Jeremy Herndon

My parents asked me to go with them to the tree farm today and help them to cut down their tree.  That is something they have done ever since they were first married, and now that they are getting on in years they need a little bit of help to do it.  Since I live nearby, I don’t mind doing it for them, it has been part of my heritage, to always go along ever since I was big enough to walk.  Bringing our own saw and going to the tree farm, picking out the “best” tree from the hundreds of “perfect” trees,  It doesn’t take long to saw the tree down, pay the farmer and tie it to the top of the car and tote it home.  That is a family tradition that means a lot to my parents, and I’m glad I’m around to help them maintain that tradition as long as they want to keep doing it.

A couple of my friends that I haven’t seen in a few months came over yesterday afternoon, bringing food and the DVD of the most recent “Hulk” movie.  We pigged out on pizza, sub sandwiches and soda and watched the flick while eating popcorn.  Not the healthiest meal, I know, but we don’t do that very often and we had a lot of fun joking around while we ate.

It was a rainy day, so none of us felt guilty about the leaves that needed to be raked, we just hunkered down inside and had ourselves a day off - a very well deserved day off at that!

I wanted to take a minute to honor all of the men and women who are serving, or have served in our military.  I cannot even imagine for a moment how difficult it must be for you to have been separated from your loved ones and put into battle.  You have my appreciation and respect forever.  And for those of you who are currently serving in a battle area, my prayers are that you return home safely and soon.  You are not forgotten.

My younger brother is coming to spend the weekend with me this weekend.  In a short while I have to leave to go pick him up at the Metro rail station.  He took the bus from New Jersey; it only costs him about $15 to take a bus, and he brings his laptop and works on his laptop or reads on the bus ride down.  It will be good to see him again; we haven’t seen each other in a few months.  I asked him if there was anything special he wanted to do while he was here - any sightseeing, etc, and he said no, he just wanted to relax and hang out.  So that will be the plan of action, we’ll just hang out, play some games, watch some flicks and stay up late and sleep late as much as possible.  I’m looking forward to the visit!

Tonight a group of my friends got together to eat dinner at our local Applebee’s restaurant.  That’s one of our favorite places to eat, the food is always good and it is always reasonably priced.  The only thing that we don’t like about it is that it has a “smoking” section.  We always ask for a seat in the “non-smoking” section but we still smell the cigarette smoke, which is just plain and simple nauseating to smell.  Never mind the health consequences of smoking and second-hand smoke, it just plain and simply smells nasty!  We were surprised that last night they allowed smoking; there are times when I’ve gone there and it was all non-smoking.  Maybe that’s only on Sundays.  Next time we think we want to go there, I’m going to call them and ask them when they have smoke-free dining.