It’s a Part of Me that tells You…oh, Don’t you ever – Don’t ever Say Die

What a wild week it has been for the Scheu’s! I had good conversations with both my brother and my mother. I am thrilled to hear that Aunt Dorothy is back at home in Lafayette, though not yet in her house…but at least she is close. I am told she is doing better now and that is great news for the matriarch of the Brown branch of our family tree. Rob & Sharon seem to be living life to the fullest, which is awesome for those two – they deserver it! They will be joining Mom & Dad in sunny Florida for the Super Bowl, even though the big game is up here with us…what’s up with that? The debate over internet censorship continued in the government arenas even though the SOPA & PIPA bills have been mostly defeated. You may have seen some of the petitions I was involved in on Facebook. Several sites went black in protest (wish I had been aware of what they were doing, as I would’ve shown my support as well). The FBI and other agencies have already begun shutting down several file-sharing web sites and prosecuting the owners of the domains. This, in turn, triggered retaliation by some anonymous hackers that took down the websites for the FBI, Justice Department, Universal Music and others! This is basically the record companies’ latest attempt at stopping what they consider piracy. It all began when I was younger and they tried to say that recording the radio was ruining their business. It will be interesting to see how it all plays out. On another note, we have gotten so much precipitation this week! What would normally have been a foot of snow for this time of year instead has come to us in the form of about 5??? of rain for the week and some flooding as you might expect. Matt had a huge week of wrestling as his season winds down. Abby is getting in to the swing of things with her basketball team and her dancing is also coming to fruition as the girls have begun gearing up for competitions in the very near future. We decided not to sign Lukey up for YMCA basketball, in lieu for the school’s program and then missed that deadline. So he will instead be wrestling. Ann got him signed up and his practices will be starting here shortly. Ann & I’s works continue to be hectic as only the healthcare field’s upper management can be. And Sandy & Maryann continued to do their part in helping us to get the kids where they need to be…where would be without those two?!
Monday started off cold and rainy and that really didn’t change much over this past week. As Matt was finishing up wrestling practice, Abby was starting her second basketball game in the Fieldhouse, where Matt’s team practices. Interest in the girl’s league has waned since last year. A year ago this time, they had 4 teams of 10 – this year; they have 2 teams of 8. Abby looked much better, as did her entire team. Granted, they have a long way to go yet, but this was at least a close game until the last minute of the 4th quarter. Bu was 1-3 from the field with 2 points. She had 4 rebounds, 2 steals, 1 blocked shot…well, foul I guess, but it was cool nonetheless. Her defense was much improved as she gave up only 2 points and that was on a fast break. She is setting more picks and even forced a turnover. She also handled the ball more, gaining confidence each time she does. We are trying to get her to shoot with her right hand. Since her accident last fall, she has had to re-learn to shoot the ball when she shattered her right wrist. Now that it is fully healed, she needs to work with it to build up her strength again, but right now it is easier to shoot it lefty – which is not always pretty… With the increased effort and successes, came a little more playing time for her and tougher defensive assignments. She proudly held her own, but ultimately her team still lost. Her short season is about half over.

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Tuesday was a touch warmer. We had nothing going on that evening and I was able to bust out a large batch of scanned negatives from that bunch that Dad gave me over Christmas. I am hoping to do the same thing this Tuesday. Luke got in some trouble at school, being accused of calling a child something naughty that we’ve heard here at home. He swears that he was misunderstood and his story has been consistent so we are actually leaning towards believing him…even though it is hard to when he tells all his stories like he does. The funny thing was that although the teacher made a huge deal out of this (it was really a small thing), he brought home an award for being respectful. WTH? I don’t try to understand this weird town.
You’ll never guess what it did on Wednesday. Yes, it rained all day. Well, it did turn to sleet later and then rained some more. Mom & Gigi watched the little ones as Ann & I left work early and road-tripped it down to South Dearborn high school. The wrestling team was dismissed from school early in order for the boys to make it to their make up conference tournament, where Matt was seeded 4th. He received a bye in the first round and then promptly lost to the #1 seed from the hosting South Dearborn team. He made one little (critical) mistake and the experienced, fast, strong senior took full advantage of it and pinned Matt in the first round. Ever the fighter, Matt battled back through the loser’s bracket. He pinned his next opponent (the Batesville boy from the “Hammer??? match) and then took 3rd place with a key win over a very good East Central boy. It was a squeaker of a match, coming down to the last few seconds with Matt holding a 1 point lead until he earned a takedown at the very end of the match and pinned the boy with four tenths of a second remaining in the match! This continues a trend we’ve seen all year – he doesn’t have many matches that are decided by points – he either pins his opponent or forces the other guy to pin him! After he jumped off the podium and snapped some pictures with Ann & I, he joked that he has the quickest pin this year (11 seconds) and the longest pin as well (5 minutes, 59.6 seconds)! 😉 He is now 22-16 in his varsity matches and 27-16 overall for his sophomore season – OUTSTANDING! One of Matt’s best friends, Joel, took 1st place. He is also a sophomore, so the team has plenty of potential for the next couple years.

