RussellD

On the surface it was just another day.  I'm sure I attended school that Tuesday at Buffalo Elementary.  I would have been in the 4th grade, Mrs. Linda Clippard's class.  She was, is, and will always be my favorite teacher.  For those who are my age and older, Oct 25, 1994 was the beginning of a 9 day journey that took small town South Carolina to front page USA. By now, most of my friends and family have probably figured out what I'm writing about.  That night a young mother named Susan Smith reported a car jacking/kidnapping in my hometown of Union, SC. Her story was that, while stopped at a red light in Monarch, a black male approached her car, with a gun and ordered her out of it.  He jumped in, and sped off.  For 9 days, our town, our state, and the nation held its breath...waiting, hoping, and praying that those boys would be alright. I remember it like it was yesterday.  The news reports, the scenes of men and women on horseback, on foot, and with dogs, combing thr

In the weeks and months leading up to my first child being born, I wrote letters to him.  Before I even knew the gender of the baby I wrote to "it".  I wrote about any number of things, the most popular topic was about family members.  I told him about each of my parents, his mom, my best friend (Jon), Kacey's parents, and even his two grandmothers on my side.  Since he arrived in late July 2012 a ton of changes have come our way.  Along with those changes there are the challenges of raising a son, work, school, football, and life!  So, I haven't had time to write much to him.  That changes today: Joshua, It has been a really long time since I sat down and actually wrote anything.  I miss writing to you, but, I have not forced myself to take the time to do it.  Today is Oct 1, 2014.  You are 26 months old and just last week you found out you were going to be a big brother!  At first you were excited, now, I think you're realizing the attention won't all be o