Michael G. Fluck, our beloved husband, father, son, brother, uncle and friend returned to the loving arms of his Heavenly Father Friday, January 4, 2008.

The youngest of five children, Mike was born November 16, 1971 in Jersey Shore, PA to Roy and Phyllis Fluck. He attended Jersey Shore High School and graduated in 1990. After high school, Mike worked several jobs including a pizza parlor, nursing home and a nursery where although the work was dirty, it allowed Mike the opportunity to work with plants which he loved! Mike was a horticulturist in his heart – always tending and caring for flowers, plants, shrubs and trees. The more exotic the plant, the better!

Mike had many interests besides plants. He was also an amateur meteorologist. Mike was fascinated by weather and was naturally curious about what created storms and understood what barometric pressure is! There wasn't a weather station that Mike didn't want. If it was digital and told the temperature, wind speed and humidity, it was a must have!

Mike was a musical genius. Although he wished so much to know how to play guitar and piano, his music talents were in the history of music rather than the playing. Ask Mike anything about the music from the past 30 years and he'd know. Not only could he tell you who sung a song, but he could tell you who sung it first and what year the song was released. If Mike could have met Casey Kasem, it would have been a dream come true!

Mike loved gadgets. If it lit up, moved, involved massive amounts of bass, could be watched on the dash of his beloved Land Rover – the Titan-Mobile – it was a gadget that must be his. Mike loved his electronics and it didn't matter if the electronics were the newest inventions – the old standbys like transistor radios and vinyl turntables still had a place in Mike's life.

Mike was an avid fan of the Tennessee Titans. Prior to meeting Kris, he couldn't have cared any less for football. But Mike got caught up in the excitement when Nashville got their own team and before long he was a huge fan. If Mike could have anything, it would have been for Nashville to be beach front property and for season tickets to Titans games.

Yes, Mike had many interests that he loved but he loved nothing more than his family. Again, Mike and his gadgets, this time a computer and online chat introduced him to the love of his life Kristine Westover. Kris and Mike's romance began as the old fashioned tale of boy meets girl with a futuristic twist.  They met in a country music chat room on the Prodigy online service on October 10, 1995. Nightly chats quickly became routine as they discussed a common interest in country music and joked around in very similar ways. Nothing Mike would say could gross Kris out. He knew that as soon as he could discuss any type of bodily function with her, she was the girl for him. In February, 1996 they met in person for the first time. They spent 9 glorious days together touring the San Francisco bay area and playing at Universal Studios and Disneyland in Southern California. It had been Mike's first time on an airplane and his first time being so far away from home. Mike and Kris' relationship was met with serious doubts, especially by their mothers. Kris' mom thought that this boy from Pennsylvania was surely a hatchet murderer and Mike's mom was certain that Kris was one of those liberal feminist girls you hear about out in California, complete with tattoos and several body piercings.  Both were wrong.

In the fall of 1996, Kris' dream of moving to Nashville, Tennessee was realized. An impromptu job interview and subsequent job offer from the Opryland hotel found Mike returning to Pennyslvania to pack his things and return 2 weeks later to reside with Kris and work as a security officer.
Mike and Kris quickly made Tennessee their home. They welcomed their first "baby" – a Pekinese mixed-breed they named Jesse in October 1996.

Mike proposed to Kris on Christmas day 1996. On September 27, 1997, Mike and Kris were married on the front porch of an old southern mansion in McMinnville, TN. Later, they welcomed another new fur baby, a blonde tabby – Mike's "little man" – whom they named Garth.

Kris and Mike purchased their first home in LaVergne, TN in the spring of 1998. It was there that Mike, with great enthusiasm planted his gardens and set up a home that was officially "HIS". He took great pride in his home. In April, 1998, Kris and Mike added to their fur baby family when they brought home a shy white as snow little fur ball they named Rachel. Kris has always been an avid lover of animals and she was delighted to accommodate Mike's wishes for pets as all three were his ideas!

In the spring of 1999, through a lot of praying and hoping and luck, Mike was hired by Southwest Airlines. Mike loved his new career. From the beginning he knew that his career path had been set. He made many friends and forged relationships that could never be broken.

A year later, Mike chose to move his family to the Salt Lake valley in Utah. Kris' family had settled there after moving from California and were experiencing many difficulties. Mike was vitally aware of the concern his wife had for her family and made the loving sacrifice of warmer weather and his new home in Tennessee to relocate to the mountainous and barren deserts of Utah. Mike may have been fascinated by weather but he detested winter and all it brings with it. His willingness to be amongst the cold, wind and snow is a true testament to his character and love.

