A Eulogy

Margaret Brothers Gregory















(Margaret is on the right - to the left is my grandmother, Juanita)

We lost our dear Granny this past Sunday, June 25th.

She was born on July 10, 1919. She was married to the late Arthur "Bear" Gregory, former Sheriff of Woodford County. Together they owned a small grocery store in Nonesuch, KY. They had two children, Marcella and Bill (my father-in-law). Six grandchildren (Phil, Chris and Michael Gregory, Brian, Danny and David Richardson). Eight great-grandchildren.

There is so much to say about this woman - a wonderful, loving, caring, witty, AMAZING lady. She was a true Matriarch of her family. She loved her family so much, and she was incredibly loyal and protective of them all. Anyone who hurt any of her family members were forever on her blackball list...and that wasn't a bad thing.

She was a total prankster...she loved to scare people and to make people jump in fright, but she also loved to be on the receiving end of pranks. She was scared to death of mice...yet she had a tiny little stuffed mouse that sat on her kitchen window. When she wasn't looking, her grandsons would steal the mouse and throw it under her feet screaming "Look out, Granny...there's a mouse." Every single time - no matter how many times they would do that - she would scream and jump. Every single time. Then she would chase the prankster out the door, down the stairs of the deck and into the yard laughing the whole way - even at 86 years old. One would think that she would have put that mouse away somewhere else, but something tells me that she liked having that prank pulled on her.

Sundays...ahhhh, Sundays. No one on this Earth could cook like Granny. She made fried chicken to make Colonel Sanders himself cry. She would start making Sunday dinners on Friday. No one helped her - she wouldn't allow anyone to help her! Once Sunday arrived, there would be a glorious array of fried chicken surrounded by NO LESS than 12 side dishes - usually more. She would have mashed potatoes and gravy, mac and cheese, cauliflower, cole slaw, carrots, dressing, rolls, fruit, greenbeans, corn, and SO much more. She made the best sweet tea in the world, and her desserts were divine like everything else. She did that EVERY SINGLE SUNDAY. And she wouldn't let anyone help her, even, with cleaning up.

Granny was so easy and fun to talk to. She had so many stories to tell, but at the same time, she was always interested to hear what others had to say. There was simply no one like her.

What I loved the most about Granny was that she welcomed me with open arms into her family. She never assumed anything about me - just took me for who I was. She was always excited to see us and the girls. I was so honored that she was able to attend Maddie's ballet recital a couple of weeks before she died...and I was also SO happy that we were able to experience one last Sunday dinner with her the Sunday before she died.

I know that she is hand-in-hand with her dear husband right now watching down over us all from Heaven. She was a wonderful woman...simple as that...and she will be sorely, lovingly missed.

ICHTHUS!!!!!!!!

Phil and I got to attend the Ichthus Festival (huge Christian music festival) again this past weekend. My Dad works with the stage electric there, so he always gets us backstage passes. We are able to eat in the hospitality tent with the different bands, which is pretty neat. I just HAD to attend this year because my favorite band, which has been my favorite band for 15 years now - as long as they've been out - is retiring this year. This was my last chance to see them in concert. :( I'm SO sad, but I know that God will use them in different ways in the future. Mark Stuart, the lead singer of Audio Adrenaline, has a chronic problem with his vocal chords. You could tell it during the concert as he struggled to sing. It was so sad...he's such a talented guy, but the concert was, as always AWESOME!!!! This was, I think, my 8th time seeing them in concert. Anyway, we were standing to the side of the stage, but here's some pictures I was able to get:

This is Mark Stuart, lead singer...with Tyler Burkum, lead guitarist behind him (and that bassist, Will McGinness, to the far right):

This is bassist, Will McGinniss' back- LOL!:Full stage view (the crowd is to the left of the picture):

I know you all could probably not care less about these pictures, but I just wanted to document it since I won't ever get to see them again (sniff, sniff)...

Anyway, an update on me: Not doing too well right now. Just lots of "little" things adding up to make me miserable. My right hand isn't working well again. Lots of headaches, weakness, pains, etc. Blah, blah, blah. I really do feel like I'm just existing at this point. I have SO much work to do - it's really stacking up - and I just have NO motivation to do anything. I just want to crawl in bed and sleep...that's all. I see my Neurologist again on 7/21 - my Dad's b-day, and the day before Maddie's b-day. While my hope is almost completely gone for getting answers, I hope that at least, we can make a move (however big or small) towards that goal.

