An ode to the little things in life

An ear in a crowded bar sipping on a late-night happy hour rail drink until last call.  A check that breaks a financial strangle to improve life versus worrying about interest rates.  Shoveling a driveway in the middle of blizzard so an hourly worker does not have to go home with a short paycheck. 

“Let’s go for a walk”

“I’m sorry for your loss, how I can help?”

“Let’s get that drink we talk about but never do”

Grabbing an ass or not at the right time.  Leaving a person alone in order to be together.  Working late nights so the tired cook in the family that just came home from a rough day doesn’t need to pour through Pinterest for the latest creation that includes:  hamburger, zucchini, cream of mushroom soup, and bacon and can hop on Yelp instead to choose a decent local joint that makes a steak sandwich with a stiff vodka tonic. 

“Let’s make choices instead of excuses”

“I heard about a job you might be interested in”

“I think you should ask her out”

It is much easier to look for a way out than a way in because the pathway out was drawn while going in.  Marriages, jobs, friendships, all are drawn because people made an instant choice to interact with someone else and started a new road, a new street to walk down for a few minutes or a few decades.  The way out is easy, just go to the side of the road and sit because eventually the spouse will tell you they need a partner not a dependent, the boss needs a talented worker not someone who can pass level 530 in Candy Crush, the friend needs someone who will listen not an empty blog that hasn’t been filled in several months (*ahem*).

Reading Brad’s continuation on Wheaton’s Law tonight got me to log on for the first time since I graduated several months ago.  Walking the line at Roy Wilkins seemed like last week because I’ve spent this time trying to rejoin several paths where I took a seat on the curb holding a laptop trying to obtain a blunt force weapon called a college degree to break the corporate glass ceiling. 

Was the sacrifice worth it?  It wasn’t entirely for money as obtaining the latest Apple iEverything doesn’t interest me but providing some fun outside of paying bills does.  Living paycheck to paycheck sucks, becoming obsolete at work scared me but the cost afterwards was a harsh reality when I folded the Samsung RV515 and logged off the Rasmussen website for the last time to see people have moved on or changed.

Slowly, those walkways to my marriage, family, friends have become cleanly paved again, providing a place to grow and enjoy.  Work isn’t work anymore, it’s a challenge to learn.  Marriage isn’t marriage anymore its constant exercise to improve.  To quit at this point would do a disservice to all the people who didn’t mind that I hid behind five-inch thick books with instruction on taxing a partnership in Arizona correctly.

This all started with random invite from a friend to a hotel party, a morning Yahoo IM chat, a bonfire with friends along side of a half-used handle of rum.  Those people had no idea at the time how much they would alter my life, but maybe now they do.