My moms celebration of Life and Memorial service

I think I did a pretty nice display for my mom’s celebration of life Memorial August 1st. It was one year to the day of her passing from covid-19. This was the first time I had seen any family since before she passed away. To go one year without anything as if nothing had happened after my mom passed away, that was really something strange to process. I sure do miss both my mom and my dad.

Kenosha Riots

As someone who LIVES in #Kenosha witnessing the violence the world is focused on right now, I need to share with you the BIGGEST mistake outlets are making in covering this and how it’s causing more perpetual violence instead of less..

There is a polar opposite difference between peaceful protestors whom we love, and violent agitators who take us 10 steps backwards on our mission.

When an individual is violent toward innocent people and their property they make it less possible for justice and systemic change.

The media and political figures are missing this point and it’s too important to over look. We want meaningful productive protest for justice and systemic change. The violent agitators are NOT part of the protests.

Having been a Kenosha resident for 30 years, and counting, and being present in the moment, I’m seeing the damage caused to innocent people and their property first hand by people who have nothing to do with black lives matter or any legitimate protests.

It’s BEYOND IMPORTANT everyone in our country recognize the difference between protestors for change, and violent agitators harming innocent people.

Push back against ANY and ALL outlets and narratives that use phrases like, “Violent Protestors” or “Protests turning violent” because if enough people buy into this gross narrative of equating protestors to violent agitators then we will never evolve and the violent ones will win.

Please share this. We need to get this CORRECT messaging out there and END the violence.

#kenoshastrong
#BlackLivesMatterMovement
#blacklivesmatter
#blm
#lovekenosha

Facebook blocked me from grieving the loss of my sweet mom on their platform with all of you for the past three days :(

Everyone has showered me with love and support except for one person. What would you do, if anything? Comment below after reading the rest please I need your feedback I’m not sure what to do.

Posting open letters to my amazing mom to my Facebook so we can all love and support each other was a meaningful part of my therapy for the loss of my mom.

One individual, we have lots of the same friends here in Kenosha, harshly layed into me for being a self centered narcissist going out in public trying to get people sick with the virus.

I commented back saying, no it’s all cool I am healed and I was cleared to remove myself from isolation by a professional health care worker!

Instead of being grateful I didn’t pass away and welcoming me back out into the world she double downed with, you’re lying you’re trying to get people killed you still have the virus etc just laying into me very heavy.

At this point I said, you’re starting to act like a lun a tic impervious to new information. I don’t know who this new mean person is you’ve become but if you can reclaim the sweet person I knew a few years ago that would be awesome.

She reported that particular comment to Facebook for bullying and harassing her. Last Sunday morning I go to share something on my Facebook and I get the pop up from Facebook that says I’m blocked from commenting and posting for three days for bullying and harassing, next violation will get me blocked for 7 days.

I clicked to see which comment this was for because I couldn’t believe I had done anything resembling bullying and harassing, it had to be a mistake.

I’m guessing a computer reviewed my comment and flagged me for the “acting like a lu n atic” part. I clicked to dispute it in disagreement with their decision. A split second later they reviewed it, obviously done by a computer again instead of a human being, and they stood by their decision to block me for three days for bullying and harassing.

So for the past three days a sick, callous, cold hearted individual person was given power by Facebook to cause harm to another individual who just lost his mother to covid and survived the same virus himself.

The one viciously and falsely attacking the other who just lost his mother and survived a deadly virus is ok she was not doing the bullying or harassing. It’s the one receiving the vicious attacks who did the bullying and attacking. The one who just lost his sweet mom and survived the same virus is the one who needs to be blocked from Facebook for 3 days because he is the one bullying and attacking.

That’s what Facebook has become. Facebook is now a platform for sick vile individuals to cause harm to the already grieving.

It’s one thing if someone is just sick and vile, but to be given power to cause harm to another who is suffering the biggest emotional loss of his lifetime, well that is a whole other thing.

If Facebook would simply review my comment with a human being they would see their automated reviews are severely broken.

As far as the cold individual who did this to me with the assistance of Facebook, do I share this with our mutual friends? I’m meeting with my lawyer next week on unrelated matters. Do I talk to my lawyer about a possible lawsuit for using her extreme callousness to cause harm?

I’m interested in your feedback friends. What would you do?

Final thought and this is super important. The person who caused this harm in the extreme cold way in which she did will see this post and derive pleasure from it. I don’t care. Unfortunately, I think it would keep a lot of others from sharing and being vulnerable. But you know what? I care more deeply about sharing all the love and support with all of you than I do about this one cold individual getting more pleasure than she already has.

A friend of mine shared with me very recently, “surround yourself with people who care more about you than societal expectations. Who really feel/hear you and protect your space from lions while you do what YOU need to do for YOU to be reborn in peace.” – Alicia Garnet Chestnut

Friends, once and a while someone cold, vicious, and receives pleasure at harming others who are already graving, is going to be given power to cause more harm. Most of the time they are completely harmless and have no power. But, in an instance where one of them is given power to cause harm, I just want you to know, I’m here for you and I love you.

-Tom

 

Thank You for your LOVE and Support During my Moms Passing

I just wanted to say in Video THANK YOU for the love and supporting the past few weeks right up to and beyond my moms passing. I hope you take the time to to watch, to hear me, and to receive my love and support for YOU

❀ ❀ ❀

I’m reading ALL of your comments. The outpouring of love and support in quality and quantity makes a difference so as you’re wondering if you’re being drowned out by so many other comments, no, you are not drowned out I SEE YOU and I LOVE YOU  
 
I hope you take the time to to watch, to hear me, and to receive my love and support for YOU      
Click the image to ‘Play’..

Tom

This is my sweet Mom

on my shoulder in the black outfit who ascended into heaven about 48 hours ago. My birth mom is the woman in the forefront.

Don’t just read one line and “like”. Read all of this and “love”, comment, share yourself, it’s important we are more involved with each other <3 <3 <3

Let me tell you some things about these two remarkable women in my life. What a story I have for you <3 <3 <3 I will get to the story of how my birth mom and my mom and dad met for the first time further down below after I mention a few more amazingly cool things. It’s a wonderful story and one of the happiest moments of my life, my mom and dads lives, and my birth moms life and I hope it touches some of you, too.

BRACE YOURSELF.. As I typed this I kept typing and typing so many random thoughts popping into my head after the story of everyone meeting for the first time. I didn’t even have to stop and think. It just flowed. So much emotion. So much purpose for us all to see a long post like this and be even more inspired than we already are to love and support one another with full on vulnerability and realness absent of all “tough guy” vibrato.

Look how happy my sweet mom is that we are together. The expression on her face.. Wow.. Yesterday and the day before I was going through pictures to find for her Obituary photo and when I came across this one the search was immediately over. Cropped her out of the photo and this is it. I’m going to use this whole photo with myself and my birth mom at the memorial and celebration of life service sometime after covid-19 dies down so that’s probably going to be a while from now.

The picture was taken at the time of my dads funeral, about 2 years and 10 months ago. My Colorado mom made the trip from Loveland Colorado to be here. I can’t wait to see her again whenever it is we have the memorial and celebration of life service after the health pandemic is over.

My mom was born to be my mom, even though she did not give birth to me, I am her son and she is my mom. She is the only one I call, “Mom”. My birth mom I either call LouAnne or my Colorado mom. When I’m talking to my biological sisters about my Colorado mom I refer to her as “Mom”. To everyone else I call her her LouAnne or my Colorado Mom.

My mom encouraged me to find my biological parents my whole life. When I was 35 I finally did. Between my moms encouragement to keep trying after failed attempts, and my dads amazing brain finding a minor technicality that gave my adoption case worker a legitimate legal avenue of reaching out to my biological mom directly via a phone call, it finally happened. I talked to my bio mom for the first time ever at age 35 and from there came in contact with my bio dad, aunts, uncles, cousins, two siblings I never knew I had, even one more living grandparent I got to know for a few years until she passed away just a few years ago. My bio mom and dad did not end up together after they had me and adopted me out. Both sides of my birth family are wonderful people. I lucked out because a lot of re-connections end up going very badly and therapy is needed. This has just been wonderful all around and I know I am lucky.

On to the story..

I’ve already met my bio family at this point of my parents and my bio mom meeting for the first time. I had already gone out to loveland to meet everyone and spend time with them. I remember my mom driving me to the airport to send me off to see my birth mom who would scoop me up at the Denver airport. One mom to another mom… Wow that was so cool <3

Fast forward to the day of myself picking up my Colorado mom from the Milwaukee airport to bring her to my parents house. Oh god that was one of the most blissful and most happiest moments of my life I will forever play on constant re-run in my mind!

I’m at my parents house. Just as I leave to pick up Colorado mom I say something like, here I go! I will be back soon with my Colorado mom. Man that was so cool to say! They were excited to meet her finally after all these years and a few conversations over the phone. Look at it from my parents point of view. They were about to meet, in person, the woman who birthed their son and adopted him out. If not for my Colorado mom my parents would not have had me as their son <3 They were about to meet this woman! That filled my heart with so much happiness to see my mom and my dad about to have this experience.

So, I take off to the airport. Very anxious I am. No delays in her flight that I can remember and Milwaukee Mitchel airport is super easy so I was able to pick her right up and whisk her away straight to my parents house which was only a 35 minute drive! She stayed with me at my house which was only 2 minutes away from my parents house but we just wanted to get to my parents house asap and then unpack at my house later!

Pulling into the driveway of my parents house. Oh my god I’ve got butterflies in my stomach, I’m on cloud 9, I can’t believe this is finally happening, I can’t wait to see the look on everyones faces and the hugs and whatever else happens!

I open the side door into the house that goes to the kitchen, my birth mom right behind me, my parents are already sitting at the kitchen table, chairs turned toward the side door… My birth mom following behind me.. As soon as she is visible to my parents I say, Mom and Dad this is LouAnne, my birth mom.

In the spirit of transparency as I’m typing this I am having one of many random moments of crying. Reliving this moment in my mind is triggering a good cry right now <3 <3

Immediately my birth mom drops whatever she had in her hands and their are warm hugs all around. Ohhhhh the look on my sweet moms face to see the woman who is responsible for me being her son was priceless. My sweet mom was so happy. I know for sure this was one of the happiest moments of her life and I hope she replayed it in her mind anytime she was feeling sad.

Everyone was so happy. My dad was happy. My birth mom was happy. I was certainly happy. The expressions on everyones faces and the love felt between everyone truly is what life is about and makes all the extremely difficult times worth while. That is something I have to remember no matter how many times I have to remind myself. As much as I am hurting right now, as much as my heart has been broken right now, it’s these memories that makes the heart ache worth while. I have to remember that and I hope all of you reading this remembers that as well. I have never been more heart broken in all my life. Not for any girl I had a romantic interest in, not for anyone else. The loss of my mom to the next life, and my second and last parent, is the most emotionally challenging experience of my life. It’s memories this one here and the support of great people in my life is what I need to help me.

You’ve probably figured out by now the picture of the four of us is the day my mom and dad and birth mom met for the first time. I love this picture and I will carry it around in my heart forever. Both of these pictures I will carry with me forever because of the memories they invoke that mean so much to me. There was so much laughter. You can even see some of the laughter captured in this more candid picture of the four of us. There was so much hugging. So much story telling. So much love. This was deeply therapeutic for everyone all around. It was days like these that were the best days of my life.

Oh mom I miss you so much. My heart hurts beyond belief that I will never get to see you again, hear your voice again, or hear you talk back to me while I still talk to you out loud with my voice. I have to admit It feels lonely now doing so much talking but never hearing your voice talk back to me again. Now I’m pretty much uncontrollably crying as I am typing this right now. Mom I so desperately want to hear you say, “Honey, ….” knowing I will never get to hear those sweet words to me with your sweet voice ever again. I have to keep stopping to blow my nose and wipe tears from my eyes. I knew typing this up would do this but it’s ok. All of my crying and heart ache is really a deeply powerful testament to the love we feel for each other. I have to look at it that way because it’s true and it might be even mildly comforting to recognize that truth.

I hope sharing this un polished and raw experience with the world helps other people out who might be grieving. There is a lot of emotional suffering out there and we all need to be there for each other. I think that is one of our most important tasks as humans; simply to be there for each other. A lot of times we tend to polish things up when we should be 100% transparent and forthright. A wonderful thing happens when you have courage to be 100% transparent and forthright when you are emotionally struggling the most. Others recognize it more than the polished version which helps them with their grieving processes because their is now true empathy between us. You are going to receive less polished condolences and various offerings of support because you’ve opened the door for more full-on realness which is the best therapy for all involved. There is going to be less judgement. From most people their will be no judgement at all even if they have a habit of judging they will not judge you because of the doorway that’s been opened to 100% realness and vulnerability for deep compassion for one another. I’m not saying there is never a time to be polished and proper, I’m saying in certain times like this, it’s better to be unpolished so all of the aforementioned human therapies can happen for all people. For the occasional person that might judge you, it makes it easy to identify that individual and excommunicate while wishing them the best.

