Thank God it’s Monday

Do you enjoy your job?

At first, after retiring from the military, I had a pretty good job that was still related to the military in the department of defense, but then I left, and it was all downhill for several years and then finally somehow I landed a job they gave me purpose again, and I felt like I was back in uniform.

After working the same job for 20+ years. It was hard to find my passion again, but even in my current job, it didn’t start out perfect the first three months I somehow got fired into my current role, which sounds funny, but it’s true and even then it took a while to finally accept my new normal.

I’m back to working with my hands and solving problems worth solving and not caused by human drama and politics and backstabbing.

Steve Harvey said it best when we shouldn’t complain about “having” to go to work, instead we should say we “get” to go to work.

Interesting how one word changes the entire mood of it. At one time I had the window office with a view I wore the suits I had some level of power and control, but I absolutely miserable the entire time.

What’s the point of spending eight hours plus a day and 40 hours a week of your life someplace where you don’t love it and take it personal?

But I know not everybody has a choice in what they do so I should be even more grateful for loving my current role and what I get to do every day.

The hardest goodbye

Describe a phase in life that was difficult to say goodbye to.

My childhood.

The Gauntlet

Describe the most ambitious DIY project you’ve ever taken on.

We just recently finished replacing the entire floor in the main part of the house. ….and remodeled the laundry room, the pantry, and back office.

It took about 6 months and just before I started I tore my bicep. So that was the first setback.

The worst part was removing the travertine tile in the kitchen I installed 15 years ago. It was brutal and messy. Dust…everywhere.

I used white maple for the countertops in all the rooms. Next up with be the kitchen cabinets and countertops….someday.

If you could permanently ban a word from general usage, which one would it be? Why?

Accountability.

Cause it seems everyone has already done that.

Bored to Death

What bores you?

Not having purpose.

My Favorite Person

Who are your favorite people to be around?

I like being around myself when I am calm and at peace. (I don’t see him too much)

World travelers

Tell us about your favorite pair of shoes, and where they’ve taken you.

My LL Bean pose in Alaska

I had a pair of Nunn Bush brown suede shoes. I wore them everywhere. And I mean everywhere.

From the Middle East, to a casual hike in Alaska due to an unexpected and extended layover, to the streets of London, in the Philippines and just before I retired them, I spent several months in Pakistan. I felt like I was losing an old friend when I got rid of them. So many miles and memories.

The best gift

Share one of the best gifts you’ve ever received.

I think one of the best gifts I got was my first bicycle.

It enabled me more freedom to explore.

I also learned patience while trying to get from point A to point B.

Oh…FYI, the “H” on the 3-speed gear selector is NOT for Hills. 🤦🏻‍♂️😜

The Flag Waver

Are you patriotic? What does being patriotic mean to you?

Patriotism

 

As a retired military veteran you would think I would be fanatical, gun-toting, right-wing, narrow-minded and xenophobic. (Which does happen with some veterans)

But not all of us are like that.  Some of us paid attention when deployed overseas.  Some of us got perspective. I love my country, but not all the things it does on the world’s stage, and definitely what happens behind the curtains.  All the political finger-pointing, the backstabbing, power-grabbing makes it hard to be truly patriotic.

I spent over 20 years of my life defending the country, and I also wonder what was I actually preserving?  If I just stop at the generic thought, Freedom and leave it there, I can sleep at night.

I didn’t wear out my body for my fellow countrymen to be racist, xenophobic, homophobic….elitist, or any other category of negativity.  My grandparents were immigrants. 

Yes, come to my country, just go through the proper channels like they had to do.  I love my country because everyone has the potential to become something more than they are.  On the flip side, there are those who try hard to suppress them still. So that is why my feeling “patriotic” is such a hard question to answer.  We claim to be the “Greatest Country in the world” and yet we have children starving, drug addiction, violent crimes, school shootings almost monthly it seems.

We have homeless sleeping in the streets, people being discriminated against just for who they love, what they read, what they think, what color they are.  My fellow countrymen forget we ALL came from somewhere else.

Sorry for the negativity.  I am overwhelmed by it daily on TV and online.  I do hold onto the idea of patriotism and try my best to exemplify it when and where I can.

A lot of people just need to close their mouths, and open their eyes and ears a lot more….

Oh…I love K-dramas, love Asian cooking, own foreign cars and don’t own guns.

😉 

The Great Honey Brook Swing Incident

Throwback Thursday: The Great Honey Brook Swing Incident (photo is A.I. generated)

My family use to have huge get togethers in the Summer. There would be enough food to put most smorgasbords to shame. The men would play horseshoes in the backyard, the kids would run all over place playing various games and the women would sit on our large bench swing in the front yard.
This was in the early 1970’s before we moved to Florida. The swing was a beast. Probably 8’ wide, made of metal and wood slats, painted dark blue. It was hung by chains from a steel pipe structure that could probably hoist truck engines.

My mother and Aunts were not petite little ladies…and I think maybe 5 of them were sitting on it under the beautiful silver maple trees in the front yard,
chatting away. I think someone decided to join them and sit on one of the armrests.

I vaguely remember hearing the back chains snap and the entire bench flipped backwards. From the front, all you could see was legs and feet sticking up in the air. I also believe a truck that was driving by, did a U-turn to verify what he think he just witnessed.

No one was hurt, and I remember seeing my mother and Aunts in their sundresses, laughing and crawling on the ground on their hands and knees just like they tried to score a goal on 4th and 1…

That swing was a centerpiece for our house for many years. So many conversations and memories from it.
…and a memorial to the Great Honey Brook Swing Incident.

…and that is my Throwback Thursday memory.
❤️