Life is like a football game

 Life is like a football game.

Hear me out on this one.

Every morning when I wake up,it's as if I am waiting for the opening kickoff.

In my mind,just like the players on the field, I expect to win today.

I will take that opening kickoff and march right on down the field and score.

That's what's in my mind.

It's not always what ends up happening.

A kickoff return for a touchdown happens every once in a great while.

It certainly is not the norm.

So it seems is the way life goes.

Rarely does my day go that smoothly or easily.

As I go about my day, there are a number of opportunities to score

Sometimes I manage to put together some nice long drives.

All too often, they stall and fall short of the goal line..

When that happen, I don't just give up.

I send my defense out,hope for a stop and another chance to score.

As I approach each new possession (opportunity) , in my mind I again believe,this time I will score.

Again, that never happens.

There are some good plays,some not so good plays and even a few fumbles.

There are also quite a few 3 and outs.

Still,I never give up.

I don't quit.

I believe even as my waking and working hours wind down and the game clock seems to be against me, in my heart I still want to try and drive the length of the field and score.

As my day ends and the final gun sounds,all I can do is look ahead to the next game, the next kickoff , the next opportunity to win!

Breakfast of Champions

 Breakfast is by far my favorite meal of the day. Lunch often has a tendency of leaving me sluggish and dinner is always the exclamation point at the end of a long day.

Breakfast is the meal that fuels the start of each day.

When I would travel for work,I had the opportunity to eat at some really great breakfast spots.

I would often book my hotels based on the availability and accessibility of a good breakfast.

I have fond memories of some truly outstanding breakfast experiences.

Omelets,pancakes,french toast,muffins,yogurt parfaits,date nut bread and cream cheese served on a chilled plate,grits,oatmeal,bagel platters, pastries galore and so much more.

I've eaten breakfast in over half of the states in the Union and in countries all over the globe.

I've sat,poolside.lakeside,oceanside and mountainside.

I've sat by a fireplace, on a balcony,on a deck, in a grand dining hall, on a patio and at a streetside cafe.

It's the one meal I don't mind eating at a buffet although I still prefer being served.

Still my favorite breakfast of all time, the one I call the breakfast of champions, is one I was introduced to almost 50 years ago when I worked my first job.

To me,there is nothing that beats a cup of coffee and a buttered roll!

That's what I'm talkin' about!

It's so damn blue collar!

I love it!

Diner, deli or roach coach.

It makes no difference.

There's something about tearing open and bending back that little plastic tab on a coffee cup that can't be beat.

And then,folding back the paper that wraps around the roll and taking a bite.....pure ecstasy!

Preferably a round roll,seeded or unseeded, it doesn't matter.

When possible, standing is the position of choice for consuming this gastronomical delight.

I just love it!

There is something "manly" about this breakfast of champions.

Sounds kind of nutty doesn't it?

I can't explain why,I just love it.

With or without a napkin! 

It's not even Bah Humbug

 It is the holiday season.

Tonight is the first night of Hanukah and we are 2 weeks away from Christmas eve.

Yet in these strangest of times, I have to admit,it doesn't feel very festive out there.

Those who would control every aspect of our lives are consistently bombarding us with "this is not the year to be with friends and family".

Okay,I get it,but it all seems to have had a numbing effect on the spirit of the season.

It's not that they are being Scrooges.

It's way worse than that.

Scrooge hated the holiday season.

So much so that he would lash out with his famous Bah..Humbug! aiming at any anyone and everyone.

Hate is an emotion.

I can deal with emotions.

Apathy is a lack of emotion.

It is emptiness.

It's not caring.

It's being indifferent.

This is what I seem to be seeing all around me.

There is no holiday cheer.

There are no good tidings.

Wassail has been replaced by wassup.

We're feeling it at The Grooming Shoppe.

Since we opened over 4 years ago, the weeks before Christmas have been booked solid by mid November.

Not this year.

Why?

Well, people aren't having guests over so it really doesn't matter if Fluffy gets all cleaned up.

