Top 10: Things on My Mind This Very Second

*Numbering is for dramatic effect only

10.       What do you think of when I say: jerks; pomposity; ego-on-steroids; sexism, back-stabbing; full-of-crap; and true colors that don’t paint a pretty picture? Raise your hand if you were thinking church. I am. Shameful, but true. 

9.         Money. If you were choking, what’s the one thing you’d think about? Air. When you don’t have money, it’s all you think about it. Living paycheck-to-paycheck affects everything from spending extra on food to going to the movies or buying clothes. It affects vacations (our family has NEVER had one). This leads to #8…

8.         Vacation. Every year we say we need to go somewhere. The girls are growing up and have never experienced a true family getaway. We have family in Texas and Florida and have said for years we’d make it down there someday. Nope. Hasn’t happened. Every time and I mean every time we think there’s something leftover, there isn’t.

7.         How the Sam Harry am I supposed to pay for student loans?

6.         It’s been four days since the staff at my school have learned I completed my MA course in creative writing. Many offered their congratulations saying they were proud and excited. My administration, however, has not said a single word. I don’t need to have them say anything, but it’s poor leadership. Leaders take the time to recognize personal achievements. But I know those darn multi-syllabic words like “Congratulations” may force you to schedule a time to stop by and say them.

5.         Parenting is hard. Being a father of three daughters is “hard” in an eggshell factory that’s constantly swirling, spinning and where the floor falls out beneath your feet at a moment’s notice. Scratch that. No notice. At all. Ever. I love my girls more than life, but I miss them. I miss them wanting to be around me. I miss where they absorb everything you say. I miss all of it. I’m at a loss. Timehop kills me.

4.          MA classes for writing, well, in general, involve a lot of work. Writing classes have you scribbling assignments all the time. But, thanks to Slice of Life, I’m writing more now after I finished classes than during them. This writing every day thing is exhausting. I love it!

3.         I hope my wife and girls are having a good day and everyone makes it home safely.

2.         I have way too many papers on my desk right now. I need new underwear. Why are those two things sharing a simultaneous thought?

1.         What can I plant out front this year? Out back? On the sides? How will I extend the flowerbeds? Will the trees I just planted grow? Did I put them in a good place? The fence is in bad shape. Needs replaced. So many possibilities, but then there’s #9 coming back to bite me in the rear with its drippy, venomous fangs.