Luke Bryan, one of the most successful and awarded country artists of the 2010s and 2020s, who is also part of the panel of judges on American Idol had his song Up released some time ago. The piece of music has attracted the attention of many not only because of the tune and the lyrics but because of the video which features significant moments of the life of the country singer.
Among the rest, it shows Bryan spending quality time with his two sons, as well as the kids bonding with their grandfathers. Bryan’s late brother is also shown in the video. Sadly, Bryan lost both his siblings. His brother Chris dies in a car accident in 1996, while his sister died in 2007 of natural causes. After her husband passed away some years later, Bryan took care of his sister’s three children.
Speaking of the tragedies his family suffered, the singer said, “It makes you appreciate chasing dreams, you know. You’re like, ‘Hey you get one go-round at this thing called life and it’s very fragile, so you better go after your dreams.’”
The video for the song has been described as emotional and moving by his many fans.
Recently, Bryan’s wife, Caroline, posted a photo of of herself covering Bryan’s mouth with tape while at home and revealed that he has been undergoing through a vocal rest. The fans from all over the country, and other parts of the world shared their sympathy and sent their prayers, wishing Bryan a quick recovery.
Apparently, he was cheering during the National Championship game and was very loud, which affected his voice.
In order to revitalize his vocals, Bryan attended the Crash My Playa Festival in Mexico from January 19th to January 22nd where he was was joined by some notable artists, including Dustin Lynch, Jimmie Allen, and Jason Aldean.
This was a wonderful experience as it allowed the country singer to completely heal before getting back on stage. At the same time, he met new people and many fans.
We wish Luke Bryan only the best life can bring.
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When Braden West was born, his parents were told that he wouldn’t get to live long. The reason why was because he was diagnosed with Pfeiffer Syndrome Type 2, a genetic disorder characterized by the premature fusion of certain skull bones which prevents the skull from growing normally and affects the shape of the head and face.
The devastated parents learned the news of their son’s condition two weeks before he was welcomed into the world as the ultrasound showed abnormalities. As expected, they got extremely worried and felt as though their world shattered into a million pieces.
“I mean, he’s kicking in my belly and I’m praying for God to take him home,” mom Cheri told News Nation Now in 2020, adding, “It looked like he was not going to have the back of his head. It looked like he was going to be born with teeth. It looked like it was a bad situation.”
Facebook / Michele Eddings Linn
When Braden was born, his mom felt immediate connection and she got even more devastated knowing that there was nothing she could do to help him. The prognosis were that he wouldn’t live beyond 18 months.
“I said dear God please, just let me have him for a little while,” Cheri said.
“There’s a picture of him when he was born and it shows his skull very well, a distinct clover shape,” Cheri shared with The Owensboro Times, adding: “At a month old they let us bring him home. He was not thriving, they knew he was not going to make it. We brought him home to meet everyone so he wouldn’t die in a hospital.”
Facebook / Michele Eddings Linn
However, to everyone’s surprise, Braden started beating all the odds. Unexpectedly, he started showing signs of progression.
“He had over 30 surgeries, got a tracheotomy at just 3 months old, and once had a procedure done with a 10% survival rate,” Cheri said. “We had to sign the DNR papers, say our goodbyes and everything. Instead of bad news, the doctors came out and said he was okay.
“Anything a mother doesn’t want to hear is what they told us. It’s amazing with faith in God what you can get through. Anyone who knew us or knew of us were praying for us,” Cheri added.
Besides all the love and support by his parents and his family, there was also another person who showed immense support and helped Braden every step of the way, a nurse named Michele Eddings Linn.
One time, when he almost lost his life, it was Linn who was by his side. “I just remember, you know, praying, ‘Lord just either take him home or make him better,’” Linn recalled. “Because no one could watch him continue to go through this.”
Luckily, he pulled through and Linn said that Braden has been the only patient of hers who ever got to leave hospice care.