December 25th is just another day on the calendar.

Sadly, there will be no annual holiday mug this year,mostly because I really didn't have an inspiring message to print on it.

Sad!

With Christmas day being on Friday, even the folks in my tribe will have a hard time finding kosher take out for dinner!

Really sad!

Passover was a really tough time for me.

It was the beginning of this quarantine and I was devastated missing our traditional seder.

Now during this holiday season,there is no devastation. Just a whole lot of nothing.

I almost prefer the pain I felt back in April to the nothingness I am experiencing at this time of year.

Like I said,sad,very sad!

ILL EFFECTS

 I know,it's been quite a while since you've heard from me.No excuses,I've just been really sick.

Right after the election, I started feeling really rundown.Day after day,it became harder and harder to get up in the morning. As the day wore on,I felt listless and had no energy to do anything.

Day after day,my energy level seemed to get worse and worse.

It got to the point where I could barely get through the day.

I wasn't sick from the Coronavirus.

I was sick OF the Coronavirus and all that accompanies it.

I was sick of the incessant doom and gloom.

I was sick of masks and nonsensical lunacy around wearing or not wearing them.

I was sick of social distancing,isolation,quarantining, and the hypocrisy of those dictating these terms to me.

I was sick of seeing thriving businesses closing and going under.

I was sick of every idiot telling me about the "science" of it all,most of whom couldn't pass high school bio!

I was sick of the rhetoric that has been fueling such divisiveness.

I was sick of it all.

So sick that the mere thought of sitting down at my computer to write made me want to just go back to bed.

What a shame!

After 7 years of writing on a fairly regular basis, I couldn't summon the strength to even type a single thought.

Today, I finally realized that there will never be a vaccine that can cure my illness.

There is no magic pill or potion to take.

The only way I can begin to get better is through therapy.

If you've ever needed P.T., the only way it works is if you buy in completely and push yourself.

It can be painful.

It can be exhausting.

It takes an enormous amount of commitment and hard work.

That's just the way it goes.

You know what they say about commitment.

Commitment is doing those things you said you were going to do after the mood that you said it in has left you.

It's time to feel better.

That can only come with one thing....hard work.

Today I found myself standing at the bottom of the staircase.

There is only one way to get to the top.

Take the first step,and then one more, and then one more and then........

We hold these truths....

 With all of the noise and nonsense swirling about in our nation, I am finding it harder and harder to continue to be the kind,caring, gentle, happy individual I work so hard at trying to be.

People on both sides of all issues just keep saying the dumbest things .

And to be perfectly honest, most of them have nothing but their own opinions to weigh in with. None of the noise is supported by fact,at least not all of the facts.The "TRUTH" is nowhere to be found.

"Listen to the scientists!"

Which ones?

"Follow the Law".

Again, which ones?

Arguments abound .

The one and only thing I am 100% sure of is that there will be no kumbaya moment where all minds will come together and there is peace and brotherhood throughout the land.

It ain't gonna happen.

We hold these truths to be self evident?

Which TRUTHS?

We can't agree on what truth is and we certainly can't agree on any of what follows that statement.

I for one refuse to even pretend to have an intelligent conversation around any of this.

First because I myself am certainly no expert.

Second because I am not going to sway anyone nor will anyone sway me in my beliefs.

Mostly,though, because the minute I try,people go completely bat shit crazy!

70 million plus people hate the guy in the White House.

Another 70 million plus hate the way things have been for the last 50 years or so.

Am I going to change any of that? I don't think so.

If those in office are of the mindset that I support,I'm happy. If the other side is in charge,it's a safe bet that I won't be.

Loads of people are wearing masks,social distancing,getting tested and self quarantining.

Just as many absolutely think that much of what is going on is overreaching and overreacting.

So where will we find common ground.

Usually that happens when we have a common enemy.

Anyone up for a good war?

There is no such thing as constructive debate.

What there is is a whole lot of nastiness from both sides of the issues.

Sadly, there is nothing on the horizon in my view that will mitigate any of this.

