MY ROOTS

 

Back in July I took a road trip to my father’s home town of Blue Rapids, Kansas. It was more of a side trip on the way back from my main destination of the Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum. So on whim I drove a little out of my on my way home. I found the little cemetery the first Kratochvil’s to come over my there Czech homeland are burried. It was fun visiting this place and got 

me a little more connected with my past. I also visited my grandmother and grandfather and some other relatives in another cemetery.  

The Story of Us

This would’ve of been mine and Christina’s 18th wedding anniversary today. So I decided I would shqre our story. I first met her on the night of December 20th 2006 at my church helping with our annual Scrooge play. I was asked to be the head greeter that night at the last minute. At the time I was working the weekends so I didn’t get to go to Sunday services to often. That was about ready to change because I finally listen to God and was starting the weekday shift at work in a couple weeks.  A couple of weeks later she started going to my small group that I led. Soon after that we started running to each other in random places. I would see her at the grocery store or the coffee shop I frequented and any number of 

places. One of the favorite memories I have of this time was having a home made pizza party qt my house with some of my friends. Of course she and her kids were invited.  After everyone else had left we stayed o my front porch for a couple of hours and talked. This would become a theme of ours. To his day I love to hang out on the front porch!  It took me six months to finally get the courage to ask her out.  I actually did it through an email.  I have recently found the email! I am glad I have it now.  We went to see the movie Even Almighty. This still one of my favorite movies because of this.  Even after the movie and I had a taken her home we went for a long walk by her house. From then n we were either talking on the h

phone or hanging out at each others house or other places almost nightly.  It wasn’t me dating her, but I was dating her family, my future family.  I knew within a couple of weeks that i wanted to marry her. Her family even kept hinting to us that we should get married. My daughter had already picked out their rooms in my house! In early October we had gone to Taco Bell and she found a taco sauce packet that said will you marry me.  She joked to me about, but I kept that packet.  Then the that same week she found a wedding ring at Zales that was on clearance that she really liked and pointed out to me if I ever asked her to marry her, this would be  ring she would like.  That was it for me.  There were just to many hints t finally ask her to marry me!  So on October 12th of 2007 I did here on this very blog.  So you actually go back to that post and see how I did it. let’s just say I used that sauce packet to do it! And her family was so

very happy that she said yes, especially her dad!  It wasn’t to long after that that she and the kids moved into my house, We wanted to make sure we setting a good example for the girls so we had a Godly courtship.  We had different rooms until qfter we were married. Christina wanted a winter wedding and        

                                        
hopefully a white one. So we had to plan a winter wedding in a short time span because we didn’t want to waite another year.  So January it was.  nd we somehow pulled it off, with just a ew hickups along the way.  We even managed to have a little snow on the ground on the day of the wedding.  So on January 

26th of 2008 I got the privilege of marrying my Snow Princes.  She didn’t want me to call her my Snow Queen because she said that gave a connotation of being evil!!! So Snow Princes it was.  The ceremony was the most important thing to us.  I wasn’t just marrying  her, but I was marrying her family. With that 

mind we made sure they were part of the ceremony and I said vows to them also and gave them rings. They became my kids and not just my step-kids. this was very important to us to be united as a family. We had our ups and downs over the years.  Mainly it was me falling short with some issues, especially

financial things.  There were even a couple of times she thought about leaving me and I wouldn’t have blamed her because of these things.  But we made that commitment before God that we would trust Him and stick it out.  By far the toughest years were the last couple we had together. This was when Christina 

was having kidney failure and all that went with this. It was not only rough on her, but on me also as her care giver. It was tough on our relationship also.  Honestly I don’t know how we got through it at times.  But once again we stayed the course and we made it through until the end.  I can’t tell you how rough it was to see her suffer qnd not be herself in those years. But God gave me the strength to the strong one for

her through it all. But these were also the years thqt we gained a daughter in-law qnd five beautiful grandkids! So it was not all bad.  I wouldn’t change a thing over the last 19 years. Well maybe a few things I could hqve done better!  This  was our story and Ilove telling it, even the bad parts. But if I wouldn’t hqve said yes all those years ago for a simple request to serve my church, I would hv never met my family!

                                                                 The actual sauce packet

The night we met 

                                                                         My email

My Latest Brthday

I had my 56Th birthday over the weekend! I had. Good time with the family on Friday night with a family dinner. Of course if you know me I insisted on having my favorite food: pizza! My favorite part of the meal though was a peanut butter cheese cake that my good friend Ruth made for me! Saturday morning I 

Started the day off at my home away from home: Circle Coffee Shop or as i call the shop. They took great care of me as usual and wouldn’t let me pay for anything! They even put a candle on my piece of strata! I then got to watch my two oldest grandsons play there basketball games. I promised a friend that I would do something fun for myself so I went to the Air Combat Museum in Topeka. I had been meaning to check it out for years and for some reason never got around to it until now.  It is well worth the time! I finished 

day out by getting a smash burger at my usual Saturday night dinner spot: the Thursday Night Club or as friend calls it the Churb! Sunday I decided to travel to Manhattan and try the Pizza Ranch. My late wife Christina had wanted to take me there a couple of years ago, but she had gotten sick and we never made it 

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back to try it out. So I did finally make it there on Sunday! So I finished my birthday weekend the way I started it off by eating pizza! ‘TILL NEXT TIME!