My mom had a HUGE heart. A heart of gold. She loving to do things for other people and give to other people. It drove my dad nuts at times because it usually involved spending money..LoL Or, it involved my moms unhealthy weight gain and diabetes which also drove my dad nuts because he loved her and wanted to see her improve her health as did I.

One of her favorite things when she was still healthy enough to be more mobile around the house was to bake various sweets for people. Often times she would eat some of what she baked and it contributed to destroying her health up to her dying day. I know it feels good in the moment to eat sweet fatty food but is the price to pay a worth while one? I guess that is for every individual to decide for themselves. I’m sure there are a large plurality of people who decide it was not worth it after it is too late and that is the catch 22 of that deal. How do you know for sure it will be worth while to live an unhealthy life style until after you experience enough of the consequences. I think the primary reason it happens with so many people is because it happens so slowly over the course of many years. I’ve always thought it to be like a lobster settling in for a nice warm bath. He doesn’t get out because the heat is turned up sooooo slowly and feels so good at first until the horrible consequences kick in.

In my opinion, and I tried so hard and so desperately to get my mom to subscribe to this, it’s better to go for a worthwhile life than an easy life. Learning how to make healthy food taste amazing, and regularly fitness, is worth while for how your mind and body rewards you on a daily basis as you grow older feeling and looking more youthful. One of my life goals is to help people transition over to that philosophy of living so we can all live and love one other for more years and with better energy and capabilities. The best gift you can give to your loved ones, I’ve been saying this for years, is to simply be here living and living well.

My heart didn’t just start hurting when I realized my mom was not going to survive covid-19. My heart started hurting a couple of decades ago when I noticed my mom starting to pay the consequences for not being faithful to her health and wellness. Slowly over many years her health and wellness would be chipped away. The proverbial lobster settling in for a nice warm bath. It happened so slowly it never shocked her senses into turning a new leaf. For the last maybe ten years of her life I searched my brain DAILY for new ways of appealing to my mom to turn over that new leaf. Over the course of time I did have some success but it wasn’t enough to turn the corner for long term health. There was a couple instances where she did make enough changes that she lost about a hundred pounds, brought her A1C level below 6.0 from about 8 if I remember correctly and that was a HUGE thing to have an A1C below 6.0!! Her blood panels came around but that was also with the help of medications. For a little bit at one point she was doing so good. I praised her so much and encouraged her to keep going. But it did not last. The last two years of her life she really took a nose dive, starting with her new amplified toxic way of thinking, and self sabotaged for the rest of her life. It just continued spiraling down from there. One health scare after another for 2 years until her passing. I think the worst moment was when she finally had her knee replacement surgery but she did not follow through with her rehabilitation exercises and ultimately never walked without an upright walker ever again. She never regained the strength in her knew stable knee, thereby never getting around to having the other knee replaced.

Mom, it all started with your mind and your body followed. Toward the end your heart became weak so you were refereed to a cardiologist. The first warning was when you were being screened for knew replacement surgery to make sure you were healthy enough for it. You just basically had to lose 50 more pounds because everything else was great. You got the weight down which was awesome! I was shocked to be honest when you were told you met the criteria for surgery with your weight loss and you didn’t have any expression of excitement or accomplishment over it. The Physicians assistant who gave you the great news and myself were so excited and you didn’t really express any emotion at all. I remember that was one of the first signs that your mind mentally had taken a bad turn and just became more toxic from there 🙁 There was however just one more possible issue to deal with before clearing you for surgery and that was your heart. You had lived in extreme sedentary for so long the surgeon was concerned about your heart so you were sent to a cardiologist to make sure your heart was ok. You barely passed. The surgery went perfectly. You recovered perfectly. You just didn’t do your rehab follow through which makes me so sad mom 🙁 I will always wonder for the rest of my life why you didn’t follow through, why your mind took a turn for the worst about 5 or 6 months after dad passed for the last two years of your life, and why you agreed to this surgery after you were clearly informed of the consequences of not following through with your rehab. For the rest of my life I will wonder. I asked her quite a few times why, but you never had an answer. The few times you did answer you just said you didn’t know. Sometimes you said, “what is wrong with me?” So you knew something was going on with your mind. I encouraged you to develop a relationship with a really good therapist who could help you. I tried that once with a really nice lady but you weren’t motivated to keep going back or following through with treatments. I don’t know for sure what happened but it’s kind of like you lost motivation to live any longer even though you had so much love and support. Maybe it’s the dozens of medications your doctor had you on that took over your mind and chipped away at the real you. The past two years of your life I feel like you were not yourself most of the time. The rare moments you were yourself I would turn everything else off to soak that up because I was well aware you could go at anytime and I did not know how many more of those precious moments I would have with you as your true self.

Mom you had always struggled with depression and anxiety but the last two years of your life it was all magnified at extreme levels. It’s like you were a tortured soul. I’ll never understand it but I know it broke my heart every day because I just wanted my mom back and on those rare moments you were your old self I really soaked all that up and I’m glad that I did.

Mom, I hate to say this, I said this to you while you were still living, your stress, anxiety, and over all toxic thinking got so bad it became palpable and you broke my tolerance for it. I actually started to give myself a 50/50 change of a heart attack if I hung out with you for too long so for the last couple years of your life you didnt see me too much except for those moments you were your true self. At one point, I will never forget, you said to me, “Tom don’t let me take you down with me.” That was heavy to hear. I said, don’t worry mom I won’t but I don’t want you to go down either I want you to get better I love you you’ve got support here but I do promise I won’t let you take me down with you.

That was quite a conversation to have. My mom knew something was going on in her mind. It’s amazing how something intangible like the mind affects something tangible like the rest of the body. But what started it? I think the most likely culprit are her many medications including anti depressants which messes with the chemistry of the mind. But with those you can’t just come off cold turkey or two quickly or it could kill you. This gets into the territory of how harsh I am in criticizing the paradigm of which the medical community operates in a curriculum created by the Pharmacological industry. However, because of my moms extreme unhealthy life style, these drugs saved her life for many years while simultaneously taking her life away 🙁

I don’t know if my mom would have beat covid-19 at 75 years of age otherwise, but, you have to factor in everything that goes into that. Her lack of tolerance for the virus, and her already very compromised immune system and weak heart and lungs played a huge role in being ill-equipped to deal with a virus that attacked her upper respiratory system. She was already seeing a heart specialist. In fact, Im supposed to take her to Saint Lukes in Milwaukee this August 12th for a special scan they can do up there to get a better look at her heart, figure out why her heart is so weak, and then go from there. That appointment is obviously not happening anymore because her heart is no longer beating. She is gone 🙁

Living a life style that builds STRONG natural defenses on a daily bases is what stacks the odds overwhelmingly in ones favor. That has to be worth while. Remember, go for a life that is worth it rather than a life that is easy. In my opinion we need to redefine what is “easy”. Suffering, losing your mind, being pumped up on different prescription drugs for life etc is NOT easy. Being able to walk and run, play, have feel good bowel movements daily, to feel youthful IS easy. Learning how to make healthy food taste really good is easy. Working out regularly becomes so easy if you do it regularly enough, you get to a point where you actually feel pumped up and even aroused once you get into the warmup of your workout. Then a really weird but cool paradox happens… The HARDER you workout the EASIER it becomes because as you get fitter it’s the stuff that challenges you physically that you innately need! If you’re not challenged you’re bored so whats easy is hard and what’s hard is easy! I’m sure there is a better way to explain that so hopefully everyone reading this knows what I’m talking about.

Mom, I loved you unconditionally throughout everything. Even when I got sad, heart broken, frustrated, or pissed off. I desperately tried to help you with your mind and how you feel because I knew that was the crux of everything else. I am not a yeller I hate that people yell and scream at each other. But, I wanted you to snap out of the toxic thinking more than I hated yelling. So, reluctantly I yelled at you a few times which always made me feel terrible. And here come the tears again as I type this 🙁 I know you understood why but I still felt horrible and still do. But, if I didn’t try different things to try and get through to you then I would have wondered. So I am glad I tried yelling after years of not yelling and only speaking softly to you. I was desperately because after all you are my mom and I knew it was not going to end well for you unless I could find a way to get through to you. Sadly I never found that way and it is final now. Every day I thought to myself that I still have you so there is still time, still hope, so I kept trying knowing that once you’re gone I would have no more opportunities to try. I can at least safely not have any regret regarding that but it still hurts that I was not successful. You are my mom. I just wanted you in my life longer and to be feeling well and like your true self. I wanted you to get your mind back and become mobile again which the knee surgery would have made happen if not for your devolving mindset.

Mom, I know you felt loved knowing I did everything I could think of, including things that made me feel bad like yelling, to help you get better. I also think you probably felt pretty terrible not giving me the success in your wellness that I so desperately fought for and never got. I would have done anything for you. I know you know that. I also know that when you were so toxic mentally you understood that I could not take it anymore and had to leave on many occasions but always came back the same day. I would say typically, “Mom I can’t take this I have to get out of here” and I would turn my ride share apps on which made me feel better but still so heart broken. But, I sure did soak up those moments you were your old self. I’m glad I got those as recently as the day I called 911 for the last time.

Actually, I got that moment of your true self one last time the day before my 43rd birthday. You called me from your hospital phone, the day after being admitted, to say, “well Happy Birthday!” I was like, “Thanks mom but this is the day before my birthday my birthday is tomorrow but I thank you anyway lol”. You said, “Oh I was thinking it was already Sunday but it’s Saturday! LoL”. I said, ” no worries mom this just means you get to wish me happy birthday again tomorrow 🙂 ”

Man, that was a wonderfully phone call. She sounded in good spirits. Her old self. I figured she would be ok and in a rehabilitation center soon to bring back the strength of her legs so she could come back home which I was so anxious for to be able to bring her back home again. I had no idea at the time that would be the last conversation with mom where she was feeling good but now a days I replay it in my head over and over again.

The following day she called me again and this was the beginning of the end. She told me she tested positive for Covid-19. This was on the day of my birthday. I also started developing symptoms the day before, on the 18th, which I told my mom about on the phone on the 18th, the day before my 43rd birthday, the same conversation that turned out to be the last feel good conversation with my mom I would ever have. My symptoms flared up FAST out of nowhere beginning late night of the 17th of July now that I remember, just as I called 911 for the ambulance to take my mom to the ER. I didn’t think anything about it other than wow I am legit sick for the first time in 13 years. So on the 18th of July, the day before my birthday and final feel good phone call with my mom, I told her suddenly I came down with something but I was already starting to feel better so don’t worry. On the 19th of July, my birthday, my mom tells me she is covid-19 positive. Then we both mutually decide I need to get tested but we are all sure, including the doctors and nurses, that I have it too since we live together and I was helping to take care of my mom. Naturally I became scared for my mom with the covid news.

My mom had been following covid news daily always worried about it and fearful one of us would catch it. Since my mom had a tendency to hyper focus and stress about things it’s almost as if she manifested it or maybe even willed it to happen somehow. I really don’t know. I also have no way of knowing if I got it first and gave it to my mom which can be a mortifying thought, or if she got it first and gave it to me, or if we both got it independently of each other. We will never know. I did practice social distancing and sanitation guidelines since march 17 when it became realized on a wide scale that this was serious. My primary motive was for others around me that I did not want to transmit too because I figured it would be no big deal if I got it but I’d be mortified if I passed it on to someone else so I took the CDC guidelines seriously from the beginning. If I did get it first and pass it to my mom it wasn’t out of carelessness. But we will never know. My mom over the phone said she was worried she’s the one who gave it to me. I told my mom I really had no idea who had it first or maybe we both got it independently. I re assured her I practiced all the guidelines just as I had been reassuring her all along I haven’t had physical contact with anyone since the middle of March which was actually my most recent travel to Las Vegas and back. By the time I got back home from vegas all the initial big closures were in the process of going into affect so even right from there that early on I did not give my mom a hug or make physical contact like I always would coming off a trip. I didn’t hug my mom again until the eve of her passing while she was still conscious and I was gowned up, masked up, goggled up, hopefully not looking to alien for her. But I am so grateful she was able to see me and feel my touch, hear my voice, see my eyes, as she slipped from consciousness to unconsciousness.