Believe it or not, Braden thrived and he even got to graduate from high school. On the day of his graduation, he asked Linn to take his photos, and it was an emotional moment for everyone who got to witness it.
17 years ago I cried because I thought his time on Earth was ending, and now I’m crying because he is graduating [from] high school and his life is just beginning!,” Linn wrote on a Facebook post.
“To watch him become this amazing young man has been emotional, but yet I’m so proud,” mom Cheri told The Epoch Times.
“When I was watching him walk the line, every emotion of the first few months of his life came flooding back. All I could think about was, he isn’t supposed to be doing this, he wasn’t supposed to even be able to hold a pencil, speak, see, hear… and here we are.”
Braden described his graduation as perfect because he got to be flown via helicopter into the middle of a live concert of one of his favorite musicians, Cam Thomspon.
“I feel pretty good knowing I worked so hard to get to this day because it wasn’t always easy,” Braden said.
Not only he got to graduate, but he also landed his dream job, that of a firefighter.
Braden, who is now 22, joined the Moseleyville fire dept as a volunteer fireman.
“Don’t ever give up … No matter how hard the mountain is to climb, keep climbing because the view at the top is amazing!” this incredible young man who beat all the odds says.
He is a perfect example that when we put our mind to something the sky is the limit.
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Actress Melinda Dillon, best known for her roles in Close Encounters of the Third Kind and A Christmas Story, passed away at the age of 83.
According to an obituary from Neptune Society, a cremation provider in Long Beach, California, Dillon died on January 9, but the news of her passing became widely known two days ago.
Dillon was born October 13, 1939, in Hope, Arkansas, but she spent her childhood moving from place to place after her mother divorced her father and married a man who worked in the Army. Whenever her stepfather was forced to move places, Dillon and her mother followed him.
Actress Melinda Dillon attends the world premiere of “F.I.S.T.” on April 13, 1978 at Filmex in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Ron Galella/Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images)
However, once she turned 18, Dillon felt like she could no longer live that kind of life and decided to look for a job and be independent. That is when she started working as a coat check girl for The Second City, an acclaimed improvisational comedy troupe. Shortly after, she joined the Goodman Theatre in Chicago and started working on stage.
After being part of the original cast of “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” on Broadway, Dillon was nominated for a Tony Award in 1962.
“I did go for an audition, but I didn’t go back. I guess I must be perceptive because I really didn’t want to start out in musical comedy. My idol was still Geraldine Page as an actress,” Dillon said back in the day.
“I had had the American dream—to go to New York and study with Lee Strasberg,” she shared with The New York Times in 1976. “I guess I just wasn’t prepared for it all to happen so quickly in New York. I’m not sophisticated.”
Richard Dreyfuss and Melinda Dillon on the set of “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”. (Photo by Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty Images)
Throughout her career, Dillon earned herself two Oscar nominations for Best Supporting Actress. Once, for her role in Steven Spielberg’s Close Encounters, and later for Absence of Malice, where she starred alongside Paul Newman.
Dillon maintained a presence in film throughout the ’80s and ’90s, but as mentioned before, one of her most prominent roles is that of Mother Parker in Bob Clark’s A Christmas Story, a role fondly remembered to this day by millions of Americans.
Dillon’s close family and friends, as well as fellow co-workers, shared their condolences and paid tribute to the actress. Among them was Steven Spielberg. In a statement to Variety, the famous director said, “Melinda was generous of spirit and lent such kindness to the character she played in ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind’… We will all miss her.”
“Melinda Dillon was such a great actress, with a wonderful delicacy about her. She was a delight to direct in Prince of Tides. May she rest in peace,” Barbra Streisand shared in a post, while actor Jon Cryer wrote, “Melinda Dillon’s work had such a profound effect on me. Every moment of her performance in Close Encounters was perfection. I’m so grateful she decided to give her artistry to the world.”
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Dillon is survived by her son Richard Libertini Jr.
We are so very sorry for Melinda Dillon’s passing. May she rest in peace.
