Never change for other people

This past weekend I had the pleasure of going to Jacksonville, Florida to watch my cousin, Luke Stamper get married to a beautiful girl, Alana.  It was truly a fun experience for me especially because I was able to spend a lot of time with my family.  While the 9 hour drive down, and sharing a tiny hotel room with my Dad, brother, and sister wasn't the ideal of mini vacations, most of the time was spent laughing our asses off.  Everything from sharing laughs with my Uncle Johnny and Aunt Cherry Lynn (who by the way misspelled her own name when being interviewed at my book signing), to making fun of my brother's hair with my cousins Greg and Melody.  We even got the opportunity to spend some time at Neptune Beach.  That was the first time that my family and I had been at a beach together since I was 5 (1988 at Myrtle Beach, where I accidentally mistook the huge swimming pool we were at for a toilet!!).  I know this isn't a typical post, given the recent ones I have written, but I wanted to write a quick note about something my father and I shared over breakfast on Sunday.  It doesn't matter where we are, at home sitting at the kitchen table or at a wedding reception with a table full of strangers, our family prides itself on always being ourselves.  We won't ever change the way we are just because we are around people who don't know us.  That's something to be proud of since most people are so worried about how others will perceive them.  So what if we laughed a little too loud or made fun of the way we talk.  We had a hell of a time and that's something no one can take from us.  What a wonderful weekend and congratulations to Luke & Alana Stamper!!

Well....I can say that the only downfall was Dad waking us up Sunday morning at 6am pouting because he didn't want to be the only person awake.  And HOW CONVEINANT was it that the fire alarm....JUST SO HAPPENED to go off 2 minutes later....hmmmmm....nice one DAD!!