I sat on a park bench in the middle of Riverside and watched the world on Easter Sunday. I was in a happy place, but something just wasn’t feeling right. At first I thought I was feeling sorry for myself and then I realized I was missing out on something.
As life was passing me by on that park bench it was really passing me by in real time.
I’m just sitting around waiting for something to show up. Sitting around doing nothing. I’m sitting around waiting for Hazel to turn eighteen. I’m sitting around waiting for a bonus check. I’m sitting around waiting to put out the next fire. I’m sitting around waiting for the check engine light. I’m just sitting around doing nothing.
The last paragraph sure sounds like a guy who feels sorry for himself. During Holy Week I talked about how Easter is a rebirth, a new start, a chance to feel fresh, a chance to be saved from the past.
I didn’t feel any of that when I watched the Spring afternoon pass on by. I felt glued to that park bench just like I feel glued just waiting around for something to happen.
Will I still be glued down to that park bench when Hazel turns eighteen? Why do I have to wait for Hazel to turn eighteen to take the handcuffs off?
Will I be glued down waiting for the bonus checks to reappear? The real bonus checks stopped coming twenty years ago. The trading floor closed years before Covid shut it down for good.
Will I be sitting down waiting to put out the next fire? Just waiting for the next stunt out of Hensdale to reak more damage on my splintered family.
A park bench is supposed to be set in a serene place. A place where you enjoy watching the world pass by. My park bench suddenly symbolized a jail sentence.
It’s time to get off that park bench and take part in the world moving around. If I’m not careful Hazel will be eighteen tomorrow and I’ll still be worried about the check engine light. Still be working at a dead end job. Still be putting out fires my ex father in law should have put out well before I smelled smoke.
This weekend the skinny Jewish kid rose from his tomb and this week the husky divorced dad is getting off the park bench.
Look at the records of our two baseball teams in the bottom right hand corner of the Chalkboard.
Those are mediocre records by mediocre baseball teams. Teams that have been mediocre my whole life.
Those records only have ten games registered and there are 152 games left. 152 games to get off the park bench and start getting above 500.
Easter Monday is the day when Mediocrity gets shoved to the side. Time to get some wins. Time to stop waiting around for something to happen.
Time to enjoy Hazel’s tenth birthday this summer. Time to find the bonus check. Time to use a fire hose and not a fire extinguisher to put the flames out.
Time to order the birthday cake, work on the resume and hire a lawyer.
Just see what a Resurrection and an hour on a park bench can do!
….Rebirth, cleanse, move along.
That’s the Chalkboard for today… quit moping around waiting for the next sunrise. The number of sunrises are running out and it’s time to see the sun come up in a different location in life.
Happy Monday and let’s go Cubbies and White Sox… LETS GET SOME RUNS!
