It’s pushing 3 PM and I am sitting in a hotel lobby near downtown Dallas watching the US Women take it to England in the World Cup.
There are three men sitting nearby and one of them is telling the others and anyone else who will listen he knows how to make women do anything.
I have a cold that has enhanced my sunny disposition and I give the man the look I share with anyone I think is particularly stupid, annoying or deserving of scorn.
“What? You don’t believe me?”
I don’t answer because he isn’t interested in what I have to say and I know he is going to feed me some line of bullshit. I am hopeful my sneezing has scrambled my brains and I have misunderstood him, but I haven’t.
He is mid to late twenties and trying to show off for his boys. I am a magnet for this kind of stupidity so I am not surprised but still hopeful he’ll choke on his beer.
“Old man, ask these guys and they’ll tell you.”
I shake my head and tell him I am a better liar than he is. That throws him and he fumbles for a response.
“What the hell does that mean?”
“It means if I choose to lie I’ll tell a story that is believable. Or maybe I have misunderstood you and fail to recognize you don’t believe your own bullshit.”
He asks me if anyone has told me I am an asshole and I smile, wink and walk away.
Take Care Of Yourself
A few years back when I slipped on the stairs at the apartment I was living in and dislocated my finger I faced a question of whether to take care of myself or ask for help.
I didn’t know many people in Texas and those I did know were far away or in other situations that complicated asking for help.
So I figured my best bet was to follow the instructions of those older and wiser than I to “take care of yourself.”
I looked up how to reset my finger online and gently tugged on it.
My primary concern was whether I could get a good grip and pull it at the right angle so I opted not to go for it, but only because I figured I pay enough for good health insurance that it seemed a waste not to take advantage of expert help.
And that my friends is the short summary I shared with my teenagers about the choices we make in life.
Did my best to use it as a teaching moment to express the importance of knowing that we ultimately are responsible for our own care, but that when we have good options for help we ought to look into using them.
If you are among the regular readers it is obvious I have spent more time thinking about such things since dad died.
There are lots of things I could ask mom for help with, but there is a list of stuff that is outside her wheelhouse.
Some of it is gender related and some of it is related to work or suggestions he might make for working on a project around the house.
My goal is to be around for a long while, but there are no guarantees and regardless of how hard I try my time and yours is limited.
So I want the kids to think of themselves as always being ultimately responsible for taking care of themselves. It is the most sensible approach and best way to see they become self sufficient.
A Hard Way To Learn To Fly
You see the guy in the photo?
He just told a group of women he knows how to make them do anything and they responded by flinging him off the cliff.
“Prove you can fly and we’ll do anything you ask.”
That is not a particularly clever or good story but sometimes you play the hand you are dealt and hope to turn a mediocre hand into something.
****
I haven’t decided if I am going anywhere to watch fireworks or not.
I am on my own so the choice to or not to go and where is entirely my own. If I still feel like this I’ll have to determine whether I feel like making Matza ball soup or if I’ll go pick some up.
The thing is this isn’t a place where there are lots of options for picking it up so it means spending a few minutes in the car.
I suppose I could use one of the food delivery services but I expect that would make an affordable bowl of soup into something that costs far more than I want to pay.
The idea of that irks me, I hate paying for a bad meal but I am not especially fond of feeling like I overpaid for something that was just good.
Not that I ever want to overpay, but this seems like a recipe for displeasure.
Been hard at work on this in a variety of spaces and places. Practice, practice, practice.