Thank you all so much for your continued support and friendship. It means more to me than you will ever know.

Maddie's a Ballet Star!

A few fun things have happened over the last week or two: Maddie's very first ballet recital and the ICHTHUS festival (will talk about in next post)!!!

Here is Maddie in her dance costume:

This is a cuter picture of her:

Phil insisted on taking pictures of the actual recital with his regular camera, so I'll post pictures from that whenever we get those back and I can scan them in.

The recital was SO cute!! They basically did everything they normally do during their class, but the funny part was that Maddie and her best friend, Melody, kept hugging each other through the whole thing. They are SO cute together, and I just love it that Maddie has a best friend.

Maddie started swim lessons yesterday (with Melody in tow, too). She absolutely LOVES it!! They are just learning basic things like how to walk down the steps into the water by themselves, how to put their face in the water, some basic strokes, etc.

Mackenzie, as always, is a mess! She's talking a LOT more now...mostly backtalking us already! Lots of NO's! Whenever she gets mad at us, she starts jabbering away in some alien language, in which I'm pretty sure she's cussing us! LOL!!! Seriously, though...she is such a sweet and loving child. I just look at her (and Maddie, too) and thank GOD for blessing us with such treasures.

Here are a couple of pictures that I love of the girls (please excuse the messy hair):

Just an update...

Things are pretty much status quo here.

After doing absolutely NOTHING over the weekend, I believe I'm still in the middle of a minor flare-up. I've been having a lot of problems with my right hand again. It's been kind of clumsy and hard to work with, if that makes any sense. I'm sure it doesn't help any that I forgot to take my Neurontin all day yesterday. I remembered it around 5:30 last night, so I took one at 5:30, one at 8:15 and the other at 11:00. EEK!! Thankfully, it didn't make me sick or anything like that.

I mentioned this before, but I've still been having a lot of numbness in the crease of my right leg. It's the darndest thing, I swear!!! The right side of my pelvis is numb, and it goes all the way around my right leg up to my right buttcheek. LOL! It doesn't last for a long, long time, but it does happen frequently. So strange!

I wanted to address the two ANONYMOUS comments that have been left here over the last couple of days:

1. One comment left said something to the effect that Chronic Epstein-Barr Virus is very real and that this person had been suffering from it for over 2 1/2 years. First of all, I'm very sorry for your diagnosis, and I know how bad you must feel right now. I have suffered from it for over 7 1/2 years, so I DO know that it is very real. I, in no way, want to downplay CEBV because so many people do suffer from it, but my symptoms go over and beyond my CEBV, and I also cannot discount all of the studies saying that high/chronic levels of EBV may be the cause of MS. I hope that you are able to find some relief from your fatigue very soon.

2. The second question asked me if I've been evaluated for Fibromyalgia or Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. My answer is YES. I've been evaluated, literally, for everything. My Neurologist has said that he has ruled out everything, but he cannot rule out MS at this time. Right now, he is waiting for my tests to show MS. Believe me, I have asked tons of questions about this, and I have asked him about every possible thing. Thank you for your input, though.

Anyway, we did do one thing over the weekend. We took Maddie to her first movie at the theater (finally!). We saw "Over the Hedge," which was a cute movie, but kind of slow, I thought. Towards the middle of it, Maddie started getting fidgety, but overall, she enjoyed it - especially since she got popcorn, gummy bears and a sprite! : ) She was completely impressed by the "big TV."

I guess that's it for now. I'm still trying to get a lot of work done for my new client....it's SOOOOOOOO ultra time-consuming!! Oh well...that means lots of green, I guess.

Take care, everyone!!

"ANONYMOUS" posters....

Seems that I've had a pretty big onslaught of Anonymous posters lately.

While I greatly appreciate any input that anyone (family, friends or lurkers) would like to give me, and I certainly welcome posters whom I do not know, please do not post anonymously. I would like to be able to respond back to you, and some of the comments left, while they were not hateful, are comments that I need to respond to.

So....if you're a lurker and want to post here, why not sign in and/or leave your name???

Thanks in advance!

Mimi