What it's like

Last Sunday was a really nice day outside, a rarity here in March. So I decided to run to the ATM grab some cash and hit the carwash. In order to get to the bank I had to go through a rather busy intersection. That’s where I saw a sight that has become more frequent in these trying economic times. Standing there in silence with a sign that read “will work for food for my family, need food, formula and diapers.


Of course I didn’t hit the bank yet, and didn’t have a nickel to my name, so all I could do is give him an empathic glance. Seeing him standing on that corner humbled me. See I’ve been bitching about how I may have to teach a different grade next year due to budget cuts and too many parents running like hell from this state and dragging their kids along with them.


I’ve been so caught up in my own pity party and have forgotten that I should be grateful even to have a job in this economy. Seeing this husband, and father standing on the corner humbly reminded me to count my blessings.


So I zipped over to the bank took out some bills with the intention of slipping him

a few bucks. But as I made my way back he was already gone. I looked up and down the intersection but there was no sign of him.


Maybe someone picked him up to do some work, or maybe he just gave up and went home. I guess I’ll never know for sure. But I have wondered in the days that have followed if he feels defeated, if he and his wife went to bed hungry so that the kids could eat. If the baby woke up hungry in the middle of the night, and if its cries were quieted with a warm bottle or if its tiny stomach went without. Sometimes I wonder if it's a test of my level of compassion for my fellow man....Yeah I’m definitely counting my blessings more.

life it's a bitch of a lesson

It’s funny how your perspective can change in the course of nearly a dozen months. The little shit that wore you down months ago seems so trivial in hindsight now. Separation from the situation tends to promote clarity. As you stand back and examine your role in the demise of a friendship, you realize your part in its death can not be fully expunged. So now a year later…. life hands them a death sentence, something you’d never wish on your own worst enemy.


And you think about all the time the both of you wasted…time that can’t be given back, wasted in a pissing match that could never be won by either of you. I have always said there is not much I regret in life…..have always lived with my decisions and chalked them up to life’s little lessons. But this is different, I can’t just wash my hands of it….. and I am responsible for my actions. I think I grew up a little bit this past year, it’s a bitch of a lesson....one I hope no one else has to learn.


It will be two weeks ago on Friday that I lost a friend, to the ravishment of cancer, too young to die, to young to leave behind a daughter and son, and the love of his life Tina. He will be sorely missed by them and myself. Just seems unreal that I won't be trading baseball smack talk about his Royals and "my girls" as he used to refer to my Tigers.


But as time has gone on, I am trying to look at the loss of this friend the way he viewed his pending death. He had made his peace, with his maker and everyone he felt he needed to, and to not be at peace with that myself would be hypercritical. So I'm trying to look beyond the grief of a life cut short and choosing to take some advice from a nutty professor...... There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle." (Albert Einstien)…...............I am choosing the everything is a miracle option. Rest in Peace Rodney, Aka Forrest

You have got to be kidding me!

Groundhogs Day, I know you all look forward to it with nail biting excitement right? We are all aware of “Punxsutawney Phil” especially after Bill Murray’s completely hysterical film.

But I guess old Phil has some competition …"Gen. Beauregard Lee" in Georgia, "Sir Walter Wally" in North Carolina, "Staten Island Chuck" in New York, and of course, my favorite, the Howell Conference and Nature Center's "Woody." Ok yes immature but right up my alley, would you expect anything less.

In case you are not familiar with the protocol, it is said that if Phil see his shadow and runs away we ill have six more weeks of winter. If he doesn’t get spooked and sticks around then spring is on the way.

So here’s my gripe: Phil actually said spring is on the way. What are you fucking kidding me Phil? It’s only been like single digits below zero in my neck of the woods for the past three days! Maybe it was so cold that Phil actually became frozen and was trying his best to run away but hypothermia and frostbite set in too quickly…..more likely.

Well I guess that’s what we get for putting our faith in a rodent!

What's the Big Deal?

So Michael Phelps was caught on film taking a hit off a bong at a friend's party.My reaction? Indifference. Does it shock me? NO.. ...Do I care? Not really. I've long thought that "athletes" should not be required to be role models, that's the parent's job.

I guess I'm chalking it up to "who cares really." It's not like he was "toking" up before race or anything. He abided by the rules of the Olympic competition, and this happened in his private life, out of the pool. Additionally, what he did was nothing in comparision with what Marion Jones did on the track. This incident takes nothing away from his accomplishments in my book. I do have to say something about it though. Smoking the weed wasn't the dumbest thing you did, having it caught on film, not too smart.

But it does make me wonder if the high from the bong hit happened to cure that annoying lisp of his. That boy is in need of some serious speech therapy..so take some advice Michael step away from the bong when there is even a remote possibility of a camera being present, and if you are able to get any new endorsement deals, stick to the print ads cuz your articulation skills suck.