Things I Learned From Mom

I despise public speaking. I'm told I'm pretty good at it but man do I hate it. Mom was sick for a bit of time so I had to come to terms with a few things. One of those was speaking at her funeral. I decided against it both times during my grandparents funeral but this was different. First and foremost I think she would have wanted me to speak. Plus I'm the oldest, I felt it was required of me.

Since I had a bit of time and I knew two months ago that it would be before summer I batted a few things around in my head. I didn't want to write anything down before it happened. I did know I needed to write it down or I wouldn't be able to get everything out.

Of course mom died and then I didn't want to write anything down. Put I pushed back the tears, came up with a topic, and forced myself to write down thoughts on my mom that I think the world should know.

So here is basically what I said.

Things I Learned From My Mom
-Trevor McGregor

I learned that Coke is better then Pepsi, that dogs are better then cats, and you usually should stay on a 16.

Mom taught me that you should be honest with yourself because if you aren't honest with yourself then the rest doesn't matter.

I learned that red cars go faster, that beaches are better the pools, and a sunset is prettier then a sunrise.

Throughout the years she taught me how that nothing in the universe is stronger than a parent's love for their child.

I learned that cancer does suck, I guess she taught that to everyone.

Mom taught me that giving presents is better then getting them, that Star Wars is cool, and that things are usually better with rum then without.

Mom taught me that Eric Clapton can sure play the guitar, that the Rolling Stones can sure put on a show, and that All You Need Is Love.

I learned how to be a sibling because Mom loved Mikie and Mary Jane so much, she taught me how to be a spouse with the love she showed Paul, and I learned how to be a parent because anyone who's ever spent time with Mom knew how much she loved Michael, David, and I.

I learned that sports are better when you can root for people like Terry Bradshaw, Rocky Blieir, John Smoltz, or even Brian McCann.

She taught me that religion is about how you deal with God not how someone else deals with God.

Mom taught me that life isn't fair, it can be mean to everyone.

Grammy taught me that while Mom can say no Grammy's sure can't.

What has helped me most of all these past few days is that mom taught me that everyone dies.

She said not to be sorry for someone dying because it happens to everyone. She said instead of spending time feeling sorry for them you should remember how great they were in life.

I will try not to feel sorry for you Mom, your journey with us is over and you want all of us to focus on the journey that is still ahead of us. I want to thank you for being my Mom and Emily's Grammy.

So while I won't feel sorry for you I sure will miss you, Goodbye Mom.

Getting Back

I'm slowly getting back to normal. I still don't sleep very well prior to falling asleep. Once I get to sleep I'm sound asleep for the night. The problem is getting to sleep, taking much longer then it should.

I still don't feel much like blogging or really anything but we've done some fun things around the house. We're planning our vacation next summer (we're skipping a big one this year) and that's been fun. Playing some Street Fighter 4, catching up on basically three weeks of TV.

Slowly but surely I'm dealing with this major change in my life but I've got friends and family that have been really helpful.

Susan McGregor

In September of 2006 my mother was diagnosed with stage four breast cancer. I could go into the details of what stage four cancer is but you could look it up, let me just say there isn't a stage five.

Her 30 month fight with cancer ended last Tuesday. Born Donna Susan Barton on July 20 1951 in Sarasota, Florida. She died Susan Barton McGregor on March 17 2009, beloved wife to Paul and mother of three, Trevor, David, and Michael and grammy to my darling Emily.

The last six weeks were incredibly hard on her so while we all miss her very much we are relieved her suffering is over. I think the world needs to know more about her so I'll write about her some in the next days.

Right now I'm tired and I really am done talking about this for at least the next few hours.

Beat

Some days are just way more exhausting then others. Today was one of those days.

That's More Like It

Now that is what I like out of 24. Sure it was absurd but man it was full of action and a well deserved Silent Clock. Let's kick some ass Jack.

Absurd

That was the most absurd episode of 24 yet. For it to be absurd by 24 standards is saying a lot. I'll still watch but man that was just too over the top.

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday Ben Roethlisberger. I normally don't care much about celebrity birthdays but you've been pretty good to us Steelers fans.

Rickey Being Rickey

Gotta love Rickey Henderson, he is one of my all-time favorite baseball players.

