Random Act of Kindness

There is a commercial on TV that shows kind acts being perpetuated until the kindness comes full circle, some insurance company I think. I felt like I was in that commercial this morning.

This morning as I was making my rounds I was stopped at a signal in the downtown area. I watched as a man in a wheel chair was crossing the street, he was going slower than the flow of pedestrians as they filled the cross walk until one man came up from behind him. This man was dressed in a suit, one hand on the cell phone up to his ear, attache case on the opposite shoulder. I watched him as he very seamlessly, and unassuming pinned his phone between his shoulder and ear and with two hands pushed the wheelchair all the way to the sidewalk. Before the man in the wheelchair could turn around, suit man headed south on the sidewalk and the wheel chaired man headed east. I was glad to have witnessed that. This very witted man, even while on the phone, saw an opportunity to help and did it. It didn't even look like the other man got a chance to thank him, or even saw him for that matter. Those are my kind of people. Amazing how such a simple act can mean so much. So, thank you kind man in blue suit on phone with attache case and cigarette in mouth, you made my day.

A Coins' Flip of a Chance.

Pathetically, I have another quarter story.

It has been a relief of sorts for the past few months knowing that my state quarter collections were complete. Out of habit I still check the backs of the shiny quarters I get, but in the same moment, I remember that the quest is complete and I grin and go about my day. All of that changed last week. I noticed that in the change I received at the market was a very shiny quarter. I flipped it over and I did not recognize the image obverse to George Washington. I used to be so cool about getting a new coin but I was caught off guard. What could be the meaning of this? Duke Ellington and the District of Columbia? Oh no you don't, U.S. Mint!!! There are no more states. I was done. I was the conqueror. I have turned the page, I have moved on. How could you U.S. Mint? How could you? I don't want to collect the U.S. territories. but I am doomed to do so.

Ode to Rachel

I've heard it said that rain on your birthday is the angels above longing for their friend. I know that my wife is a special gal but when I woke up this morning and saw the wet streets and a soft rainfall I stopped and reflected upon her and her eternal value to host of heaven.

I may sound boastful and hopefully not too cliche when I express the awe that I am in when I consider all that my wife is. She is a worker. She is always on the move. Rarely is any of her efforts self serving or indulgent. Her mind and heart are always in tune with the needs of others. One of her credos is "Make sure no one is left out." She lives it.

She is true. There is only one way to be true and that is being true in every way. She is true to herself. True to me, true to the kids, true to her friends, and of course true to the Lord. With any success I have had or success I may have in this life it will all pale in comparison to the fortune I have by having this woman in my life.

So as the angels above may be weeping this morning, I am full of joy because I have my sweet Rachel with me forever.

Lost are the Days of the Afternoon Paper Route

As I was getting into my truck this morning I saw the morning paper on the driveway. I don't know why we are getting the paper because we don't read it, but to keep from cluttering up my driveway I picked it up and side-armed it onto the porch. As I made that motion and watched that paper twirl around and around until it glided onto the porch I was flooded with memories of my days as a paperboy. Ah yes and now I will wax nostalgic...

I was 11 when I got a paper route. It was not an easy feat to even get a paper route, but I managed to talk my neighbor into giving me his route because his little brother didn't want it.

I learned alot from that job.

I learned that you have to work everyday; even in rain, even on weekends, and even on Christmas. Adding insult to injury, the weekend papers needed to be delivered by 7am and usually were filled with all the coupons and special adds so they were huge!

I learned that some people seem to exist only to complain. I took pride in my work so I didn't like it when people complained. Some of the typical complaints were: wet paper, valid if it was raining, but if your sprinklers are set to run in the afternoon and they overspray to your porch that's on you! late paper, it needed to be porched by 5:30pm. I never ran late, but I would receive this complaint from time to time, I dealt with it. The one that takes the cake was the complaint that the paper was not CENTERED on the porch. What? No one in the circulation department could take up for me here? That jerk got a paper on the roof the next day.

I learned the value of money. The paper cost $3.25 per month. When I would go collecting, about half the people treated me like I was the repo man! "Can you come back another time?" "Is it already that time again? I just paid you!" "My husband has the checkbook". In retrospect, I'd say if you cannot afford it, don't get it. And stop grinding on a little kid over 3 bucks. I will say this, with 40-50 customers, I felt like a millionaire when I was collecting. Then the paper would bill me and I'd end up with about 50 dollars. It may as well been a million dollars, I was the richest kid I knew!

I learned how to make a job fun. My best friend got a route, and we would deliver both routes together. He'd take one side of the street, I'd take the other. We would laugh and laugh practically the whole time. Sometimes we'd race, other times we'd mess around, but it was always fun.

I guess I'd like to think that I have some of those qualities still to this day, thanks to my paper route. It is a shame that there is not afternoon papers anymore, it would be a nice experience for my boys.

Mall Rats

On Monday Hannah turned 14. Rachel and I had planned on taking her out on the Saturday prior for a little birthday date. The bad news was Rachel got hit with a stomach bug that is going around. So despite her getting ready and telling herself she was not going to get sick, she got sick anyway. That left just Hannah and I for the date. Hannah was very let down. I am not what one would call a shopping enthusiast. I loath the whole shopping mall concept. However, her look of displeasure didn't get me down. I took that as a challenge to show that little girl the gosh darnedest best time she ever had, by golly!