I love my mom. I will never stop saying it out loud with my voice. My mom loved the sound of my voice. She loved my presence. I just wish she would have taken all that energy she put into her stress and anxiety, and instead put it into doing the long hard consistent work toward healing, recovery, and wellness. I would have done ANYTHING to help her do that. I would have given up my ride sharing and my network marketing online goals which for me is a HUGE deal because I’m extremely goal driven in support of my purposes. But nothing would have been more of a priority than spending more time and energy with my mom if she had been more interested in self care than self destruction those past couple of years 🙁

Sadly, most of my time spent helping my mom for those last two of her years was lots of doctor appointments, lots of random trips to the ER, and more regular trips to the store after she lost a lot of her mobility and became a bigger risk for falling.

Another random memory… Remember when I said for some moments she did really good and made some wonderful healthy changes? One of them was right after my dad passed on and I moved back home as she became more immobile, I started making healthy plant based lunches every day that I would stop my ride sharing for. For a little while she would have these healthy home made lunches with me. I just LOVED that. I thought it had turned into a regular habit but it did not last too long. I was settling into the wonderfulness of a nice healthy lunch every day with my mom and then suddenly out of nowhere she was no longer interested and went right back to the terrible unhealthy foods. Comfort foods? Probably. My mom was doing real good for the first five or six months after my dad passed on. I don’t think my dads passing was a factor in her mindset for her last two years. I still go back to all the meds she was on by her various Doctors. I would have loved to have kept that daily ritual going of a health lunch with my mom. It was also a great bonding experience that I miss so much.

Another thing my mom liked that was super healthy was this super foods shake I got her and my whole family on starting in November of 2009. My dad, my brother, my mom, of course myself. It’s the flagship product of the home business company I joined in August of 2007. I sell these super foods shakes. If you’d like to look at it let me know I will send you my company replicated website link with info and an order button if you decide to try it out. Comes with an automatic thirty day full refund promise. All four of us in my immediate family enjoyed this super foods shake. The last two years of my moms life I would make hers for her. Typically two at a time. One for now, and another I’d put in the fridge already made for later when I’d be out ride sharing or whatever I was doing. Toward the end she even stopped drinking the super foods shake unless I happened to be home the same time she was not in bed. Even the ones I’d put in the fridge for her she stopped drinking, most of the time.

This was another developing problem toward the end, it was the amount of time she spent in bed. Her heart and lungs never got anymore exercise which developed into the problems I eluded to earlier in this huge article. My daily experience became this… I would ride share, come home several times during the day between rides hoping to see my mom but she’d be in bed. I saw her very rarely and when I did it was always a 50/50 shot at her being in an intolerable toxic mood or resembling her old self. If she was up and her old self I loved turning my ride sharing apps off and hanging out with her, asking her if she would like me to make her something etc.. But it happened so rarely and just broke my heart each day. My favorite way to come home to her would be I would simply walk through the side door and into the kitchen where her chair in the living room facing the T.V. would be visible to me, to see her sitting in her chair comfortably watching T.V., and saying, “Hey Mom”, and her saying, “Hi Honey”, and wherever the conversation would go from their. I might ask her if she wanted anything, Can I make you something, how her day is going, watcha watching, do you need anything from the store etc.. When she initiated conversation with me it would typically start with how are you doing with your goals, did you meet your goals, I wanna talk to you about something, I have a question for you, do you still talk to …, I want you to make sure you …..

My moms big beautiful heart and spirit of giving is going to live on in me forever. My mom will live on in me and in Heaven with my Dad. I have many facets to my personality. I’m still going to be fiercely passionate, I’m still probably going to harshly criticize sociopathic lunatics who are more emboldened than ever in the present moment, I’m still going to guilt free LOVE making money so I can buy more passive money and have more FREEDOM in life, and I’m always going to CREATE and have free resources I can give, give, and give away to people who need it forever and ever. Even long after my own passing these resources will remain on line and available. I have thousands of videos, articles, and other pieces of content I’ve personally created all to do with NATURAL chemical free health, Organic BETTER wealth, mindset, philosophy, and anything else that can help people live a better life.

I started with free stuff to be able to graduate toward investing in myself and building up from there. So I first hand understand both the value of free and the value of investing money into myself in ways that are not free. You start where you are and build from there.

Positive minded people are always welcome to my group Change Makers

If you want to make better money too, or live a healthier life, or do both, or just soak up the free stuff, or invest in yourself, you are welcome to join my group.

I know I’ve typed up a lot but there are so many random thoughts that go through my brain at a time like this that what I’ve typed is just a drop in the bucket. It’s hard to remember it all long enough to type it all out and I type about 80 wpm! So many feelings and emotions, memories and reflections, that I can’t possibly get it all down but I wish I could.

Love,

Tom

To my sweet mom

in an open letter to which there will be more to follow after this one.

Mom, I did my best to make sure you slipped away releasing anything that might have been worrying you or making you feel sad. I was able to spend the last fifteen hours of your life with you and one hour after you slipped away.

For 7 straight hours I talked to you not knowing if you could hear me but hoping you could. Before you transitioned into unconsciousness you had your last conscious experience you would ever have.

You reached your hand out to hold mine. And with my other hand I rubbed your head, moved into eyesight, and said I Love You as your eyes closed and you drifted off to sleep.

For the next 15 hours of unconsciousness I stayed with you to your last breath. I can’t believe I talked non stop to you for 7 hours but I really did. I went from topic to topic fluently mostly about good memories, family, feeling loved, anything that would make you feel blissful and deeply loved.

I have no idea if you could hear me once you drifted into unconsciousness, or if you could, for how long could you hear me? At the very least maybe subconsciously you could hear me and I helped you dream some really sweet calming kind of dreams that made you feel very loved.

All night into the morning to your last breath I lulled you with my voice, I had you feel the touch of my hands on your head and shoulders, and I stayed in eye sight just in case you opened them briefly for one last time.

Remember Kermit the Frogs Rainbow Connection song you use to love watching me sing one foot in front of the TV screen when I was only four? That’s our song mom. At one point during the night I loaded Rainbow Connection up on you tube and sang along for you in your ear. I hope you could hear that. At the very least I hope you had the most wonderful dreams from it that made you feel loved.

My goal in doing all of this was to help you release anything that might be worrying you so you could be comfortable and slip away in peace, feeling loved ALWAYS.

Mom it means the world to me that your last conscious experience was feeling our hands holding, feeling my other hand rubbing your hand, and seeing my face and my eyes just as you began closing yours. You got to take me with you as you drifted away one last time. You didn’t have to make this transition alone or with a stranger. Earlier in the day you got to see both of your sons and hear our voices for an hour until the other had to go due to hospital covid policy.

Mom I will be ok but in the meantime this is really a struggle for me. After dads passing I had you and I loved having you for emotional support. Now you’ve passed and I am out of parents for emotional support. You and dad were BORN to be my mom and dad. You were born to be my little brothers mom and dad. All of the support out there is wonderful and I need it, but, nobody can fill the void of two great parents.

When I was a kid I literally felt bad for every other kid in the entire world because they do not have the parents I have. That sounds silly but that’s how natural and awesome it felt to have you and dad as my parents. You were both born to be my mom and dad.

I am hurting because I’ll never get to see you again, have a conversation, get advice from, or to be there for each other like a strong family does. I’ll never get to walk into the house, see you on your chair watching little house on the prairie, and say, “Hey mom how are you doing?” I’ll never get to ask you questions again. You’ll never get to ask me questions again. We will never get to have a dialogue again. I won’t be able to help you reach for something or go out to eat. The list goes on and on.

Mom I haven’t been able to talk without crying all day today. My sadness has to be a testament to the love and that’s how I have to look at it <3 Tom

My sweet mom passed away this morning from covid-19

🙁 I was able to spend the last 15 hours of her life with her up to her last breath and one hour after that. She didn’t have to die alone and without family like so many other covid patients do so we received a wonderful priceless gift from the ICU Nurses.

I’m more heart broken over this than any other girl in my life. I’m out of parents now. It’s like a new beginning where I start off very disoriented. My mom didn’t make it, but she did make it to heaven today to be with my Dad, her mom and dad, and everyone else who passed before her.

Mom I love you so much, I miss you terribly, I’m crying uncontrollably as I type this and I will cry randomly for a while. Nobody can fill this void you were simply born to be my mom and my little brothers mom <3 <3 <3 <3

This is sooooooo hard but there is a lot of empathy and support out there because it’s a common occurrence in our lives.

THANK YOU to everyone who checked in on me and my mom over the last few weeks you mean the WORLD to me.

Today I make funeral arrangements with my brother.

Stay healthy and happy <3

Tom


July 18th 20:36
am legit sick for the first time in 13 years as of yesterday. My only symptom is bad head congestion and 102 degree temperature. Share your best remedy?

I guess no matter how healthy you live your body has to learn something new at least once every 13 years lol

I’ll write more later. Happy 43rd birthday to me for July 19th 1977.


July 19th 21:02

My mom tested positive for covid in the hospital 🙁

I’m getting tested tomorrow. I just lost my dad 2 1/2 years ago. I hope my mom pulls through. This sucks. 🙁


July 22nd 13:53

My mom was just transferred to ICU this morning with a BiPap 🙁 Drs give my mom 50/50 shot at surviving Covid. If you pray, please offer them..

Today they are beginning blood plasm treatment from someone who beat covid. The Dr explained to me they’ve learned a lot about how to treat covid patients since this started and continue to learn.

I am scared. Before this I was clinging on to the fact she was not in ICU or on a ventilator. She’s still not on a ventilator but she is in ICU now on a BiPap and the ventilator is next if the blood plasma treatment does not work.


August 7th

My sweet moms Obituary is now published. Feel free to share. My mom knew and worked with a lot of people over the years of her life. The more this is shared the more people who knew her at any given phase of her life will learn of her passing <3 <3

My mom loved her family and friends so much. I’ve always only ever heard how fun my mom is to be around. Whether it’s the poker table, at work, a social gathering, everyone loved my mom <3

https://www.bruchfuneralhome.net/obituary/joyce-birkenmeyer


August 8th

It was one week ago today at this hour I watched my mom take her last breath with my hand on her head and my voice telling her I love her. My mom was loved as she crossed over. I miss you mom I can’t wait to see you and dad again.


August 14th

Early this morning I had the biggest emotional break down I’ve had since the day my mom passed on, August 1st.
I was doing so good for the past week and a half.

Just random moments I’d get chocked up thinking about stuff.

Today I did good to because that kind of a cry renews the soul it feels like.

I don’t know why I even call it a break down. I just had a really good cry that forced me to stop everything else I was doing to get it out of my system.

The memory that triggered it was a few years ago after my dad passed on, my moms husband of over forty years, my mom found reason to smile during that sad time because she was with me.

I was the reason she felt comfort during that time.

I’m beyond moved and touched that I could have been that source of comfort and support for my mom right after she lost her husband and my awesome dad.

It brought me to tears so heavy I was forced to stop everything else I was doing this morning and cry for a spell to get it out.
I miss you mom. I love you so much.

Steve Jobs Best Legacy is not APPLE

TOTALLY AND UTTERLY TRUE

Steve Jobs dies a billionaire, with a fortune of $7 billion, at the age of 56 from pancreatic cancer, and here are some of his last words… ???

“In other eyes, my life is the essence of success, but aside from work, I have a little joy. And in the end, wealth is just a fact of life to which I am accustomed.”

“At this moment, lying on the bed, sick and remembering all my life, I realize that all my recognition and wealth that I have is meaningless in the face of imminent death. You can hire someone to drive a car for you, make money for you – but you can not rent someone to carry the disease for you. One can find material things, but there is one thing that can not be found when it is lost – “LIFE”. ❀

Treat yourself well, and cherish others. As we get older we are smarter, and we slowly realize that the watch is worth $30 or $300 – both of which show the same time. Whether we carry a purse worth $30 or $300 – the amount of money in the wallets are the same. Whether we drive a car worth $150,000, or a car worth $30,000 – the road and distance are the same, we reach the same destination. If we drink a bottle worth $300 or wine worth $10 – the “stroller” will be the same. If the house we live in is 300 square meters, or 3000 square meters – the loneliness is the same.”

“Your true inner happiness does not come from the material things of this world. ? Whether you’re flying first class, or economy class – if the plane crashes, you crash with it.”

So, I hope you understand that when you have friends or someone to talk to – this is true happiness.

? Five Undeniable Facts

1ïžâƒŁ Do not educate your children to be rich. Educate them to be happy. – So when they grow up they will know the
value of things, not the price.