After 4 years of marriage, the only thing missing was children. Although they desired to start a family immediately upon marrying, Kris and Mike endured several childless years. Bad timing a part of it, but mostly health reasons prevented the children from coming. Their prayers were answered, however when again another Christmas day miracle in 2001 revealed that they would finally welcome a baby of their own in the late summer of 2002.

Michaela Kristine Fluck was born August 30, 2002 and it was the happiest moment of Mike and Kris' lives. Mike is a devoted father. His love for his little girl – his princess – held no bounds. Due to his work schedule, he had the unusual privilege of caring for Michaela during most days. This blessing of time with her Dad will be cherished always.

Fatherhood changed Mike spiritually. With the impending arrival of his daughter looming, Mike found himself investigating the LDS faith. He made the decision to be baptized shortly before Michaela's birth and on October 12, 2002 he entered the waters of baptism. His learning continued and a year later, Mike, Kris and Michaela were sealed as an eternal family in the Salt Lake Temple on Kris' birthday - December 2, 2003.

In 2004, Mike and Kris purchased their home in West Jordan, UT. They settled in with Michaela and their fur-babies where Mike continued to work for Southwest until his passing on January 4, 2008. Mike, Kris and Michaela were inseparable in life as they will be in death. His love for his family is felt daily and his family knows that they will be watched over. Mike will rest at the foot of a majestic mountain which Mike's mother-in-law refers to as "God's Mountain". This mountain is viewable from his daughter's new bedroom window. Any time she wishes, she need only look out her window and see that God's Mountain protects her Daddy.

Mike was welcomed into Heaven by his mother, Phyllis Fluck who preceded him in death on November 26, 2007. He is survived by his wife Kris, daughter Michaela, father Roy Fluck; brothers David (Cheri) Fluck, Dennis Fluck; sisters Sherry (Bill) Schaefer, and Shelly (Steve) Bechdel all from Pennsylvania. Mike is also survived by 10 nephews, 16 nieces, 4 grand-nieces and numerous cousins and extended family located throughout the United States.

Funeral services were Saturday, January 12, 2008 with memorial services held in Jersey Shore, PA on Sunday, January 20, 2008. Mike rests at the Larkin Sunset Gardens in Sandy, UT..

The family requests that voluntary donations be offered to Mike's daughter, Michaela Fluck in lieu of flowers.

For most of us who have parents, there will come a day when unfortunately we receive a phone call we don't want to hear. This phone call will eventually happen to us all, yet we prefer not to receive this call any sooner than we have to.

With great sadness and disbelief, I received mine Monday, November 26^th.

The day didn't start off that great to begin with. I called my wife to tell her I was on my way to pick up my daughter from school. She told me she was getting frustrated with her job, almost to the point of walking out. My wife is a woman with admirable work ethics and is dedicated to her job and her coworkers. I don't think my wife would actually just walk out of any job, so to hear her even talking like that, I knew she must have been having a really bad day. We talked for a bit longer. I told her I hoped her day got better and then I hung up as I approached the school.

On my way back home, my phone rang. I looked at the caller ID and didn't recognize the number at first, but noticed the 570 area code which was mine growing up in Pennsylvania. Who is calling me from there?

I answered the phone. It was my dad. He was calling from my sister's house. Oh yeah,, NOW I recognized the number!

"Mike.. Where are you at?" he asked. I'm wondering why he would be calling me simply to ask me where I am. "I just picked up Kayla from school and now we're on the way home" I replied.

"Are you sitting down?" he asked. "Yes, I'm in my car"..

"Well, I have some really bad news, Mike" I could already feel my heart beat faster, preparing for the worst. "Your mother passed away this morning".

"What?" I could not fathom what I thought he just said. "Mike,, mother passed away this morning" I had so many emotions immediately swell up inside me,,, one of extreme sadness, one of disbelief, one of denial, and one more where I just could not understand it at all. I felt myself shaking so bad, I almost drove off the road. How could this possibly be? She was only 70 years old. She had diabetes and high blood pressure, but both conditions were well managed with medication. I had just spoken to her 4 days prior to wish her a Happy Thanksgiving. She sounded just fine to me, giving me absolutely NO clue that that could even possibly be my last conversation with her.

Maybe I was a bit biased, but I considered myself VERY lucky to be her son. She was in my opinion, the greatest mother in the world. She had 5 children, me being the youngest one. It was obvious she loved each one of us dearly. Her and dad were by NO means financially rich, but they always made sure that we always had everything we truly needed. We were never without the basic necessities. Mom and Dad were quick to discipline us children. They wanted to make sure we grew up knowing right from wrong, But they were even quicker to forgive us for our mistakes.

