Re: Family meeting (long)

["Eddie Stakes" <eddiestakes@xxxx>]

Concerning a family meeting. Bart, no offense taken. I understand your
concern about a car forum possibly turning into a chat room. However people
do chat here, and many of the people on your forum probably know each other
personally or have dealt with one another up close and personal sometime
thru the years. For instance, while I have never met you, I believe we have
done business before, and I met Doc at the AMO Nats in 2000 in Berlin, CT
for instance, Lu alerted me to a possible car getting crushed in a Alabama
junkyard, and so on.

And in that mix of people that log on or join, you will have conversations
or chats, some of are of interest, others no one knows what the hell someone
may be talking about. I've seen a subject line I thought was about a car
only to read it and it says something of 'yes, I'll see you at the meet!' or
something like that, and not sure what meet, day, year, they are talking
about. Other times the original thread is long since gone in the subject
line and the conversation has moved onto blizards, hurricanes, or
crossmembers!

The best thing about it all, while it sometimes seems like a chat room, is
that 90% of the time it is car related. People will come and go on any list
and forum however for a variety of reasons, sold car, personal problems,
computer crashed, busy with work/kids, the best you can do is continue to
try to recruit people to this list by telling them about it. It won't be for
everyone either, like I bailed off the amxfiles last July after 6 years and
never went back, too much fighting, name calling, and anarchy. No big deal,
as long as people continue to share info, talk about the weather, and for
the most part, keep it mostly car related, shuold be fine and continue to
grow. I think Bart has done a really good job with his list here too,
sometimes that goes unsaid.

Now for off topic a moment and Bart's bad day. I will trade anyone here for
my day yesterday. I ogt up at 6:00am, drove downtown Houston, went to court
of which I'm charged with a Class A Misdemeanor of which max fine is a year
in jail and $4000 fine. I had my attorney with me and she reset the court
date to May 6th while we gather more information for my defense. I stressed
out all night and could not sleep toss and turned thinking about all sorts
of scenarios. Got back home, took a nap then took my sick dog Max who is 7,
to the vet. They put him on fluids, although I know I am on borrowed time
with him. Funny we don't have a photo of me, Paige, Noah, Jacob and Max all
together.

That was Thursday.

So I get up today, and was going to the vet, hoping for good news. I stopped
at a little place named Anna's doughnuts, I have not been there for months
over on Gessner. The Chinese kid who is the owners son says 'hi Mr. Jones,
how are you' to a old mane behind me, who is sitting next to some middle
eastern looking people, man and woman. I looked back and the old man in a
suit looks like he is falling asleep. wrapped up all in my own bull shit the
past several days I suddenly realized he was turning chalky white/blue, and
at the same time the guy next to him said 'my friend, are you ok, can you
breathe?' and reached over and held his head up, and I told the Chinese
fellow 'call 911!' which he quickly did and the medics on the phone told us
to lay him down on the floor, so I grabbed his legs, the middle east guy
grabbed his torso, and we laid him on the floor. Flat, facing up, he was now
blue and eyes rolled back. This was the last thing I needed to see today,
knowing I would be going 2 blocks around the corner to see the vet, who
probably had bad news. I grabbed my kolache and 2 donuts and coffee and went
outside and flagged down the paramedics who were drigint eh wrong way down
Gessner, and then went back to the sidewalk to eat my stuff, and get out of
the way. Not sure if the old man died or not, he looked in his 70s/80s, btu
they wheeled him away and took off to the hospital.

I thought God was telling me something.

So I go to the vet, only to hear him say my dog, Max, is dying. I left in
tears, have been crying all day, Paige has too. The vet recommended we put
him to sleep tonight, but I told him I wanted to take him home and take some
photos, and if he is up to it, I'll take him in Monday if he lives that
long. Noah, who is 2 1/2 and Jacob, were oblivious to me in the back yard
between the grapefruit and pear tree digging a big grave, they were playing
all around me and i somehow drew strength from this, although weak from
stress and pain, hearing my boys play somehow eased this. Not much. Max was
brought home tonight and is dying. I'm sure all of you have had a pet that
was like one of the family for a long time. Surely you know how it might be,
and the pain and sadness of saying goodbye.

So, while he is here with us tonight, and will be tomorrow, not sure how
much longer he will last as he is really weak from the kidney disease. And
seeing that old man possibly dying in front of me this morning didn't help.
So a super tough two days I would trade anyone for the last two days, and
have prayed a lot for not only Max, but the old man, and strength for Paige
and me. Just a tough time, so sometimes it is a little theraputic I gues to
be able to talk about it. Sometimes it helps others time does not, we all
have great days, other times they f***ing suck. Ya'll take care and God
Bless.
Eddie Stakes
www.planethoustonamx.com