Friday, June 24, 2005

Kyle is doing great, relatively speaking. He was over for father's day, and brought me a wonderful gift. 2 concert DVDs. An Austin City Limits performance by Stevie Ray Vaughan (which, by the way, is incredible!), and a country based gospel performance by many great performers. I haven't had time to watch the second one yet. He is absolutely the most thoughtful and considerate kid. To buy them he spent gift certificates he got for Christmas.

We've had Kyle over several times over the last month or so. One memorable night was Karen and my 25th anniversary. It was one of the best nights I can ever remember having. We can't afford to do anything special, so we had all the kids over for a cookout. A week in advance, Karen asked all the kids to write out at least 10 phrases on slips of paper that would have meaning to our family. They ended up being things that no outsider would ever comprehend. We had the greatest time pulling them out, reading them, laughing and talking about them. I drank too much that night, the first time in years I've overdone. I'm not a sloppy or mean or loud drunk, and give nobody a reason to be embarassed. I just had a little too much fun. What a night that was! And Kyle added so much to the night. He's so witty and fun to have around.

He's really looking good. He says he's quit cigarettes, and I believe him. He's not working, so he can't be completely staying out of trouble with all his free time, but he seems to be. He says he's looking for a job. He's still living in an apartment with other kids, and we suspect his girlfriend is paying his rent. With a little luck, she'll get tired of this, and leave him. She's REALLY bad news. Physically abusive, we used to find bruises and cuts and scratches all over him. I can't imagine her as a daughter in law, or her parents as inlaws either. Of course, they feel the same way about us. I'm really scared that girlfriend would be a danger to kids if they have any.

This hasn't been much of an update, but that's all I have right now.