Zack and our doctor, Dr. Bill Couch, on arriving back from the Savior's Sons Guatemala Mission Trip in August 2003. You can contribute to Zack's Mission Scholarship Fund, so other young men can go in the future. See information on the sidebar on how to help. 

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More pics from the trip - with Kevin and Kerri Henson; with more of the Savior's Sons.

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Zack and Tom Oldham, back from the trip. Tom wrote a song for Zack that he sang at the "Toast to Zack" in October of 2003. It's called, "Ode to Zack." Tom is a very talented writer and a good friend.

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Tom singing at the Toast.

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The Savior's Sons at the building site - Quiche, Guatemala, August 2003. Zack is on the middle level, in a white tee shirt and hat, to the far left in the picture.

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Tom leading the Savior's Sons in a modified version of "Ode to Zack" at Zack's funeral, January 2, 2004. We will always remember and appreciate all that they did for us and for Zack.

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May the Farce Be With You

Ariel, P.J. and I went and saw the new Star Wars movie this evening. I remember standing in line for an hour and a half with Christie Webb, in the hot Dallas sun, just to get a ticket to see the first one. It was worth it though. It's fun to tell young folk that back in the day, Star Wars had cutting edge special effects. I love to see their face. I really appreciated this episode because it explains how Anakin became Vader and other interesting details. I thought it told the quintessential story of good vs. evil, and on so many levels and in such a way that you could interpret it to fit your world view. The bad part was that I kept having smart alec thoughts at just the wrong times. I think I've watched too much MST3k. These things just come unbidden to my mind - I keep most of them to myself as I don't like talking during movies. I used to share them with Zack, since he had a great appreciation for the twisted. For instance, when our family was at the theater seeing "Titanic" years ago, right in the middle of the sad and serious part where Rose is floating on the raft, with bodies all around her, I leaned over and whispered to Zack, "Bring out your dead!" - a quote from Monty Python. He gave me a look, 'cause it just didn't fit the mood; however, he did laugh - quietly. I try to be serious, honestly - being a smart alec - it's just a gift. This evening, just to continue family tradition, I did tell Ariel one or two. She had a few good ones herself. Quietly.

When our family saw the last two episodes in the theater for the first time, Zack was always there with us. I missed him being with us and felt nostalgic for those times but it wasn't the gut wrenching, heart hollowing sadness I've experienced on other occasions, like Ariel's pageant last year. I just remembered the times we shared with great fondness. I love Star Wars, but have a feeling Heaven has it's own cool special effects department.

During the show, I thought of the many times Zack, Ken and I (and sometimes Arie) would watch one or another episode. I remember all of us watching the first 3 movies (Episodes 4, 5, &6) back to back on a Saturday afternoon/evening. Great fun. Zack loved Star Wars - had two light sabers, Star Wars Monopoly and a talking Yoda. Thought of Zack when I saw a new light saber at Best Buy the other day - it was totally cool. It lights up, makes the noises - I thought about getting it for my nephew-in-law's Birthday last month, till I saw that it was $120. Then I thought, "Love ya, Cecil, but it's not going to happen this year."

So tonight, now that we're home, Ariel, P.J. and I are going to watch Episode IV, A New Hope. After that, we're going to watch Spaceballs - another great Sci-Fi movie. So as I said in the title, May the Farce Be With You. In other words, the galaxy may be under attack and evil may have seemed to have won, but there's no reason you can't just have a good laugh, too.

I used to have a "What Revenge of the Sith Character Are You?" quiz in this space. I have since discovered that clicking on another quiz at that site has launched some ads. I'm removing the quiz so that you won't make your computer vulnerable to any spam that might come along with the ads. If you still want to take the quiz, go to QuizFarm.com - just be warned that many of their quizzes, while interesting also are risque and could be offensive. I don't endorse QuizFarm.com as a site. Proceed at your own risk.

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