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One of the best things I love watching are the dancing challenges people answer to and share on the social media. I am sure you are a fan of these challenges, too. They help spread positivity and somehow bring people together.
You have probably stumbled upon the The Git Up challenge. It was started by Blanco Brown, who created a dancing tutorial for his song of the same name. Not surprisingly, a huge number of people were willing to try the choreography which is definitely described as fun and contagious.
Source: YouTube screenshot / County of Sutter, CA
One of these challenge videos, which has been seen nearly 9 million times, shows the members of the Sutter County Sheriff’s Office, the Yuba City Police Department, the Sutter County Courts, and the Sutter County Code Enforcement. These guys lifted the challenge to a whole new level and turned it into a dance battle. The final result is so awesome that we can’t stop watching it.
Source: YouTube screenshot / County of Sutter, CA
The dance off starts after a Yuba City police car and Sutter County Sheriff’s car start “fighting” over a parking spot. As the dancing starts, more and more people join in. Among them, one K-9 dog who definitely stole the show, not that much because of his dancing as of his amusement seeing the fellow officers dance. He probably wonders what is going on, but joins in eventually.
Source: YouTube screenshot / County of Sutter, CA
I love the fact that officers show us that they too have fun despite their job being pretty serious.
This video is a must watch. Check it out below and don’t forget to share it with your friends.
When they respond to emergency calls, officers have no idea what they will stumble upon.
One day, there was a 911 call from an elderly lady who was experiencing hard time. With a shaky voice, she said, “I need help, I haven’t left the house in days and I have nothing to eat at all. Can you help me?”
The officer who took the call alerted Officers Steve Jones and Garrett Franklin of the emergency because they were closest to the destination.
When they arrived at the scene, the officers were a bit puzzled because the house was enormous, with a well-kept garden, and located in an upscale area of town. This place didn’t seem to be owned by someone who was starving to death.
Source: pixabay.com
They approached to the door and rang the bell. It took some time before the elderly lady was able to open the door as she was barely standing on her feet.
“Good afternoon!” said Garrett softly. “We received a call from Mrs. Hilda Ross. Is that you?”
“Yes,” the old woman answered faintly. “Please come inside.” They followed her in and noticed that her arm was bandaged.
As they sat down, Officer Steve turned to the woman and asked her, “Mrs. Ross, are you hurt?”
Mrs. Ross replied, “Yes, I was working in the garden pruning a bougainvillea and I fell down the stairs.”
“I see,” Steve said. “There was no one else with you?”
The woman explained that he had a son but he was away on a business trip and wouldn’t be back in a couple of weeks.
Source: pixabay.com
“Mrs. Ross, did you call for a doctor?” the officers asked. Mrs. Ross said she didn’t go to the doctor’s. “I think it’s a common sprain. It just hurts badly, I can’t even walk, and besides, my refrigerator’s empty and I haven’t had any food for two days.”
The officers were said to hear that she hadn’t eaten anything in a couple of days. “And why haven’t you reached out to your neighbors?” they asked her.
“The thing is, we just recently moved into this house, and I haven’t had time to get to know anyone. I can’t walk to the store, my arm hurts so much. My son doesn’t know anything about it. I didn’t bother him, since he just got the job,” she replied.
The officers offered to call the ambulance, but Mrs. Ross started crying and said she was afraid of ambulances because her husband died in one. The kind officers then offered to take her to the hospital themselves. Mrs. Ross was resilient and said that she only needed groceries and that she had money to buy everything she needed. But as the officers insisted she needed to be checked-up, the woman finally agreed.
Source: pixabay.com
Once at the hospital, doctors ran tests and did scans which showed that she had a compound fracture of her arm and shoulder so she was immediately taken away for an emergency surgery.
While waiting for Mrs. Ross to regain her consciousness after the surgery, the two officers managed to get in touch with her son who told them he was working in Alaska. It would need him three days to get to the nearest airport, so Steve and Garrett assured him they would be by his mother’s side as long as needed.