2ïžâƒŁ Eat your food as medicine, otherwise you will need to eat your medicine as food.

3ïžâƒŁ Whoever loves you will never leave you, even if he or she has 100 reasons to give up. He or she will always find one reason to hold on.

4ïžâƒŁ There is a big difference between being human and human being.

5ïžâƒŁ If you want to go fast – go alone! But if you want to go far – go together.

And in conclusion… ?

?‍⚕ The six best doctors in the world ?‍⚕

1ïžâƒŁ Sunlight
2ïžâƒŁ Rest
3ïžâƒŁ Exercise
4ïžâƒŁ Diet
5ïžâƒŁ Self-confidence
6ïžâƒŁ Friends

Keep them in all stages of life and enjoy a healthy life. ?

Whichever stage in life we are at right now, with time, we will face the day when the curtain comes down.

Treasure Love for your family, love for your spouse, love for your friends…

Treat yourself well. Cherish others. ?

? Something worth sharing

I found the above on a facebook post so I don’t know if this is 100% accurate but either way these are beautiful sentiments that ring true to me so I wanted to share.

-Tom

P.s. If you’d like to work with me I don’t charge any fees I’m not going to sell you something you don’t want or need: http://workwithtom.fireyourboss.xyz

follow your heart

Have you enjoyed this? Was it helpful in breaking some circular thought patterns you might have been stuck in? Do you know anyone who could benefit from this? Sharing is caring. Share with friends and family.

Was this helpful? If so, I would greatly appreciate it if you commented and shared on Facebook and other Social Media, too. You might also enjoy Fire Your Boss & 31 Ways to Raise Money Now.

If you enjoyed my blog you might LOVE my YouTube video about changing one thing, the direction of your cash-flow, to change Everything:

Doctors are not real scientists

Doctors are technology dispensaries for pharmaceutical companies.

If doctors were real scientists then medical treatment would be utilized less frequently.

The problem with that is it means less profits for their pharmaceutical bosses.

Pharmaceutical companies set the curriculum and Supply the tools and resources for their human technology dispensaries.

This Unforgivable conflict of interest happens from our insane system of legalized bribery in our politics. It’s the private financing of our elections.

Among other big corporations, the pharmaceutical companies form their own political action committees to legally purchase politicians to Curry favor with.

Medical doctors are not the problem they actually mean well and sincerely want to help.

Once in a while a doctor will go Rogue, in a good way, and learn outside of the box that pharmaceutical corporations built for them to live and die inside of.

When a doctor goes Rogue in this fashion typically they are ostracized and too frequently they are assassinated.

The root of the problem is the private financing of our elections.

The solution is to start paying attention to who takes this money and who doesn’t and start voting only for politicians who are not on the take!

Once we accomplish this then we are free from these conflicts of interests to start solving problems in a meaningful way.

Not just problems with our medical community and Health Care System but all of the big problems that face our country and the world.

Feel free to pass this around.

-Tom

P.s. If you’d like to work with me I don’t charge any fees I’m not going to sell you something you don’t want or need: http://workwithtom.fireyourboss.xyz

follow your heart

Have you enjoyed this? Was it helpful in breaking some circular thought patterns you might have been stuck in? Do you know anyone who could benefit from this? Sharing is caring. Share with friends and family.

Was this helpful? If so, I would greatly appreciate it if you commented and shared on Facebook and other Social Media, too. You might also enjoy Fire Your Boss & 31 Ways to Raise Money Now.

If you enjoyed my blog you might LOVE my YouTube video about changing one thing, the direction of your cash-flow, to change Everything:

For profit health insurance is as dark and immoral as our history with slavery

#medicareforall

Actually I think our current system of healthcare is even more immoral, possibly, than our shameful past of human slavery.

More people have suffered, been mistreated, and died under our current Healthcare System than in the days of slavery by Far and Away!

I was just thinking about this concept as I was creating another article.

You’re trapped inside of a network of doctors and hospitals that is decided upon by your health insurance evil bovine master.

If you leave your master you could suffer, go bankrupt, and die.

If you stay with your master and pay your monthly dues you could still suffer, go bankrupt, and die from being under-insured.

Among the most common bankruptcies in America is medical bankruptcy and that is from people who have health insurance in their master Slave relationship.

Depending on the winds of privately financed politics you could be enslaved by a pre existing condition.

You might be enslaved by your already enslaving job with employer based health insurance. If you hate your job and need the health insurance tough shit, peon!

You’re evil bovine health insurance Master has departments in their multi billion dollar facilities dedicated to the sole purpose of finding ways to legally deny you coverage should you make a claim for a procedure that is between life and death.

Why?

Because FU that’s why.

Just continue voting for politicians on the take of legal bribery to keep Medicare for all from becoming law.

I have a better idea.

Let’s end our Behavior as useful idiots for establishment figures who profit from making us sick poor and dumb.

Let’s only vote for politicians who are not on the take of corporate Pac money or lobbyists.

Let’s eat natural food and make residual money.

President Pinocchio used to be in favor of a Universal Health Care coverage that covered everybody until he started taking legal bribe money from private insurance companies.

Here are a few names of politicians openly rejecting corporate pac and lobbyist money running for president in 2020.

Tulsi gabbard, Andrew Yang, and my favorite because he is the thought leader on this, Bernie Sanders.

#endslavery
#medicareforall
#bernie2020

Tom

P.s. feel free to share this.

P.p.s Medicare for all 70% popular. The remaining 30% honest to God I’ve never heard criticize it for what it actually is so I believe based on that objective observation that if the remaining 30% learns what medicare-for-all is they would be in favor of it. The reason medicare-for-all has grown from being unpopular to overwhelmingly popular is because the more people learn about what it actually is they become in favor of it.

P.p.p.s I’m happily deleting comments that are not rooted in objectivity. Partisan hacks need not voice their ill legitimate inferior opinions here 🙂

P.p.p.p.s. If you’d like to work with me I don’t charge any fees I’m not going to sell you something you don’t want or need: http://workwithtom.fireyourboss.xyz

follow your heart

Have you enjoyed this? Was it helpful in breaking some circular thought patterns you might have been stuck in? Do you know anyone who could benefit from this? Sharing is caring. Share with friends and family.

Was this helpful? If so, I would greatly appreciate it if you commented and shared on Facebook and other Social Media, too. You might also enjoy Fire Your Boss & 31 Ways to Raise Money Now.

If you enjoyed my blog you might LOVE my YouTube video about changing one thing, the direction of your cash-flow, to change Everything:

My dads cremains committed to the sea

Care package arrived to my moms house from the navy November 26th 2018.  Read the letter for the details of my dads burial at sea then take in the pictures.  The letter is so beautiful written.  The pictures turned out really well.  The weather looks beautiful.  But of course, it’s somewhere between Hawaii and Southern California.

I love you dad.  Today is May 13th, 2019. Exactly one year and seven months since you passed on. I’m just now posting your burial at sea to share with the world almost seven months after receiving your care package.  I think about you daily and I miss you so much.  I can’t wait to see you again dad but not before living a good life that you worked faithfully to be able to give to me.  – Tom

 

Happy Mothers Day to all the moms who didn’t make it this year. You’re all missed VERY much.

Happy Mothers Day to the mompreneurs taking control of the care and nourishment of their families rather than leaving it to the vulnerabilities of employment at some job.

Happy mothers Day to moms of fur animals who don’t have human children.

Happy Mothers Day to all the moms who love their families.

Happy Mothers Day to my Mom and my Biological Mom.

Love,

Tom

Trump Supports Genocide.

Trump supporters need to break their Cult of Personality.

Trump made a weapons deal that arms Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia uses our arms to bombs school buses of children in Yemen and uses our logistical support to form a blockade while there is a cholera outbreak which has created an environment where 14 million people are about to die for being the wrong kind of Muslim.

Yesterday Congress introduced a bill that would end our involvement in this genocide.

The monster who campaigned on a promise of non intervention and pro and human rights vetoed a bill that would end our participation in a literal genocide.

President Pinocchio and all who continues to support him to this day have the blood of a genocide on their hands that will never come clean.

In my judgment the United States will be judged more harshly for its complicit support of genocide than our past of human slavery.

Trump’s support of a genocide has been going on for a couple of years now but this resolution to end the participation was just this week and vetoed the same day it was presented to Our Sick vile f u c k of a president.

Send our sick vile president to jail.

If there is any justice in the world he needs to go to jail immediately for war crimes and crimes in general Against Humanity.

If we held president Pinocchio to the same standards we held the Germans to during the Nuremberg trials then present Pinocchio would be hanged to death yesterday.

I’m anti capital punishment so don’t kill him just send him to jail for life.

Make America anti-genocide again.

Make Trump supporters ReDiscover their Humanity again.

Tom

P.s. When you pay your taxes your money is being used to buy bombs that blow up buses full of school children and kills about a hundred people per day. Trump is among the worlds most vile terrorists posing as civility dressed in a suit and tie.

Are a Fragmentation of Pro Lifers Death Cultists?

The average pro-life person never met a war they don’t like and they favor the death penalty.

They are only pro-life in one area.

They should call themselves anti-abortionists so there is no confusion.

I only know a small handful of real principled pro-lifers. They are vegan. They are anti-abortion. They are anti-war. They are anti-death penalty. I don’t agree with their lack of nuances but they have integrity in their principal of being pro-life.

Do you see the hypocrisy in a plurality of self proclaimed “pro life” individuals, too?

– Tom

Robert Reich: Socialism of the Rich, Capitalism for the Rest

Text Transcription:

“we renew our resolve that America will never be a socialist country”

someone should alert Trump that America is now a hotbed of socialism but it’s socialism for the rich.

everyone else is treated to harsh capitalism.

in the conservative mind socialism means getting something for doing nothing.

this pretty much describes General Motors receipt of 600 million dollars in federal contracts plus 500 million in tax breaks.

since Trump took office some of this corporate welfare has gone into the pockets of GM executives.

chairman and CEO Mary Barra raked in almost 22 million dollars in total compensation in 2017 alone but GM employees are subject to harsh capitalism.

GM is planning to layoff more than 14,000 workers and close three assembly plants and two component factories in North America by the end of 2019.

the nation’s largest banks saved 21 billion dollars last year thanks to Trump’s tax cuts some of which went into massive bonuses for bank executives.

on the other hand thousands of lower-level bank employees got a big dose of harsh capitalism.

they lost their jobs.

banks that are too big to fail courtesy of the 2008 bank bailout enjoy a hidden subsidy of some 83 billion dollars a year because they have the backing of the federal government.

this hidden subsidy gives Wall Street’s giant banks a huge advantage in 2017.

Wall Street’s bonus pool was thirty one point four billion dollars.

so take away the hidden subsidy and that bonus pool disappears along with most profits.

Trump and his appointees at the Federal Reserve are easing bank requirements put in place after the bailout but they will make sure the biggest banks remain too big to fail.

when he was in business Trump perfected the art of using bankruptcy to shield himself from the consequences of bad decisions.

socialism for the rich at its worst while leaving employees twisting in the wind. now all for America executives who run their companies into the ground are getting gold-plated exit packages while their workers give pink slips.

under socialism for the rich you can screw up big time and still reap big rewards.

Equifax is richard smith retired in 2017 with an 18 million dollar pension in the wake of a security breach that exposed the personal information of 145 million customers to hackers.

Wells Fargo’s carry toll stet departed with a hundred twenty five million dollar exit package after being in charge of the unit that opened more than two million unauthorized customer accounts.

whatever happened to the idea of a meritocracy?

an economic system that allows everyone to get ahead through hard work and economic gains go only to those who deserve them.

around 60 percent of America’s wealth is now inherited.

many of today’s super-rich have never done a day’s work in their lives.

Trump’s response has been to expand this divide by cutting the estate tax to apply only to estates valued at over twenty-two million dollars per couple.

Mitch McConnell is now proposing that the estate tax be repealed altogether.

to the conservative mind the specter of socialism conjures up a society in which no one is held accountable and no one has to work for what they receive.

yet that’s exactly the society Trump and the Republicans are promoting for the rich.

meanwhile most Americans are subject to an increasingly harsh and arbitrary capitalism.

they need stronger safety nets and they deserve a bigger piece of the economic pie.

if you want to call this socialism fine.

I call it fair.

what do you think do you think the current system is fair?”

– Robert Reich: Socialism of the Rich, Capitalism for the Rest

Robert Reich summed up beautifully in a short video what I’ve been saying for several years now about the projection and cognitive dissonance espoused by a plurality of individuals.

