A Day in the Park

The entire family took a visit to Hidden Valley Park about a mile from our house on Saturday. This has been Christian's favorite place to play for over 2 years, and now it has become Reagan's favorite place. She just LOVES swinging on the baby swing. She smiles and giggles while Rhian swings her back and forth. Christian and myself had fun on the see-saw and swinging on the "big boy" swing.

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Happy 96th Birthday Pap Pap!

Some of you are thinking, "Wow! George looks good for 96, must be all the exercising!" But he is not the Pap Pap to whom I am referring. I'm referring to the person who Karen and I affectionately called Pap Pap, Joseph Sharp, Dad's father. If he were still alive, he would have been 96 this past Saturday. He taught me how to fish and was the first person to tell me how brave I was when I snagged a fishing hook in my back when I was 5. A few other of the countless fond memories that I have of my Pap Pap are sitting with him on his porch swing having a sip of his Rolling Rock beer, helping him get weeds out of his garden, and of course, the now infamous Sharp wave. I'm sure if he were to here today, he would proudly tell each one of us "You're no dummy!"

At top is a picture of Pap Pap and myself at Spark's in 1972.

Below is what is believed to be the first video ever of The Sharp Wave, taken in 1964.


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Summer Around the Corner?

Sunday marked the unofficial beginning of Summer as The Atlanta Sharp's (minus Karen, who was at a soccer game) had our first get together of the year at Mom and Dad's house on Lake Jackson. Dad had a lot of work done since last year. Several trees were taken down for disease and it has made the view of the lake and the house much better! It was a beautiful day, sunny and in the mid 70's. Christian hung out with his Pap Pap on the dock and caught a fish. He even kissed it! He REALLY enjoyed himself. He just loves being with his Pap Pap and his cousin Kyle! Reagan really enjoyed being outside. She was very content hanging out with her Grandma. Bear, the neighborhood dog, paid us a visit. Dad and I (mostly Dad) fixed the dock for the Sea Doo. Rhian got to relax and I got to take the Sea Doo out for a spin. We all had pizza and spaghetti and had great conversation. Looks like it's going to be another great year on the lake!

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Rhian & I's 16th Anniversary

Most of you are thinking, "They haven't been married that long, have they?" The answer is, of course not. Thursday marked the 16th anniversary of Rhian and I having formally met. It was on Good Friday of 1992. Rhian and I had seen each other at church (we both attended Sts Peter & Paul), as well as on the plaza of Georgia State University, where we were both students. We never spoke to each other until that fateful day, when Rhian and I happened to be standing next to each other, waiting to cross Courtland Street, going from the University Center to the Plaza on our way to our 10:50 classes. I'm not sure who spoke first, I think it was me, but I know the conversation went in this order "You go to my church." "Oh yeah, you go to my church!" I then asked her if she was attending stations of the cross, which I was planning to attend at Sacred Heart after class, to which see responded "No, I'm a heathen." I wasn't sure how to take that, if it was her polite way of saying she wasn't interested. I'm not sure how the rest of the conversation went, but I do remember sitting in class thinking how beautiful this girl is, how she had a wonderful accent (which sounded British to me at the time), how there is no way I could ever get a girl like this, and how it was wrong to be thinking these things when I already had a girlfriend. I had put these thoughts in the back of my mind by the next day, until I walked to the same 10:50 geography class and saw, on the chalkboard in big letters, "Meet me after class. Rhian." I was pleasantly surprised and couldn't wait for class to end. She told me about some project for a biology class, and that she needed an angiosperm, which she would explain to me was the scientific name for a pine cone. I told her there was a park close by (Hurt Park) and that we could go look there. There was no place on campus to look (Georgia State is known as the concrete campus), and I knew there's always trees at a park. What she didn't know at the time was that I knew we wouldn't find any pine cones there, it would just be an opportunity for us to spend some time together. It was wonderful just being able to talk to her and get to know her. The more we talked, the more I realized that she was as beautiful on the inside as she was on the outside. My preconcieved notion was that a girl this beautiful (any girl) had to have at least a little conceit, but she had absolutely none. The great thing was that she was genuinely interested in me. I would soon ask her the question that would be the key to knowing that she was the one for me. Mind you, at the time, I was really into dressing grunge and had long hair that was shaved on the sides. I asked her what kind of music she liked. She at first told me that she listened to a little of everything. Wanting a little more detail, I asked her what her favorite group was. Thinking I was into hard rock, she reluctantly told me Depeche Mode. What she didn't know at the time about me was that they were by far my favorite group at the time. I had all their albums and singles. I told her they were my favorite too and she couldn't believe it. I knew she was the one then! Shortly after this, I would be put to the test. Rhian invited me over to her house to meet her mother. I didn't know what to expect, but I found her to be a very nice lady. (Are you reading this Madre? :o>) She would ask me if I could take the trash that was in the kitchen downstairs to the garbage. This was a no brainer! Of course I took the trash down! I have to make a good impression, right? :o) Needless to say, I passed the test. As I spent more time with Rhian, the more I realized how much I loved being with her. We would get engaged Thanksgiving of that year and eventually be married 2 1/2 years later.

I'm a 4th Degree Knight Now

For those of you that don't know, the Knights of Columbus are the largest fraternal organization within the Catholic Church. KofC I have been a knight for over 2 years and I am currently the financial secretary for Council 10497 at Corpus Christi in Stone Mountain. We provide a lot of charity work as well as offer life and health insurance to members and their families. If you ever see a pancake breakfast or a fish fry after mass, there's a good chance it's being done by the Knights of Columbus. Saturday, I officially became a 4th degree knight with the Knights of Columbus. The private ceremony took place Saturday morning with a banquet on Saturday evening. It was a formal occasion, meaning I had to wear a tuxedo, as you can see in the pictures. It was a very wonderful occasion, as Rhian got to meet a lot of the people with whom I have been associated an had a really great time. One of the benefits of being a 4th degree member, is that now I can participate in ceremonies where I can dress in full regalia as part of the honor guard. In fact, there will be over 200 Knights participating in a ceremony with the Pope when he comes to America.