When she opened her eyes and saw the officers, Mrs. Ross said, “Oh! Are you still here?”
“As you can see,” Garrett replied with a smile. “We will stay with you until your son returns. He’s on his way and he’s very worried about you.”
Source: pixabay.com
During her stay at the hospital, the officers never left Mrs. Ross’ side. When her son finally arrived, he apologized for leaving her all by herself. Mrs. Ross then said, “But I wasn’t alone, son. Steve and Garrett were around all those three days. They took turns coming to check on me.”
“Steve and Garrett? Who are you talking about, Mom? Have you met the neighbors?” the son asked.
“They’re the cops who came to see me after I asked for help,” the woman explained. “They’re my friends now.”
Source: pixabay.com
The son then turned to the officers and thanked them for everything they did for his frail mother.
“That’s all right, sir,” Steve replied. “It’s our daily job.”
“We were just doing our jobs: guarding and protecting people,” Garrett added. “Besides, we’re aware of how stubborn mothers can be sometimes. So we kept an eye on Mrs. Ross so she wouldn’t get in trouble.”
What a beautiful story of kindness and humanity at its finest.
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An unknown man shared a story which had us thinking about how the choices we make determine the course of our life and whether or not our parents are to be praised or blamed for our successes and failures.
Namely, the man starts the story by sharing that he had come across a homeless man who asked for $20. He gave him $50 instead and then the homeless man said, “I’m Ross, and we went to high school together.”
“Ross?! What happened to you, buddy? Why are you on the streets? I remember you as a fighter, and you even protected me once when someone tried to attack me.”
Ross explained that he made some bad decisions. He started smoking, drinking heavily, taking drugs, and he even beat his wife and now his children didn’t want to do anything with him. He was all alone, with no place to stay, no job, and no one to talk to.
He even attempted suicide as he saw no way out from the situation he found himself in.
“I came across Ross pleading for food as I headed to my car. I wanted to assist him even though I had already eaten. He smiled and told me he was fine and had already found enough food for the day. It got me thinking about how, despite having similar circumstances, our lives may go in such diverse directions. I believe this is because the decisions our parents make for us affect our present,” the man continued his story.
He explained that his parents were strict in a way that taught him to become a respected individual.
“Despite being strict, my parents weren’t the worst in the world. I had to adhere to guidelines and schedules, and there were penalties if I still needed to finish duties by the due date.
“Ross could play and do anything he wanted while running around the block. He didn’t get in trouble if he skipped class, but I did, whether I was just a few minutes late or not. He was also free to insult the elderly, smoke, and eat any food he pleased in the town.
“I had to eat long chicken soup or vegetable soup and drink milk and water. Even bringing up the subject made me nervous! Am I using foul words or giving an incorrect response?
“A slap across the mouth and a sarcastic expression! Thank you, mom and dad! Since I had the “worst” parents in the world for parents, it’s not him today; it’s me!”
“Today, I am appreciative of my parents. I like how they were both firm and loving. They will always be in my heart.”
Do you believe the way we are raised has to do with the type of people we turn into, or the society and the people we hang out with influence our decision?
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Adored by millions of Brits and people from every corner of Earth, Kate Middleton, the Princess of Wales, is one of the most famous members of the British monarchy.
From the moment she was welcomed into one of the most powerful families there are, Kate became people’s favorite.
Her love story with William dates to the time they were both students at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. They both graduated in the same year, 2005; William with a master of arts degree in geography, and Kate with a master of arts degree in art history. But while their relationship appeared only to flourish, trouble lay on the horizon.
Their love was deep and they got the entire attention from the media. Kate even made a public appearance with the Royals and attended the Sovereign’s Parade at the Royal Military Academy, in which William attended, along with her family.
Mark Cuthbert/UK Press via Getty Images
And as everyone believed a royal marriage was just around the corner, the two split in 2007.
Recalling the time of their break up, both Kate and William claimed it was actually good for them because they got to “find themselves.” Kate even said that “you can get quite consumed by a relationship when you’re younger,” as per The Telegraph.