-Tom

P.s. If you’d like to work with me I don’t charge any fees I’m not going to sell you something you don’t want or need: http://workwithtom.fireyourboss.xyz

follow your heart

Have you enjoyed this? Was it helpful in breaking some circular thought patterns you might have been stuck in? Do you know anyone who could benefit from this? Sharing is caring. Share with friends and family.

Was this helpful? If so, I would greatly appreciate it if you commented and shared on Facebook and other Social Media, too. You might also enjoy Fire Your Boss & 31 Ways to Raise Money Now.

If you enjoyed my blog you might LOVE my YouTube video about changing one thing, the direction of your cash-flow, to change Everything:

Show me a politician who says the green New Deal bans cows and air travel and I’ll show you a politician who gets legally bribed by the fossil fuel industry.

Show me a constituent who believes the green New Deal bans air travel and cows and I will show you a sucker who could give Obama and Clinton suckers lessons on how to be bigger suckers.

Thankfully the green New Deal has majority support with Republicans Democrats and independent voters. The only majority left that we have to get on board is the majority of Congress but unfortunately they take money from the fossil fuel industry preventing them from representing their constituents.

Unfortunately the most bought and paid for legally bribed politician in the entire country is President Pinocchio right after he ran an entire campaign promising that he would never take money from the establishment.

We have more than a trillion dollars per year to give welfare to a fragmentation of billionaires and to help a country commit a literal genocide but we don’t have money to deal with climate change.

Remember when FDR said the New Deal was too ambitious and we should never do it? Neither do I because the New Deal became law and we saw our country flourish and give birth to the largest middle-class the world ever saw 🙂

The very few politicians we have in Congress who are not bribed by the fossil fuel industry have a great idea in mind! They want a bold New Vision like the new deal but call it the green New Deal to deal with our new modern most catastrophic challenges. Instead of spending trillions per year on welfare for the richest people in the goddamn country and instead of helping another country commit a literal genocide we could use that money right here at home on a massive infrastructure and jobs program to get us off all fossil fuels within 12 years.

Next election cycle is only two years away and there is a plethora of candidates to vote for who openly rejects all corporate Pac and lobbyist money.

Make America for the people again.

#berniesanders2020

Tom

P.s. I’m happy to have agreements and disagreements with people but I will be happily deleting posts that are not rooted in objectivity. I love a true battle of ideas not a battle of realities. Feel free to share.

Something that bugs the sh** out of me to no end..

ex President Obama is largely admired while current president Pinocchio is largely hated even though they both work for the same donors who legally bribe them.

It’s the superficial cognitive dissonance in our culture that really baffles me.

Trump has Mean Tweets while Barack is a polished nice guy so the majority of the country hates Trump but loves Obama.

I wish our society would look Beyond The Superficial surface and realize they are both similar scumbags Who Sold us out working for the same donors who legally bribed them.

I take some comfort at least in knowing Bernie Sanders is by far away the single most popular politician in the country and he is running for president taking a zero donor or bribe money from corporate Pacs or lobbyists 🙂

#berniesanders2020

P.s. support Obama, trump, Bush, Clinton it really doesn’t matter. Republican or Democrat. You’ve all been had.

Tom

Is there anything worse than being rejected by a girl you like?

Taking a deep breath before continuing because I have more than plenty of haters who are going to find joy in reading this…

I suffer from the proverbial “nice guy” syndrome. Honest to God every year I have a goal to be more dickish towards girls but I want to be able to live with myself so I continue being the uninteresting undesirable nice guy that I am.

If I have something to be grateful about it’s the fact that this only happens once every few years. That’s pretty extremely rare so it’s not like I’m wearing my heart on my sleeve.

I’m extremely happy being single but when I do meet someone that has me thinking twice about being single and then get rejected by that girl, that is the only time it stings and feels miserable to be single.

There is nothing wrong at all with the girl who rejected me or her reasons for rejecting me. She didn’t lie, cheat, steal, manipulate, or mislead me in any way. This is just part of life especially mine. In fact, she is quite the exceptional girl despite her rejecting me. After all, I have exceptional taste so she is magnificently exceptional. She’s just not interested in me so that is my challenge to get over her and move on.

Side note:

I have a lot of love and sexual energy to give to someone and whatever girl gets to be on the receiving end of my love and organic chemical-free boner is going to be one FORTUNATE sexy bitch.

Tom

What does the “Establishment” mean to you?

I Define it as a three-prong circle-jerk between a fragmentation of billionaires who legally bribe politicians, the politicians who are legally bribed, and corporate owned media who protects the status quo of our insane system of legalized bribery.

So then which politician is on the take of legalized bribery more than any other politician in the country?

President Pinocchio is right after he ran a whole campaign on anti-corruption and “drain the swamp”.

Who is going to drain the swamp for real of legalized bribes with a 28th Amendment to our constitution finally banning all private money from politics once and for all?

#BernieSanders2020

Feel free to share 🙂 I’m going to do what I can to help him get elected.

Tom

Every cancer diagnosis adds half a million dollars to our GDP

Profits are up while wages next to inflation are down and cancer perpetuates business as usual.

Sick vile fucks brag about GDP being up while workers are paid less for producing more and cancer remains status quo.

This is a broken system killing its own people.

Vote for political candidates who are anti Pac and lobbyist money.

Feel free to share this. The seeds need to be sewn in everyone to vote for anti corporate pac and anti lobbyist politicians.

#presidentpinocchio is the number one purveyor of this conflict of interest. Right after he promised us he would never take PAC, lobbyist, and establishment money in general he is now on the take of over 100 million dollars and Counting of those same sources he he promised us he would never take money from.

Have you enjoyed this? Was it helpful in breaking some circular thought patterns you might have been stuck in? Do you know anyone who could benefit from this? Sharing is caring. Share with friends and family.

-Tom

P.s. If you’d like to work with me I don’t charge any fees I’m not going to sell you something you don’t want or need: http://workwithtom.fireyourboss.xyz

follow your heart

Have you enjoyed this? Was it helpful in breaking some circular thought patterns you might have been stuck in? Do you know anyone who could benefit from this? Sharing is caring. Share with friends and family.

Was this helpful? If so, I would greatly appreciate it if you commented and shared on Facebook and other Social Media, too. You might also enjoy Fire Your Boss & 31 Ways to Raise Money Now.

If you enjoyed my blog you might LOVE my YouTube video about changing one thing, the direction of your cash-flow, to change Everything:

What country has a high marginal tax rate EVER worked in?

Answer: The United States =)

Marginal tax rates in the 50s were as high as 94%! The richest men in America at that time had to expand their business to avoid ever having to pay 94% in taxes.

As business expanded it birthed the largest Economy and richest working middle class the world ever saw.

Fast forward to today and top marginal rates are less than half of what they were, the incentive is to save instead of expand business, and instead of a thriving working middle class we have a working poor class.

When a media or political figure says “high tax rates don’t work” they are LYING at the behest of their donors who legally bribe them to lie to you.

Create your OWN opportunity friends. If you’d like to see what I’ve been doing for over a decade to get out from underneath a failed system feel free to look: http://tombirkenmeyer.com/get-profitable/beachbody-coach-consideration/beachbody-coach-consideration/

Tom =)

The payoff to being sick

The truth is, some people don’t want to heal because they are getting a pay off being sick – Dr. Bernie Siegel

Jennifer Sierzant Naturopath wrote the following based on the Dr. Bernie Siegel quote and I think she is spot on. Drop your comments below I’d love to hear your input too.

“This is one of the hardest truth some sick people cannot comprehend. The second you tell somebody who’s sick that just maybe they don’t want to get better, they lose their minds!

I’ve worked in private practice for close to 9 years now and I can’t count how many patients I’ve seen who just refuse to alter the lifestyles to work on healing. I’ve had people with the most severe chronic diseases who refuse to quit smoking, refuse to change their diet, refuse to leave horrible life situations and who just downright refuse to believe that they’re doing anything to contribute to their diseases. One client told me his MD told him smoking was healthy. This is how deep his denial was.

They come to me or to medical doctors hoping for the magic pill. The magic pill excludes them from their responsibility that just maybe they are the co-creators to their disease.

Then you get those opposed to this way of thinking that say “well what about people with cancer. They didn’t ask for cancer”. Well in some cases, people who smoke or drink excessively or just abuse their bodies, yes they have manifested cancer in their body. And some of these people refuse to quit smoking, refuse to change their diet or refuse to change the environment. So does that mean they don’t want to heal? Sure they want to heal they just don’t want to do the work to get there.

Like Dr. Bernie Siegel says “you can have the cure for cancer in your hand and some people won’t show up to get the treatment. Why because they’re getting a pay off to being sick. What’s the pay off? It could be attention, it could be that they don’t have to participate in the world, it could be they don’t want to go back to a job, it could be they don’t want their partners to leave them, there’s all kinds of reasons why people get a payoff from being sick”

I’ve had Crohn’s disease clients who have been ravaged by the disease who can barely function but when I discuss about changing their diet they become violently adamant against it. They declare “my diet has nothing to do with healing” Those people just cannot be helped. You can’t heal a person who refuses to shift.

You know why mainstream medicine is so popular and why pharmaceutical companies are so wealthy? Because everybody wants the magic pill and rarely do people want wants to work for their health. This is why natural healing is often debunked. Believe me you don’t need science to understand the common sense of, if you eat clean, if you think clean and if you live clean you’re going to be healthier.

This is the least popular truth among those with chronic disease. I know because it used to be mine also.” – Jennifer Sierzant Naturopath

-Tom

P.s. If you’d like to work with me I don’t charge any fees I’m not going to sell you something you don’t want or need: http://workwithtom.fireyourboss.xyz

follow your heart

Have you enjoyed this? Was it helpful in breaking some circular thought patterns you might have been stuck in? Do you know anyone who could benefit from this? Sharing is caring. Share with friends and family.

Was this helpful? If so, I would greatly appreciate it if you commented and shared on Facebook and other Social Media, too. You might also enjoy Fire Your Boss & 31 Ways to Raise Money Now.

If you enjoyed my blog you might LOVE my YouTube video about changing one thing, the direction of your cash-flow, to change Everything:

How to deal with the Tragedy of when a loved one passes on.

This is my personal take I don’t say this to be wrong or right.

I experienced this for the first time a little over a year ago when my dad passed on.

Others have passed on but never someone I was this close to.

I did not set a deadline for mourning. I went through the process (still going through it over a year later). I was open and unfettered about it. I openly cried where ever I was at. No one was going to tell me I was wrong and no one did which I thought was really cool.

However, in my personal opinion, it was super important to me to show up in my life bigger and better than ever before in impacting other lives around me as a result of accomplishing my own goals.

The number one question to ask and be driven by in my opinion is, “How to best honor my dad?” My dad worked hard so our family can have this foundation to achieve our own dreams. My dad is looking down from Heaven and he wants to see me joyous and living a GREAT life. Not just a good life. A GREAT life.

In my opinion the mistake a lot of people make when dealing with a tragedy is they stop showing up in life in many different parts of it.

If you’re mourning the passing of someone close to you maybe try asking yourself what your loved one would like to see as they look down upon you from Heaven? How can you honor them best? I bet the answer each and every time is to show up bigger and better in your life and be joyous.

I miss my dad very much each and every day. I’m still mourning over a year later. I can mourn my dad and be joyous and show up for my own dreams and goals simultaneously.

I also think its more important than words can say to openly talk about it with all the rough edges in a positive aim.

As for me personally I wrote these elaborate blogs where I poured my guts out into them and posted them all over my facebook timeline and my tom birkenmeyer dot com website where they are archived now forever.

I even created some videos and got teary eyed in a couple of them.

This helped me and it helped others because when you talk freely and openly we can exercise the power of human empathy with each other which goes toward lots of wonderful natural emotional healing for everyone.

How cool is that?!

If you’re going through a tragedy right now of a loved one passing on, or another kind of tragedy, I hope reading this helps you to find purpose that helps you honor whom you need to honor and at the same time in doing so it rejuvenates some true joy back into your life bigger and better than ever before.

For me personally showing up bigger and better in my life meant building my natural health and fitness business. Impacting more people to get healthy Physically, Emotionally, Financially, and in any other way the individual wants to grow personally.

It meant doing more ride sharing and NOT taking a break from any of these things.

I literally stopped only for the day of my dads funeral. Other than that I did not take a break from all these activities. I kept showing up and it was all part of my own personal therapy and healing.

The work I do in showing up every day results in people Getting Healthier physically and Financially which helps them live better and feel better.

Showing up in ways that positively impacts people makes a person feel good. It’s good for you and everyone around you.

My dad was proud of me and how I chose to show up in life and my chosen work. So in the wake of his passing I kept showing up and dedicated myself to showing up bigger and better than before.

