not only do they carry nice clothes, they also periodically have a "stuff-a-bag" sale which means certain clothes are on sale for $10 a bag, as much as you can stuff! The next big sale will be January 3rd and they open at 10:30 a.m. but I'd get there early just in case the doors open.

Shinobu and Cathy's husbands also joined us and very patiently waited while we shopped. From Magic Closet we made our way around the very busy Longview Loop and ate at Red Lobster. It was so nice to talk and laugh and catch up with Shinobu and Shawn. I miss them so much.

Today, Rodney and I braved the Longview Loop once again and met his daughter Kayti and her boyfriend Justin at Texas Roadhouse. We had a great lunch together too.

I also got some cute pictures of Fuzzy this weekend. Ah, the life of a cat! :)

Internet Safety

My friend Mike shared this video with me from School Tube. I thought some of you moms of younger children would like it.

The Twelve Days of Christmas - TSTC Style

Today was our TSTC Holiday luncheon and Cathy and I were responsible for it. Cathy truly did the bulk of the work and it turned out great! Last year, we had a gift exchange and I read "Twas the Night Before Christmas" with a left-right game built in. This year, due to the economy, we didn't exchange gifts but brought food for the dorm pantry instead. So I had to come up with a new activity. I ended up writing my own version of the The Twelve Days of Christmas and "led the congregation" in singing it today. The really cool part was - everybody sang! It was really full and loud and people were laughing and having a great time! Mission accomplished! Here are my lyrics. (Oh, and the tamale line is an inside joke. We have a student who comes by every Wednesday and sells packages of six homemade tamales!!)

On the first day of Christmas my student gave to me – a parking sticker that I could see
On the second day of Christmas my student gave to me – 2 hovering parents
On the third day of Christmas my student gave to me – 3 drop forms
On the fourth day of Christmas my student gave to me – 4 used books
On the fifth day of Christmas my student gave to me – 5 housing fees
On the sixth day of Christmas my student gave to me – 6 tamales
On the seventh day of Christmas my student gave to me – 7 missing pool cues
On the eighth day of Christmas my student gave to me – 8 lame excuses
On the ninth day of Christmas my student gave to me – 9 attempts to re-test
On the tenth day of Christmas my student gave to me – 10 late assignments
On the eleventh day of Christmas my student gave to me – 11 bounced back e-mails
On the twelfth day of Christmas my student gave to me – 12 more transcripts

Beautiful Smile

The beautiful card sent to me by Lalo's sister. So happy to see him smiling. I know he was proud to finish his doctorate.

The Year In Review

(I started this post a few weeks ago and figured I'd better get it posted!!)

Today I looked at all the pictures I've taken throughout the year and was surprised to realize how many big things happened in my family in 2008. God has truly blessed our lives and I thank him! So what all happened for the McIntosh/Langford crew in '08? Just take a look:

January - I guess January was slow...I can't remember anything happening. I do know that at some point this year, I was promoted from Coordinator of Recruitment to Director so I'll stick it here. Yay!

February - Alyssa turned 18!

March - Victoria makes a leap by trying out for cheerleading and makes the squad! I'm proud of her for going after something she wants! Rodney reaches "44"!

April - Promenade makes its way to Harleton and my girls are transformed into princesses! I think it was April when Alyssa performed in her last high school play...my memory is not the best :)

May - Alyssa graduated from high school! Hurray Alyssa for reaching this major milestone! Mamaw turns a young 78 on the 23rd. Rodney's daughter Kayti also graduates from high school, gets an apartment in Longview and prepares to start Kilgore College. I am honored to receive the TSTC Chancellor's Award for Excellence and the National Institute of Staff and Organizational Development (NISOD) Award for Excellence. I traveled to Austin to accept this award.

June - My awesome sisters and sister-in-law hosted a senior party for Alyssa. Seven friends showed up at Camelia's house for swimming and fun. Uncle Hubert's children throw him a HUGE 85th birthday bash complete with tons of fun and pounds and pounds of catfish! A trip to Waco was in the cards for me! "LEAP" was a great gathering of innovative-thinking colleagues. Devin started working this summer for his Uncle Bill and our neighbor Jimmy. He proves to be a hard worker and usually has more money in his pocket than me!

July - Sweet sixteen was the theme of the month for Victoria! Sweet "38" was the magic number for Debra! Rodney and Debra celebrate their 7 year anniversary! We take a week off and travel to Fredericksburg for some sight-seeing. On the way back, we stop off in Dripping Springs and spend time with my childhood best friend. When we get back home, Rodney puts me to work and together we build a tractor shed and put in a couple of flower beds.

August - My first little bird spreads her wings and flies out of the nest. Alyssa moves into her on-campus apartment and begins classes at TSTC majoring in Multimedia Publishing. She worked at Joe Bucks Coffee Shop for a good while. Victoria "jumps" into 11th grade and Devin "tackles" 7th.

