Tribute To My Oldest sister

Some people are blessed with riches and money, others are blessed with incredible minds and talents. I have been blessed with an incredible oldest sister April. Out of everybody that has touched my life this person has been my rock and pillar and helped establish who I am today. Being raised in a loving yet at times dysfunctional family where both parents worked and left the oldest daughter, my sister April to watch and take care of us while they worked, sometimes swing and graveyard shifts. as a mere 10-11 year old child herself left to watch after 3 younger siblings and a sometime alcoholic Father. I remember my April sometimes getting into fights for her younger brothers and sisters, really tearing into those who crossed the line on her precious family, needless to say we were in great hand my our April. But the thing i remember the most is that feeling of not ever wanting to disappoint her in any way, when I got into trouble at school, she was the one waiting for me during that walk home from being detained at school, she would give me the look of anger and disappointment and i knew I really let her down. My parents punishments were really not an issue as my main focus was that disappointment that I gave my big sister. She was often referred to what we now call the "Matriarch" of our upbringing and was the key and focal point in a young boys mind. Even as i got older and progressed through my schooling she was always involved in everything, always concerned and checked that i was doing well in school. She left home at an early age but still continued to take me to appts and attend my little league games and was a huge positive role model to me encouraging me to be my best at whatever I did, seeing the potential that i had athletically and scholastically she pushed me like nobody else could, she was the one i hated to let down , she was the one gave that extra for. Her laughs and smiles to this day have that immediate impact on me as they did when I was a young boy! THen she Got Married To Tim and i felt like she was being taken away, but then i came to grips with the fact that this was her chance to let go and live her own life and allow somebody else to love her the way that we did, the fact that we all love Tim so much made it easier but I still felt a sense of detachment due to matrimony. She is unable to have children and tried for years but it was not in the cards for her, funny that as a school teacher she is able to touch the lives of special Ed students and has touched more lives than she ever realizes, her Man upstairs replaced her own children with the people who really need more than a mother, she has done this for 27 years and the thousands of kids who were privileged enough to have the same type of love and care that i was given makes me feel warm and special inside. For a woman that has so much to give and never asks of anything in return except for the occasional day to sit on the couch and reflect and play on her facebook,or enter grades in her system, just the occasional April hours that Tim doesn't always understand the need for. Well we do and wished she would have more of this time for herself and for her own interests, but those interests always get put on the backburner to solve problems or issues elsewhere, always seems to happen that way. Move to today, after we bought my childhood home from my mother 6 years ago April offered to move my mother into her home with her, set up a neat little room, Mom loved it! My mother of 75 has some health issues and lo and behold April is the caretaker of her now as well, taking her to appts, to the hospital, for tests and just overall being the incredible daughter to her that she is the sister to us. Giving and giving til I sometimes worry if this rock is ever going to crack and split down the middle with the pressures of being a wife, a sister and the incredible caretaker to so many that she has made herself so readily available to become. Writing about my big sister bring tears to my eyes, tears of joy and tears of remembrance to all that she has given of herself for so many years. April McCarthy is a living angel and I know everybody who comes across her understands that they are dealing with a special strong and caring person. If you cross her she will get in your face, if you love her she will give it all back a thousand times over. What an incredible Aunt to my boys and her nephew and Niece Josh and Kristin who have also pleaded many times if they could spend the night at aunt Aprils ..please please please! Yeah , she's that special to so many and I'm sure her colleagues will agree. TErria and i usually spend a couple day a week with her and Tim at dinner , or breakfast and take the trips to Morrow Bay, the bay area and many other trips just to enjoy the time and great fun with her and Tim. We are planning a New York trip this March during spring break and so look forward to the bright lights with the two of them. April you are a well loved , well respected and feel downright weird when we don't see you at least twice a week. I just want to thank you and let you know that I and Terria appreciate you more than we can ever describe in words, you have been the foundation for my growth as a boy, young man and as a good human being who cares and loves by the lessons i was taught by my Big Sister April, I love you and am so Blessed to have you as a part of my everyday. Until we run out of days my Big Sister April, i love you more than I can describe and hope i show you the way you deserve. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!, LOVE BROTHER GREGORY

Concerned! but Optimistic

Went to the Dr a few weeks ago typical BP check and had some blood drawn. Apparently the blood sugar level is higher than it should be so i go i tomorrow to get an evaluation as to what I need to do to bring it down to normal. Other than diet and exercise which has been in place for a longtime now i don't know what else to do. I am sure that this can be corrected and an even more extreme approach will be taken in the form of better diet and more rigorous exercise and see where that takes me in the grand scheme of things. Not much else to write about just enjoying life and doing what i do on a daily basis. Had baked chicken and some sort of veggie medley that I'd never had before, even had fruits for breakfast so the change is upon me now and it feels weird to be eating totally proper and not drinking coffee or sodas, Monsters or Rockstars anymore, even the lo carb sugar free drinks that i have to live without. So it looks like water and juice is going to be my new best friend and see if i can remedy the sugar and see how hard I am willing to work towards getting my health in order. Today is officially day1 of the new revamped lifestyle and know tis is not omething to be taken lightly. So here i go again with another challenge in front of me and looking forward to getting it done in the next 6 months