What are some ways you can show up in your daily life to honor those you love and rejuvenate yourself and others around you?

Please feel free to share this.

Tom

When it comes to begging Congress and our President to stop killing Babies for Money in Politics

We literally have to beg and plead with #presidentpinocchio to stop murdering babies in Yemen at a rate of 1 murdered baby every 10 minutes.

At what point do we face reality and call President Pinocchio a vile terrorist that makes Al-Qaeda blush?

When do we get to send the sociopathic Orange Monster to court for war crimes?

Congress monster Paul Ryan is in lockstep with murdering babies to.

At what point do we the people Force our Revolution to get all private money out of politics?

The begging and pleading to stop murdering babies has not worked. President Pinocchio, Paul Ryan and others, won’t stop because they accept lots of money from private weapons contractors and then legislate foreign policy that gives them a return on that money.

Killing innocent babies for money and politics.

What do we call that?

That is Terrorism.

President Pinocchio Trump, Paul Ryan, and most of Congress are literal terrorists.

When are we going to stop kidding ourselves and call it what it is?

I love my country and that is why I want to see our current Congress tried for war crimes, jailed, never to see the light of day ever again.

I love my country and that is why we need a 28th Amendment to our constitution to ban all private money from ever being in our politics ever again.

If there are no more lobbyists or legalized bribery happening in our government then just maybe we can return to being a nation that stands for human rights instead of a government that is a literal terrorist organization around the world.

Please feel free to share. This has to become common knowledge because the mainstream media is not going to do their job.

President Pinocchio

I poll higher than Abraham Lincoln but there were no polls during Abraham Lincoln.

I know Matt Whittaker but I don’t know Matt Whittaker.

I’m for universal healthcare but I’m against universal healthcare.

I’m against the Electoral College but I’m for the Electoral College when I lost the popular vote.

I’m not going to take any money from The Establishment but I am taking money from the establishment and put them in the top levels of my Administration then I enriched them.

Mexico will pay for the wall but I’m going to ask congress to have the US tax payers pay for it.  Then I’m going to say Mexico is indirectly paying for it through our trade deal even though in April of 2016 I specifically said Mexico would make a DIRECT one time payment to the United States for the border wall and I will get my band of suckers to parrot my talking point of Mexico paying indirectly through a trade deal when I’m easily caught in my sloppy brazen lie.  And by the way… My band of suckers will also neglect to notice the trade deal makes no mention of the wall let alone funding for the wall but they will parrot me anyway because they are my faithful suckers.

I’m going to give the majority of tax cuts to the middle class but I gave 83% of the tax cuts to the top 1%.

I’m going to fight Congress to establish bargaining rights with private drug companies but I’m not after I accepted legal bribes from them.

I’m going to end the wars against countries that never attacked us but instead I’m going to expand into bombing new countries that never attacked us after I began taking legal bribe money from the private for profit companies that make up the military industrial complex.

The parents of Korean War soldiers called me to say thank you on the telephone even though they are all dead so it would have been impossible for them to call me unless I’m taking calls from the grave?

I gave the troops over 10% pay raise this year. They haven’t been given a raise in years. I had to fight to get it because they wanted to give them only 2 or 3 percent.  That’s what I told the troops to their faces.  In reality I made up the whole thing.  I never fought for their raise.  They get a raise every year to keep up with inflation as decided upon annually be the dept. of labor.  This year it was 2.6%.  Inflation is 2.9% so the troops real wages went down by .3%.  I begrudge the troops so much ill lie to their faces about a conversation to give them a 10%+ pay raise that never took place.

I’m going to take less vacations than Obama except I’m going to more than double my vacation time my first year.

I’m anti redistribution of wealth but I’m going to double down on redistribution of wealth from the poor to the top through my failed health care attempt and then my successful tax bill passage.

I’m anti socialism but I’m for socialism for the billionaires in the establishment who donate money to my campaign through our insane system of legalized bribery.

I love the military but when I fund the military my donors from the military industrial establishment get it all at the expense of all troops and Veterans to be thrown under the bus. Average starting pay for new military recruits will remain 19K / year and too poor to afford food without government food stamps.

I hate fake news but I tell more lies than CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC combined.

I want people to come into our country legally except when a Caravan of brown people comes into our Port of Entry to go through our legal process.

I agree with Birthright citizenship but I’m working currently to get rid of Birthright citizenship.

We are going to protect people with pre-existing medical conditions except I have my Administration in court right now fighting to cancel protection for people with pre-existing medical conditions.

I’m a republican but I’m really an establishment member of the corporatist party of socialism and corporate welfare for billionaires.

I’m anti-violence and I want to see love everywhere but I regularly actively encourage violence and I even praised a republican who body-slammed a reporter.

I am Law and Order but if you see someone criticizing me punch him in the face and I will pay your legal fees.

We in the right-wing party are the peaceful party but 71 percent of all political murders in our country is by radical right-wing extremists while only 3% is by radical left-wing extremists.

Radical Islamic Terror by scary Muslims is the real threat to America but 71% of all the political murders are done by radical right-wing extremists and only 28% by radical Islamic extremists. By my own logic we need to block all right wing Republicans from entering our country until we figure out what the hell is going on.

I highly respect women but I brag about grabbing them by the pussy without their consent.

I’m like a stable genius because every stable genius declares themselves to be a stable genius but I’m easily provably objectively the most painfully stupidest president in history without exaggeration.

I’m a tough guy but I’ll separate small children from their parents because that’s what tough guys do.

Political correctness has gone out of control but when it comes to climate change we will omit certain trigger words from Key reports from uncorrupted scientists warning us about climate change.

Snowflakes are annoying but I am queen snowflake of them all and as president I have resources of the safest of all safe spaces for when I’m feeling triggered from the most non-offensive criticisms imaginable.

I will listen to our generals on the ground except when my donors tell me otherwise because I take money from the establishment now after I promised I wouldn’t.

I will pay down the debt easily but I just added 1.9 trillion to the debt instead which is more than any president has added in history inside of only one piece of legislation.

I love my country but my legal bribers get first dibs on me.

I believe in democracy but I am friends and allies with over 70% of all of the world’s dictators.

I’m president Pinocchio I don’t have any real opinions on anything or anybody and I’m a sloppy liar but what do I care I have a solid base of suckers that believe I’m an honest truth telling man.

Please feel free to click the share button 🙂

Tom
P.s. I don’t really care to have a battle with reality so all comments that are not reality-based will be happily deleted 🙂 Having said that, you are more than welcome to completely make fun of and rip our inferior, unrespectable, irredeemable president apart because it would be objective based on facts to do so.

Replace Empty Platitudes On Veterans Day With Policy Substance that actually helps our Veterans

Here are some examples of SIMPLE ways we can actually HELP veterans if we really mean all the shit we say in platitudes..

House the 39,471 veterans who are currently homeless.

Pay new enlistments more than an average of $19,000 per year starting pay. When president snowflake Pinocchio says “I love our military” he simultaneously threw all of our troops and veterans under the bus to enrich his establishment donors.

Stop sending our troops to die in wars in countries that never attacked us and pose no direct threat toward us.

Allow troops the use of medicinal marijuana.

Stop using our troops as pawns to enrich the private for profit companies that make up the military industrial complex.

Bring president snowflake Pinocchio up on war crimes (along with obama and george W).

28th amendment to our constitution banning all private money from politics so that the owners of the largest for profit weapons companies can no longer legally Bribe president snowflake Pinocchio or anyone in congress ever again.

Most importantly… Stop electing presidents and members of congress who sell out our troops and veterans to be able to accept campaign contributions otherwise known as legal bribe money.

President snow flake Pinocchio is the enemy of the human beings who make up our military. Our troops and veterans did not see ANY of the massive military budget expense increase. The military budget increase enriched the establishment who profits by making more bombs for more endless wars at the expense of our troops. President snow flake Pinocchio is so proud he funded the military. He funded his establishment donors!!!!! President snow flake Pinocchio promised us he would never accept establishment money. He now accepts endless establishment money and threw ALL of our troops and veterans under the bus for that establishment money.

Lets support our veterans in a serious way. Platitudes and cliches does NOTHING to help our veterans. POLICY can help our veterans. President Pinocchio is not going to stop accepting establishment money at the expense of our veterans and troops.

Tom

Poetry by my Super Hero Dad

My dad Lived from March 12th 1943 to October 13th 2017.  He was a super hero to me. Among his many talents he enjoyed poetry for different family and friend occasions.  I don’t feel they should be kept in a folder somewhere never to be seen by anyone ever again so I took the time to photo copy all of the ones I could find and upload them here for anyone who wishes to read my super hero dads creations =)  I love you Dad I can’t wait to see you again after I live a full and happy life here on earth. Click on the image previews of the ones you’d like to see in full size…

Born too Soon

We are Crystal’s Class of Nineteen Sixty One

The Ballad of John Wayne Bobbitt

Still Swinging

Still Most Gross

Our Family Tree

Our Family Tree

Merry Christmas Sufornas

Merry Christmas Smiths

Merry Christmas Mayers

Merry Christmas Larry and Deb

Merry Christmas Don and Connie

Merry Christmas Connie and Connie

Merry Christmas Birkenmeyers

Merry Christmas Barbara

Merry Christmas Auclairs

Marcella’s Christmas Card

Joannas Christmas Card

I Look so Old Because..

Holiday Food for Thought

Happy Birthday Grams

Golf Memories at Christmas Time

Golfing Dreams

Fifty very very hard years continued

Fifty Very Very Hard years

Christmas Blessings

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Would you like to read more about my Super Hero Dad? When he passed on I wrote a lot to cope with it all. I did a search for the term “Dad” on my website search engine. I don’t know if this one term captures everything I wrote but here is a lot of if you’re interested: http://tombirkenmeyer.com/?s=dad&submit.x=0&submit.y=0

Twelve 9/11s Happen Every Year in our System of Health Care(less)

36 thousand people died last year and every year because they don’t have health insurance in America. Just let that sink in for a second. 9/11 was a little under 3,000 people. That’s twelve 911s per year. This is not a spectacular event. It doesn’t have it at 36,000 people at once. We just ignore it but it is a fact it happens every year. People in other countries don’t understand what that means. They’re like, wait, I don’t get it, you just let people die? And our answer in America seems vicious and deeply immoral to them because yeah we just let them die.

People who come into the emergency room in America right before they die. They never came in for checkups because they have no insurance so we never caught their disease so they come into the emergency room to die and that’s what we have here in America so let’s just acknowledge the depth of the depth of the problem.

Some talk about it would cost too much to insure everyone. No, NO it’s the exact opposite of the truth that’s why it’s maddening that this wasn’t covered by cable news outlets! The reality is it costs nine thousand eight hundred dollars per person in america for every person. Other countries have a health care system measured by doctors and experts that is demonstrably better than ours. They have better health care by how much it costs them and in results. If it costs ninety eight hundred dollars per person for us it must cost other countries what maybe fifteen thousand? No, four thousand six hundred! We cost nine thousand eight hundred to get worse results they cost four thousand six hundred and get better results so why are we doing this??????

And our doctors spend half their time filling out insurance forms. Bureaucracy we’ere talking about a bureaucracy! All they do is deal with insurance companies! Hey my patient is dying for gods sake can I give them some sort of treatment??? Well I don’t know you fill out the forms and have them fill out the forms and we’ll see what happens.

Some guy comes in and he’s got a four dollar deductible the next person comes in has the same exact problem has a twelve hundred dollar deductible so one of them gets to live the other one gets to die because he doesn’t have twelve hundred dollars. Other countries have no deductibles, no premiums, no co-pays.

Just think about that for a second and what a sigh of relief we would all have as a country. Some say covering everyone is not practical. No OUR SYSTEM as it is now is not practical it’s the most expensive it is double what almost all developed countries pay for and we get worse results and we stress ourselves out about how we are going to afford it. Other countries have no deductibles, no premiums, no co-pays, and no insurance forms to fill out.

This one actually got to me the most I don’t know why but no medical bankruptcies so no one has to ever worry if they got hit with cancer am I gonna lose my house am I gonna lose my business?? Hey my mom or my wife or my uncle had a stroke are we all finished? Are we all done because we all have to put all of our money in to try to save their life and then we’ve lost our house? The rest of the developed world is asking what kind of a monstrous system says you get a health care problem and you don’t have the right insurance you picked the wrong thing etc and that’s it bankruptcy.

