By Michael Neufeld The progression of divorce forces mean a starting over, seeking a new beginning, and requiring rebuilding relationships with children, renewing their spirituality, and the redirection of personal priorities in life. No matter what cultural background, maturity range, salary scale or religious conviction, divorce can be overwhelming, demeaning, financially draining (especially if you are providing child support and or alimony), and an emotional roller coaster that never seems to end.When searching for direction and purpose through this challenging time, the best guide is to look at yourself from the inside and figure out what is really important to you. Reflection can refocus your life, and provide comfort and solace. Having gone through divorce, it forced an understanding on what I need to improve in myself, not focusing on the faults or shortcomings of others. The thoughts and emotional turmoil of blame, anger, self-pity, shame and pride have been discarded and are distant memories. As a divorced father I questioned how can I move on with my life, amplify my priorities as a man and still be in my daughter's life being a positive force, these are my focus points.This Fathers Day instead of focusing on you as a father refocus on the responsibilities of being a father. Renewing and recharging the commitment and covenant you have with your children. Children are a blessing. Children are not commodities to be traded, fought over, or bargained for. Their well being should be placed first during this time of upheaval and emotional stress. Children do not cause divorce, but are directly affected by it. Fathers Day is for divorced fathers also because of the hard work and sacrifices that we make to stay in our children's lives. No one can take away from you that you are a parent and aid your children's growth in dynamic ways. We may not be physically in the home, but our teachings, modeling and prayers are present in our children's life. Our essence of what we are is shared within our children. Our first responsibility that we must continue to teach our children is to be respectful in order to get respect, the importance of education to obtain a career, provide for oneself and family and to keep family as a priority. In being fathers in our actions and duties, our children will follow as we set the example of behavior.We must also direct our daughters to be independent thinkers and aspire to be self supportive, not leaning on being reliant on any man to always provide for them. Our daughters will seek a man similar to our actions, demeanor and emotions even if it is self-destructive at times. We set the foundation on whom they will look for in a mate. We must teach our little girls that they are empowered with dreams and aspirations to be successful and can be. Our ultimate goal is for them to become responsible adults. You are one in many ways with your children. Some of these ways are visually evident and some ways will show themselves as your child becomes an adult. Through our lives we as men and fathers have obtained wisdom that we should pass on to our children. This Fathers Day and beyond be the father your father may not have been to you, be the dad that your children can be proud of and seek for guidance. This is your day to be recognized and no one can take that from you. Starting over is not easy, but the path can be much straighter, peaceful, comforting and less challenging if we recognize our priorities first and continue to do the right thing by our children. Divorce is not the end of fatherhood just a new beginning and an opportunity to grow. God Bless the divorced fathers, we are still fathers and dads in our children's lives, but must stay involved, concerned and in seek wisdom and guidance.

We are in need of chicken crumble, cracked corn and financial donations.The pigs, geese, ducks, swan and chickens are being housed at AWL.The animals are on hold, pending a court case.Donations can be dropped off at the shelter.Visit the Animal Welfare League website for more info.

CCCGC (Charlotte County Computer Group Corporation) will be providing training in the area of Learning XP, E-mail and Greeting Cards. This course is presented on June 30 between 6:30-8:30 PM.

CCCGC (Charlotte County Computer Group Corporation) will be providing training in the area of Digital Archiving Workshop. This course is presented on Jun 10 between 6:30-8:30 PM. These courses are provided free-of-charge for members. To signup for these courses, visit the CCCGC course information website: http://www.cccgc.info/ or visit the office for additional information. Many of these courses are continuous, allowing for a better fit into a busy schedule. The courses were designed to meet the needs of all age groups. If you would like to be a member of CCCGC (Charlotte County Computer Group Corporation), Yearly membership is $35.00. Each addition family member $10.00. We provide free computer self help through classes as well as presentations. Check our website for directions and check for other events: http://cccgc.net/. We are located at: Charlotte Country Culture Center, 2280 Aaron Street Port Charlotte, Florida 33952. (941) 625-4175 ext 244Posted by Carl Foreman

