Real Problems

I stayed up way too late to watch the Lions game and I am paying for it. Perhaps it was because I was drinking. A little at first to quell the anxiety of what I felt would be a tough game. Then during the game because of the 12 flags in a row the refs threw. And still more at the end as a celebratory gesture for another win and the new 5-0 Lions. After all, if they are going to work that hard out on the field, I should at least pay them back by celebrating their toils. It's only right.

The predictable outcome for a person of my age is that today, I have no aptitude. On top of the general haze due to lack of sleep and an abundance of the sweet nectar of Bourbon County, Kentucky, I am also having a bad allergy day. I was asking for that, since I had the audacity to mow my lawn yesterday without immediately taking a full body pressure wash and decontamination bath immediately after.

But that isn't even it. Today is the last of the really nice days. Probably for the proverbial "forever". Sunny, 70's. Calm. A wonderful swan song. I predict I will be burning wood in the fireplace within the next 10 days.

I just keep looking out the window. I have been going outside to check the mail every 45 seconds since 9:30 this morning. It actually came 2 hours ago. I keep going back to check. Maybe he missed something the first time.

Since I am snorking and horking because of the allergies, I am taking a day to do research and write some newsletters and press releases, rather than trying to talk to customers. That seems like a good activity. Too bad I put all the outdoor furniture away, or I would go outside and write. Oh well, better to do it in shorts and a short-sleeved shirt than in long johns and a spacesuit in the middle of a blizzard.

C'est la vie say the old folks... it goes to show you never can tell.

You never can tell what the next day, or week, or year will bring. The big stuff is evident. A baby misses its due date, a neighbor undergoes chemotherapy as a last ditch effort to stave off paralysis just that much longer, another re-shingles his roof only to find his chimney is being held up solely by the power of prayer, a couple college freshmen have a difficult transition away from home, A good friend flies across country to see a man about a job.

All of these and so many more are going on around us right now all over the backdrop of the incredible late season beauty.

So, I chose to put summer away in September not knowing the first half of October would be like June. Doesn't seem like a real problem after all, eh? We do the best we can with what we have and don't sweat it when we don't get it exactly right. This weekend, someone taught me a saying:

"It isn't how high you fly, or how far you fall, but how well you bounce."

Bounce with me, friends. I promise not to notice if you climb too high or fall spectacularly just so long as you promise to extend me the same courtesy. When we're done bouncing, I'll help you up, you can dust me off and we'll leap again not caring where we land.