The good thing is we don’t have to invent a new system we already have it it’s medicare and it is among the top two most popular programs in the entire country. Social Security is number one. Medicare is number two. All we have to do is let other people in expand it from 65 and older to everyone. We already have a system that works and that’s incredibly popular so people are racing to get to 65. People are working at jobs they don’t want to work at because it has decent health insurance. Some people go back to work out of retirement because a family member gets sick so they have to hang in their until they turn 65. Why do we ask the whole country to wait till they are 65? We already have the system why don’t we just let everyone in so you can have a little bit of relief? And again its cheaper so it makes no sense not to do it.

Here’s why we don’t do it. The PhRMA industry alone, not the rest of healthcare, just the PhRMA industry and not in campaign contributions, just in lobbying, spends 3.6 BILLION dollars a year so that’s why we don’t have a far more rational system that costs less that covers people better that allows us relief and decency and equality.

Other countries treat poor people, middle, and rich people the same they all get health care. Imagine if in America we were all treated equally and it actually cost less money and the only reason we don’t is because we have an insane system where we allow Private PhRMA companies to spend billions of dollars corrupting our system through lobbying campaign contributions. The NUMBER ONE donors are not the oil companies. They’re not the banks. It’s the PhRMA companies and lo and behold they have monopolies.

The one problem with Medicare is because the government is so bought and corrupt by these companies that medicare is not allowed to negotiate with drug companies. What do you mean you can’t negotiate with drug companies? You represent the people how could the companies rule the people????

Well that’s what we have in America and that’s why we have the disastrous system that we do.

We know that government bureaucrats know how to bring down the number from age 65 to 1 or zero because they keep pitching raising social security eligibility. They keep calling medicare for all a pie in the sky idea but it’s not it’s fundamentally pragmatic. We don’t have to pay any more money to get health care for everybody in the USA. We have to keep pushing that single payer doesnt cost any more money thats the thing people need to remember and that it saves money because you no longer have deductibles, premiums, or co-pays.

The effect of income inequality on health care outcomes is real because the greater the income disparity the worse the health is for the poor.

Health care costs is the tapeworm in the belly of our economy it’s actually hurting our businesses it’s not helping them. It actually creates an incentive for companies to be more immoral. I’m going to be a decent person and pay for my employees health care but the guy next door doesnt pay for their health care go get medicaid instead and put it on the tax payers, now they have a competitiveness advantage over me because I actually care about my workers I want to make sure that they have health care. That is an INSANE system. We should not have that system.

We are subsidizing the walton family because walmart paid the wages of their workers so low they know that they’ve got to go to medicaid and we pay for their workers and then they use that to drive mom and pop businesses out of business in the middle of america.

So none of this makes any sense. We’ve got to change the system. Luckily the answer is really simple we already have medicare all you have to do is say now everyone is eligible instead of just people over the age of 65.

– Transcribed this from a Young Turks Video. You can find “The Young Turks” on youtube and google searches.

Tom

For the first time since my dad passed away, over 1 month ago, I’m sleeping at my house by myself.

Big night for me.

I’ve slept at my moms house which use to be my parents house since dad passed on.

I’m most likely not going out tonight. I don’t know of anything going on that interests me enough to attend even though it’s friday night, but I’m open if something changes.

It feels like the whole universe has to re arrange itself but it’s not so it leaves me feeling disoriented.

I hurt, I feel a void larger than any void I’ve ever felt in my life that sits in the pit of my stomach that won’t go away, I want to run to my dad like I’ve always been able to and I’ll never be able to again.

Honestly I am well. Even in the midst of all that I am feeling I really do feel well.

Being open and vulnerable about this whole experience has been therapeutic for me and from I hear from lots of people it’s helped them, too.

So I guess this is an update post about how I am doing. I hope you are doing well, too.

Building my online health and fitness biz around residual money is the main other thing im doing that’s therapeutic. I love to work. I have to keep myself busy with something I love learning about.

I love working so much that I got rid of my TV YEARS ago and havent looked back at it.

My dad was proud of me. He still is proud of me from Heaven.

I’m even in the midst of creating a whole new training course called the 5 minute potty break trainer..LoL I’m pouring myself into it with all I’ve got which is a LOT when you consider I’ve been consistently learning every day without breaking for the past 10 years and counting. I’m looking forward to the first hundred or so people who take this training course and the feedback they give that I can post all over facebook.

Facebook is wildly valuable depending on how it’s used.

Even my dad got on facebook for the last 6 years of his amazing life here on earth.

Dammit I miss my dad.

I love you Dad.

Tom

My Superhero Dad and Guns


One of MANY interesting things about my amazing superhero Dad…

Even though he controlled the largest guns in the worlds most powerful NAVY he had absolutely zero interest in ever owning, touching, or firing a gun in his life outside of the Navy.

He was not against them.

He was certainly passionately in favor of BETTER checks and balances.

My dad had a really cool nuanced position about guns based on what’s happening in our country.

He believed federally there are not enough checks and balances which allowed some areas to have to little regulation and other areas to have too much regulation.

He personally never owned a gun and had no interest.

A lot of people who served in our military never had any interest in them and all of them I’ve ever talked to passionately argue for better checks and balances.

The ones who believe in no regulations have always been, that I know of, a small segment of our population who’ve never served in the military.

There is a certain irony to that.

More credibility is on the side of the brave men and women who have a better understanding of high powered weaponry through serving in our military (the most weaponized force on planet earth) than people who don’t.

One thing that not even military men and women recognize is the private money in politics that has caused the gun violence to spiral out of control and why we can’t get regulation specifics that 93% of the country want.

How do we not have something as of yesterday that more than nine out of ten people want in a representative democracy???

It’s called legalized bribery, otherwise known as political donations, in our politics. It creates an egregious conflict of interest that would be illegal anywhere else. Our politicians bid for their donors at the expense of everyone else.

WE NEED TO GET ALL PRIVATE MONEY OUT OF POLITICS IMMEDIATELY.

Our military men and women are not fighting and dying for our Oligarchy corruption. No kleptocracy or plutocrats.

Our military personal is disgusted by our government. Their opinion weighs more in my mind than anyone elses because they are the ones paying the real price for our country to become a more perfect union.

Most of our elected leaders are on the take from big money donors. This creates an egregiously DANGEROUS conflict of interest.

They represent their biggest donors and not the people.

We cannot have an honorable or principled disagreement or agreement with our elected “leaders” because they are not honorable or principled people.

We need a constitutional amendment banning all private money from entering politics so we can have clean elections.

If we have clean elections unfettered by legalized bribes and other conflicts of interests then we can have honorable and principled discussions in disagreement or in agreement.

We can finally work toward solving problems because they’d be representing the people.

Private money (legalized bribes) in politics has corrupted, broken, and shattered our entire system of government and we can’t have any honorable principled public discourse because of it.

Some say this is not the time for politics. I HEAR YOU.

I believe this has to be the time for politics but NOT POLITICS AS USUAL.

Politics is where legalized change happens.

There are untold future gun violence events that are imminent.

The sooner we get political about it in an HONORABLE WAY the sooner we can begin preventing future gun violence.

If we wait too long then we will forget and no change happens.

If we hold these two thoughts in our heads at the same time, LOVE and ACTION FOR SOLUTIONS IN POLITICS, then just maybe we can begin preventing future gun violence even if just by chipping away at the number of mass shootings and death.

We have a terrible gun violence problem in the USA that is unprecedented by anywhere else in the world.

We need to embrace being able to hold onto more than one thought in our heads at the same time so we can LOVE each other AND take this to politics for solutions.

But again, it can’t be politics as usual or nothing will change.

How about politics as UNUSUAL in that we understand each other and working together for solutions beginning with amending our constitution to BAN ALL PRIVATE MONEY FROM POLITICS SO WE CAN HAVE THESE NEEDED DISCUSSIONS WITH OUR ELECTED LEADERS.

Gun Control Checks and Balances & Politicians Using Meaningless Words

“There is nothing we can do about it” – says the only country that has this problem.

I feel so utterly helpless.

We in the USA have more than 1 mass shooting per day.

In 2017 we will be closing out the worst year of mass shootings we’ve ever had in a single year.

If it’s a white male it’s blamed on mental health before knowing anything.

If it’s a brown skinned male it’s blamed on muslim terrorism before knowing anything.

Politicians go through their well rehearsed meaningless condolences and warning against politicizing the tragedy.

Does anyone know the seed and soil of what sprouted an orchard of mass shootings?

I do.

It’s our system of legalized bribery, the ultimate corruption in politics, private donation money.

When you hear a politician give condolences followed up by, “Let’s not politicize this”, that’s how you know that vile cretin is taking money from private companies with a profit motive to sell more guns such as the NRA and major gun manufacturers.

Anytime you hear a politician warning us against politicizing a mass shooting or that their idea of a solution is to fight evil, love each other, pray, and unity in the community… They are on the take with generous legalized bribes to not do anything legislatively.

I’m not calling for gun control.

I’m calling for checks and balances.

If you don’t know checks and balances then you don’t know our constitution.

If you believe in control then you don’t believe in our constitution.

Every right we are given.. Every Amendment to our constitution.. Every freedom and liberty fought for by our military personnel… It all comes with checks and balances built in.

There is no such thing as an unlimited freedom.

If you want an unlimited freedom then you either don’t know our founding documents, or you do but you don’t believe in them.

Our 2nd amendment right to bear arms has checks and balances.

We need more checks in our 2nd amendment, not control.

93% of the country wants a mandatory universal background check and to close the gun show loop hole.

We can’t get it.

How do we not have something that has a 93% approval???

Our politicians are so corrupt that they won’t give us something with a 93% approval rating in what is suppose to be a representative democracy.

Even if you are part of the 7%, if you care anything about objectivity, you have to concede that we do not have a representative democracy.

Forget listening to a politician unless you have a list of their top donors with you while you listen to them talk.

If you are looking at a list of their top donors then what they’re talking about will begin to click with you and their corruption will become painfully obvious.

Every term and midterm election cycle is our chance to replace them with a representative government and so far we’ve blown it every time.

But, there is the next term and mid term coming up.

Let’s stop blowing it and start voting for candidates in ALL levels of government who are not on the take of legalized bribes.

Criminals don’t follow the law.

So lets create needed checks and balances and give law enforcement more tools to help prevent some of these mass shootings.

There are approximately 10,000 homicides per year from guns.

That number will never be zero.

But let me ask you this…

If we are able to chip away at that number and bring it down to 5,000 would it be worth it to introduce new gun regulations that 93% of us already agree with?

Of course it would be worth it.

Universal back ground checks in all fifty states, close the gun show loop holes in all fifty states, and make bump stocks illegal in all fifty states…

Just that alone would significantly chip away at the 10,000 number and those are regulations that 93% of us already want.

You’d still be able to hunt with a gun, protect your home and your family with a gun, because that’s balance.

Right now we are insanely out of balance.

We need regulations to give us checks and balances to our 2nd amendment right to bear arms.

Our current members of government are not going to do it because they are on the take in taking too much legalized bribery.

Remember what I said…

The next election cycle is always near by.

Every two years we have an opportunity to replace plutocrats with representatives of our democracy.

Please Share this.

People need to become aware of the legalized bribery.

People need to start looking at donor lists so it all starts making sense that our politicians are on the take.

That way maybe we will come together and vote them out and finally have representatives who represent us instead of their legal bribers.

Share Share Share.

Tom

 

How’s your evening? I so badly miss my Dad. One month ago TODAY he passed on… Oct. 13th. Today is Nov. 13th.

Today was quite a day. More big steps in settling my late fathers financial affairs.

I’m so grateful he set my mom up well. The NAVY is taking care of my mom after taking care of him while we still had him physically with us.

I so badly miss my dad. I’m Heart broken and disoriented for the rest of my life until I see him again when I pass on.

My mom and I went to the navy base today. Great Lakes Naval base. The old hospital I spent a lot of time at had been demolished and turned into an open field. That was so weird to see.

Today I came across old birth certificates, baptismal certificates, and of course a newly death certificate.

Yesterday we attended part of a visitation of a family friend who passed away. Physical addictions took his physical life at a very young age of fifty two. He’s liberated from all physical limitations now.

I make the ” dad special” that very affectionately entitled a special chocolate super foods shake for my mom each and every day that I Sell and I also drink myself. Pm me if you’d like to know more about that.

I call it the “dad special” because it’s exactly how my dad liked me to make his when I had him here before he passed on to be in a much better place. The Dad Special. To you he is John or Larry Birkenmeyer. To me he is dad. He is in heaven now. I know it must be heaven because he is there.

I also wrote a blog today about CREDIT CARDS. I posted that just one post earlier. Scroll back one post you’ll find it easy peasy.

Now it’s time to unwind at 20:33 and go to sleep when I feel like like it.

