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Ken King
12-20-2004, 06:31 PM
<p align="center"><img border="0" src="http://somd.com/news/kingscorner/images/king-head.GIF" alt="King's Corner" width="336" height="143"></p>

I’ll start off by wishing a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone on SOMD. May you each experience a wonderful holiday season and I wish all of you nothing but the best for the future. In case none of you have caught on I love this time of year, especially since it’s finally cooled down and beginning to feel like the time of year that it is. It isn’t because of the holidays or anything like that, I simply like the weather.

But since it is the holiday season I will offer up a lighthearted and hopefully moving offering this time. The topic I will write about is in direct response to comments a couple of the ladies that post here regularly made recently (like today). They are two that I also know and like a lot in real life too.

Well, to the meat of it, one of these lovely ladies made a remark in a post about wanting some of what “Ken’s been having lately” and the other wanted “a double”. Well, I’m not sure if they knew what they meant exactly. But they know something is up with me as we have been communicating on here for years. I guess you could say they know me. Or do they? Let me assure you that I’m still sober (14 years to the day as a matter of fact) and I’m not intentionally being “kinder and gentler” either, but they are right, something has happened. Actually, quite a lot has happened but I’ll only go into the something. You guys can thank Cattitude and Sharon for this.

For the past several months I have had a few house guests. Some of you met one of them, the lady that accompanied the wife and I out to a Halloween party at Jabba’s, and some of you might have kids that know the others, as they are students in the local schools. Just so everyone is clear I will not be using any of their names and will neither offer the names up nor answer any questions about them other then what I place here.

The lady and her two grandsons (7 and 11 year olds) had hit upon some tough times and needed a place to stay. The wife, a long time friend of the lady, got wind of their plight and offered our home as we had several unused rooms anyhow.

This was a lot like my garage that out of nowhere became her shop (we won’t go any farther into that one either). Anyway, I guess she felt that there was no need to discuss it with me because this just happened one day back in September. I would have said yes no matter what if she had asked me (she knows that too), I just think it would have been nice to have been asked. After all it was going to have a great impact on our lives.

Knowing my wife, I don’t think she even thought of that because she has always had the care-taker mentality and she certainly wasn’t going to see them living on the street. It’s how she is, probably how she will always be. But the transitioning from just her and me to a houseful with kids and another woman has been different to say the least. Having already moved three kids through here I was all set for just an occasional visit from the grandbabies, a couple of days tops and poof, they would be gone.

Well, no such luck, now I have to juggle everything around and modify all my behaviors for the sake of these boys. It’s been different for these boys too. After they had been here for a few weeks the oldest told me how much he enjoyed having a bed to sleep in instead of being on a couch.

They haven’t had a stable father type figure in their lives since they were born. I’m their first and let me tell you it’s a lot of work because these boys are lacking a ton of knowledge and experience in how a family works and what family means. But that is how it is going to be around here, family. We don’t have to be related to one another as long as we are living under the same roof we will function as a family. They both are adapting quickly to that concept and they appear to be thriving on it. They also are keeping my wit and humor exercised as only two hardheaded boys can do.

I truly don’t mind, honestly, but this has impacted other aspects of my life as well, like here on the forums. And it is this, I believe, that is what some of you might be experiencing or noticing in my “style” on the forums. At times the boys use my computer or watch me as I peck away at the keyboard, not to mention my general interaction with them. Thus, while they are around I suspect that my style on here, like at home, will just be a tad different.

So there you go, that is what is up with me and not knowing the duration of this arrangement there is no telling how long it will last and I can’t say when I will get back to being my good old self. One day I hope, one day. Thanks for caring enough to notice.

mAlice
12-20-2004, 06:40 PM
Ken, thanks for sharing. That's so much better than this drivel

http://forums.somd.com/showthread.php?p=724816&posted=1#post724816

crabcake
12-20-2004, 06:42 PM
How kind of you and your wife to open your home up to others during their time of need. :yay:

Kizzy
12-20-2004, 07:13 PM
Ken :huggy:

It was wonderful of you to open up your home and your heart.