THE GREATONE

 

FINDING MY WAY

Man Against the World-Survivor

Have you ever walked the night alone

Like a man against the world?
No one takes your side,
A boat against the tide.
When your faith is shaken,
You start to break,
And your heart can't find the words.
Tossed upon the sand,
I give you a man against the world.
All the people cheer till the end is near
Then the hero takes a fall.
They'll drag you through the mud.
You're only flesh and blood.
Oh I've walked the path from dark to light
And have yet to come to terms.
Alone I take my stand,
I'm only a man against the world.
*But love!
Like a distant reminder,
It tugs at my shoulder,
It calls me home.
I shout!
Can a single voice carry?
Can I find santuary,
Within your arms?
One day when the answer's clearer,
One day when I even the score,
You'll reach and you'll find me with you,
Right beside you,
Forever more!
But for now I walk the night alone,
Like a man against the world.
A brand new day will shine,
Through the avalanche of time.
Though the road is long,
But the feeling's strong,
And the fire within still burns.
Alone I take my stand,
I give you a man against the world

This hs been one of my favorite songs since I was a teenager in the ‘80’s. It always resonated with me. I always felt back then, and for years that I was alone in the world. Sure i had friends and family, but I ever really let anybody know the real me. I don’t even know if I even knew the real me. I always felt like the outsider when I was out with friends. It didn’t help I was extremely shy, especially around women. So I dated very little and just drifted from one friend group to another, depending on what I was doing in life. Sure i had people I was close to at times,but they  always seemed drift away when my circumstances changed. One of my reactions to this was just drinking a lot. For years that is how i hid my insecurities. Things started to change somewhat  when i found the Lord again. I let Him in, but still nobody else. I didn’t think they would accept the real me, a very flawed person who was still embarrassed about his past.  Then I met my future wife at Church, I would never had met her I didn’t listen to the Lord and changed a few things in my life.  Once we really started talking after our first date, and it took me six months to ask her out, i knew she was one. I could tell her anything and I did. I let my walls down and let her inside and that was it for me.  I proposed three months later and three months after that we were married. It was a whirlwind few months. The last seventeen years flew by. I never thought she would go before me until she did.  Now once again I find myself were I started, alone in this world and once again this song seems to fit me. I am struggling in finding my pace and people once again. I know I am a father and Baba to five wonderful grandkids, but still I struggle to feel seen. I know eventually I will find my path again, I just don’t know what that will look like. ‘TILL NEXT TIME.

THE GREATONE

FATHER’S DAY 2025

 

This Father’s Day was a little bitter sweet as I conquered the first holidays without Christina. So while it was nice being with family, it still wasn’t the same.I am slowly adjusting to my new reality though. That is for another post though. So back to Father’s Day. The top picture was that last picture i had with my dad. I think this is the only picture i have of just me and him, certainly as adults. this picture was taken after i had just graduated from KU in the spring of 1993. About six months later we loose him to heart attack. He was the first tough loss of my life, but not the last unfortunately. I was closer to him the next six months than the previous 23 years before that. I am so thankful for that time i had with him at the end. I still miss him and wish he could have known my family.  ‘TILL NEXT TIME.

THE GREATONE

Road Trip

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I went on a little road trip this weekend. This was my first trip since I lost Christina three months ago. My cousin Mitch’s  son Zack got married.  That is him and his new bride Ashley during there first dance. You can actually see me in the background.it wasn’t too long after this that I almost had a break down. The whole trip just brought up a lot of emotions for me, but it was a good trip. I needed to get out of town so it helped me in that respect. I think i am going to start taking more day trip or just short weekend type trips maybe to different history museums, especially air museums. But we will see how it goes. This was at least a little step forward and i needed that.  ‘TILL NEXT TIME.

THE GREATONE

The River

 

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What a couple of weeks of rain did for the river. The top photo was a couple of weeks ago, the middle one last week and the bottom one was today.  As you can see in the third photo the river has gone some also. This area has become one of my go to places lately. One of these days i will explore some of the  walking walking trails around this area.  For now i a just content at just looking at the river. To me it is just peaceful and relaxing and lately I haven’t had a a lot of peace in my life lately. ‘TILL NEXT TIME.

THE GREATONE

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