Day 22 of 23 Day Trial

Where are Days 19, 20, and 21?  They will be included in here as well. Much happened over the weekend, most of it really wonderful, some of my choices…not so great.  Let’s begin with the not so great and see what can be learned from them.

During the kids lunch on Friday, I played dodge ball with them and the very first time I threw the ball I threw out my elbow and shoulder with it.  The pain was quite intense, but admitting that I’m old and out of shape would have been more unbearable so I continued to play the whole recess, sucking wind through my teeth with every throw.

That night was my bowling night, so I was going to have to throw even heavier balls in the evening. The choice to play through the pain at lunch wasn’t exactly a good one, but not nearly as disastrous as my choice for that evening.  I knew it was going to hurt to bowl, so I told my wife I was going to have a few glasses of wine to dull the pain.  I didn’t drink until I was sloppy, in fact I bowled one of my best series ever, but I did drink enough to give me a hang over in the morning.  (I just learned an old English term for a hangover earlier in the week, womblety-cropt, and I think subconsciously I was looking for an excuse to use it.)

This one hangover had far reaching effects on me.  I missed getting up at 5 the next morning, I missed exercising, and I almost missed out on a really wonderful Catholic Men’s Conference.  I did make it to the conference, where I heard an absolutely incredible speaker and two other really good speakers. They had to be good to keep me engaged the way I felt physically.

Because I didn’t exercise and I didn’t get up I pretty much gave up on watching what I ate and I ate poorly.  I slept in Sunday to about six and then got up with my son and made breakfast for everybody.  I ate with them, even though I should have stuck to the diet food.  I kept putting of exercise thinking I’d do it later in the evening.  But, we had a full day of looking at houses and then grocery shopping.  By the time I got home, it was time for bed.  I chose to eat fast food and you can tick of another day on the trial.  Yesterday, I missed the alarm, because my wife, who hasn’t figured out how to turn off my alarm just turned the volume all the way down.  I missed out on exercise and then had to rush about the day and go to a large meeting out of town. I chose bad food for lunch, but pulled it together last night and said enough.  So, here I am.  I feel quite disappointed with myself. 

I learned a lot about myself though.  I now know how quickly I can spiral out of control, if I don’t start my day off right.  If I don’t get in my exercise, prayer, and organize my day before others wake, I might as well hang it up.

Now for the good parts.  Like I said, the Catholic Men’s Conference was wonderful, despite being all womblety-cropt.  I have never enjoyed being told I was going to Hell quite as much. Father Larry Richards was the key speaker and man was he good.  He didn’t pull any punches.  He called out every man and told us all about what being a man really means.   I don’t have time to get into his message here, but perhaps I will find time to at least share something later.

The other part of the weekend that was great involved the house hunting.  We made a mad dash to find a place to live around here when I first got the job.  The place is okay, but not a place we want to purchase.  Sunday we looked at houses and found the one that everybody in the family loves.  I have wanted a house in the country and this one meets that criteria.  It sits on five acres and is those five acres are surrounded by woods and cornfields.   We put a bid on it yesterday and if God is willing and we get the house we will be moving the first of March.