Laughter Can Be the Best Medicine

Friday, April 28, 2017

Today was a good Friday…not thee Good Friday, but a good day for me. I enjoyed the surroundings of a vintage themed coffee shop with a neighbor I am just getting to know. We talked about many things and much of the conversation was about you, BJ. She didn't know you or even have the chance to ever meet you, but she has a young adult daughter and I know she can sense the heartache I might be feeling as she is still one of the lucky parents out there that cannot even imagine losing their child. I was one of those parents up until Oct. 21, 2017…the day my world crashed. I can see with the tear she sheds as she talks about the anxiety she feels each time her daughter leaves the house; especially during winter weather. Truth be known, accidents happen every single second of every single day and someone loses someone. Until it happens you really can't even fathom the impact it has on you, on your everyday life, on nearly every thought that enters your head. But this Friday I am blogging about was a good day for me. 

The day really began yesterday, when I decided to take the plunge and use my cell phone "upgrade" that is no longer a "Free Upgrade", but simply a "you are no longer on contract and can buy a new phone at full price…on monthly payments and we won't even charge you interest…upgrade". Regardless, my current phone is a Windows Phone and even though I have had a WP for nearly six years and have loved its integration with all my other Microsoft accounts and documents; this phone has not been such a pleasure to have. So, I am "upgrading" to an Android, where I can have access to apps that everyone else has…unless you have a WP! :)  First things first; I cannot lose all my text messages from BJ or Rich (Dillon's dad in Heaven). I just can't!  For me, I hang on to every little piece of them and text messages, well that is a piece. It brings me joy and sometimes a whole lot of laughter to read through some of our conversations. But how in the world do you get your text messages off your phone…a WP…no, there's not an app or a program for it. So, after brainstorming and push come to shove, I bit the bullet and decided to screen shot them all. After all, photos auto save to my cloud…win/win! Well, I cannot even tell you how long I was "screen shotting" BJ's texts but it was a while. But yay, they are now ALL saved!  However, I then found out that screen shots aren't auto saved…stupid Microsoft! But, hey, I can email the photos easier than figuring out how to email the text conversation…yea, I went down that road too! So, Friday morning (this Friday morning, April 28th) I sent ALL … are you ready for this … ALL 468 text conversation photos to my own email!  They are now safely tucked away on my external hard drive in my safe!  They went back to August 2013 and oh my gosh…even though I did not even come close to reading them all (as I was a screen shot clicking robot) some caught my eye and I found myself rolling in laughter at some of the stuff we said to each other. I have no doubt he is the Angel of Humor in Heaven! So, thank you God for the needed resources to figure it out and the patience to sit and click for a while. I am relieved to know that "piece" of BJ will be with me forever. Now…it's on to saving text messages from Rich…something I can share with Dillon one day and a piece of his dad we will have forever.

You must understand this conversation, about my green kitchen garbage can that I no longer needed, was intended for Bryan NOT BJ. No doubt, he was shaking his head (with a smile on his face) thinking mom's losing it! I can't even begin to tell you how many texts I found that said, "Oops, wrong son!!! LOL".  As much as I laughed the day I wrote these texts, I laughed just as hard when I was screen shotting them on this day. In the midst of tragedy, it is always good when one can find something to laugh about...even old text messages!  Texts can be annoying, but for me they are a treasure.

And why would Bryan want my green kitchen garbage can, you ask??? We were just moving into our own homes after sharing a place for 2+ years, so I could help care for his kids while he was adjusting to life as a single dad. I couldn't use the garbage can and was just letting him know he could have it if he needed it. Let's just say the garbage can found a new home and a clean break from the family! 😏

#Forget-YOU-NotFriday #RememberingBJ