Kate Winslet

All I can say is about fraking time!

Bargin Shopping

The Braves recently have spent 3 million for Tom Glavine, 2.5 million for Garret Anderson maybe(I'll believe it when I actually see him in a uniform), and 4 million for Jeff Francouer. All of those in 2009 will be below average performers. That's 9.5 million or almost the exact price they could have signed Adam Dunn to play LF for them.

I gotta say I think Adam Dunn would be much better then bargin shopping two has beens and a never will be.

Bye Bye Emmitt

Man you were a great running back but an awful talking head. Too bad I think this means they'll hire Brett Favre to replace him. I can just hear Berman now "isn't great how much fun Brett Favre is having at the end of the table."

Not Much

I actually didn't get much Steelers stuff for my birthday. I did get a new beer coosie (how the hell do you spell that) and a new Terrible Towel. I guess I will have to go get a hat and shirt.

No Griffey?

I think its better for the long term of the Braves that they don't spend money on a 39 year old who can't play everyday. That being said it is really sucky that the Braves can't sign anyone they go after. My how the might have fallen.

Bud Selig

I keep wanting to go through a Spring Training without having to have some player spend news cycle after news cycle put us through some steroid crap. I get it, players used steroids. Put in testing, make the penalties tough and let's move on.

Since it keeps coming up though and this week Bud Selig said he's not to blame. It angers him that he hears comments about how much at fault he is and that's just wrong. Well Bud, you're wrong. Next to Donald Fehr the union chief you're the person most responsible for this entire mess.

There what some 3,000 players, a few dozen trainers, owners, managers, agents, the countless media people, and of course the millions upon millions of fans. All of them are to blame to certain extent. The players as a group probably should rightfully so get the blame. But there is a lot of blame to spread around and it a lot of it needs to land of Bud's lap.

Let me get this straight it's okay for players to use steroids when it makes baseball millions of dollars recovering from the 1994 strike (as an aside World War 2 couldn't cancel the World Series but Bud Selig can) but once Congress get's involved steroids are bad.

If someone is naive enough to think that MLB and the owners didn't want the boom in the late 90s and early 2000s fueled by these 'Roided up players then more power to them. The entire league, the media, and even the fans are to blame. Since it's your league Bud the buck should stop with you.

Some Days

Being a parent is tougher then others.

Spending Too Much

I think we spent too much money this weekend. I'll have more details but I think Pretty Bird, The Little One, and I will love what we purchased.

Griffey, really?

If had a list of my favorite baseball players of all-time Ken Griffey, Jr. would be on it. Not sure where, probably the top 10. However this is 2009 and I really don't want the Braves to sign Griffey, he's old and more then a little past his prime.

I mean come on, Griffey was on the Simpsons in 1992 with current players like Jose Canseco, Steve Sax, Don Mattingly, and Ozzie Smith. He won his MVP twelve years ago! He made his major league debut in 1989! In 1989 Batman and Indiana Jones & the Last Crusade came out. In 1989 I was 13!

Man this Braves team is going to be really bad.

TV Recap

It was a pretty good night of TV. It didn't quite live up the expectations but it still wasn't bad. BSG was the weakest of the episodes so far in this final season. Terminator was its typical "let's not really move the story but at least we'll pretend".

Dollhouse wasn't great but it wasn't bad either. The actual pilot should be shown next week with some reshots. Fox apparently didn't like the pilot as a first episode, they liked it enough to buy the show but not for the first episode. Fox made Whedon come up with a different first episode. Whedon is then using his actual pilot later and I'm pretty sure its this week.

At least this time they worked with the creator before moving episodes around unlike with Firefly.

Geekest Night on TV

Man Friday's have some geek TV. Terminator, Battlestar Galactica, and now Joss Whedon's Dollhouse. It should be a good night of TV.

Still Nada

It's been almost two weeks since the Steelers won the Super Bowl two weeks ago and I haven't bought any merchandise about it yet. Definitely a change from the win a few years ago. With a birthday only two weeks after the Super Bowl I got way too much Super Bowl XL stuff last time. I went out and spent about $50 on stuff. Then Pretty Bird spent about $50 on stuff as did my mom. This time I'll see what they get me in a week and then I'll pick up anything that is missed.