Things I'll Never Forget...

...the hug Tracy gave me after she said she'd marry me.
...when the nurses, one of whom I'd been out on a date with in high school, handed me Kelsey for the first time.
...listening to Shelby breathe on her first day with us while I was in an airport in Charlotte, North Carolina.
...the first time I walked into Auburn's football stadium.
...the slow-motion replay in my brain of the day I wrecked my mom's Chevy Citation at age 16.
...standing on a cliff on the Pacific Ocean at Half Moon Bay and seeing Shane & Jilly & family & their friends all there, right after the bagpiper stopped and before the ceremony started.
...my first 4-6-3 double play at age 11. A legitimate ground ball to me at second, flipping it to Tim Poirier at short who threw to Joey Vessels at first. We felt like big leaguers, but were kinda shocked we'd actually pulled it off.
...scoring a goal against Applebaum, widely regarded as the best street hockey goalie of all time. We lost that game 3-2 and Bennie Calma got in a fight.
...the night we told our kids at Huffman High School we were moving to Texas to go to seminary, and then they raised the money for movers to get it done.
...the drive to Texas in my Buick Skyhawk and Tracy's Nissan Pulsar. She had Kelsey & Shelby in her car. I had Buford in mine.
...watching the Space Shuttle explode after lift-off over and over at the fraternity house, and having my friend Tom (an aerospace engineering major) say, "It could only be caused by the O-rings. Had to be those, man."
...no airplanes in our skies in the days after 9/11. In our area of Dallas, at any time of day, you can usually spot at least 5.
...my last day at seminary.
...almost every day during our trip to Disney World.
...my first time to cross into Juarez.
...the fact that Air Haiti wrecked airplanes adorn the runway at Port-Au-Prince.
...the bike paths in Holland.
...stepping off the plane in New York City the first time and feeling that life was moving and happening in every inch of that city.
...playing with our Evil Kneivel stunt motorcycles and action figures as kids.
...another toy I had as a kid: Super Toe. It was a football player who kicked plastic footballs through PVC uprights when you smacked his head.
...playing PONG for hours.
...the day we got cable television and you could watch cartoons at 2 o'clock in the afternoon. I was introduced to The Flintstones, The Jetsons, and Spiderman. Not to mention The Three Stooges and The Little Rascals and Gilligan's Island.
...when a respected business man I was friends with told me that the video rental store idea was a bad one because "no one will rent enough videos to make it viable." I wonder if he ever went to Blockbuster years later.
...the energy and effort my fraternity put into our annual Luau party.
...my first sermon at CBC. It felt like home even then.

Just trying to get the writing brain in gear...that's all.