As William was partying at London nightclubs and was dating different girls, Kate believed he was “cheapening her image.” According to royal correspondents Laura Collins, Katie Nicholl, and Ian Gallagher, “harsh words” were exchanged between William and Kate as she felt humiliated by his behavior.
Richard Heathcote/Getty Images
“It was the first such warning she had dished out over the course of their four-and-a-half-year-relationship,” the report reads, as quoted by Express.
“Kate had had enough and words were exchanged. Kate told William that he was making her look bad. She has coped for years with girls flinging themselves at her boyfriend and for a while she found it humorous and even flattering.”
Luckily, the two got back together in 2008 and William proposed to Kate in 2010 during a trip to Kenya with his late mother’s engagement ring.
Today, they are proud parents of three beautiful children, Prince George, who will become King one day, Princess Charlotte, and the youngest one, Prince Louis.
Samir Hussein/WireImage
What we love about William and Kate is their devotion for one another and the love which keep them go strong.
They are not afraid to show their affection in public, just like during one of their latest appearances when they set foot on US soil for the first time since 2014 when William kept his hand on his wife’s during an NBA match.
However, no matter how much he is smitten with Kate, William doesn’t seem to be a romantic type of person.
Chris Jackson/Getty Images
On Tuesday, Kate visited Leeds and the city’s iconic Kirkgate Market where she met and spoke to florist, Neil Ashcroft. He tried selling the Princess of Wales some flowers and said, “No doubt William will be buying you some red roses,” as reported by Express.
Kate replied: “I don’t think he will do.”
Ashcroft later spoke about the encounter, saying: “I offered her a discount. I said I would give her a card and knock off the VAT.”
The couple would be likely spending Valentine’s Day together.
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When it comes to beautiful women, it is certain that actress Catherine Zeta-Jones deserves a place high on the list.
What many people don’t know about this Hollywood beauty is that she was born in Wales and spent her childhood there before moving to London in order to pursue an acting career.
When she was still very young, she got involved in dancing and loved being praised for her work. However, when it came to her physical appearance, she didn’t see herself as beautiful as her mom always told her she was. Speaking of her mother and the influence she had on her, Zeta-Jones recalled her mom used to tell her to “make the best of [herself],” which helped her gain the confidence she has even today.
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At the age of 15, shortly after moving to London, Zeta-Jones landed a role which helped her attract the attention of many. Namely, she auditioned for a role in London’s West End in a revival of the musical 42nd Street and stole the show as both the lead and their understudy weren’t able to perform.
This opened the doors for Zeta-Jones to the place where dreams come true, Hollywood. She landed role after role and made a name for herself. Hollywood is also where she met the love of her life, actor Michael Douglas.
Their first meeting was an awkward one as he told her that he would be the father to her children, to which she replied, “You know I’ve heard a lot about you, and I’ve seen a lot about you, and I think it’s time that I say ‘Goodnight.’”
The following day, he sent her flowers and she decided to give him another chance. Well, the rest is history.
Despite their age gap of 25 years, with Douglas being her senior, the two managed to stay together for 22 years.
When their children were born, Douglas and Zeta-Jones decided to raise them away from Hollywood so the family moved to the Bahamas where they lived for 12 years.
Being 53, Zeta-Jones looks as beautiful as ever. She has never tried hiding her age. What’s most, she’s proud to look the way she does and often shares photos of herself without makeup.
Of course, there are always people who tend to judge her, but she doesn’t mind the negative comments.
“I have my insecurities like every other woman, but as I’ve got older, I’ve got much more confident about the way I look,” she says. “My dreams have come true, and everything else now is a bonus for me.”
Zeta-Jones helps keep herself fit using a ballet barre, a hula-hoop, a treadmill, and an elliptical which help her tone her body.
When it comes to her diet, she prioritizes good meals, but doesn’t say no to occasional delicious treats such as Cadbury chocolate from her homeland England.