September - My little boy turned thirteen this month. My how time flies! We celebrated with a family party at home. Football season officially kicks off, team spirit soars and schedules get chaotic. We have a 7th grade player this year, two band members and a cheerleader; and Victoria's boyfriend Spencer plays on the Varsity Wildcat team. My 20 year high school reunion occurs in Marshall. Yea, I intended to lose weight and I didn't but I still had a great time.

October - Football football football! And Alyssa makes her campus debut by planning, organizing and decorating a campus event! She pulls off a Modern Miracle concert on campus that brought TSTC and ETBU students together worshiping God in music. How proud I am of her! Not sure when, but Alyssa starts working at Porkys. At some point this fall, Rodney spends two weeks teaching at TSTC! I'm so proud of him! After his class ends, he begins working at ETS (Electrical Testing Specialists). What a blessing for him to be able to get a full-time job so quickly!

November - And more football football football! It's Texas. What can I say? Thank goodness I get to sneak off to Corpus this month for the annual TACRAO (Texas Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers) Conference. I conclude football season by going on a girlfriend's retreat with friends Patty and Kim and the Texarkana girls. Victoria passes her written driving exam and Rodney picks up a used Honda for her to earn. And over the Thanksgiving holidays, me and Hildi get together and talk about "the good old days". We had a great time but man, I'm feeling old! During deer season, Devin kills two deer, one of which feeds us through the winter! Thanks Devin! He also becomes quite the duck hunter!!

December - I joined a gym! The Townlin Reunion is a great success! I got to see lots of relatives I hadn't seen in awhile. It felt like an old-time Townlin Christmas Reunion :) My family gathers at Camelia's on Christmas day for a wonderful time! As always, there was lots of laughter. This Christmas, we started something new - the ladies all exchanged homemade/handcrafted gifts. The guys played a hilarious left-right game and exchanged gift cards. Rodney and I got ourselves a beautiful new bed and I got a digital photo frame for home and work so I can enjoy all my family pictures. The last two weeks of the year were quiet around my house because the kids stayed with their dad. Rodney and I enjoyed lots of time together and I actually got some house cleaning done! On New Year's Eve, we went to bed about 9:30 pm (because we're real partiers!). 2008 was a blessed year. Now on to 2009....

In Memory of a Friend

According to dictionary.com, the word closure is defined as a bringing to an end; a conclusion. The custom of having funeral ceremonies, which truly are for the living, helps people to achieve closure after losing a loved one. I think that's what sucks so hard about what happened to me Thursday night. I decided to "google" the name of a friend who I haven't talked to in years. I truly didn't expect to find anything. The last time I had talked to this friend, he was conflicted, depressed and had no clear vision of where he was headed. He was even a bit distrustful of me, thinking I had been disloyal to him, which I never was. I guess all these years, I had imagined that he had accepted defeat, settled into a different career and was somewhere leading a quiet, uneventful life.

But instead of finding nothing, I found something. I found his obituary.

My friend, Eulalio Garza, known as Lalo, was killed in a car wreck in May of this year. He is gone and I will never get to talk to him again. I will never get to see his beautiful smile, hear his laughter, tolerate his teasing, comfort him when he's depressed or reassure him when his confidence falters. I'll never get to tell him I treasure our friendship or that everything will be allright. And I'll never get to tell him goodbye. Not even at the funeral.

It's left me in a quandry for sure; I've been able to think of little else. In an effort to find some semblance of closure, I contacted his sister Elizabeth, "Liz" as he always called her. Thank goodness she had posted her email address on one of the tribute websites back in May. We have already exchanged correspondence and I can tell that her pain is still as fresh as the day it happened. She did share with me a letter that Lalo had sent her in 2005 that was read at the funeral. I have to admit, it sounds nothing like the Lalo I knew. In the letter, Lalo is thanking Liz for taking him into her home when he was homeless. He is also telling her how very close he's become to God and he tells her that he prays for her and her children every day and hopes that she will give God a chance because something may happen one day to cause her to need Him. How very prophetic.

I shared with Liz that Lalo is the reason I am working at TSTC today. We worked together at Texas A&M Texarkana in Jefferson until that location was dissolved. Lalo was then hired at TSTC as an Associate Dean and brought me in as his secretary. He used to say to me, "Maybe that's why I was put here Deb., to get you a job." He was from Corpus and had ties in Austin and San Antonio, so he could go anywhere, but he knew I had needed a job close to home. And now look, 6 years after being hired as his secretary (from a temp agency, no less), I am Director of Recruiting. Maybe you were right Lalo.

And I can't help believe that Lalo didn't have something to do with me not finding out about his death until now. He knew his sister would be struggling through this first holiday without him and he knew me well enough to know I'd contact her. Seven months later, when others have forgotten and gone on with their lives, I am able to grieve with her as if it had just happened. And I hope that by sharing my memories of Lalo with her, she will find comfort. I hope I will find comfort too.

http://www.theeagle.com/local/Prairie-View--professor-killed--in-2-car-wreck