Little-Big

NaNo Count - 19757 words

Okay, so I'm behind the mark! That's because I missed four full days of writing over the weekend.

On Friday, I took my son's Scout troop up to West Point for the weekend (Folks, if you have never seen the Point in autumn, I suggest you plan a trip for next year! It has got to be one of the most beatiful places on earth!) We took a tour of the point, saw the Parade of Cadets, and got to see the Army vs: U-Mass football game on Saturday afternoon. (which was one of the most exciting football games I've seen in 30+ years of watching!) The weekend was wonderful, albeit a little stressful for yours truly.

See, I've been an Asst. Scout Master with the troop for two years now, but this was the first time I was the man completely in charge of a trip. I've always had the SM or one of the more experienced ASM's with me when we go out. This weekend though, I was "the man" in charge of 30 some-odd kids, along with a few assorted siblings and a good twenty adults. I had to keep things running on schedule, account for all the boys in and out of a 50,000 person crowd at the game, get them all out to dinner, back to camp, evening's entertainment, campfire, Sunday breakfast, camp breakdown & cleanup, butts in seats, travel back home, unload equipment & make sure all boys were picked up . . . all the while handling all questions, problems, injuries, and minor disputes that arose. Big stress on me . . . but DAMN, it was fun!!!!! I think I did a decent job. The kids all had a blast and the parents all went home with smiles, so . . .

That killed me through Sunday, and yesterday was Mon-fuckin'-day with a vengeance! Work was nuts, but I had to leave early to take care of home renovations and get the boy to a friend's house so they could finish up a school project. Then it was off to grab dinner and rush to Home Depot to order flooring and tile. Then a stop at the food store, and back home about 10:00 p.m. Too damn whooped to write!

Truth to tell, I have been struggling the last week with writing because the wife and I have been fighting. I can't tell you how draining it is to my creativity when we fight. When things are good with us, I can take the work crap, life craziness, unexpected emergencies, etc. in stride and keep on writing. When she's mad at me though it throws off my whole inner balance (Oooh! How metaphysical I sound!) fighting with her is the only thing I know of that can totally side-track me from everything else in my life. Nothing else that happens ever really bothers me that much - I'm a pretty mellow guy- but having her upset with me really blows me out of the water. Hmmm . . . does that mean I really love her? (Nahhhh, let's not get silly, now!)

Good thing is, we worked it out (not sure how we manage that but thankfully, we always do!) and things are cool again. We're still both a little high strung from the renovations but I can handle that. If I can keep from pissing her off (again!), I may still make my NaNo goals!

Now wasn't that a fun detour into my dull little life? Sorry, folks, wish I had earth shattering news or grand ideas about the nature of Life, the Universe, and Everything (42! 42, goddammit!) but I do not. I am just a little man, toiling away at a big dream, making small amounts of progress in my own miniscule mind.

Wanna tag along for the ride? :-)

Later!