Life it's ownself...revisited

Well, it's just not getting any easier. I took my 16-year-old truck to the shop yesterday. Oil everywhere, and I was hoping for a simple leak of some kind that could be temporarily stopped with a piece of gum, or permanently repaired for a few hundred dollars. No, not really. Anybody know where I can get a motor to fit a '94 GMC Sonoma? My mechanic tells me that I should prolly start looking for another car...

Seriously bummed...again. What's a guy gotta do to catch a break? Then I took a step back, and realized that I've been catching breaks all my life.

The first one was being born to the folks I was born to. I gotta tell you, I was a handful growing up. I'm not sure that I would have survived childhood with lesser parents. I apologize to my mother frequently for being so hard headed. She says she was just doing what parents do, but she went above and beyond. And her twitchy left eye is much better now that I'm an adult...

The next break was the friends I had growing up. I guess I did pretty good. We had loads of fun, and I don't think we ever broke any laws...well any serious ones, anyway. And, to my knowledge, all of my running buddies grew up to be upstanding members of society. I don't know of any that owe any commitments to the state.

Let's talk work for a minute. I have not been out of a job for more than 2 months since I was 16. Some were not the greatest or most glamorous, but they kept clothes on my back, a roof over my head, and food in my belly. Some people today would be ecstatic for that. I learned something from even the worst jobs I've ever had, even if all I learned was that the job was not for me. I don't have the dream job yet, but I've almost decided to take a stab at making what I have the dream job. C'mon, they call it work for a reason. It's a work in progress.

Caught a real break when I got married. Believe me, she gave up a lot to marry me. She must have had better options than a skinny, just out of college, wet-behind-the-ears department manager for Joske's. But she married me anyway. And it didn't get much better, I'm still broke. She puts up with a lot...a WHOLE lot, because all three kids have my blood coursing thru their veins, which can get a little crazy sometimes. I looked up 'long-suffering' in the dictionary the other day, and saw a picture of my wife. Lucky doesn't begin to describe.

Speaking of kids, hit with 3 pretty good ones. All are very bright, seemed to have grown up ok, in spite of my influence, and none have ever called for bail money. I'll call that a win. And let's not forget the grand baby. I'm not sure a 2-year-old can actually be bi-polar, but she's got tremendous potential. When she understands what folding money is, and that Papaw is not afraid to use it, that's when the real fun starts!

So, what's a guy gotta do to catch a break? Look around, you may have been catching them all along. Slow down a bit and pay attention, you might have missed one or two. An old Joe Walsh song goes "I can't complain, but sometimes I still do, life's been good to me so far".

My sentiments, exactly. Nite, boys and girls.