Outpost Shoulders….I did something bad
Seven Pax, took the Daily Red Pill (DRP) this morning and got better.
The Pax: Striker, T-Bone, Meat sweats, Aruba, Napalm and Bluegrass (Q: Squirrel)
- Yeti: Dos Equis, Bourne, McFly and Rip
The Scene: Mid-60’s…no rain. What a great morning to be out in the Gloom!
As we warmed up T-Bone told some “recent” Scout Jokes
The Thang: The Q decided to take it easy this morning so we walked over to pick up some bricks and headed to the Lion’s Den
- 1st round Brick shrugs 1 min
- 2nd Round Reverse fly 1 min
- 3rd round Shoulder press 1 min
- 4th round Front raise 1 min
- 5th round Lateral raise 1 min
- 6th round Upright row 1 min
- 7th round Brick shrugs 2 min
- 8th round Reverse fly 2 min
- 9th round Shoulder press 2 min
- 10th round Front raise 2 min
- 11th round Lateral raise 2 min
- 12th round Upright row 2 min
The Q decided to bring back the Angry Panda….and proceeded to perform the Seal Clap Merkin Ladder to 10 and back down
Brick Shrugs 1 min
Outta time
Prayers and Announcements:
Traveling mercies to Bluegrass as he heads to Carnegie Hall this weekend with his church group to sing!
With weak shoulders the BOM gathered ‘round and Striker prayed us out.
MOLESKINE: I did something bad….
Some of you know my daughter is out in California teaching leadership. This will make it her third (and final?) year to teach people leadership while performing work on the National Park trails. It’s hard work, physically for everyone and mentally for the lead. Teaching some of the young people, anywhere from 18-25ish, things like…”no, you unzip the sleeping bag and get inside it to stay warm” to how to move boulders, level the ground, resolve conflict. Your Humble Correspondent is proud of his little girl!!!
She was always tough. She could fall and hop up with blood running down her leg and be like, “ok what’s next?” Sure, there were some times she would be a bit dramatic (she has a flair for that) but all-in-all she’s always been a trooper. But I got to thinking of when she really was little. Like 3-4 years old. She had a fever and wasn’t feeling well. That’s when I did something bad. It was something that makes you pause and think and really beat yourself up. Heck, here I am 27 years later and I can beat myself up about it.
I had been putting my all into work. I was going through the Operators Training Course and was exhausted. The cadre there were like ice, no emotion, and tough. It was a weeding out process and it works!
In my sleep-deprived, physically drained state I was pretty easily frustrated. It didn’t help that, at that point in my life, in the Squirrel dictionary sympathy was somewhere between shit and syphilis…. I have gotten softer over the years!
This night she was up and hollering for me. “Daddy, I’m sick”, or “Daddy can you come here?”
I shouted for her to go back to sleep and she’ll be fine. “Just be quiet and think good thoughts and you will go back to sleep.”
She listened.
5 minutes later she calls out again.
I shout louder.
Again, she listens.
Then the third time comes and I’m pissed. Not the kind of pissed that Guinness would think, but mad. I get out of bed and storm into her room. I’d had enough.
When I bust through the door into her room I’m hit with a smell. The smell of a little girl who had thrown up and messed herself.
I stop dead in my tracks. Here was this poor little child calling out to her daddy for help.
And. I. Hadn’t.
I had thought she was just wanting attention and coddling. It was something else entirely, and now I was looking into the eyes of my beautiful daughter who looks up and says, “I’m sorry daddy. I got sick.”
Ugh. My heart turned to mush. What a shit-head I was. So I clean her up and held her until she fell asleep again.
I didn’t know her situation. I was absorbed in what I wanted (sleep) and in my situation. The truth is, for almost everyone we meet we don’t know their situation. Their story, or why they act or say the things they do.
Before you react, stop. Try to understand. Listen. Be with the person…in their situation. Everything isn’t always about you. #Live3rd
Have some empathy, because things aren’t always what they seem.
Aye!