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All eyes were on Mom. That would be my wife. See, we had just taken our daughter to college 800 miles from home. Her two younger brothers were also with us. Overall, we were pretty impressed at the way the college seemed to think of everything that might concern a parent. Actually, it seemed like they had all the bases covered.
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My wife has enjoyed a search for her roots, you know, as we have time. There's one particular relative on her father's side that was really giving her a hard time. He's not alive any more, so he didn't mean to. But we followed the trail that went back to her great-grandfather, old Herbert Alonzo.
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I guess you'd expect it. After all, his parents' wedding was the most watched on the planet. And now Prince William and Princess Kate have an adorable son, Baby George. I think he's the most watched baby on the planet. Every time he's out in public, the press is all over it. Not long ago, he took his first major trip as he traveled all the way to New Zealand with his royal parents. You know what the big news was there? Baby George's first "play day" in a sea of toys. Where the eight-month-old managed to find and commandeer the biggest toy in the room.
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Not again. That was my gut reaction when I saw the headline about another shooting at Fort Hood a while back. I just couldn't believe it when they said that the previous shooting on the base was five years ago. It seemed like yesterday.
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It's 1:00 A.M....the telephone rings. I mumble in my pillow. It was our daughter. See, all through college, if the phone rang when it was late at night, then it was a good guess that it was our daughter. That's even true now. She's a night person. And my wife always reminds me, "Well, it's your fault." See, when our daughter was born I was a director for a youth organization and most nights I'd get home about 10:30.
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Jim was a partner with us in some of our radio outreach to young people, and he's a man who refused to be stopped with his limitations. He was blind. In fact, he launched a pioneer program in his area that was planned and hosted by young people. We talked to Jim and we got some incredible news. He had just come through surgery with his very own medical miracle. He woke up from that operation with some of the sight restored that he had lost years before. And he told us how beautiful the mountains were, and especially how beautiful his wife was. He said, "I finally see my wife for the first time in 16 years!" What a breakthrough!
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We have a family doctor I totally trust. I'm a very blessed guy. I mean, I've had one over the years wherever I've lived. But I can't say that I look for opportunities to go see him. If I do, I've got a lot of reasons to trust him. Not the least of which is, he asks me about my symptoms. So I give him all the clues I can. He's kind of like a medical Sherlock. I tell him where it hurts, I tell him when it started, and I tell him how I got desperate enough to finally come to the doctor's office.
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Playing his first high school football game - that was our son's dream since first grade! And the day finally came! His first freshman game was an away game. And let me tell you, at freshman games the parental attendance was underwhelming to say the least.
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Our daughter was just eight years old when we left her at a summer camp for the first time. That's kind of a milestone for the child and the parent. But our daughter was really excited. I guess it's the parents that have a little harder time letting go. But a beautiful island, Camp Tapawingo, is on an island in the middle of an Adirondack lake only accessible by boat. So as this boat pulls away, it really underscores the reality that you are leaving this girl. But to be honest with you, it wasn't all that tough.
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It was the night before Thanksgiving. Boy, the Hutchcraft house was a very busy place! We were cleaning house like crazy. Everybody — I mean all five of us were cleaning house. We were decorating the house for the holiday weekend, hustling around getting ready to go get Grandma at the airport, a couple of folks in the kitchen working on some of the elements of dinner tomorrow, including my mincemeat pie. I'm the only one who will eat it and that's great!
