Road Trip

Wow! 100 original stories! You might almost call this a Casper Comic Digest.
I haven't seen a Casper comic digest since, let's see, August of 1971. That one had just failed as a distraction to ward off car-sickness, which was why it was being digested (roadside) in Illinois as I recall.
We all learned so much on that trip.
*Never give four children any choices at breakfast time. No waffles, french toast or pancakes. Everyone gets scrambled eggs, bacon and toast. You REALLY don't want a station wagon full of sugar charged kids on a 500 mile drive.
*When playing the Alphabet game, watch for liquor stores to score the Q-R-S-T-U bonanza.
*Watch also for liquor stores when hoping to score the R-E-L-A-X M-O-M bonanza.
*Get used to the words "There, we saw it, let's go".
*Never stay at a Holiday Inn recently occupied by Army men on leave ("Yup, that's broken too").
Honestly, I remember almost nothing of our time in Michigan with Mom & Dad's family. Nora, Jim & kids lived on a lake where I caught a fish by jumping in a grabbing at it which my younger brother Chris saw as needlessly cruel. By the way;
*All the kids can't ride at the very front of a pontoon boat.

We've had a real roller-coaster ride at work this week. On Monday we were told that a coworker (Ken) had crashed his motorcycle during a race in Tulare over the weekend. It's only Wednesday and so far we've been told that;

-Ken is on full life support,

-There's no hope for Ken to recover,

-He has "flat-lined" a couple of times,

-Ken has a 50/50 chance of recovery according to a specialist,

-Recovery (if it happens) could still leave Ken blind and partially paralyzed.

Ken's family is struggling with a lot of questions and options right now. If there is no improvement, Ken may be removed from life support some time this weekend. We all hope Ken would be strong enough to keep living and healing, but that hope seems dim. We've heard that Ken is responding to voices and the sound of his name, so we're recording verbal messages today here at work to be played at his bedside with the hope that it may help. I'm usually stumped trying to sign a birthday card; what do you say to a coworker who isn't expected to survive? Lots of people told Ken that we're praying for him, some read scripture. I mentioned his being a bass player and that I hoped he'd be playing again soon. Goodbye didn't seem to be the right thing to say. Your prayers would be appreciated.

More about Ken, including pictures can be found here- http://www.flattrack.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=100&topic_id=21918&mode=full&page=

05/14/07

Recieved this Email this morning:
Because his situation was getting worse, the family decided to keep with their decision to remove Ken from Life Support. He passed peacefully at 1AM Sunday. Ken has often said that he would rather go quickly doing what he loves to do than to simply grow old.

Ken's family and close friends send their sincere thanks for everything you all have done for Ken and his family.