I have never been particularly fond of being told that life could be worse or that G-d/life never gives you more than you can handle.
Neither one of them provide any real solace for me, they are just things people say when they don’t know what else to say.
I suppose they might find silence to be uncomfortable but I generally don’t.
Perhaps it is because I have been placed in circumstances multiple times where I have spent significant hours alone and have learned how to be comfortable with it.
Circle back to things people say to friends and family during rough moments and I’ll say I find “I am sorry” to be particularly useful especially when it is heartfelt.
Dealing With The Unexpected
Somewhere during my first trip to Dallas in May of ’93 I realized it could be on the list of places I might live but I never really expected it to happen.
A few months later I found myself in Houston to help celebrate the wedding of a dear friend and discovered that I seemed to really like Texas in general.
But I still didn’t expect to live there.
Home was going to be in LA or Israel, not Texas.
Yet things happened and many of the plans I made didn’t happen and things that had been ideas were modified, adapted and or adjusted.
In short I learned a big part of life is dealing with the unexpected.
Sometimes it was very good, sometimes it was in between and sometimes it was unpleasant.
The real trick was learning how to roll with what came and laugh when I could.
Most of the time there was far more laughter than screaming.
Moments In Time
The most effective tool I have found in managing it all is to remember these are moments in time.
Nothing lasts forever, the bad fades and so does the good.
Both have their moments and their places.
*****
Watching the satellite installer walk through my screen door because he was too busy staring at his phone was one of those moments.
I only wish I had recorded it so that I could have posted it on YouTube but that is primarily because he was a jerk.
Don’t know why, could have been for a bunch of different reasons none of which was related to me.
But it aggravated me because I have my own list of challenges and there are a few big ones that are grinding away.
Grinding because my ability to influence them is quite limited and the normal tools I have for blowing off steam have been limited.
Fortunately my Internet and television are now live and I can focus my attention in other places and wait for the moratorium on weight lifting to be lifted.
Just Another Dad
Our summer plans got turned upside down and the things we had scheduled had to be adjusted.
Very little had anything to do with things we did but it didn’t prevent the apple cart from getting overturned.
When the kids asked me about it I smiled and told them I expected things to change some more and that I had plans for how to manage it all.
I promised that it was all leading somewhere positive and gave a brief outline of the who, what, why and how of it.
When they asked me if I was worried I told them I was a little nervous about some of of it but not in a particularly bad way.
I said when you move to new places it can be hard but it can also be very exciting to start over.
Each day offers a fresh opportunity and if we are smart we focus on doing the things we need to do to be successful.
That is why I am confident about the outcome here.
There are are some rough spots and challenges to hit, especially when you don’t know many people at all.
It takes time to figure things out and to determine what sort of resources you have.
Sometimes you just put your head down and work hard.
Mind your own business, focus and execute and good things happen.
If it goes as I hope I’ll hit that house in Italy in the picture above sooner than later.
I am just another dad trying to give his children a better life.
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