In Thirty odd years I’ve never had any major problems with the laws of physics while making my bed. On Saturday I expected this trend to continue. I was attempting to spread the top sheet across the bed in the time tested fashion: I stood at one end of the bed, grabbed hold of one end of the sheet, and in one continuous motion I threw my arms out in front of me then pulled the end of the sheet up and towards myself. The throwing out motion tosses the other end of the sheet towards the other end of the bed. The up and in motion catches air under the sheet like a sail and helps spread the sheet out across the bed. What usually happens next is the sheet gently settles down on the bed. This time, however, it did not. It went up but it did not come back down. You see, this time I was doing this from the foot of the bed. Every other time I can remember doing this it was from either side. The draw back of doing this from the foot of the bed is that you must stand more or less directly underneath the motor of our ceiling fan. Unintentionally, and without looking, I deftly hung my top sheet on the ceiling fan in one swinging, graceful and continuous motion. One of the blades was pointing out directly over the bed and the sheet gathered up on it like it was meant to be there. Having so expertly hung the sheet up there you would think that I could take it down just as easily, wouldn’t you? Think again my friend. In that one swinging, graceful and continuous motion I managed to hook the sheet around two different protruding surfaces on the fan blade, making it necessary for me to climb up on a chair and unhook the sheet. All in a days work.

It’s not like I’ve got a whole lot of choice. I’m not a disciple of “The American Dream.” I will acknowledge that people have some influence over their affluence, but I am a firm believer that dumb luck plays a role for some people. I believe that I may perhaps have had some choice, but I made it. Many people have a great drive to achieve monetary success and don’t. Don’t tell me that they didn’t try hard enough. Don’t tell me they all weren’t smart enough. In my case, I never cared to try, but that’s another story, one that I probably won’t tell. Most of the time I’m happy with what I have, but occasionally I lust after what I don’t. I don’t go looking for those things, but sometimes they are thrust in front of me. Most of the time I easily come back to my contented, satiated state. Today, for reasons I don’t wish to specify, I’m having a little more trouble. It certainly feels better believing that I don’t have a choice.

Patience. Caring. Exhilarating. Breathless. Trusting. Responsibility. Reflux. Tums. Bad breath. Green blanket. Misshapen toe. Exhausting. Inspiring. Relentless. Sleeping. Careening. Fidgeting. Organizing. Sharing. Anxiety. Hopeful. Worry. Giving. Selfless. Head ache. Mood altering. Life changing. Wonderful. Faith restoring. Humbling. Family. Forever. Thank you.

A song once said that the power of love is a curious thing: it makes one man weep and another man sing. I’m not sure they had it quite right. It can make the same man weep AND sing. THAT is the power of love. It keeps you on your toes. It will help you forget your woes. It’s late, I’m about to doze.

Christy is flying up. My birthday is coming up. Everyone else’s birthday is coming up. Our trip to New England is coming up. Beth continues to grow up. What’s there not to like? If we could just plan that trip to New Orleans that we’ve been meaning to take for the last three years we’d really be cooking.
What keeps you from traveling? For us, there are a number of factors. There’s money, cash, moola, dough, currency, legal tender, savings, credit, and funds; all of which are insufficient (as in: insufficient funds, etc…). Beyond the big issues there’s work, school, and a general sense of malaise. There just seems to be one thing after another. Cheryl’s sick, I’m sick, my allergies are bothersome, then Cheryl’s are. One surprise, Beth has been the picture of good health. There was a time, not so long ago, that Beth went through colds like I go through socks. Not anymore my friend! (I know that’s not a complete sentence, just give me a break. I know this it takes two to have this conversation and I’m one short, but give me the benefit of the doubt.) There is one person in particular that will not find this amusing, assuming that someone else will.

Life at the office has been productive of late, much to the delight of my boss. The backlogs are disappearing as my list of accomplishments grows larger. I am the champion. O.K., I’m over doing it a little. It does feel good to contribute to a job well done though. And it is a job well done, if I do say so myself.

There is little I can fault with the weekend that just past. It was relaxing, but not overly lazy. I got some things done that needed to be done, but it was not so much that it took over the entire weekend. I went to that Bucs game, and it was pretty cool. It’s funny to find myself saying that about a game where my team got crushed, but it’s the truth (I had fun and the Bucs got crushed, but I’m referring to the good time I had). On Sunday I slept in about as Late as I have since Beth was born. (Have I said that here before? I’m getting an overwhelming case of deja vu coming on.) Beth was mostly on her best behavior, and Cheryl was a little more relaxed. Cheryl being really sick had something to do with it, but beyond everyone being low key there was a sense of serenity in the air. I feel a little bad admitting this in light of Cheryl being under the weather, but life was good. No Cheryl, I’m not taking pleasure in you discomfort, it just seemed nice, the pace a little slower. This is where I dig the hole deeper and Cheryl retorts, “I’m glad it was relaxing for you while I ran around all weekend doing chores – while I was sick no less!” This is not to say that I did nothing, I did seem busy at times. The key was the pace was not frenetic.

One: I don’t think anyone really reads through these things.
Two: Even if someone was, I have relatively little that I feel the need to hide from anyone.
Three: I am open with people to a fault.
Four: Where is the delete key?

On the one hand, I feel like this should embarrass me. However, the other hand wins out: it is who I am. I am not going to be embarrassed by who I am, despite what I may have said earlier in this entry. Come to think of it, it’s rather odd to essentially say in one breath that I put on a show for potential friends because I’m afraid of being myself; then in the next breath I assert that I’m not afraid to be myself. What’s up with that. Maybe I’m not afraid to be myself, so long as I don’t have to do it in person. Is it any wonder that I send so many e-mail messages while I’m at work?

How do you make a new friend? You would think that little effort ought to go into the process. I think that some may work too hard at it when the opportunity arises. I think it is because they work at it that they sometimes fail. This is something about myself that I would like to work on.

No, this is not what you may be thinking. There are moments when everything seems profound, and my mind is a fountain of compelling ideas. These are the times that I like to sit down with my computer and commit my thoughts to black and white. About five minutes ago I was in such a state. The problem with these times is that they are fleeting. Any distraction that pops up seems to vaccinate my mind from any infectious intelligent thought. Just as quickly as the mood was found, it is gone. Maybe this is what everyone that feels inspired to write goes through. Then again, maybe it’s just a sign of mental illness.

I went into last week expecting nothing out of the ordinary. By the end of the week, I had done little in the ordinary. Most of my time was spent working on ways to get more work done in less time. The irony was that I did not get much work done, but I hope the fruit of my efforts change that next week. I was just a little tired of blaming others that our office can’t accomplish what needs accomplishing. “We’re underfunded…We need more staff…If the computer system wasn’t so inefficient…” and so on. So, I spent my time trying out computer solutions to our tasks. Why should I continue to be a human “macro” when I could set some things up to take myself out of some of the equation? We’ll see how it works out this week. I have high hopes.