Informant 10

February 23, 2016

    When I think of what to jot down for my thoughts I just think of my past weekend.  I got woke up Saturday morning by my daughter(she usually comes in the bedroom and wants to lay between her mother and I when she wakes up.  Once I got awake and moving my daughter wanted me to go outside and play with her or to play toss inside the house.  C. was sick and just wanted to be left alone so I thought with the weird weather break where it was actually nice….I should go somewhere with her.  So, I took her to the Morningside Park that is dedicated to my dad.  I always try to tell her something when we get there so it sinks in how that is a special place.  I was stunned with it being almost 70 degrees and the place was vacant.  So, that meant I had to pretend to be a zombie and try to grab my daughter as she ran around, pushed her on the swings, and pushed her on the merry-go-round.  After about 30 minutes there was a random boy show up and he played with A. for awhile.  Once he went left she wanted me to take her to a pool and she couldn’t understand that the pools were not filled up because even though its Spring weather….it wasn’t spring yet.  

    I decided to take her to another park (McCullough) and there was a dozen or more kids plus adults there, so she was able to have more fun(even though she gets shy and isn’t outgoing until she feels comfortable).  I was a loner and very reserved when I was her age and seemed to have similar traits(her mother did too, so I think it was guaranteed she would).  I was surprised that she was able to swing on the monkey bars because shes only five and that takes a lot of upper body strength. 

    They have two playground areas, so when she got bored with one, we moved to the other…..then she played at the first one again for a little while until she slipped on a balance beam and bumped her knee.  So, what does a dad need to do to make it feel better(since its not a medical issue)……”Lets go get some ice cream”.  

    I took her to the south side Dairy Queen and let her pick out whatever she wanted(ended up being a sundae) and I got my usual chocolate chip cookie dough blizzard.  I saw a guy there who I used to talk to all the time (he used to be in my “Floss ‘N Gloss Car Club”), but families and free time pulled us apart.  I was excited to know he has a son about the same age as my daughter plus he has a daughter on the way.  He moved to the Selma school district for the same reasons I moved to the Cowan school district.  Everything was great, I was telling him about where I am working and how I ended up getting on, etc and then found out that hes been out of work for awhile and is trying to get on at Exide.  

    You can make some decent money there but being exposed to lead, having to take monthly blood draws(to check your lead exposure levels), and risking your families health by taking some of that home with you(even though you leave your clothes at the work facility) is why I never tried to go out there.  I wonder what we as people have to do in order to provide for our children and be successful at it.  We all take risks….they all just vary.

    Anyways, after the “ice cream social” we went home and C. was still laying on the couch.  I hate that the last few weekends she has felt like crap.  Normally that is my family time, but being a supportive husband is part of the marriage requirements as well, so I do what I can.  The only thing I really missed out on was church due to playing and chatting so long.  

    Sunday we woke up too late so we missed the last opportunity of the week to go to church.  I actually am borrowing some cd’s and dvd’s from a coworker that I need to watch/listen to(they are sermons at his church that he thought might interest me).  I told him that I was going to through a spiritual lull and needed something to get me refocused.  Hes been a great spiritual helper in that he(and one other person at work) can find a random line in the bible and we will discuss it or a random thought and we will talk about how it is important, etc.  That’s part of the reason I miss first shift….being able to be pushed spiritually…..it forces me to read more so I can make my points more solid or understand their points better.

    Since we were up and wifey felt a little better and was motivated she decided we needed to do some yard work.  8 contractor bags of leaves later we had once section of the front yard cleaned up.  I carried them down by the creek and we burned them.  Our daughter helped put the leaves in the bags, then when I was making trips carrying the bags, she played on her own playground in the backyard, and then when we burned the pile she was getting fallen sticks with her mom to throw on the pile and, from time to time, ran through the smoke with her eyes closed and saying she was “The Flash”.

    After yard chores were done we relaxed inside for awhile and later when I was taking a shower I heard two of my wife’s friends in the house and then I remembered that its Sunday night.  That means it is “Walking Dead Night” for quite a few weeks out of the year.  So, they were coming over to watch it.  

    Since they were chit chatting at the kitchen table I decided to watch some of the recorded UFC fights that were going on at the same time.    I was able to watch a few fights before they were ready to start watching their show.  They have a habit of talking and hanging out for awhile when the show starts.  Since they are recording it…they can watch it and skip through most of the commercials.

    After that weekend I was almost ready for the week to start so I could relax a little.  HA!  Monday I actually found out that Honeywell is trying to buy “United Technology”, which may or may not sound familiar to you.  Being a fortune 100 company……if Honeywell bought them(who is also a fortune 100 company) they would have the largest manufacturing merger/purchase in a very long time.  Normally that would be a very exciting time, however that company also owns “Carrier Heating and Cooling”.  So they are the ones who took tax payer money(millions), claimed they were going to expand its Indiana plant but instead closed the one nearby(thousands of jobs were lost) and has taken that money to Mexico where it will expand the factory there.  So, its not as exciting to us workers as it is to its stock holders.

    That’s life……there are going to be great cherished memories which may be followed by concern for our future.  I am not one who gets overly dramatic or panic because one of my favorite things to say is, “God will provide a way for me to provide for my family.”