Dookie

It's the final day of my short work week and I couldn't be more relieved. The past few weeks have been some of the longest I've had in recent memory, and the hour after hour of non-stop go go go have led me to a point of near burnout. There's nothing intriguing about hitting bottom, it leads only to disinterest and lack of motivation, and in my line of work, both can be career limiting, if not ending. In the age of doing more with less, no one can afford to be part of the lesser. Especially not as a single father with a very important responsibility. I'm always amazed and in awe of those other single parents with multiple children living on much less than my annual salary. God knows, even I struggle with what I take home every two weeks, and to think about doing this single thing with even less money and more mouths and hands to take care of, is beyond my comprehension. My lifestyle would have to change dramatically in that situation, not that it hasn't already with one child. Going out at any time with friends doesn't happen without some major planning. I've always been pretty spontaneous in my event attendance, there was a time in college when I left the shower and getting ready for an 8:00 am class, one of my roommates asked if I wanted to blow off class, drive five hours to Boise to see Rage Against the Machine in an old prison courtyard. As if there was any thought to skipping a Tuesday schedule of classes to go to that show, and likewise, there was no thought to how much money was in my bank account to pay for gas and food, and zero thought to the paper I needed to turn in prior to finals week or the presentation I had that afternoon in one of my labs. I was out the door and hitting the highway 20 minutes later, finding myself back on campus 30 hours later begging teachers to let me turn stuff in late. Of course that was one of the best live shows I've ever seen and the memories still pop out of my mind as vividly as they did as they arrived in my hard drive of a brain that night. Those days stay reserved for college times and some 10+ years later, it's obvious that 20 minutes post shower to highway driving is out of the question. It's more like an hour or two and a few dozen phone calls to make arrangements., it takes serious work making unplanned trips a reality.

Full Green Day catalog on the iPhone this morning, do I need to say anything else about it? If you don't know now, you never will...unless you ask really nice and maybe I can help you out with a copy.

So that's really it this morning, short and sweet and anecdotal almost. I'm impressed with single parents, truly, and not because I want to be impressive and include myself in the category although I guess I am. I don't think they get enough credit for being awesome, for working their asses off to provide every last opportunity to their children and doing what they can to help make this world a better place. Often these parents are so busy trying to hold it all together that this world doesn't see everything they do, or the sacrifices they make for their kids, mainly due to the fact that they become invisible to most of us. I'm saying today to you that qualify, I see you and I applaud you and know what you go through. Maybe not to the extent that some of you deal with, but I get it. You all are rock stars in my book. 3 more hours in the office and we're Boise bound! Details to follow

Stay Blessed-