Latest Poem From Wes

WHEN SUDDENLY NOTHING HAPPENED

There come those times when blood is chilled;
A shiver shakes your spine;
You sense there’s something’s now amiss,
There’s something out of line.

Our home has been a constant din,
For more than twenty years;
Crescendoed kid cacophonies
Of slams and shrieks and tears.

‘Til now, at last, all children grown,
I’m bothered by the sound
Of silence as it screams at me
With not a kid around.

I gave my wife a “hello” kiss,
She asked me for my name.
This house seems so familiar
Yet nothing feels the same.

I can hear the door not slam;
And the stereo not blare.
The bathroom does not hiss and buzz
From blowing dry their hair.

My razor sits unstolen
Right where it belongs;
The fridge is unmolested
By human-locusts throngs.

My feet can feel the floor not thump
As bumps and stomps are gone;
Though not a single rattled dish
How clatter lingers on…

The quiet somehow echoes harsh;
Upon my deafened ears.
How creepy to find switched to off
The racket heard for years.

I never dreamed I’d miss it all,
Life’s constant audio feed;
When, suddenly, nothing happened here,
It was something else indeed!

Rachel in the Radio City Music Hall's Christmas Spectacular Featuring the Rockettes

Everyone agreed that Audrey (green dress) was HILARIOUS as a wicked step-sister in the high school production of Cinderella. The drama director for SUU has asked her to apply for scholarship.

This year for Halloween we decided not to dress up but to go to the party as ourselves.

This is Wes - A few weeks ago, I was assigned by my English professor to create a satirized and fictional news story based on current events. Hurricane Ike had just hit the coast and I wrote the following:

HURRICANE IKE SURVIVORS PROVEN RIGHT – THE DANGER WAS ALL IN THEIR HEADS!

GULF COAST, TEXAS - The recovery is underway after Hurricane Ike left a path of destruction throughout the Gulf Coast region. It is estimated that over 20,000 residents ignored the government’s warnings; ignored recent history; ignored the pelicans and hermit crabs removing themselves to Oklahoma; ignored the deep-sea oil platforms tumbling toward them from the far horizon; turned off the basic animal instinct for survival and determined they would “ride this one out”. It is also reported that 20,000 residents simultaneously dialed 911 the moment that Ike made landfall and they found themselves up to their mullets in seawater and that their roofs were being sent airmail to New Jersey. At that point, frustrated authorities could only instruct these intrepid souls to use indelible pens to write their social security numbers on their forearms and the words: “I am a moron” on their foreheads.

Survivor Blain Gotnowitz spoke with reporters after first responders, comprised of rescue crews and personal injury attorneys, risked their lives pulling him from the churning waters of Galveston Bay. “I had no idea that my 1962 Airstream trailer would not be able to withstand this hurricane. The government warnings were so ambliverous that I didn’t realize I should have packed up my woman, seven kids, three dogs, and guinea pig and left town.” When asked about his understanding of the words “Certain Death” Gotnowitz replied, “That’s what I’m talkin’ about! Those warnings were to people who live on the Gulf COAST. They shoulda also warned us folks who live a couple of blocks OFF of the coast! How were we to know?”

Initial estimates for Mr. Gotnowitz’s neighborhood showed that the hurricane had inflicted over 10 million dollars worth of improvements. When told that the island would have no running water for weeks to come, Gotnowitz was unconcerned. “Heck, we don’t need no hot showers to clean up. Why, the sheriffs department just told me that my wife and kids have already washed up on the beach!”

So far, the EMTs, firemen, and attorneys had been unable to locate all victims but greater help is on the way. Tomorrow will bring the chilling howls of the cadaver dogs among the dead and of Jessie Jackson among the survivors. The hurricane winds are gone. The hot air has only just begun to blow.

Hey friends and family - Some of you have asked about the progress on my children's book "The Best At Nothing - A Fable". I have been busy working with my literary agent, (Sterling Lord Literistic in New York - they are huge), and we are getting the manuscript ready for submission to targeted publishers. I have also been contacted by a well-respected and richly experienced illustrator who is interested in providing illustrations for this book. His name is Mark Swan and he is doing other illustration work for my book producer, Writewise. They let him see my manuscript and illustration plan and he sketched the illustration below, depicting the swimming competition scene from my story. I may not be the one who gets to decide who will be my illustrator, (publishers often make that call), but I would be interested in your opinions of his work.

Donna upgrades...

Pretty nice...no excuses to stop visiting me!!!!

Mitch playing hookie! Just wait till December 20th.

Graduation Day!
As Student Body Pres., Rachel gave a speach.

June report

Wes was pretty much a bachelor for the month of June. Rachel and Audrey went on a two-week church history tour. Donna went with some girlfriends to New York City to take in some Broadway plays and some scenery. Then Rachel and Donna went to Detroit for the Little People of America convention. Everyone is having fun and doing well. Here is a photo of grandson Carson on Grandpa's Sportster. The "Shorty on the Sporty" was very upset when we tried to take him away from his new ride.

First draft of cover art for Wes' children's book

This is the first draft of the cover art for my book. The illustrator forgot to add the subtitle "A Fable" underneath the title and he misspelled my last name - otherwise.... What do you folks think?

Preliminary drawing of The Duck from Wes' children's book

I am in the process of having published a children's book entitled "The Best At Nothing - A Fable". This humorous fable follows an ambitious duck as he seeks a gold medal at the Animal Olympics. Determined to be the very best athlete in at least one event, the duck experiences disappointment in himself and envy for the “superior” athletes as he is unable to excel in any single contest. The final event is a triathlon designed to determine the best overall critter in the animal kingdom. The duck earns the prestigious gold medal in this event even though he never places better than second in any leg of this final contest. The duck, along with all other contestants, learn that individual value is determined by considering all of one’s qualities and not by any single act, trait, success, or failure.

The attached illustration is the illustrator's preliminary sketch of The Duck.

Family pics just before Mitch's mission

It's been a while since our last post - we are just getting educated on doing this right. The attached photo shows our whole family with son-in-laws and our niece.

China 2007

Wes and Donna in China with the Englands!