Birthday October 24, 2002: Steve Seth and Joelle

This birthday memory is a fantastic one!  It took place ON my actual birthday, October 24, AND i made two other new acquaintances at the restaurant we ate at: On The Border by Oak Park Mall.

These friends here are very dear to me, Steve, Seth and Joelle.  They had a group and I jumped in and a connection began: drive in movies, bowling, study, hot tub, and I got to play my guitar with them.

My affinity for BLUE might be evident.  My countenance might seem stoic; it was and is.  

I can't wish I could go back to these times, because wishes do not come true.  

I can't relive these moments but I can revisit them.

I can remember the moments and see, for a fact, I had friends.

And at least, for a small amount of time, I cracked a smile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

Birthday October 2001 "Weird"

Birthday celebration #4!



This was a weird one.  The cake was good and colorful.  I like that blue and yellow frosting look and taste.  I also really like those orange plates.








What kind of birthday punishment was this?









Thanks for oddly causing me to smile, Ryan.

And you smiled, too.  :-)

Birthday October 24, 2000

This was taken October 24, 2000 at the parents house.

You can't notice it but I worked hard to lose all the weight I had gained almost a year earlier.

During that time, I did lose a lot of friendships because of being so isolated due to recovery.

But, I still had my urgency's to celebrate.

Sure, I didn't know what or why, but I wanted to celebrate.

Birthday from '98 and '99 were more memorable because I saw faces, I felt energy.

Here, I did feel family.  And that was an importance I didn't understand.

Yet, without family, and my sister's, Leilani wouldn't have shaved and etched her artwork in my head,

like she's done all through high school.

I didn't feel embarrassed when I was with my siblings or those other elder individuals known as moozzah and foozzah, but, where did all my friends go?

october joint birthday party #2 1999

Cue Memorable Birthday Number 2!!

This is my and Gribble's 2nd Hotel Birthday Party we had, in a row.

This time, we allowed the girls to stay the night, so we got a suite with an adjoining room for the sleepers.  A nice suite it was!  Big living room, plenty of space for attendees.  

My great friend Sarah showed up!!  Alicia squeezed me.

the fun began, oh, i don't know when but it got crazy!  

5 men in a tub!

11 on a couch.

There's the girls!

3 men in shower!

Ryan Ryan Ryan.  Bad Ryan!

Outside the bath room, there was relaxation.

One of the group pics had, oh wow!  Are those Knox's?

Thad!!  Thad came with us for our 2nd Annual Midnight run!  When we got back it was chill time.

I was so tired by this point.  It must have been around 5am with the caped hero.  We filmed a short movie that started a larger movie, "Smith and Wesson".  By this point, all feeling, all nerves were totally depleted.  I remember standing and laughing with Jessica and all of a sudden I was on the ground, at the base of one of the display trees in the foyer.  I blacked out.  I got myself up and everyone was like, 

"Jered, are you ok"?  and I said, "yeah, why"?  "Blood.  There's blood all over your leg".  My fall sliced open my shin and I felt nothing.  I couldn't feel when I was standing.  I couldn't feel when I fell.  And I couldn't feel like showing it.  I was soooooo happy to see so many friends come to my party with Gribble.  

I knew what the odd tingling but no sensation meant.  The brain swelling was too extreme.  And if I had mentioned it a month ago, our party wouldn't have taken place.  And I knew that.  So I withstood the pain, etc.  Why?  So I could live now.  The day after the Suite and Hotel, at the dinner table I told my father, 

"I have no feeling".  

And hospital round 3 soon incurred.  

a hah!  but not before breakfast at the near by McDonalds across the street from the Holiday Inn Hotel party we had!  Dan, you got my Michigan hat on, man!  Oh, but I got the Squash Cannon's shirt on.

october joint bday party #1 1998

6 months and new living.  but with restrictions.  like that stopped me.  so as i was 
introduced to the youth group that embraced me back into their realm of religion, i sort of didn't fully realize who they were or remember who they were, but i still embraced their friendships.  and i was alive to see a birthday.  so with this kid, gribble, who also had a birthday in the same month as mine, i wanted to throw a hotel party.  so we went and shopped the hotels, etc.  

i've always dreamed of doing this in highschool.  actually there was a time where me and my boys checked out a room at a hotel and by the time word got out, we showed up at the hotel and there were about 30 cars filled with our "friends" wrapped around the hotel complex . . . . . . . along with 3 or 4 cop cars.  me and (to keep his name clear i will name him "nikidaka") just drove past each of the cars, said our "wassups"!  and jetted.  no hotel party.  fast forward back in time,

so me and gribble decided that the holiday inn would be fine.  we invited our youth group friends.  and to our surprise alot showed up.  as you can see from the pictures, we did various things such as welcomed some of the girls of the youth, who did not stay the night.  smart for them, ahhh but wait till the next year's hotel party (details to come).  we hooked up the game systems and played, etc. ate: pizza! 

THEN i was feeling crazy.  this is october, end of the month, and it was around 1130pm.  i couldn't sleep.  none of us could.  and i was remembering that when i was in the hospital, just months ago, i was freakin' naked under the bed sheets, and freezing!  i mean, what the hey!  but my nerves have been so damaged and depleted i can hardly feel temperature or pain or touch (this will also be explained from the next years hotel party).  so i said,

"hey boys, let's do a midnight run”.  

“where to”?

“anywhere, let's just get out”

"yeah"!  

we took off everything but our boxers or shorts and tenny's and circled the hotel, ran down neighborhoods screaming with laughter and frigidness, ran through gas stations still open asking for skittles!  we made our way back to Holiday Inn, back to our room, and continued the craziness. I believe my dad and gribbles dad were the only adults that braved the night with us boys. In the morning, we took a group picture. Smiles, friendships, yawns, readiness for the next years.

But … … that would be the last due to abrupt health issues . . . . . . . . . 

Saddle Up

Saddle Up Your Horses, We Gotta Trail To Blaze!

I remember this was the theme song for the Super Summer camp.  I don't remember me smiling a whole lot but that was because my sister, Leilani smiled all the time!  Straight teeth.  Great hair.  Taller than me.

Anyways,

This is a great picture of friends to revizit ... ... ...

Try to guess the year?