Kain99
12-20-2004, 07:19 PM
Ken .... I cannot express the depth of my love and admiration for you. I am practically speechless.

Crabcake... You'll never know, how much your sacrafices have meant to me. Time has a way of clouding perceptions...

I pray that you both always know, just how special you are and how much you mean to those of us who live on this planet.

cattitude
12-20-2004, 07:21 PM
:huggy:

Sharon
12-20-2004, 08:08 PM
Ken, that's a wonderful story. You and your lovely wife have generous hearts. :huggy:

Good luck with those boys, they can be a handful at that age and I'm sure they appreciate your efforts.

RoseRed
12-20-2004, 08:09 PM
I saw houseguests daughter the other day.

Ken King
12-20-2004, 08:14 PM
I saw houseguests daughter the other day.
Let me not go there.

RoseRed
12-20-2004, 08:20 PM
Let me not go there.
'nuff said. I didn't know the whole story...

KCM
12-21-2004, 10:08 AM
Ken..it is truly wonderful how you have opened up your home to this family. Kudos to you. :huggy:

jazz lady
12-21-2004, 10:15 AM
We don’t have to be related to one another as long as we are living under the same roof we will function as a family.:clap: Bravo! Kudos to you and your wife for taking on this enormous task and making a difference. :huggy:

justhangn
12-21-2004, 10:27 AM
Kindness…….there is those here that seem to be wondering what it truly is and Ken, you’ve shown them in spades. :cheers:

If there is a need for donations for their Christmas, please don't hesitate to ask.

Ken King
12-21-2004, 10:32 AM
Kindness…….there is those here that seem to be wondering what it truly is and Ken, you’ve shown them in spades. :cheers:

If there is a need for donations for their Christmas, please don't hesitate to ask.
I appreciate the offer JH and wouldn't turn down anything offered as a gift but I think we have a handle on at least the big ticket items they wanted. That is as long as something doesn't happen to the UPS truck their gifts should arrive tomorrow.

KCM
12-21-2004, 11:08 AM
I appreciate the offer JH and wouldn't turn down anything offered as a gift but I think we have a handle on at least the big ticket items they wanted. That is as long as something doesn't happen to the UPS truck their gifts should arrive tomorrow.
The fact that you also bought presents for them in addition to everything else you have done for this family shows your outstanding character, Ken.:yay:

Chasey_Lane
12-22-2004, 05:44 PM
Great reading, Ken! Thanks for sharing! :clap:

ValleyGirl77
12-23-2004, 07:39 AM
:yay: Its good to see that there are still good hearted people! Hope all goes well and that the boys learn from a great role model how a family should be!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

Ken King
12-26-2004, 12:20 AM
Update: The two boys living with us seem to have had a great Christmas as they came up to the wife and I before dinner and the oldest said the following, “Mister Kenny and Miss Susan, this is the best Christmas we have ever had.” The little guy was nodding as his brother said this and then they hugged each of us. Susan’s waterworks busted loose and to be honest I had to stifle the tears welling up in my eyes too. I never expected it and considering that their grandmother had been helping out in the kitchen all morning I think it was truly of their own doing and not a forced act. It was honest, sincere and very moving.

Another comment was made by the boys about the coats that they received being the first brand new ones they have ever had. So to that “super-secret Santa” out there, let it be known that you did good brother. May God bless you for your generosity to these children that you know nothing about. In their grandmother’s words, you sir are “a saint”, I concur and for her and the boys I thank you for helping to make this a great day for these boys.

kwillia
12-26-2004, 07:16 AM
I'm all weepy now...:bawl: Ken, you will never forget this Christmas...:bawl:

NAS
12-28-2004, 09:01 AM
Ken and and your wife are Saints there is a place in heaven for the both of u i am sure .Good kind and helpful people are hard to find let alone open thier home to others i respect u alot and really am impressed you include them in a Familyway. May god bless you and your wife and family.and may he give you the strenght in times of need!
Boys that are what fun shall we say LOL. best x-mas story i have heard


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