Truths are what we each individually believe them to be.

That will not change.

Neither will anyone's deeply held beliefs and opinions.

At some point,reality outweighs truth.

And the reality is there will be no great coming together anytime soon.

Shabbat Shalom

Blinded by the light

 It is a spectacularly glorious sunny day here in the Northeast.

The sun is shining and the temperature is unseasonably warm.

There is a gentle breeze blowing causing the brilliantly colored leaves to dance on the trees before pirouetting down to the ground.

Given that we are well into November, this is a rare and unique gift to many.

Not so much for me however.

I've shared this with you before.

I am not a huge fan of sunny days.

As we move deeper and deeper into autumn, the sun appears lower and lower in the sky making glare a really significant issue for me. I spend 5 hours each morning sitting behind a glass wall navigating the roads of Bergen County.

On sunny days, heading east means battling the sun directly.When I turn to the west ,the issue becomes reflected glare.

In any direction, the end result is a lot of squinting.

The autumnal equinox brings a different sun problem than the rest of the year when the sun might be higher in the sky, beating down on me and overheating my rolling hot box.

It's still a huge annoyance and inconvenience.

Now I know what you are thinking.

Why don't you just go buy some sunglasses?

Well, for one thing,I don't like wearing them.

For many, going through life wearing rose colored or any other tinted glasses makes sense.

Not so much for me.

I find it unsettlingly unnatural and uncomfortable.

I know others feel differently than I do about sunny days.

Many people love them. Good for them. The problem becomes when people try to tell me that my reality and experience around sunny days is wrong or somehow perverse.

They insist that I should be enjoying sunny days and that somehow I am weird and incorrect in my aversion towards them.

It's quite a conundrum.

There is a beauty to sunny days and many feel that this is the way we should all live, bathed in sunshine 365 days a year.

That may be their reality.

It's not mine.

I for one love a cloudy day.

I appreciate a rainy day.

I have even become accustomed to the occasional blizzard and hurricane.

These are all part of my reality.

The sunshine is nice, as long as I can find my patch of shade to live in and get to enjoy it without someone forcing me into that harsh sunlight.

I really dislike being blinded by that light.

If you don't have anything nice to say..............

 How many times have I been told or used the expression"if you don't have anything nice to say ,don't say anything at all!"?

I can only guess too many times to count.

It's just one of life's golden rules in my book,often easier to preach than practice.

As you can surmise by my lack of communication ,( I haven't written in over a week), I have not been in the mood to say nice things lately.

Not that I have a lot of un-nice things to say either.

I just find myself self at an energetic loss to conjure up any really positive thoughts to share with anyone.

It's been a rough couple of days when it comes to being enthusiastic about life.

The last time I wrote was 8 days ago.

The next day,was dark, dank and rainy and I spent almost 8 hours driving around Bergen County making deliveries by myself.

Not exactly a "woo hoo this is loads of fun" kind of day.

By 10:30 in the morning my sweatshirt was damp and that never changed until I did when I stopped by the house at 4 before continuing on my not so merry way.The newly donned dry hoodie was a great relief. It probably would have helped if I had changed my squishy soaking wet shoes and socks as well.

It was just one of those days.

While the weather may have changed dramatically by the next day, things in my world didn't respond accordingly.

What ever malaise had set in on Sunday, seemed to hover around me all week long.

Hence, nothing nice to say.

Further hence,no writing.

While I can't say that sunrise today brought about any sort of significant change in my atmosphere, I did feel it was high time for me to find a way to rise above all of this and reach out.

The Sun is shining as it has been most of the week. The weather is unseasonably warm allowing for some outdoor activities.including taking Susan to lunch today.

Those are some nice things to share with you.

I just had a possibly aha moment.

I last wrote the day before we changed the clocks back.

Since then, evening has crept in around 4 pm and nightfall has been upon us shortly there after.

Darkness!

Ya think that might have something to do with it?

Not sure, but I'll give it some thought.

Until I figure it out....have a nice day!

Shavua Tov!