3/19/2024

It’s been a few days since I posted last. I had a few days off of work and I decided to unplug some. I was scheduled to umpire baseball Thursday night but storms moved through and the games were cancelled. I didn’t mind so much. I needed the work but the day off was really nice after a couple weeks of the grind. This week is Spring break for my children, and there were only games scheduled for Monday and Tuesday for me. I gave away my game this morning as I had to go to a training at work.

Thursday night I went to men’s church at my church. It was fellowship night so we had burgers and played corn hole. I hadn’t played in a while so it took me a couple turns to get into the swing of it. I still see it as just a drunk party game, and not a game to be serious or compete in. All the same I had fun playing and getting to know the guys from church.

Friday I had to go to Arkansas to get Abrielle’s prom dress from April. We ended up eating Mongolian BBQ and then going for a walk at Tanyard Park. An interesting thing happened on the walk. There is a waterfall at the outer end of the trail and we climbed down on to the rocks that form the spillway when it is full of water. Down there was a rock with a heart and the initials A + D (April & Drew) where we decided to take a break. We didn’t notice it at first but it was right where we were sitting and talking. Everything between us right now is so confused and unclear. The walk was nice and we were able to talk freely and neither of us felt like we needed to bring up anything about “us.” We just enjoyed the sunny afternoon and the nature trail. Along the walk April nearly stepped on a snake. It slithered off into the creek, but before it took off we got some good pictures of it. While we were near the waterfall a crane came down to the pool we were sitting by and was fishing for a while. We both decided to go on back before we put too much pressure on ourselves to turn the walk into something romantic. I did enjoy the time with April and I was very grateful that she had altered my daughter’s dress. The future is still very unclear in regards to that relationship.

Caleb spent Friday with our family friend Matthew and went to Winter Jam in Springfield. After the show he told me that he didn’t realize Christians had “real” rock bands. I guess I must have failed him as a father as I was a huge fan of Mortification, Stryper, Disciple, Tourniquet, Norma Jean, etc. while I was his age. I suppose I just hadn’t ever exposed him properly to the music of my youth. That and as I got older I started listening to less thrash and death metal and more just metal and hard rock. I was glad that he had a good time and it made an impression on him.

I was supposed to go running with the church group Saturday morning but I couldn’t make myself wake up. I got up around 10 to go get Caleb from Joplin. We came back home and he had to babysit for Amanda. I spent the evening resting and taking care of the dogs.

Sunday I overslept again and missed church. I wondered about what Catholics do about St. Patrick’s Day during lent. I suppose if they did not give up drinking for lent it wouldn’t matter, but I guess I’ve always thought the lent season was supposed to be sacred and had never considered that St. Patrick’s Day is nearly always right in the middle of lent. I don’t mean any disrespect to any orthodox or serious Catholics, I just don’t understand. Caleb and I spent time watching some MCU stuff on Disney+ and he wanted to go to McDonald’s to apply for a job. We went around 5 and they told him to come back to get all of his paperwork filled out on Monday.

Today I had training during the day and it was extremely boring. The lady was very nice but the subject matter was very dry and it was hard to stay awake as I normally work at night. I went home after training and crashed out. Caleb went and completed his paperwork at McDonald’s. He is supposed to go in Tuesday evening to start his orientation.

I suppose that was a lot for an update, but it sums up the last few days. I should be back on here for the next few days so it won’t be as infrequent for a while.