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29 May 2011

Marking the Time

   Thirty years ago tomorrow I got married.  I was 24, she was 19.  It was 115 degrees outside and my best man was sick with a fever of 104.  We were in three-piece suits.

   The following day, Tuesday, will mark 33 years that I've been employed by the Salt River Project.

   I've lived in Phoenix for 54 years and 95 days.  If the sun comes up tomorrow, I will be grateful to have another day to try and do the best I can to love other people and think less about myself.

   It's good to enjoy whatever my hands find to do while I am still able to do things.  Who knows what things may be in store for me or for others?  We just don't know the future...

19 May 2011

Um, I dunno.

Something's different.

I took today and tomorrow off work.  Today started like every other day.  Up with the sun, walk a couple miles with the dogs, come home and feed them, eat a bowl of oatmeal.  But since I didn't have to go work, and I ostensibly took the time off to "art it up," I got that old mental monster telling me I'd better have something to show for this paid day off when the sun goes down or...  Or what?  What is it that makes me feel like I either need to be working or being productive?

I finished my oatmeal and went back to bed.  I smiled as I took my shoes off and pulled the sheet over me.  Screw productivity, personal or otherwise.  As I closed my eyes, I thought about the people I've heard talking about meditation lately.  Historically, every time I've tried to meditate, my thoughts race or else I fall asleep.  I know that being still is part of just about every religious belief system, but the whole meditation thing eludes me.  I may understand it someday (several have tried to explain it to me), but so far, no cigar.

So I woke up from my nap about 9 a.m. and went out into the back yard, where I lied down in the grass and felt the sun's energy.  The dogs like being outside lying in the sun, too.  Then I mixed paint, took my experimental fountain out of the fireplace, then painted the inside of the fireplace blue.  I ate a grilled cheese sandwich and nursed a 12 oz. Coke for three hours.  I went to a meeting and introduced myself to a newcomer, then gave him a ride home.  He wants to come back tomorrow, so I told him I'd pick him up at five.  I went home, ate dinner, then to Lotions and Potions on Mill Avenue to use a $20 Groupon that expires today.

As soon as I walked through the door of Lotions and Potions, I knew I didn't want to be there.  I failed immediately by opening my mouth and proclaiming out loud, "I don't know what possessed me to buy a Groupon to this place.  Someone seriously needs to smoke a cigar in here."  The place reminded me of one of those cars with bumper stickers that say "World Peace" and "I don't eat anything with a face" and are driven by the most discourteous and mean-spirited people on the planet, not to mention they all seem to have the driving etiquette of the average 16 year old male.  My senses sere assaulted and insulted.  I'd describe it  like standing in the middle of a multi-screen drive-in movie theatre, all screens playing chick flicks with Smell-O-Matic speakers and soundtracks by the Bangles and The Go-Gos.  I could feel everything male leaving my body.  I gave the Groupon to Jeannie,  and I went to Candy Addict a few doors down.  Any store with the words "candy" and "addict" in the title can't be all bad.

Something's different with me today.  I'm kind of peaceful and happy.  Kind of an unremarkable day off, but I'm okay with it.

Tomorrow's another day.