Thats my Job

That's my job
That's what I do
Everything I do is because of you
To keep you safe with me
That's my job you see

It has been said, find something you love to do, and you will never work a day in your life. Well maybe so but Old Chicago is not going to pay me to eat pizza and drink beer. Fox Sports has not offered me a contract to watch the Dallas Cowboys play. Believe it or not I have never been paid to argue with a fence post..Yea that one is a shocker to me too!
   When we were little kids me and my sister used to dig up little cacti (more than one cactus Lorne) plant them in little plastic pots and peddle them door to door. It was fun for us and my first shot at making my own money. I landed my next job when I was about 14 after getting in a fight with a friend of mine at the Gatesville rodeo, and my shirt was covered in blood. A Neighbor who lived a couple of miles down the road ..yes he was a neighbor we lived way out in the sticks..asked if I was tough. Well heck yea I thought at the time and said so. He offered me a job breaking horses. Well mainly I broke my back cleaning stalls, hauling hay, mowing..Not much bronc stompin involved, but it was a job. My next job was great! Me and Larry running projectors at the  drive-in for Don and Cheryl and Gene Palmer. That was something I loved and they would probably agree I didn't work a day! But I did eat popcorn and drink coke and managed to throw the picture on the screen, but I had to graduate high school and find higher paying work. So I went to work at a factory building boats. I screwed up enough stuff that finally I was reduced to taking out trash and generally cleaning up. It had to be done and I had to keep a job. After a summer of that I joined the U S Army for four years. I went in knowing it was not for a career but I needed to do it. When I got out of the Army my career in low paying jobs went something like this: feed mill( one day) concrete work, movie theatre, V A regional office filing stuff, Sonic, machine shop, meter reader, furniture salesman, car salesman, ice cream merchandiser and TA DA truck driver! I know I left things out. I actually wrote the news for a tv station in Waco for a short while, did telemarketing for a week or so. I really like driving a truck but if I won the lotto that would be my last day , so I guess I don't love it.
   Well somewhere after work I found time to get married and have a kid. The marriage didn't last ( we are still friends) but I think this dad thing will stick. I never liked kids before and really did not think I was going to like mine much  more than I liked other kids.
   Some one mentioned to me I was doing a good job with Carl. Some one else reminded me it was the most  important job I will ever have. A dads job is never done...
   Funny thing is being Carl's dad is not work. Its not something I have to do, it is something I get to do. It is not my job, but it is what I do.
 

A Sunday Mostly Alone

Today did not start promising, then got worse for a time. But only a short time. Thunder barked me wide awake at 4:30 am. As in the morning. Well I couldn't go back to sleep so I stayed in bed and listened to the rain,wondering if I had my windows rolled up or had boots in the bed of my pick up like I usually do. I watched 5:30 roll around until I finally bored myself back to sleep. But only for a short time. Somewhere around 8:30 I woke up dreaming something incoherent about the cops...oh, sorry police. Eventually I realized that I was fully awake but could still hear sirens so I looked out my living room window to see a full blown firetruck in front of my house. I didn't smell smoke. Then an ambulance pulled up.Then two cop cars. Sorry police cruisers. About that time my beer drinking neighbor walked out holding the side of his head. I still don't know what that was about but sleep was no longer in my future. What I needed was a 44 ounce diet Mt Dew. I grabbed my keys and actually started to open my door before I realized or remembered...my truck, windows up or down was not in my driveway but behind the Blue Bayou. Heck I hope my mom doesn't hear about this. I met my uncle and cousin there  to watch the second half of the OU game, and since I drank 3 or 4 beers I decided not to drive. So I was dropped of at ...you guessed Old Chicago. Back to this morning. When I turned away from my window after the ambulance left I spotted the pizza box on my couch. Yea remembered that.
   After a few phone calls my cousin came to take me to get my truck. Oh yea my windows were rolled up after all. Well all except the one busted out by the thief that emptied my glove box and center console. In the words of a thousand defeated boxers "I was robbed." I had nothing of value in my wallet in my truck. I had my drivers license and bank card in my pocket, but they did break out my window and my pick up was rained into while I was not sleeping through it. So whats a guy to do? This is the only Sunday I am going to get this week. My boy Carl had spent the night at a friends. So I decide to go to my version of Cheers. Old Chicago, where everyone knows my name. Things would certainly go better there. A side bar about Old Chicago-the manager is Very good looking, but of course that's not why I go. So I go there knowing my day will be better. So the before mentioned manager walks up to me..big smile my day is looking up.. and with an expression usually reserved for wives she deadpans " You are in trouble". Dang. I left last night without paying. I skipped my tab. No wonder I thought I didn't spend much last night, ha ha I didn't!
  Now to the good part, and no not more screw ups, the good part. Football. I love football and I guess my favorite thing on earth is to watch the Cowboys play eat a pizza ( I happened to find a free one on my couch)  and drink a few beers. Normally this gaiety is shared with Carl and Larry or Lorne or other friends but today I was alone. I had a blast! I didn't have to suck my gut in because of some pretty girl in the room. I didn't have to wait on the bathroom. I ate pizza , drank a few beers flipped from game to game and of course the Dallas Cowboys beat the highly hated Philly Eagles, and like free ice cream, the Giants lost too!This is the only Sunday I am getting this week, glad it was a good one.