Life's too short and precious..

This morning I opened my e-mail and almost choked on my juice. The headline read that Anthony Burger, one of the Gaither Homecoming artists, passed away suddenly of a heart attack while playing for the Gaither Homecoming cruise.

I don't think any of us were ready for this one. At least when I lost my dad last year, I was prepared for it.

Anthony was one of the artists I was friendly with. He was always good for a hug whenever I would see him at a show, or Praise Gathering, He supported me when my dad passed, promising that the Gaither gang would be praying. And, he always acknowledged and supported my work for musicians. One of his favorite things to say to me was "If Wendy married Anthony Burger, she'd be Wendy burger." Always got a good laugh out of that one.

Let me share the story of the attached picture. I was at the Dallas Homecoming two years ago. One of the things I hoped for was to get a picture of me, Mark Lowry and Taylor Mason together (I already had one of Anthony with many of the other Burger buddies). Taylor was very kind to pull this together for me. Sue Carlson volunteered to take the shot, and as she was about to, Anthony walked by and we pulled him in (for those who don't know Anthony, he is standing on the right in the shot) . It happened to be February 14, so my joke for this picture was that it was "my three valentines".

I don't usually celebrate V day--but that year, I did.

There are countless other memories to share in this five years of fandom. You can find some of those sprinkled throughout Gaither show-related trip reports in the fans section of www.wendyv.com. I hadn't seen Anthony in a year and was really looking forward to doing so in May. Needless to say, it will be very different at the Target Center this year.

Thanks for everything, Anthony, and go rest high. I hope you'll introduce yourself to my dad.

A very successful day!

Ever have one of those days when everything actually works? I must say, today turned out to be one of those.

I did not look forward to going out in -25 wind chill to my local Firestone at 7 a.m. to get my car brakes checked out. My brake light came on last week and I was prepared to have my brakes replaced on my 10 year old car (The one with the 15,000 miles. Yes, you read that right.). I thought that would take more than an hour, so I would either have to bus or walk to my haircut appointment about 10 minutes away at 8 a.m. Well, they decided a little brake fluid would do the trick because my brakes weren't worn enough to warrant replacement. So I saved $200 and drove to my hair appointment.

I got to the hairdresser and got my hair cut in a spiky hair style. I've been working up nerve to do this for weeks. It looks like the top of a little pineapple--kinda cute.

My next stop on my agenda was to get new eyeglasses. I decided it was high time for my next eye exam, plus I wanted more "chic" frames to go with the new 'do. I waited about 45 minutes for the eye doctor to show up, and read a Readers' Digest issue while I waited. How apropos for it to have an article which says "your eye doctor can tell by looking in your eyes if you might have diabetes, high blood pressure or cancer". I started to have second thoughts about this whole thing. I was nervous enough because the last time I was checked, my right eye pressure was slightly elevated. But then the doctor showed up, so I decided to go through with it.

Everything checked out well, I needed only a slight adjustment to my prescription and I got a great deal on glasses. Even better news was the right eye pressure was normal. I had that higher reading about three years ago when my eating/exercise habits were less disciplined. I attribute this improvement to cleaning up my act, eating and exercising better and taking a supplement with lutein which promotes eye health.

That appointment got done just in time for lunch...after which I got a parking space close enough to the upscale grocery store. I decided to shop there this week now that I had some extra bling. I didn't deviate much from my usual grocery order and it turned out not much more expensive than Rainbow or Cub (our discount grocery stores).

It was a very successful day!

OK, so I've been lazy...

OK, I admit it. I got a little off track with my walking training. I got too distracted with the job change and other things going on. But now I am back in to some routine. My pedometers are still a bit off, so I wasn't sure just how much distance I was getting indoors.

I decided to go with buying a couple of Leslie Sansone's walking DVDs. They are broken down by miles, so you can at least measure some distance.

The first DVD I bought has a 1 mile and 2 mile program. My goal is to alternate those for a week, then try to do both together. I also ordered another 3 mile tape, which should be here in a week or so.

The MS Walk is up to 9 miles. I may decide to do 6. So, right now I'm looking at this as two 3 mile walks. Hopefully by the time the end of April rolls around I'll at least be averaging 3 miles a day.