Help Somebody if you Can

I had every intention of writing daily last week, in an attempt to keep the personal side of my life breathing. Unfortunately, the 16 hour work days became a bit too overwhelming and that just didn't happen. It might have been one of the longest weeks I can remember in recent history, for work at least, and today feels like things are getting back to normal. I'm obviously not in the office yet, so who knows what's in store for me once I walk in. The hiccups and systemic issues are all squared away now for the most part. Probably a few little 'nickels' to fix, but nothing major. I started equating each incident down to cost for the benefit of my Vice President last week, he's good at risk analysis when there's cost associated to it. Everything we needed to fix over the last week was a nickel or a dime, compared to some major quarters or half dollars that we could be trying to resolve, which we did have a full blown 2 dollar bill issue on Wednesday. That was cleared up by Friday close of business, so things went well there.

Enough of work though, it seems that's all I've been able to talk about lately and I'm pretty sick of hearing myself talk about it. Too bad I forgot about most of the rest of my life though last week. It had to wait until Friday, where work ended and the kegs of beer mysteriously showed up on the 7th floor deck outside of my office building. Kicked back with a couple 16 oz cold ones and some co-workers before heading off to the east side. Spent the evening with some friends, more imperial pints of Guinness and headed home. Things had gone pretty well up to the point of dropping the boys off at the Lake House. Somewhere along the lake road heading back to I-90, there was a major car accident with multiple cars, an older Audi smashed in on one side and a bunch of kids looking like deer in headlights. Everyone appeared to be ok, and I couldn't help thinking that 10 minutes earlier I had been heading the same direction. Guess I missed being a part of this one by minutes, still couldn't help thinking how different life could become in an instant. I wouldn't say I'm a worrier by nature, at least in the sense of my safety and getting bent out of shape witnessing someone else's misfortune. I did think about it though and how shitty it would be to have been one of those kids freaking out, especially with things being what they are for me right now. Just a couple minutes before coming on to the accident, I learned about a friend dealing with her own consistent car wreck of sorts in her home. Yet another situation I couldn't imagine being a part of and with everything that is in me, I wish there was something I could do to take the wheel and steer her out of that mess. Here's what I do know and I'm very serious when I say this. My friends mean everything to me and there isn't anything I wouldn't do to keep them safe, to help them escape a bad situation, or protect them from the boogie man. If my child ever told me the story like the one I heard Friday night, there's nothing anyone could do to stop me from fixing the situation. I'm sparing any details here for multiple reasons, but mentioning this because it's a serious thing she's dealing with and shouldn't have to. I'm still praying for you...

I never met my grandfather, he died when my mom was 6, but knowing what I know I think he would have agreed with the guys in my headphones this morning. Van Zant on the iPhone, good southern fried rock n roll. Blue collar real lyrics and great story telling. Give it a listen, even if you think it's too country or too whatever. Some great messages in there and one line I love, "Fight your fights, find the grace in all the things that you can't change, and help somebody if you can, and get right with the man". Not a bad lesson today

I have a lot more to talk about but didn't want to stray from the seriousness of the past paragraphs. Do what you can to help someone else today, even if they say they don't need it. Some people carry too much pride to ever ask, even when they know they need to. There's nothing harder, as a friend, to have to sit back and hope nothing bad happens when you know damn well things can only get worse if something doesn't change. I feel like this has been an ongoing struggle in my own life, in a completely different context of course, but a continuing dialogue of needing something different but not knowing how to or what to do. I'm a mess of tangled ribbon in so many colors and the harder I try to unwind, and straighten it all out, the more knots seem to be tied and they're starting to become insurmountable. I'll just keep untieing(sp?) them and continue looking forward for what is certainly going to happen whether I agree or not, my life. One more great line from a Van Zant song, "...and if you wanna hear God laugh, tell him your plans."

Stay blessed-