Anniversary at the OK Corral

Big day today as we celebrated my in-laws 50th wedding anniversary with a surprise party at their church, First Baptist of Damascus.  My father-in-law is the pastor there, and the congregation surprised them with a big celebration with many of their friends and family.  They didn't get suspicious until the guests started arriving during the church service this morning.  Some were from out of town, and a bunch are not regular attenders of their church.  But they were surprised up until this morning.  My daughter, Melody, and I didn't arrive until just after noon, after the service, but it was great to see all of the people that came to help them celebrate and recognize 50 years of marriage.  That's an accomplishment in this day and age, even if it shouldn't be.  It was a great day.

After the party broke up, some of their close friends remained to help clean up and chat, and Melody and I joined them.  In fact, we didn't head out until almost 7:30.  Because we spent the whole day there, we didn't get a chance to celebrate with my sister, Angie, on her 43rd birthday.  For anyone interested, she is indeed still single!  We hope to celebrate later this week with the whole family.

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I'm fascinated by Old West stories, and Wyatt Earp has been one of my interests.  I'll stop short of calling him one of my heroes, mostly due to his questionable history as a good guy, but he is best known as the most well known "character" of the tale of the Gunfight at the OK Corral, in Tombstone, Arizona.  Several movies have been made about the incident, and about the man himself, Wyatt Earp, and his friendship with Doc Holliday.  One of my favorite movies about this tale is TOMBSTONE, starring Kurt Russell as Earp, and Val Kilmer as Doc.  My introduction to the story was the movie, GUNFIGHT AT THE OK CORRAL, starring Burt Lancaster as Earp and Kirk Douglas as Doc.  My Tivo DVR recorded another of these movies, the John Ford directed MY DARLING CLEMENTINE, starring Henry Fonda, one of my favorite actors, as Earp, and Victor Mature as Doc.  I'll provide a review in a future blog post.

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I'm celebrating another milestone, though it's just a small personal one.  Let me first say that I really don't pay much attention to who reads this blog.  I know of some who do because they've told me, including several from my church (shout out to Rick, Bob, Bob, Leeann, Sean, and Julia - thanks for reading!!).  I'm thankful that there are those who enjoy what I write.  I enjoy writing, and this blog has become a labor of love.  Today I turned over 100K views.  When I started writing this blog, I had no clue that there would be anyone who might read it.  More amazing to me is the community that exists and welcomed me into their fold, particularly those who are in the local community (Howard County and the Hoco bloggers).  In addition, I'm thankful for the friends who support my writing with their feedback, which I appreciate so much.  Mostly, though, I'm humbled by the support that you all have shown me.  A blog is many things:  entertainment, information, personal editorial, opinion, joy, satisfaction, and community, to name a few.  Those who write blogs take a leap of faith that what they write will find an audience, and if not, at least it will satisfy an itch.  That's been my take.  To see that so many have actually taken a glance at my writing is an incredible honor.  Thank you for reading.

Have a wonderful evening, everyone!