It Was 22 Years Ago Today

It was 22 years ago today that I joined the United States Air Force. It's hard to believe it's been that long! I could have been retired for 2 years now. But, of course, my whole life would be different. Having been a medic, I'd probably be in Iraq or Afghanistan right now. Even worse, I would have never met Rhian and had 2 beautiful children. (I know it's sappy. :o>}) It's a funny story how I ended up in the Air Force. Well, it's funny now, but not so funny then. (I'm sure Dad would agree!) After high school, I had earned a scholarship in soccer to Armstrong State College in Savannah. Being 18, on my own with 5 other guys from Atlanta on scholarships, with nobody telling me I had to go to class, nobody telling me I need to study, I obviously wasn't mature enough to handle this situation. I finished the year with 32 quarter hours due to dropping one class and failing another. I wasn't too worried, because during my senior year in high school, I had taken what was known as joint-enrollment English, which was an English class taught at the high school by a college professor. It counted towards high school hours as well as college hours. I was under my own false impression that these hours counted toward my scholarship. 36 was required, so the 32 I had earned at Armstrong along with the 15 I had earned in high school gave me 47, so I was good! Or so I thought. Stupid me never verified this, and the requirement was 36 hours in a school year. Unfortunately, I wasn't made aware of this until the middle of August, a week before I was due back at school to train for soccer, when the coach called and said I hope you're taking a class. If not, I no longer had a scholarship. I was afraid to tell my Dad this, so I waited until the day before I finally told him. (He did find it odd that I wasn't making an effort to get ready). I told him that I could attend Armstrong, but I'd have to pay for tuition and could train with team, but couldn't play because of the lack of hours. He had already committed to paying for Karen's school since she was starting at West Georgia College, and wasn't prepared to pay for me as well. He had counted on my scholarship and I had messed that up. He tried in vain to find a local college that I could maybe get a class, but it was too late. He wasn't about to have a son living and working at home, with no real prospects for going to college. Especially one who had blown a great opportunity. The only choice was the military. I had scoffed at the idea immediately after high school. I had thought there was no way I was ever going to join the military. Now I had no choice. Having been a Navy man, the first place he took me was to the Naval recruiter behind South Dekalb mall. There I met a recruiter by the name of "Pac-Man", who of course was highly interested in recruiting me. I told him my goal was to get a job in meteorology (weather), and he told me that they didn't have that kind of job, but should find something I like. He had me take a pre-test for the ASVAB (a military entrance exam) and I got a perfect score. He started salivating and told me I need to go into nuclear engineering. I thought to myself, that sounds hard, and it is nothing like weather. I told him I really wanted to do weather, but he just kept trying to sell me on nuclear engineering, telling me that there was a lot of money to made once I got out. Really wanting to do weather, I asked him if any other branches offered weather, and he relucantly told me the Air Force did. It was next door, so off I went, and met the recruiter by the name of Tech Sergeant Alford. He was more laid back, and shared with me all the info about the Air Force, weather, and the requirements. He set me up to take the ASVAB, where I scored high in all areas. I still remember my scores believe it or not. I got a 93 in Administration, a 94 in General, a 98 in Electronics, and a 79 in Mechanical, which qualified me for every job the Air Force had to offer. I went ahead and signed up and got my physical in October of that year. It was at this time I tried to get weather. There were no openings in weather, so I ended out going into what was known as "open general" (since weather was in this category), meaning you selected your job choice in order of preference (a dream sheet) when you reached basic training, and wouldn't know if you got it until a week or so prior to leaving basic training. The requirement to get into meteorology was only a 38, so I figured with my 94 in General along with the fact I had taken a meteorology class at Armstrong, (and it was my only A grade), I was golden. Nobody was going to be more qualified than me! My dream sheet had my job choices in this order: meteorology, computer operator, computer programmer, photographer, and air traffic controller. I was told specifically that Air Force needs would supersede my needs when it came to job selection. As it turns out, my 94 kept me from getting into weather, and put me in aerospace medicine! I had no clue what this job was, but it turned out to have the toughest requirement score-wise, and the tech school had a high washout rate, so I fit the Air Force needs perfectly. When I reached tech school at Brooks AFB in San Antonio, I learned a lot of valuable information that I still carry today. When I called my mom to tell her everything I was learning, she thought I was going to be a doctor! :o) It was really hard too. You had to score 80 or above on all 7 tests to pass. You were allowed to "fail" one test. If you failed two, you had to meet with head of the school and he would determine if you could stay or be "washed out", meaning you were given another job, and sent to another tech school, usually it was security police. I had failed an earlier test, and I scored a 78 on the last test before the final. Fortunately, I had done well with everything else and was given one more chance. I scored a 97 on the final and was able to graduate! I ended up at Moody AFB in South Georgia near Valdosta. I tried to cross train into weather after 3 years, but there were never any positions available, and not wanting to make the Air Force a career as an enlisted man, I got out after my 4 years of service. Like my Dad, I got an honorable discharge! I spent 4 great years with great people. I learned a lot, and I grew up a lot. I know I had let my parents down by losing my scholarship, but feel I redeemed myself somewhat having spent 4 years growing up and being successful in the United States Air Force.