Monday, March 1, 2021

Meant for Each Other

This little saying was found on my Facebook feed and it reminded me of Carroll so very much. I truly don't think that I will ever meet another person quite like her which makes her memory that much more special to me.

My late wife and I finished each other's sentences. I always told folks after she passed that it came in handy when the brain tumor she had started taking it's toll on her. One of the symptoms that her tumor showed was something called aphasia, which was her not being able to say a word although she could see the word in her mind and knew it's meaning. You know when you say that a word is on the tip of your tongue? This was the real manifestation of it.


As for being able to finish each others sentences, I was driving with her and one of her friends. They were talking about something and I was half listening. Carroll was speaking and got to a spot where the aphasia kicked in, and without missing a beat snapped her fingers in my direction, I spoke the missing word and she kept on with the conversation. It was moments like that where I knew we were truly meant for each other.

Monday, September 14, 2020

That First Meeting

Eighteen years ago, I met the most wonderful person in the world and somehow, strangely, she felt the same way about me. Two years later I would ask her to be my wife. All on this day of days, it is shared with the birthday of my mother and little brother. Mom's still here but little brother and Carroll are up there with the angels, burning our ears.

James Carroll New Year's Eve 2002


Friday, August 9, 2019

Ft. Worth Brain Tumor Walk 2019

Though I haven't walked in the last four years due to running a business, I will be available to walk this fall in honor of my wife. Of course, I've got to get back into shape. I didn't realize how out of shape running a business would put you, but it seems that that exhaustion that you feel is not the right kind of exhaustion.

The Ft. Worth Brain Tumor Walk takes place Saturday November 2, 2019 and I hope that some of you will be able to join me and Lilly. Follow the links below and we hope to see you there!

Ft. Worth Brain Tumor Walk

By clicking on the above link, you can join the walk, join our team - Team Kiwi, or just donate to me - James Pickering, the team - Team Kiwi, or to the walk itself. If you have any questions, I'll be glad to help.

Wednesday, June 5, 2019

Off The Beaten Path

I love watching some of the videos from CBS News Sunday Morning. The minute or two of a nature scene with no sound but the rustling wind and bird calls are so calming. This one was more of a informational nature video about the byways of America. After watching it, I was reminded of all the times that Carroll and I would do our best to get off the beaten path. There is always so much more to see at a slower speed than what you can glimpse at seventy miles an hour.




We loved to watch Texas Country Reporter with Bob Phillips (now he's bringing along his wife Kelli) and we even had a atlas that they had put out (I think TCR did it) with every Texas road, farm-to-market and wagon rut that would support a vehicle. The word vehicle was used very loosely to accommodate many types of conveyance. With the help of that book, we got to see Texas fox hunts (coyotes filled in) and dinosaur tracks and so many other sights.

This summer I hope to introduce my daughter to some of these amazing scenes by riding the roads like me and her mama did. And mama will still be there with us smiling down and enjoying the ride.

Friday, March 22, 2019

Getting back to work on what matters

So for four years I tried my hand at running my own business. Now that I've closed the shop, I have more time to work on something that I've been neglecting in the past and that is writing about my wife and raising money to fight these blasted brain tumors. It seems everywhere I turn, they are the cause for someone losing a life. Within a week of each other, I witnessed the passing of a good friend who was there when Carroll was sick and the passing of another friend's mother. I'm tired of this being "normal" news. I'm ready for a cure.

Please join me in the fight.

And stay tuned for more stories about Kiwi. I promise, I'll write more.

Help us find a cure!

Monday, July 17, 2017

Getting Back to Remembering

I've been so busy with my comic book store over the last three years that I've neglected this website and I'm sorry. The whole reason for doing it was to give me a place to collect memories of Carroll and maybe Lilly would use it later for a place to learn more about Mama, as well as you folks.

It was ten years ago on July 14th that they removed the mass in Carroll's temple. I thank the skill of Dr. Cattorini for helping give my wife two and a half more years to live. May 10th would have been her 45th birthday. January 30th would have had us celebrating our 12th anniversary, she would have eaten birthday cake with Lilly on her 7th birthday January 2nd, and of course, it was four years ago on February 3rd that she went ahead of us. I hadn't really thought how I say that until I saw it in print. She left us. Sounds like she did it on purpose and we all know that is not the case.

Anyway, I happened to be cruising my Facebook feed and came across this video. The song is one that I played at the funeral. It was a favorite of mine and Carroll's and it's where Carroll resides, somewhere over the rainbow.

The story behind the singer is tragic and lends to the solemnity of the song. In the video you can see how much the singer was loved and how many people turned out for the ceremony interning his ashes to the ocean. Beautiful song, beautiful video.

Tuesday, September 8, 2015

Dallas-Ft. Worth Brain Tumor Walk 2015

Yep, that’s right. It’s been a year. This will be the our third walking without Carroll, but we know that she walks with us in spirit. I’ve been lax in getting this info out, so I’ve gotta step up my game a little.

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I’ll try to keep this as simple as possible because the website is still a little hard to navigate. Even for me. There are several ways to participate. You can join the team and walk with us. That means you pay $25 and you get a page to gussy up real pretty and send the link to all of your friends and try to get them to donate, then you walk with us. Or, you can be a virtual participant. This is for those that can’t be there to walk with us, but want to help out in the fundraising department by having a page that they can send all of their friends to and collect donations. You’ll get an event t-shirt just as if you were at the event. You can just donate to the team or me, either one. If you donate to me, it is added to my funding goals. I set them a little low this year due to me running a full-time business and wrangling a kindergartner, but it can always be raised. And you can also just donate to Team Kiwi itself. And the last option is to just volunteer. It doesn’t cost anything, you get a cool volunteer t-shirt and you get to help out in a great cause.

So, if you would like to join TEAM KIWI, volunteer or donate to the team, then click TEAM KIWI.

If you would like to donate to my page or join TEAM KIWI, then click JAMES PICKERING.

I’m hoping to have another great turnout as we always do. If you’ve got ideas for ways to raise money, feel free to share them on the Facebook Page - Dallas/Ft. Worth Brain Tumor Walk - Team Kiwi. If you’d like to be on the mailing list, send me your email to walkwithkiwi (at) maildrop (dot) cc. If ya’ll don’t know how to turn that into an email, what are you doing on a computer? lol Seriously.

Love to all and let’s start raising some money!