Some one was giving my gut an indian burn. It woke me up. At 2:45 a.m. Sunday morning. I did the moaning thing for a while, but finally got up and took a whopper pill. You know the kind that you save up in the corner of the medicine cabinet "just in case"? This was the case. The pill put me out all right, but by morning I was moaning and whining again. Whenever I moved, or didn't, volcanic fires would light up and radiate up, out, sideways and down. Not necessarily in that order so I could be prepared. No, it seemed pretty random after the initial eruption, which occured when I sipped liquids, or didn't; ate, or didn't; moved, or didn't. At 9 a.m. Monday morning I was on the phone, or at least trying to be, to the doctor, or at least her office. The telephone tree ordered me to listen to 3 dozen irrelevant instructions before telling me to dial 3 to urgently see a doctor today. I dialed '3'. I "waited a moment, please" while I was transferred to yet another machine. I told this machine how I was feeling and how that machine could reach me. I waited until 11 and called again, leaving the same message. I waited until noon and called again, finally reaching a poor lonely human trying womanfully to to a 3 person job alone. My doctor could not see me but the physician's assistant could. Was that all right? Well, if the p.a. can prescribe indian burn and volcano killers, it sure is. Pain adjusts attitude. I will see whomsoever will stop the pain. I arrived a touch early and got right in to see Darren, who spent about 20 or so minutes prodding, poking and checking for indian burns. His questions circled around then began tightening in on the matter of a possible this, that, or the other. An ultrsound. That would tell us the news. I was shipped off to the hospital 'stat'. He actually said it! Just like on TV! It would have been so cool, if my insides were not being wrenched in an indian burn again. The hospital parked my car. I was kind of embarassed. If you saw my car you would know why. But they really did, just like on TV. And with me too miserable to play my role right. I did however have the proper drops of sweat on the brow and upper lip and just the right clenching of the teeth. I think my makeup was all wrong, though. People kept thinking I was really sick. But that little trick got me in fast. Either that or they really did think I was even sicker than I thought I was. Nicki invited me back to ultrasound and rolled the little knobby thing around my abdomen over and over again for ages. At least the gel she applied was warm, this time. I waited while they read the pictures, but they must not have gotten good enough ones, because Nicki told me to wait right there until Johnney from nuclear medicine could come and get me. Next thing I know I am flat on my back, strapped to a table. Johnney says he is going to inject the dye, then tells me the test will take one to two hours. I can't believe my hair is so gray a hospital is going to color it from the roots out, so the dye must be for something else. A large machine glurbs and glumps up and down back and forth. I hear him calling to make arrangements for someone else to pick up Jason. So now I feel guilty, too, especially as it seems to become a bit of a problem. A lion is stalking my insides now. His talons dig into innards, he purrs for a while then chomps on my stomach. He roars through the intestines, raging, growling and grumbling, then down to a purr again. My legs start to twitch. I can't help it, I have RLS. Yes, it is real. I have had it since childhood. My restless leg jerks and jumps unceasingly for the last 40 minutes of the test. Back in the waiting room, I wrapped up in one of those blanket sheets you find only in hospitals and waited for the results, as ordered. Misery makes you do that. I could vaguely hear discussions about people who had already left for the day, then was told to go home. At least they weren't going to make me spend the night, which I half expected when they slapped the plastic on my wrist. I paid the guy $5 in embarrassment money to drive my car to the hospital entrance, and drive very carefully home. Tuesday goes by with continued misery slightly abated by the little purple pill and Gaviscon by the cupful. No messages from the doctor, or from Darren the p.a. for that matter. Wednesday I call and ask if there are any results from the tests. Mary finally calls with the news that my 'hi-do-scan' was negative. Since I thought I had an ultrasound and an MRI, I am really confused. Mary is unable to tell me what a hi-do-scan does when at home, so I am at a total loss. I guess I will have to wait until Friday morning at 8:30 a.m. to find out. In the meantime, my back still hurts, the lion roams, and the indian burns continue. I can't wait to find out what new and exciting phase of medicine I am about to discover.