Day 18

Good evening everybody. I got pretty close to the same amount of sleep today that I did yesterday. If you asked me today if I slept more today or yesterday I wouldn't have the answer for you. Yesterday my sleep was an hour nap here and there. Today, I went to bed at 6:30, and got up just after 10. Ally's soccer game was scheduled for 11:30, and I wanted to get there 15 to 20 minutes early. Mainly what my plan was to talk to the team before the game, making sure they remembered what they practiced on Tuesday. I was planning on us all being there, but Erin felt sick to her stomach and asked if I didn't mind going myself. I did mind. Being really tired because of the little sleep, I didn't want to go with the girls by myself. However, I agreed to go. We got to the fields just around 11:15, and when we pulled into the complex the entire complex was completely empty. I'm talking no cars, no parents, no players, nothing at all! I instantly thought "oh shit. They cancelled the games because of the rain last night."

Before I talk about the funny part about that, I want to talk about something else that is some what related. When I was in soccer not that long ago, to have games cancelled or post poned, etc, it had to be very bad conditions out. If it was just wet and muddy because of rain, we played. If it was tons of snow, then yeah, they delayed the game. So here's the funny thing. Are you ready? Today the grass may have been wet because of the heavy rain last night, but that was it, and yet, they cancelled the games! I parked for a few minutes, and called Erin. "Hello?" "Hey hon," I said, "is there anyone we can call to find out if the games were cancelled? There is nobody here at all!" "I don't have a number for the coach," She said to me. She mentioned that maybe I should wait until closer to 11:30 and maybe people would start showing up. Well there was '1' car that pulled in a minute or so later, and after another minute or two, it pulled beside me, rolled down his window and he told me that he just got off the phone with someone and found out that the games were indeed cancelled.

"Son-of-a-" I said, "Thanks man, I appreciate it." So drove home, and I made a late breakfast. I scrambled up some eggs, diced up ham and cheese and mixed it into the eggs. I cooked the little hashbrown patties that I told you all about in a previous blog entry, and cooked up some bacon. All in all, fairly cheap breakfast, but really good and filling. I'm a sucker for bacon any day. One of the things, food wise, that I am thankful for Erin about is bacon. With my ex, she hated bacon, so the only time I was able to have it myself was anywhere outside where we lived. That included things like if we went out to eat, and I ordered breakfast, 9 times out of 10 I would order a side of bacon. Had to get the bacon fix somehow right? Yeah, well that was what I did. Thankfully now it is different. The whole family likes bacon so I don't have to leave the house to enjoy it.

When I got home from work this morning, I wrote down a list of things I wanted to do this weekend. It was anything from clear out furniture, work on my english paper finally, mow the lawn, get out and exercise by walking or whatever, etc. I believe there are a few other things I wrote down that I could think of off the top of my head. However, I can't remember the extras.

So on the list, a few things did get done, which makes me feel pretty good. Some furniture got moved where it needed to go, which was good. I completed 2 pages of my paper for English, so I am able to put a check mark on that one on the list. I would have mowed the lawn but it was still pretty wet so I didn't get to that yet. So, other than the fact that I didn't get much sleep, I am happy with how today went. One of the biggest things on the list was I planned for us to go to Aldi's today to grocery shop. I had set part of my paycheck aside as the grocery budget, to get us to the end of the month. Good ol stamps hit on the 1st.

So, I will close with this. Last night at work, an older lady brought her son up to the hospital for mental eval. He said he knew that he needed help but was more afraid of being locked up with the key being thrown away. He left a few times to go smoke, and I had been posted outside. I made it very casual looking, definitely as though I was just "there" but not necesarily to stop him. I chatted with his mom while the doctor was in there talking to him. His mom left the room and was out near where I was. She was just worried about him and obviously didn't know what she would be able to do with him the way he was. After a while, he eventually did just get up and walk out. She talked about things that he did, such as hunting and stuff like that which he really enjoyed. Things that made him happy. I left out the specifics, but told her that it is definitely important to enjoy the little things. That if there are hobbies or whatever that make you relax and feel good, that it is good for him to do those things. It was weird, I felt like I should be a psychologist (not a psychiatrist because that requires way too much freaking school). I'm not going to go to school to be a councelor, but it was interesting to be feeling as though I was giving advice.

So in closing, I will say the lesson for tonight is this. I believe this saying was off of a movie, but I really beleive in it. It makes sense. The saying was "To make a difference, and change the world, all it takes is 1 random act of kindness at a time." When you try to look at it from God's perspective (which is difficult for us since none of us really truly know what His plans are), it makes sense. So, there you have it. Random acts of kindness. It could be, randomly giving someone a $20.00 tip, helping someone with something randomly, giving someone a gift unexpectedly, etc. You'll be amazed at 1) how they react to the random act, and 2) how it will make you feel. For me, when I tried it, it made me feel lifted up. I hope you all enjoyed what I wrote for you today. I will write more for you tomorrow.

Thanks for being here.

CB