Beaches and Birthdays...

Well technically it's just one beach and one birthday but "Beach and Birthday" just doesn't have the same ring to it. Recently my wife and I and two other couples Shea, Mark, Sara Beth and Michael spent four B-E-A-Utiful days in Seagrove, FL at a nice little house not too far off the beach. I love that are more and more each time I go there is a little town area just West of Seagrove called Seaside. In this little town center area there is a book store, coffee shop and market that I would kill to have right here in Montgomery but instead they are at the beach how is that for convenient especially since I can't stay in the sun more than um 8.4 minutes without getting sunburned. We had a great time smoked some cigars, drank a few Jager bombs and Margaritas, and ate some really good seafood. Seafood tastes even better when you forget your directions and drive an hour the wrong way, get fed up and stop at a restaurant called the whale's tail(aka the Whale's blowhole) leave because the place sucks, drive back past the place you are staying to the restaurant that you were looking for and was only 3 minute drive from the house, that is when you have earned it :)

Now to birthdays. I wish a happy 25th to my wife who I love with all my heart. This birthday got me thinking though why is 25 such an important birthday, and not just to my wife. After a little contemplation and conversation I came up with the fact that it is the last time a birthday means you can or cannot do something. Unless you are gunning for a US political office in which case in which case at 25 you could be a Representative but not a Senator(30) or the VP or Prez(35). Think about it once you turn 25 you can now rent a car and no one can ever tell you you can't do something else because you are to young. It makes sense then that at that point everyone starts making fun of you because you old. 30, 40, 50 etc. are all birthdays where everyone has a laugh at the "old guy" the one that's "over the hill" or "that ninety year old". I don't feel much different already being 25 but I am sure I would have been alot more excited if I had realized this point last September. On to the reviews:

Barrel Fever (Dave Sedaris) - 2 out of 5 - first half of the book gets a 1 second half a 3 thus the 2 overall. This was a mistake on my part enjoying an authors latest book and jumping back to his first. I love his autobiographical stories and the first part was just fictional short stories. It was all worth it though in the end for the chapter titled "Santaland Diaries" where he tells stories about working as an elf for a Santa in a mall.

Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim (Dave Sedaris) - 4 out of 5 - More family stories, hilarious.

Facing Your Giants (Max Lucado) - 5.5 out of 5 - Amazing. David's life laid out wonderfully with parallels to our life, just great.

May the 4th be with you...

(be aware of mushy content, you have been warned)
Ok so maybe it's not May 4th but who cares. This weekend is Mother's Day, and I just wanted to take the opportunity to say I have a mom. I know that may seem trivial but I feel like everyone has a mother, someone who birthed you, but not everyone has a MOM. There is a big difference there too although many people might not see it. I know being a parent in general is a tough thing and I am by no means knocking the job. I am just saying that it takes a special person to be a mom and this BLOG is devoted to the mothers out there who are moms as well. I have been so blessed in my life that I had the care and cookies of the one we call Mom around the McFee house. No matter how many times we disagreed or agreed she was always looking out for me and thinking about my future. There is no way I would have gotten all those applications finished, forms turned in, homework assignments done right and assigned chapters read without her. Without her I wouldn't have learned the hard way that basketball goals and vans don't mix, no matter how much concrete is loaded in the pole. I wouldn't have ever worn anything that didn't have wrinkles or probably even had clean clothes at all. The amount of times my mom took me to things, basketball games, football practice, comic book shops and movies that she had no interest in, but you never would have known it, is uncountable.

Thank you Mom.

As an additional note not only am I lucky enough that my mother has done all things things but I also have grandmoms and a mom-in-law that go out of their way to make sure that I have everything I need. And I know my wife is not a mom yet but I don't know what I would do without her either, I know that someday there will be somebody writing about her this way as well.