I’m an old soul apparently 20:33 is late and I’m up before the sun is regularly.

Feel free to share if there is anything vulnerable and healing here that you feel someone else might find value in.

1st Halloween Without my Dad Physically With Us Anymore – the Angels Had Other Plans

This is the 1st Halloween I’ve been home for in 4 years. The last three I spent in Las Vegas.

This year I was looking forward to handing candy out to the kids for trick or treating with my dad but the Angels had other plans. We use to love doing that together. My dad really loved seeing the kids and handing out candy even when I was not here the last 3 Halloweens.

In the hospital just a few weeks ago I was telling my dad I was looking forward to being home for the first time in 4 years for Halloween. He knew.

My dad passed on since then.

I’m handing out candy tonight in memory and in honor of my dad. I’m doing a lot of things in honor and memory of my dad. I even talk to my dad more than God now.

I remember 24 years ago Halloween day and night I played my guitar all day and night only to stop to hand out candy with my dad and once and a while to say, “hey dad check this out” and I’d play him something I just learned. I was 16 24 Halloweens ago and just beginning to learn how to play guitar.

As I improved and got really good on that instrument my dad became impressed! I remember my cousin Robin telling me how my dad was bragging about me. I never heard my dad brag about my guitar skills first hand. I’m glad my cousin robin told me about it =)

Maybe he was bragging about me because in the early days, for a long time, I completely sucked at it..LoL Oh the horror of what my dad had to listen to just to be able to make a single note sound decent rather than like two cats in heat…haha!! But even when my notes sounded decent, it was Heavy Metal, and my dad would open the door to my room to peak inside and ask me, “Hey Tom can you play Solo? So LOW that I can’t hear you?” LoL My dad loved to make people laugh! I thought half of his jokes and puns were lame, but the other half more than made up for his lame ones.

I remember I was learning “For Whom the Bell Tolls” by Metallica. A very easy song, very basic and beginners like, and I was having a very difficult time with it. I can play that tune in my sleep now and much more difficult songs like second nature but that was my start 24 years ago on guitar.

I will always associate Halloween with my dad, when I started playing guitar, and handing out candy with my dad.

I love you Dad forever.

Tom

Dear Class mates of my Dad of Crystal City High School 1961.

This is his son, Tom Birkenmeyer.

I found these today going through his stuff. He really loved going to school with you and seeing you all again at the various reunions.

This is his and your 50th high school reunion, as you can see.

At his and your 40th there was a family emergency here at home with my little brother but he found a way to go without neglecting anything here at home.
He could do it ALL that’s the type of man he was.

At his and your 50th he had already been placed on oxygen 24/7, as you can kind of see in this distant photo, and he still made it happen that he could attend knowing the trip would be tough on him because he struggled to breath as it was.

Despite his chronic respiratory challenges you can see him smiling so big and standing so tall in this photo.

He loved you all.

Any time he talked about his class of 1961 it was always good.

It was only a few days or so before he passed away as in inpatient in the hospital we were talking about which city / state of all the places we’ve ever lived feels most like home still. I didn’t really have an answer for me except maybe somewhere in the desert outside of las vegas (even though we never lived there the closest was San Diego). My dad did have an answer. It was clearly Crystal City, MO. Without question. He only lived in Crystal City a few years but it was during those years were the most formative to developing his character. And YOU, class of 1996, were a big part of my dads precious formative years.

THANK YOU.

I’ve never met you but I’ve heard about you from my Dad.

I just want to say THANK YOU for your part in making my dads finite physical life on earth a really great one for him. I can tell you absolutely my Dad hoped to have had a positive influence on you, too. That’s the kind of man he was and still is in eternity.

The next class reunion with all of you and him and others of your class who’ve passed on will be in HEAVEN. I know it must be heaven after all because my dad is there now. A class reunion in heaven is something to look forward to without discounting whatever finite time we have left here on physical earth.

On behalf of my Dad,

Tom Birkenmeyer

I started choking on my tears earlier today going through stuff when I came across a folder my dad had put all of his poems into.

I started reading one of them to my mom that we figured was from around the time I started driving and I just lost it.

My dad had quite a few talents. One of them was writing poetry. All of his poems were very sentimental and all about family and friends. A couple of his poems he even went through our entire family tree and made it work as poetry.

My dad was a genius in anything he was really interested in.

He use to write poems regularly before it became a struggle to breath.

Birthdays, christmas, other family type of events..

Some of them he’d put in a nice frame and give them as gifts to his mom, his grandmother, and other relatives. They were always a hit with the family everyone always loved these thoughtful poems of his.

Eventually I’m going to photo copy all of his work and do something with it. These shouldn’t be in a folder where nobody gets to see them.

I love you Dad,

Tom

UPDATE! 10/19/2018 – Nearly one year later I finally did it. Here is everything I could find of my dads poetry: http://tombirkenmeyer.com/re-syndicated/poetry-by-my-super-hero-dad/

USS Morton Merry Christmas Family Gram December 1973

Posting on my dads Behalf, this is Tom Birkenmeyer.

I was going through some of his stuff today and came across something I don’t remember ever seeing before. My dad was a proud career Navy Man. Senior Chief BIRKENMEYER. One of the ships he was on was the USS Morton (DD-948) Sherman Class Destroyer.

In December of 1973 the U.S.S. Morton Commading officer at the time made this really cool family gram for it’s crew to send out to family. I found a copy that was addressed to his grandmother and grand father, my great grandmother Grams and great grandfather George P. Orphan.

I don’t know how many in the ships crew, hundreds or thousands, but in this family gram they put a spot light on my dad and made me well up in tears. I’m so proud of my dad. I love him and I miss him so much. I’m typing it out for you word for word from the original that was also typed but with a type writer back in those days before computers.

Check out my Dad, Senior Chief Lawrence J. BIRKENMEYER.

USS Morton Merry Christmas Family Gram December 1973

“Chief Firecontrol Technician FTGC Lawrence J. BIRKENMEYER, leading chief and supervisor for the gunnersmates… Wait! An FT leading gunnersmate?

The cry went out and as in time past, FTGC BIRKENMEYER responded. He is a conscientious man who has the ability to formulate plans and organize men and their efforts. As one of the results of his endeavors, the division has an outstanding training program and the ship has a fine shore patrol indoctrination program. It’s been said that he claims “there is no electronic casualty I can’t solve, given enough time!” This positive and aggresive attitude stands Chief Birkenmeyer in good stead with the men who works for him, and with those who know him. He has proven that with a proper attitude and good management, a division can accomplish all of it goals and commitments. This is most obvious in the succesful operation of the gunnersmates.

Chief Birkenmeyer feels it is important to talk to his men so that they will understand their respective jobs and learn the responsibilities of being a good petty officer. His key to success is proper planning and management, tampered with understanding for his men.”

Go Dad!!! I love you,

Tom

My 1st workout since my Dads Passing..

My 1st workout since my Dads Passing..
 
2 weeks ago today, Fri Oct 13th, I woke up organically an hour or so before the sun rise. Laying there in bed anxious to visit my dad that morning in the hospital I thought to myself I’d go and get in a great workout and a shower since I can’t see him for a few more hours anyway. Worked out, showered, did some facebook stuff, drove to the hospital, sat in the parking lot for a few minutes before walking in praying hard for some good news and posted something on my facebook timeline about how STARVED I am for some good news. Feel free to scroll back two weeks ago today you’ll see my post and then the post I made much later in the evening that day about my fathers passing.
 
I got to see my dad that morning for my last time physically while he still occupied his temporary physical body for 74 years. He was totally alert, sharp, aware, just not able to talk much because he was struggling hard to breath. I said a few things during my two hour morning visit but mostly I just sat there because I didn’t want him to focus on both talking and breathing. Just breathing was a big enough chore for him. So I just sat in silence visiting only to say something once and a while. He knew I was there. I walked in all stealth like and sat down next to him. After a second he looked up and knew he had a visitor =)
 
I won’t go into all the details in this post. I did that in another very long heart wrenching post a week or so ago. I’m going to have all of my posts around my fathers passing collected on a page I’m making within my tom birkenmeyer dot com website so for those of you interested, you’ll be able to read them all there. There are lots of messages of healing in those posts. Lots of emotion. It’s as it was all happening so it’s un filtered, un fettered, just pure heart unreserved. It is my therapy. It can also be help for others, too.
 
Today I did a workout from the Power Half Hour Program by Beachbody and Tony Horton. I use these programs regularly and I sell them proudly. My dad was proud of me for practicing what I’ve been “preaching” about these programs and nutritionals. He was impressed with my original before / after transformation. From “scrawny to brawny”..LoL
 
My dad was also proud of me for how I behave as someone who uses and sells these programs. He hates the typical behavior of telemarketers and other home business owners. He loved the way I do it. He loved how I’m the same person doing this. I didn’t become someone I’m not to do this and I have to believe that’s why I’ve been able to create success where others fail. Others become someone they are not and tick off their friends and family. I remained true to who I am so I was able to fire my boss, buy my house in cash, be there for my family and my dad during those most precious moments without having to check in with a gatekeeper or worry about being covered financially.
 
Here is how I do it (I’m sharing this with you so you can do it too)…
 
You see me engaged in my own journey that is specific to me with help from the beachbody catalog of home fitness and nutritionals sharing my journey openly and honestly with the mistakes, the challenges, and my little victories that I score out of the ashes of big setbacks…
 
If you love health and fitness like I do, and you’re interested in making some money in health and fitness like I am, or if you just want to get healthy without making some extra money, Private Message me.
 
I love you dad I’m gonna keep making you proud of me working with the willing who wanna get healthy physically and financially.
 
-Tom

Since my dads passing this year I’ve found myself softening up in a way I didn’t see coming

Since my dads passing this year I’ve found myself softening up in a way I didn’t see coming..
 
As for me, today, when someone is mean and nasty all I see in them is emotional pain from something that they are trying to cope with and all I want to do is hug them.
 
Crazy? Liberal? Dumb? Weak? I don’t think so…
 
I don’t hug them because it could get me punched in the face..LoL
 
But the urge is there because honestly I just see pain in them even as they are lashing out with unmitigated meanness.
 
I’m actually enjoying how this feels.
 
It’s a DEEPLY peaceful enlightened feeling that I don’t know how else to explain. I’d even call it Emotional Bliss.
 
Blood pressure is relaxed and stays even. I would argue that weakness would be when you lose control over your blood pressure and you become triggered. It’s a normal human response but it doesn’t make triggered erratic blood pressured responses right. It’s just something to figure out and improve through our own very individual journeys of personal growth and development.
 
The only thing I personally demonize is the act of inaction in ones own perpetual personal growth and development which seems to be most people, sadly.
 
I can see my dad just shaking his head at me over this “I just wanna hug everyone” response because my dad would snap back as mostly anyone else would, too..LoL
 
However, my dad fought back much more brilliantly than anyone I’d ever seen because he was an intellectual genius with Encyclopedic knowledge about ANYTHING he was interested in. He could have been a Trial Lawyer and MASTER litigator if he wanted. But in his passing, its just so completely different. I just want to hug anyone in pain even those who cope with their pain less than gracefully.
 
Does that make sense?
 
Feel free to share this backwards way of thinking and feeling.
 
I love you Dad,
 
Tom

It’s been 12 days since I last physically talked to my dad.

Eventually it will be a month, a year, 10 years, 40 years…

I miss him.

I will always miss my dad.

I’m sad for me because I don’t get to run to him, talk to him, laugh with him, share pictures of my adventures with him, and ask questions as I always did with so much curiosity about almost everything.

My dad always supported anything I ever wanted to do as long as it wasn’t harmful. Sometimes he’d make sure I was committed before making a financial investment but once I passed his test he’d go all in on supporting me and I did not let him down. I saw things through. He admired that about me.

Anytime I had questions about anything he’d be there to answer all of them for me. He never rushed me or was too busy for me to answer questions and spend time with me. I was such a curious kid, and now a curious adult. I always had questions and wanted to show him stuff. I became more interested in seeing what he was doing and in his adventures as I got older. Always so excited to share experiences with each other.

His big Alaskan cruise he took with my mom happened just a few weeks before he passed away. I think I was just as excited as he was and I wasn’t even going with them. I counted down the days from dropping them off at the airport to picking them back up again at the airport 8 days later. I followed the ship tracker online to see their ships every move every day. So excited to see them again and ask them all about their trip, see pictures and videos they took, and possibly hear about my dads next big adventure to look forward to. Sadly the next big adventure didnt happen.. At least not the way we wanted it to. His next big adventure turned out to be eternal life after death.

I’m happy for him and sad for me.

I love you Dad.

Tom