I certainly did my share of bad things as a child. I poured Elmer's glue on the kitchen carpet, wrote with crayon on the living room carpet, put my fingerprints in a batch of Easter eggs mom had just made. These were just a few examples. If I confessed in this blog ALL the things I did bad, I would be typing for the rest of the year. Even as I got older, the bad things still continued. Smoking a cigarette one day on the way to school. I ripped the TV cable off the TV one night because I was mad at her. Yes, I got in trouble for these things. But never once did she withhold her love from me.

I am also thankful my parents took us to church. They wanted us all to know and believe in our Savior Jesus Christ. It was important to both of them that we turned out to be good children, and for the most part we did. Even through all the mistakes I made in my life, I know that I turned out much better with them as my role models. As I said before, my parents were as perfect as parents could be, both of them being my heroes.

I'm still in denial, unable to believe she's no longer with us. With me living 2000 miles away in Utah, I would call them as often as I could, though never as much as I wanted to. Often times I really didn't have any major news to tell them, but it was very comforting just to hear her voice on the other end. If there's one regret that bothers me most, is what I didn't say. As much as I loved both of my parents, I never told them near enough. I just hope somehow she knew how truly special she was to me, how I am a much better man because of her, and how I will miss her more than words could ever express.

I also feel bad for my daughter. The last time she saw mom, she was four. I don't think Kayla truly understands that we will never see or hear her on this earth again. Because of the distance between us, Kayla was just beginning to know her Gram. Now all she will have is a few memories of her and all the things mom bought for her.

My wife and I are both blessed with the opportunity to have seen her on three different occasions this year alone. For a week in February, a week in April, and almost TWO weeks in June. And two of those three trips were ones where they flew out here! Consider the fact that mom never stepped foot on an airplane until 8 years ago and you see what a miraculous opportunity these visits were.

It's still hard to sleep at night and often times hard to function during the day. There's so much more I wanted to say to her. And then there's the big question as to why the Lord had to take her so sudden and so soon? Maybe he needed a role model to teach his angels. If this is the case, then I'm beginning to understand it a little better. Mom lived her life earning her wings. She was as perfect as a human being can be. Most of all, she was one of my best friends in the whole world. I will forever thank God for the opportunity to be her son and to grow up by her side.

I am still lucky to have my father. I'm sure he misses mom a lot, too. I love him very much as well, and at her funeral I made sure I told him how much he meant to me.

As I look through the scriptures for answers to life, I see no reference to internet access in Heaven. But mom, if somehow you are out there reading this, please know that I thank you, I love you, and will miss you more than words can say.

Till we meet again, until then... Goodbye :*-(

Ok, so I realize I haven't updated my blog for awhile. Of course, I should have done it a long time ago... as you know, I work for Southwest Airlines, and one night in early October while dropping bags off to the customers (some of those bags were heavy suckers, too!) I felt a 'pop' in my left arm. Now being as old as I am, I feel things in my body all the time and never pay much attention to them. And this was the last flight of the night, so I didn't really notice much... until the next morning I woke up and couldn't move my hand. I was trying to figure out how I was going to work one-handed and thought I could fake it and somehow work anyway... but it's hard to do the work I do with only my right hand. And try as I may, I could NOT get my left hand to move. So I told a supervisor and they sent me to the company dr, who couldn't figure out what was wrong with me, so she sent me to the emergency room. Apparently THEY thought I had a stroke (even though I tried to tell them it was my arm) and made me have a CAT scan.. came back normal. So THEN I went to an ortopedic surgeon who thought I popped a nerve in my spine (even though I also told HIM it was in my arm)..so he sent me to have an MRI of my spine... big surprise, it came back normal!!  So then he sent me to have this test where they shock parts of the arm, and study how well this "shock" is carried thru the arm.. big surprise, this test DID come back very abnormal, confirming I DO have what is called radial nerve palsy in my left arm, which means I have either a torn or severely pinched nerve in my arm. Now tomorrow (November 8th) I have the pleasure of having a three freakin' hour MRI of my arm (don't ask me why this has to take 3 hours.... the one of my spine took only 40 minutes at most) to see exactly where in my arm the damage is... from what I've heard so far, it's possible the nerves could possibly eventually fix themselves, OR I may have to have surgery on my arm to fix it. And, depending upon the severity of the damage, there's a slight chance I may never be able to use my hand the same again. That would really suck! I have a great job, love working there and am looking forward to going back as soon as I can. I am bored outta my mind at home! If my arm can't be fixed, the only way I could go back is to transfer to Customer Service are another dept. that doesn't require much heavy lifting. But I'm praying everything works out.. I miss Southwest, I miss my boys on the ramp and will do everything possible to get back with you guys as soon as I can.

