Last week my brother learned that he has type 2 diabetes. This is a little scary to me, because diabetes runs in my family and that increases my risk of getting it.

My mother was diagnosed with type 1 when she was 19 years old. She now has a lot of medical problems from being diabetic for so many years. There are also several other family members that have become diabetic over the years as well.

So far it looks like me brother will be able to just watch he’s diet and everything will be fine.

My grandfather, Edgar M. Seward, has always been Grandpa Briggs to me. Briggs is the nick name he was giving, as a young man, after Brigham Young. I was told this is because he was quite the ladies man. He has always been a special person in my life and is someone that I hold much love and appreciation for and always will. Grandpa Briggs has been such an important person to me that I gave my son, Quincy, the middle name of Briggs.

Grandpa always had a way of making us grandkids feel special and loved. Everything was always fun when he was around. Many years ago, when I was in junior high school, I noticed something amazing about my grandfather. I was just sitting there watching him and the other adults interact with all my younger cousins and I realized something. While all the other adults where telling the kids to “do this” and “stop that”, grandpa was just letting the kids be kids. As long as they were safe, grandpa just let them have crazy fun. He also always worked hard a making sure you laughed and laughed a lot. Goofy sayings, silly jokes, or just a poke in the ribs coupled with a strange sound. He had a whole arsenal of fun ready to launch upon you at any giving moment. I think his favorite was to point at your chest and then poke you in the nose when you looked down at his hand. Wither we were at his house, our house, or on a family camping trip, Grandpa just knew how to be a kid right along with us.

My other fond memories with Grandpa Briggs are of when he would take me fishing. He loved to go out in a boat and just fish. And I loved it because, once again, he would just let you be a kid and fish like a kid. He didn’’t have the need to tell you how to do it or what you were doing wrong. He’d help you when you needed or wanted help and just let you do what you needed to do the rest of the time. Of course, the arsenal of fun would be ready and used quite often as well. It was always a fun time.

Grandpa Briggs went through some tough times in his live, too. He crushed his right hand during a crane accident at the coal mine. And over the past several years he has battled emphysema. A few weeks ago he was diagnosed with lung cancer.

Grandpa Briggs passed away earlier this evening. I will miss him so much.

Well, I thought I’d give an update on how the New Year resolutions are going.

Loose weight - now that my companies’ huge annual conference is over the stress and work load have subsided and I have started eating better. So far it’s going well. I’ve lost a bit of weight and am still loosing it.

Art - I have not started painting again, yet. But, I have started drawing some. I’ve been using my PDA and a paint program to do some sketching. It suprisingly works pretty well. I’ve ever started posting my sketches online. I’d like to do one sketch a day, but that doesn’t always work out. Maybe when it gets warmer out I can step out a lunch and find a place to do a quick doodle.

Family fun – a couple weekends ago we all went to the Chicago Shed Aquarium. Quincy had a really good time. We took his cousin, Ashlynn, with us. We also signed Quincy up for a T-Ball class on Saturdays starting in April. Him and I went out last weekend and bought him a groovy red baseball glove. We also went to the theater and watch “Pooh’s Heffalump Movie”. He loved that.

So, I guess you could say…so far so good.

The other day the family went to Sam’s Club to do a little shopping. When we entered the store there was a stand with an old lady giving out free Sam’s Clubs cookies. So, my wife picked up a M&M cookie for Quincy. He happily sat in the cart and nibbled on it. A little while later, Quincy held up the remaining part of the cookie, which was exactly half gone. He then proceeded to tell me how it looked like the letter D and said…

The letter of the day is D. D. Da. Da Turtle.

I guess he must be watching the Chicago version of Seasame Street.