Reagan wrote this letter to his wife on their 20 year wedding anniversary:

Transcript

State of California
GOVERNOR’S OFFICE
SACRAMENTO 95814

RONALD REAGAN
GOVERNOR

My Darling Wife

This note is to warn you of a diabolical plot entered into by some of our so called friends – (ha!) calendar makers and even our own children. These and others would have you believe we’ve been married 20 years.

20 minutes maybe – but never 20 years. In the first place it is a known fact that a human cannot sustain the high level of happiness I feel for more than a few minutes – and my happiness keeps increasing.

I will confess to one puzzlement but I’m sure it is just some trick perpetrated by our friends – (Ha again!) I can’t remember ever being without you and I know I was born more than 20 mins ago.

Oh well – that isn’t important. The important thing is I don’t want to be without you for the next 20 years, or 40, or however many there are. I’ve gotten very used to being happy and I love you very much indeed.

Your Husband of 20 something or other.

Today, Rachelle and I have been married 6 months. Over the next 19 & 1/2 years I’m gonna give Reagan a run for his money.

**This letter was obtained from www.lettersofnote.com

After a mere two months of wedded bliss Rachelle & I found out we were pregnant.

Being a parent was something I wanted, but hadn’t planned on for awhile. I figured I’d have a strategy, maybe read a few books, get comfortable wearing high socks & short-shorts, you know Dad stuff.

Its been a wave after excitement & new found pride. It’s also been a bit of holding back. Pregnancy doesn’t equal baby and I’ve had many friends who have gone through the heartache of miscarriage. I’ve been fighting an urge to be thrilled only because I don’t want to get my hopes too high.

There are many things I am, but worrier is NOT one of them. If anything I lean a little too far the other way.

But I do care deeply for my wife and hope she & the baby will be healthy.

We find out what it is on Monday.

I pray to God that I won’t suck at this.

As I’m engaged in the process of blowing my enemies up online, I hear a funny noise. I turn my head and immediately realize the source of racket. There sits a mouse, staring at me like he knows he just made a HUGE mistake. I begin running scenarios in my head on how to handle this….

There’s one, but are there more? I need to get him out of here but can he get back in? Should I just make a run at him now and try to pick him up? ugh, I’ve got to quit this round on xbox and I was on a 9 kill streak. I can’t wake Rachelle up, she needs her sleep. But I need to turn some lights on. CRAP! he just ran under the bookshelf, fast little sucker. I should’ve thrown a shoe at him.

I spent the next 20 minutes trying to get the mouse out from behind the bookshelf, he just wasn’t having it. Of course I had given thought to move the bookshelf, but its secured into the wall by screws. Its now almost 1:30am and I’ve had just about enough of this. I decided to wake Rachelle and ask permission to remove the animal by force. She was hesitant at first, but the possibility of a rodent scurrying into our bedroom and spreading its disease ridden filth into our living space was all the convincing she needed.

As you will see in the video, the space is extremely small, there is no way to reach behind the shelf and grab or attack anything hiding back there.

I loaded my Savage .22, bolt action rifle with 1 round,

asked Rachelle not to scream,

took aim,

apologized to the mouse and to God,

and fired.

As you can see from the footage, Rachelle’s initial reaction was less than thrilled. But given the options, she realized it needed to happen. He died a quick death and peace was restored to our home.

**Please note that every precaution was taken through this process. I am a firm believer in RESPONSIBLE gun ownership. My rifle is a small caliber and is kept under lock & key at all times. As far as discharging a firearm indoors, this incident took place in a basement, the angle at which the gun was fired was in such a way that no penetration could occur.

Just like that.

I started this blog when Rachelle and I got engaged, that was a very short year. A year of stressing, planning, and reckless spending and I am now happy.

The Wedding day was beautiful and rainy. Aruba was like medicine. This whole thing of marriage, its been a real learning experience. People are shocked when I tell them “we’ve never lived together”. It is as if 2 people could never get married unless they tried to cohabitate first. Preposterous.

Some of it is certainly… compromising… to say the least but overall wonderful. Placing the toilet seat in the “down” position has now become second nature to me.

My heart is full. God is good.

update: emoticons are lame. I apologize.