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It was rainy and eerily foggy on Thursday. At about 2 pm, the visibility was only a couple hundred feet – really weird. It thankfully cleared up before we left work. It was a quiet night for us that allowed for popcorn and two nights’ worth of American Idle…and sleeping on the couch. Friday was the third anniversary of Ann’s 39th birthday. Ha-ha, I didn’t say her age, so I can’t be in trouble, right?! It was finally a little sunny, but even colder. That evening, Maryann & Sandy brought over Pizza King pizzas and cake & ice cream for Ann’s birthday party. Matt lead us in the death-march version of the birthday song – twice, after Luke blew out the candles! Ann at least looked surprised when she got her Kindle Fire. I was so mad when it showed up on the front porch and she beat me home and found it. Of course Abby blabbed it as they pulled up in the driveway with her superhuman eyesight abilities she exclaimed, “Look Mom, there’s a Kindle Fire on the front porch!??? Next year, I’ll have the presents shipped to my work! She has really enjoyed playing with it this weekend.

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We were up early on Saturday for Matt’s wresting sectional tournament in Franklin County. It was snowing as we began our journey but it turned to rain and continued all morning. Inside it was the same for Matt. He had a bye in the first round as the 5th seeded man in his weight class. Then in his first match, he was matched up against the same South Dearborn kid from Wednesday that beat him in the opening round. That kid came out strong and looked great again in his match against Matt, pinning Scheu in the first period. Taking a note from his amazing performance in the EIAC tournament, Matt did not give up and worked his ass off in the loser’s bracket. He started off with a forfeit and then had to face the host Franklin County man that had previously beaten him soundly, pinning Matt in the 1st period (this was also the wrestler who won Wednesday’s conference championship in the 220 weight class). This guy is a huge, hairy senior. But Matt – never one to be intimidated – went right at him and wanted it more then he did, turning in a dominating performance and a 1st period pin! That set up a rematch with the Franklin County senior – or more appropriately the rubber match as this was their third match in three days. I have said this to Matt several times though the years and found it to be true in my own experiences – that being, it is very difficult to beat someone three times in the same year (much less the same week) – no matter if you are talking about baseball, basketball, wrestling – whatever. It didn’t look good for Matt in the 1st period as he found himself on his back (a similar sight in his previous encounters with this man) – but this would not be his fate this time as he worked hard and eventually got out of it. He battled his way through the 2nd period and you could just see his confidence growing as the time elapsed. He would later admit that there was a point about midway through the 2nd period that he knew he was going to win. In the 3rd period, the older wrestler was very winded and may have faked an injury to get a reprieve. However, it also helped give Matt a blow as well and came out and pressed the issue, got a takedown and then gave up a takedown in order to reverse the man with his signature move, got him on his back and ended up pinning the senior and earning 3rd place at Sectionals!! This also gave him a berth in to the Regional tournament in Richmond next weekend!! I was so excited that I could hardly keep the camera steady, so I will apologize for the shotty camera work at the end. We are so incredibly proud of “The Hammer.??? …not just for his achievements, which are many (this is his 30th win of the season, overall!!!)…but it is the manner in which he holds himself. He does it with dignity and honesty – the right way. And that is what makes his parents proud of him – his character and sportsmanship. We came home to mostly sunny skies for a change. Matt needed a shower badly before we took him out to celebrate at Wings & Rings. We came home and I think everyone fell asleep early from exhaustion. That trend continued in to Sunday, when we slept in and then napped throughout the day, in between our weekly chores and watching the Pro Bowl, which was exciting – 41-59, AFC. It included some crazy stuff like onside kicks, fake punt, laterals, interceptions, a couple of impossible TD catches, scored 100 points which was a record for most points & most TD’s…it even featured a Drew Brees attempted drop kick!

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Here are this week’s four exciting home videos…well Matt had a couple of exciting matches as well as some others from around the internet:

Now let’s check out a quick Waybac section. Leading off are several crops of an old Leaf family picture from 1923, which includes the earliest picture I’ve seen of my great-grandma Morgan and the only one I remember of my great-great grandma & grandpa Leif. Included in the picture are (Great Grandma) Margaret Morgan, her brother Raymond Leaf, her sister Inez Felt, her sister Josephine Chumley, her sister Alma Snyder, her dad Gus Leaf, her mom Anna Leaf and her brother Owen Leaf. We also have more great pictures from Mom & Dad Scheu’s wedding in April of ’68. I love the one of Uncle Chuck escorting Granny & Grandpa Scheu down the isle…and of course Mom & Dad cutting the cake at the K of C’s afterwards…

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Wrapping up this section, we start with a couple crops of Aunt Sharon & Uncle Dan’s wedding day in December of ’72 and Uncle Vird & Aunt Belinda’s wedding day in August of ’77; then we move further south for a few pictures of Mom & Dad B’s honeymoon on their Caribbean cruise in ’78; and the last one is my little brother Rob about 32 years to the day – in January of ’80…only three months old but already fired up! LOL

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And that wraps up this week’s episode of the Scheu Family Blog. Thanks for keeping up with us this time out and we’ll catch up with you next time. Until then, have a good one.
Later, Scheu

1 comment to It’s a Part of Me that tells You…oh, Don’t you ever – Don’t ever Say Die

  • Mom

    Great pics buddy and great video. Abby, I can see improvement just keep on going!! Matt, wow what can I say..all I could think of when watching those videos of your last matches was “True Grit”! I could see the determination on your face and in your body language. You were determined to win!!! Great oldies pics also and the ones of the grounds and of the ocean were taken after we returned to Florida from our cruise and staying at the hotel. It was the Fountainblue in Tampa or Miami I believe. Dad probably remembers…I know it was in Florida and close to where we docked the ship. Looking forward to Rob and Sharon and the Super Bowl. I am rooting for the Giants. Love ya…..XXXOOO’s