2008-2009: David Graduates WKU & We Visit the Tundra
Ebb and Flow of Life
2008 was a rather quiet year for us, compared to the year before and the year after.
Travels
2008
We went to Keeneland on April 20, 2008, to celebrate our birthdays with the Rardons. David was writing a story about Grand-Dad and the shop for a school assignment. He wrote notes while we were at Keeneland. Then, when we went back to Tony and Lauren's house, you all sat on the deck and you recorded his stories on tape. I treasure that now that Daddy's with you.
We went shopping in Cincinnati and had dinner at Dave and Buster's to celebrate David's 21st birthday.
And, of course, we took the annual Rardon family trip to Gatlinburg.
We ended the year with a bang. The kids' big present for Christmas 2008 was tickets to Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field. We drove up on Friday, December 26th and stayed in the Tundra Lodge - a hotel very similar to Great Wolf Lodge. On Saturday, we toured the city and took an informal tour of the stadium, where they gave us a "pom-poms" with a scraper as the handle to scrape the ice and snow off the steel bleachers. Then, we went to the Green Bay Pro Shop to buy fan stuff and souvenirs. The game was on Sunday, but I didn't go because it was so cold. (That's a family story as well.) We ate dinner at Brett Favre's Steakhouse. We took a formal tour of the stadium and the Green Bay Hall of Fame on Monday and had dinner at Curly's Pub within the stadium. We began our trip home on Tuesday, December 30, and stopped in Chicago to eat dinner at Harry Caray's on our way home.
2009
We went to Disney World in August 2009. We began traveling on August 8. You always drove, because you said it was relaxing. I always thought it was just you being a good husband and Dad!
We went to all the parks and Downtown Disney in a week. The luxury of being young!
Sunday, August 9 Animal Kingdom with dinner at the Rainforest Cafe
Monday, August 10 Magic Kingdom, where we got to be artists for a time
Tuesday, August 11 Disney Studios, where we got to see the differences from MGM Studios
Wednesday, August 12 EPCOT, where we toured the world and it's food offerings
Thursday, August 13 Downtown Disney, where we shopped
On Friday, August 14, we made the trip back. I don't know how you drove all that after such a week. You are definitely my Super Man!!!
School
David graduate from Western Kentucky University in May of this year. He got a position with a radio program out of Shelbyville right away, but quickly realized that a large part of the job was sales and marketing and that it was all sales and marketing at the beginning. He talked to you about his life plan as he always had. You were such a mentor to our children. Your role as their father was role model perfect!! We both agreed with his decision to move out of radio/communications. So, he used the English courses in his undergraduate program to apply to the MAT program at University of the Cumberlands, where I had just begun in the School Counseling program. He began in that program in Fall 2009.
You were always my biggest cheerleader. After I finished that Ph.D., you drove me to Midway and Lindsey Wilson sites all over the state to obtain experience in higher education. Then, you drove me to University of the Cumberlands one day in February 2009 to interview for a full-time position. You watched ball practices all over campus while I traveled from the School of Education to Academic Affairs to other offices. I don't think you ever quite knew what all that meant to me. You always said I was the "wind beneath your wings", but I think you were the same for me. We were quite a team!! It was this interview that began my path at UC. I will forever be grateful for the support you were for me throughout all phases of our journey. I love you so!!!
I am a school counselor turned counselor educator, professor, and author helping educators and parents to build social, emotional, and academic growth in ALL kids! The school counseling blog delivers both advocacy as well as strategies to help you deliver your best school counseling program.
I'm a mother, grandmother, professor, author, and wife (I'll always be his). Until October 20, 2020, I lived with my husband, Robert (Bob) Rose, in Louisville, Ky. On that awful day of October 20,2020, my life profoundly changed, when this amazing man went on to Heaven. After Bob moved to Heaven, I embraced my love of writing as an outlet for grief. Hence, the Grief Blog is my attempt to share what I learned as a Counselor in education with what I am learning through this experience of walking this earth without him. My mission is to help those in grief move forward to see joy beyond this most painful time.