Such was the case with our “Real World Ecclesiastes” series at True North. A 4 week look at a king who had it all and still found that life was meaningless.

This was my favorite series this year second only to “I Love the 80′s” in January.

Nick Zarzana painted an amazing mural that was hung in the lobby and auctioned off for $750 at the end of the series (all profits going to Love146). I’ll be sure to post pictures of that as well.

The music was a huge WIN. In week 2 we covered Coldplay’s “Lost!” and “Viva La Vida” in week 4.

At Elevate (our Sunday eve service) I commissioned Rob Merkle, our SPD to play a makeshift timpani we had created (a kick drum gaff taped to a keyboard stand).

I could not have predicted what happened next…

I always hear parents say that everything changes (emotionally) when you have kids. That its this unreal experience, like a paradigm shift. I hope that when the day comes all of that is true, but I hope it lasts as well.

There’s a nursing home for kids really close to the hospital. These are kids who need direct medical care 24/7. Most can’t walk or speak, many of them have contracted limbs, traches, and feeding tubes.  Many times when the kids get sick, they come right here. I always wonder what they can process, can they hear me or understand me now? will they forget it in 5 seconds?

This picture was taken in November, this little guy was brought to the hospital for a high fever. For a kid needing medical care he was a rowdy one. So much so that the staff had me sit with him just to keep him distracted, the iPhone kept his attention for a bit but a few seconds later he be squirming and pulling at his trache. In fact the only thing that really kept him sedate was my beard. He would touch it and pull at it, completley fascinated by it. When his care nurse came into the room she explained his story a little better.

His family lives in Brooklyn and wanted a place for him stay that was cleaner then NYC facilities so they brought him to Long Island. His father is orthodox Jew and comes to visit about once every 2 weeks. This explained his obsession with facial hair, it reminded him of Dad.

I can’t imagine what it must be like to have a child and then send them away because you are unable to properly care or provide for them. Even though I don’t have kids and maybe I can’t “understand” just yet, I would still want my child to know who I am and that I care deeply for them.

I want to live as the example set by God, accepting, faithful, and true regardless of my kid’s situation.

Enough of my rambling, go home and hug your kids.

Rachelle and I had our engagement party last week. It was a lot of fun and really encouraging; people were super generous. I guess folks around here know what a NY wedding costs these days. I still wish we could an outdoor wedding with Hibachi chefs.

The pics are available courtesy of Keith Wick & Tyler Cordaro, these guys do a phenomal job AND they’re fun to work with.

I’ve been having so much fun with the 80′s series at True North, we ran “footloose” about 10 times last night. Its also the first time I’ve worked with Joe and Josh Morin from Edison Glass, I just hope they can last a 5 service sunday.

keep shredding.

We spent a great day together on the east end and on top of the Montauk lighthouse I asked Rachelle to be my wife.

since then everything has been falling into place.

We have a wedding hall and honeymoon destination (courtesy of some great friends) all planned. Thank God for so many blessings in such a short amount of time.

I can’t say for sure why, maybe its because in that moment their reaction is so unnatural its humorous. Knowing that you have the drop on someone is definitely half the fun.

Its kind of like that feeling when you play hide and seek (or now the more fashionable “manhunt”) and you find that perfect hiding spot. People are so close you could reach out and touch them, yet they don’t suspect a thing and suddenly you get the overwhelming urge to pee.

Of course some react differently than others. For example….

I’m curious if a reaction like that is based on temperament, fortunately I’ve never been assaulted while scaring someone. Though I have gotten the urge to throw a punch on more than one occasion after being spooked. Most recently while entering through the back door of my church, a friend of mine was waiting for me in the kitchen. He leapt out from behind the partition and screamed “BALLS” right in my face. I didn’t make a sound, the only words I could get out were “you suck”.

Considering all the times I’ve startled people I’m probably lucky I don’t get pranked more often. My girlfriend knows me best, If I’m ever at her house before she gets there, she’ll approach the house (expecting me to be crouched in the bushes) shouting “where are you dopey”.

I have one friend in particular who spooks easily. Probably because he just never expects it. I’ve waited around corners for him, sneaked up on him in public, and even hidden in the back of his truck.

this is Dan…

So how about it? Any good scare stories? videos?