Instead of going to the usual mall the kids loiter at, I thought I'd step it up and take her to the posh mall up in Scottsdale. What she was not aware of is that her Dad has spent alot of his work days building up that swank part of town and I know my way around. She showed a little grin as I weaved through the side streets of Old Town Scottsdale and with swiftness landed our vessel in the parking garage next to the Nordstorm. "Nordstrom? I like the way this is going." she quipped. I escorted my princess into the store telling her that she could get whatever she wanted. That put a little pep in her step. As she was flipping through dresses I casually and slightly effeminately pulled one out and pretended to look at it. In reality I was trying to get a glimpse of the price range of these dresses. $235 dollars? That must be a misprint. I pulled out another one, same misprint. I gasped so hard I nearly swallowed my tongue! Bless my little girl heart for being finicky. This bought me some time to think of a way out of this. "Okay, if you were not aware, the first rule of mall shopping is never buy on first glance. After you've found a few things from a few stores you can compare and contrast and make a rational decision." She agreed. What a relief. She finished her assessment of their $165 per sq. yard of fabric dress selection and we moved on.

a side note-I have a thing with mall shoppers. I know that I paint with real broad strokes but I think anyone over the age of twenty-three who mall shops must be dealing with some issues from their past. Let me say that going to a store in the mall and purchasing something and leaving is not the same as thirty-something gal walking around a mall in clothes that she thinks makes her look 20 years younger, laden with bags from every store she 'conquers', seems to the casual on-looker like someone has self-esteem issues or something. And from my perspective thirty-something guy doing the same thing probably got beat up alot when he was younger. So for me it's disheartening to see such a sorry bunch of people.

Okay--- we leave Nordstrom and now we are in the throws of this pretentious, superficial wasteland. I let Hannah lead the way. We go store to store..she is navigating this mall much like I navigated the side streets to get us there! Here were some of the stops along the way:

• Juicy Couture- I hesitated because I don't know what that name means. I naturally assume it's some sort of inappropriate innuendo. I sceptically walked through and I could not find anything other than the 'industry standard' immodest clothing that would suggest that this was some kind of kinky store. It seemed like a whimsical Gap store. Nothing of redeeming value.


• Abercrombie and Fitch- We passed. I felt sick just looking at this store. Ironic that a clothing store has mannequins who wear hardly any clothes. "Mr. Fitch, you could buy half as many mannequins if you fully dressed them with pants and shirts" What's worse is I think my kids have shirts from this place! How did they get them? The nearly naked posters in the windows should have deterred them right? Sheesh!


• Louis Vuitton- This was something else. This store sells luggage and sunglasses. Things you might need on a trip, I suppose. But wait, if I buy the bags and shades from Sweet Lou, I won't be able to afford to go anywhere. I won't even be able to pay for gas to get home from the mall. Good grief! The lanky, gaunt, pseudo-euro sales guy was the real highlight of that store. He and I knew without saying one word to each other that there was nothing either one of us had to say to the other. So there was no greeting, just simple glance of "Look pal, I don't want anything from you, and you're not getting anything from me." And that was that.


• Charlotte Rouse- A-HA! This is where the kids go to get their ratty looking clothes. It looked like a store full of Goodwill cast offs! All the teeny boppers in there were slovenly dressed. It felt like a teen homeless convention. Surprisingly, no good dresses in there.


• Rosetta Stone-"Hey Hannah, let's learn Mandarin!" She grinned, but kept on walking.


• Bath and Body Works- Hey, my nose works too. And, drum roll please, Hannah found something she wanted! I was so excited I broke my own first rule of mall shopping and bought it right then and there. A bottle of perfume. Sweet.


• Williams & Sonoma- Hannah indulged me and let me peruse this gem of a store. It ranks up there with Brookstone.


• See's Candies- We both agreed that we could find something we like in there, and we did.

After See's we were both done with the mall. Even though I have a sour outlook on the whole mall scene. I sure was glad that I was with my girl, talking, getting her to laugh, and realizing that my days of her being just mine are going to be up sooner than I want. I was so grateful for her goodness and her sweetness. I am so blessed to have her in my life.

Things Change

Over the years I have not had much success finding good help with want ads. I have become so jaded by it that I just have to accept that people don't want to labor for a living, and the men that I have are all I am going to get. I needed to just accept it. It was pretty ridiculous; I would run an ad that looked a little like this, (tiny bit of exaggeration was added for effect), "Dirt Contractor seeks someone with a pulse that can hold up a hard hat and shovel, who can work but will not be forced to do so. Name your price, will provide transportation, bonuses, a free house, flexible hours. Please, we beg you" The response was very underwhelming...maybe a dozen replies. Of the two or three I'd hire one might last longer than a week.

I know that alot has changed over the past year, but I still have needs to fill. I wanted to run an ad, but didn't want to attract all the derelicts and rifraff so the ad simply read, "HARD MANUAL LABOR". Monday morning there was a crowd of people waiting for the office to open. By Wednesday I received over 400 applications. All of the derelicts still showed up, but there seems to be a higher quality of bub to choose from now. This is a new experience for me.

This is the guy I want to hire----me 10 years ago. I was the man.

Turning Over a New Leaf

(pun in title intended) Now that Spring is in the air, we are trying to spiffy up our yards and enjoy them a little more. While walking through Costco the other night they were selling tomato plants. I picked one up and thought I try to make it not die. I am not a horticulturist by any means. I have never grown anything of value. I cannot even figure out how to program my sprinklers, but I am going to try to give this a go. Show me some sweet Heartland Tomatoes!

this is what I've got.....

...and this is what I want to get.