Meanwhile, I'm going outta my mind at home. I never thought I'd miss work this much, but I do.. a lot! And everything I could use this extra time for, I can't do. I could fly to PA to visit my parents but I can't fly while I'm on workman's comp (or OJI -"On the Job Injury" as it is known in the airline world). I'd LOVE to learn how to play guitar or piano, but I've heard you need two hands to do that and right now I only have one that works.. so I guess that's outta the question as well. Even typing this blog is now quite the chore since I'm using ONE hand,,, my right hand, and I'm left handed,,,

Oh, well... it's not like I have any thing better to do at this moment. It's pretty sad when you start to "look forward" to doctors appts and tests and stuff.. It least it's SOMETHING to do, not necessarily what you WANT to be doing, but anyway...

If anyone from work is reading this, I hope to be back (on the ramp) as soon as I possibly can, till then, feel free to email.. I've already run out of movies to watch, some days I'm too bored to even WATCH movies..

But I might as well. Nothing better to do... sigh...

PS. Go Titans!! LOL At least watching the Titans is exciting and they are doing pretty well this year (6-2)....aww yeah!

Ok... for anyone who knows me or has even read my profile, it is not going to be a huge shocker to tell you that I love the '80's... also the '90's... Heck, I even like the 70's, even though I was "non-existant" for almost the first two years of it.  I love the songs, I love the fads, I love the clothes, the movies, even the inventions of yesterday. As I grow older, I find myself missing my younger years.

Lately, however, it has been hitting me extra hard. For instance, last week was my daughter's first day of Kindergarten, and my wife and I got to walk her into her classroom on her first day of school. Now, I grew up in Jersey Shore, PA and my Daughter is growing up over 2000 miles away in the state of Utah. Her school doesn't look THAT much like mine did.. sure it's kinda similar. There's playground equipment, tables, desks, etc.. the things you'd probably find at any school in America. But there's something in particular that took me back to MY days in elementary school. The smell of paste! No, I'm not kidding... one whiff and I was thinking about whether I wanted milk or juice for my "after-recess" snack. I was thinking about all the little ornaments I'd get to make to put on my parents' Christmas tree. I was thinking.... I was thinking.... I'm getting old!

Another flashback occured even more recently. Today. A few days ago I went to "the DI".. short for Deseret Industries. It's a place pretty much like a goodwill store or Salvation Army where you go to buy other people's "junk"... they had a few Cassette decks for sale. The cassette deck that I have doesn't work as well as it did, and recently I had found some of my old cassette tapes so I was looking forward to having a player to play these tapes on. Some of these tapes were tapes I had recorded off the radio, mostly from the mid-eighties. Now, anytime I hear Mr. Mister or Level 42 or A-ha or Howard Jones or any of them artists from those days, I'm taken back... but these tapes had an extra dose of Nostalgia embedded in their tracks. The call letters of one of my favorite radio stations growing up "You're listening to WFXX 99.3... The Fox...South Williamsport (PA).." The DJ would say. I guess at the time I had forgotten to hit the pause button at the end of the song quick enough. I'm surprised I didn't edit that out... but now I am so glad I didn't. That station no longer exists, at least not in real life. But that 20 extra seconds I let slip by while I was recording that tape some 21 years ago reminded me that those things will live forever in my mind.

Now seriously, would I REALLY want to go back to 1986? Heck no.. Life now is so much better. I have the greatest wife and daughter in the world. I have a decent house, good job, manly car... when I really think about it, I have all I could ever want here in 2007, and life back in 1986 was definately no picnic for me. Sometimes though, it would be cool to have it both ways. Live in the present AND the past. Sometimes it's too bad the past has to end for the future to start. Why can't we have it all?? Sure I love CDs and my Ipod..but why can't we still have records? DVDs are incredible... but why can't they still make Beta? Why can't at least a few things stay the same? Why do I have to keep getting older? And where did all my hair go?

It's not that I really WANT to go back to my youth, it's just knowing that I CAN'T go back that's so hard. So until someone invents a time machine that really works, the only childhood I have left is in my daughter's eyes, or in my mind, or the smell of paste, or radio station call-letters...

As Eddie Money once said, "I wanna go back and do it all over, but I can't go back, I know.."....

Hmm... ok.. so I've never had a blog before. My wife has one, and shes always told me I should start one, too. Well, Hunny... here it is!

To be honest, I don't know what to say. I'm sorry if this is such a boring start. Hopefully my next update will be more interesting!