16 September 2008

Carpe Diem ... aka The Anti-Rant

Saturday was a complete struggle for me, I ended up knowing I was just being so high maintenance that I stayed home, alone, and ignored calls coming in. I was in bed early, and must have worn myself out, at least emotionally, because I slept twelve hours. I woke up Sunday to more of the same self doubts and questionings. It was about 1015, and I started the usual Sunday negotiation with myself, when am I going to church? 1100? No, I gotta rush to get ready. 1230? No, I'll miss Lindy in the Park ... wait it's cold. Football is on today, can I go to church at 1700? I laid in bed for 20 minutes or so with every combination of church, dancing, and football I could come up with running through my head. Usually what ends up happening is no church at all, and with the bad attitude, that's where I was headed.

Then something happened the ring did not expect, it fell into the most unlikely hands imaginable, a hobbit, from the Shire, Bil... no wait that's a different story all together.

I made a decision to go to church now. I got up, got ready, and went. Church was good, I left thinking about how I can give up so easily on somethings, and then have such incredible patience with other things, perhaps there might be something in the middle? You think? I headed over to the gas station and filled up, got some Jimmy John's and headed home for a day of watching football.

Ben was home, and I talked to him for a bit then asked him if he was going to go to Lindy in the Park? When he said yes, I told him I was riding with him. We got downtown a little on the late side and parked on the far side of the lagoon. The first really fun thing happened. I walked down the ramps, been took a short cut over the grass ... we made brief eye contact, and the race was on. He shot down the grass and towards the lagoon crossing, I went as quick as I could around the rails and caught him near the turn at the corner of the lagoon ... we both won because neither of us got hurt.

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Check it out, people showed up in 60F weather to dance, it must be a great product!

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After years of avoiding dips like the plague, who has their feet up in the air like that?

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Dancing is a serious business, no shenanigans are allowed ... Catnip's face pretty much says it all.

At the end of Lindy in the Park, we were having some decision making issues of the "...I don't know, what do you want to do..." variety. So we appointed Sarah to be the leader for the rest of September. At the end of September, Sarah will appoint another leader, at the end of October, that leader will appoint someone new, but it can't be Sarah. Agreed! So after hearing some suggestions, Sarah decided we were headed over to Ted & Wally's for some ice cream. Side note to Ted & Wally's: feel free to mix in a few chips with your mint chip ice cream. While we were there, Ben busts out a deck of cards, and we sat and played four or five different games until it was obvious we were the only ones in the store.

"Let's go bowling." "How about darts." "Play games." "Play some pool." Do this, do that, how will we decide? Sarah? We lost Jillian & Mark, and ended up at a pool hall in Council Bluffs, it was different in three ways from every other pool hall I'd ever been to ... it was clean, no smoking, and no TV. Greg, it turns out is a very good pool player.

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The next thing I remember is waking up on the cold floor with a bump on my head.

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Ben thinks he can't get through to hit the 8-ball, he was right.

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Lisa is modeling the very latest in attractive NFL t-shirts.

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My wrist is not quite up to being able to handle this game yet.

After a couple hours of pool and foosball, we were done with that fun, so now what?

Go to Village Inn! Go to Harrahs! Go to Ameristar! Go home (who said that?)! Go get fast food! Do this, do that, how will we decide? Sarah? So it's off to the Ameristar Buffet, where evidently we all decided to take the words "All you can eat" as a command instead of a suggestion. I had three plates, mostly emptied, and dessert. I think the key to "all you can eat" is to make sure you get some "roughage", aka salad, so things actually, shall we say, move along?

As far as days in my life go, this one was near the top. Everything worked, dancing, games, food, conversation, jokes, fun, and most importantly friends. I continue to be so impressed, and humbled, by the people who surround me. I am so lucky. Lisa, Greg, Ben, Sarah, and Ben, thanks for a day to remember, I can't wait to seize the next one.

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