Category: Diary of a Wooley kid

It’s All About the Gifts

Right now, I’m sure we have some Christians cracking their knuckles, getting ready to write spirited responses to that headline. Slow your roll there, children of God! Let me explain…

Of course, I realize the significance of Christ in Christmas. It’s a celebration of the savior’s birth, although the historical accuracy of his exact date is something I’ve heard debated often. I wage no wars on Christmas, nor do I ever go around saying “happy holidays.” I’m totally down to give Jesus credit on his birthday.

I also recognize the Pagan significance to the holiday. Christmas simply wouldn’t be the same if we stripped out the Yule tradition of trees, mistletoe, etc. So let’s not kick the vikings out! We need them to do this right.

Circling back to the Christian faith, let’s also not forget the fourth century bishop known for his generosity and secret gift giving. The feel-good stories of St. Nicholas have lasted 1,600 years beyond his death. Over time, with the help of Coke advertising, St. Nicholas morphed into the legend of Santa Claus, who requires no introduction. We all know that story.

The Real Deal for Me

The tradition of decorating the house, Christmas movies, thawing out Mariah Kerry, and thrashing my living room with torn wrapping paper on Christmas day, is about as ‘MERICA as it gets. I love it when the Christmas tree is decorated and lit up, then I see the glow of other trees in neighbors’ windows.

Every year, as I pull out homemade ornaments, I’m reminded of all the previous years of celebration. My kids would take turns every year, putting the star at the top of the tree, while I held them up. Nowadays, they don’t need that boost from Dad, but they still make a big deal over who gets to do it.

Every year, my wife and I stress over how we can afford presents. On Christmas day, all that stress is worth it to see faces light up as kids unwrap them. Even the dog knows what’s up, as he goes looking for his stocking full of treats.

This annual tradition of giving and getting takes me back to when I was a child, making memories with people who are no longer among the living. I can’t tell you much about my daily life when I was five. On the other hand I can tell you all about that Castle Greyskull I got at Christmas. I can still smell that He-Man specific plastic smell. Times like this are little bookmarks of happiness in my life story.

My kids are all full-sized humans now. Only 2 of the 5 are even minors anymore. Even so, we still do presents under the tree every year. When I see a 6-foot tall adult digging into his Christmas stocking, I see that little kid again. At least now, they don’t wake me up at daylight to open presents, although I miss that too.

I can’t wait for grandkids!

Angels Among Us

Mornings are always rough for me. I’m pretty sure I run high on cortisol all the time, but the first few hours of the day bring a bonus dose of irritability, often negativity. It’s at this time, someone needs to lock my social media until I’ve had coffee and time to level out. Especially on NextDoor, I really need to behave my typing fingers.

This morning was no different, other than it was also the day after I got shitcanned from the newspaper dream job. While I did manage not to spit much venom on social media, I was feeling pretty sorry for myself. I felt a little hopeless. Nobody wants to hire a 47-year-old semi-crippled artist in or around Dayton, Nevada. Even if they did, my Suburban is now laid up in the back yard with a new oil pressure issue.

FUUUU…..

Wait, did I just see a notification from PayPal, saying I got money?

WOAH!! Someone just made my whole week, and saved the Christmas fund we borrowed from to pay bills!

The much appreciated gift came with a message “Look toward the light,” followed by some encouragement to open my mind more to the Christian faith.

Christianity, or any other religion for that matter, is a really hard sell for me. I won’t get into all the nuts and bolts of why, or else this blog would stretch for miles. However, I do know what it means for the true believers – the ones who put their beliefs into practice to shine light in the darkness. For these people, it’s not about what church you spend tithings in. Putting a higher power in charge to guide them to do good for the world, they lead the way with love. Some will even go as far as to help up a big-mouthed atheist when he falls down.

‘Only Focus on the Beautiful Things’

These were words spoken to me by my beloved step mother one night, as I was caring for her after a massive stroke a few years ago. She said it almost like a chant, over and over, as she stared me in the eyes. It was one of those many moments, where she could see deep into my soul. It wasn’t just her talking to me.

Mamacita’s voice still lives in my mind, reminding me of what to focus on. Sometimes it’s hard to hear her over all the worry, anger, and other useless noise in there. She never was one to yell.

Today’s reminder, from a friend in the realm of the living, sounded much like Mamacita’s words. “Only focus on the beautiful things” and “Look to the light” have the same vibe.

Merry Christmas

So close to Jesus Christ’s birthday, I feel it’s fitting to give thanks to the Holy Trinity for the good will that has reached out to help me. Whether or not I believe such an entity exists, I appreciate the people who do good work in his name. Special thanks to my guardian angel from this morning – both for the financial support, and for the good message. Both came at the perfect time to change the direction of my whole week.

DAMN!

A few weeks ago, I up & left this site to rot as I perused an exciting opportunity to run production of a local newspaper in a town an hour away.

I was so frikkin’ stoked! I had reoccurring dreams about working in a newsroom again. This seemed like the perfect fit for my skills, and for the first time in many years, I actually enjoyed my job again. The excitement of deadlines, paired with he challenge of wrangling a small newspaper into eye catching, easy-to-read design – it felt like I was home again!

So anyway, I got fired yesterday. I did a good job, but it wasn’t enough. Ad sales were a joke, and we had a massive lag with our writers that ran the last run hours late for press deadline in Las Vegas, where all Nevada newspapers go to print nowadays. The price tag on overtime for them hit the pocket book of my boss so hard, she had to make some tough [on me] decisions. Since I was the only paid employee, I got kicked to the curb.

I loved my new job for 3 weeks it existed. It made me feel useful and skilled, which is something I haven’t felt since Dennis Hof was above ground in 2018.

Now I have been fired from being a drafter for the military industrial complex, a community health worker for the ‘MOST’ insane people of Lyon County, and now from doing the one job I felt I was good at.

I sat in my room for about 2 hours last night, afraid to walk into the living room to give my hard working wife the bad news. When I finally did, there was no shock from her, but there was definitely plenty of stress in her eyes. It’s only 11 days until Christmas, and we borrowed from the money she was saving for gift shopping.

I’m not really mad at the newspaper’s owner. She took a leap of faith that I could work magic on their ad revenue, and it ended up costing money instead. While it’s not my fault it went that way, It’s the giant pile of bullshit dumped at my front door. As my favorite Buddhist teacher would say, “Start shoveling that shit to the back yard to fertilize the mango tree.”

Back to obsessing on this website! Perhaps I will use this to compete with the newspaper and other local media, and go for that ad revenue myself! If I can’t join them, I might as well beat them, right?

Giving up is never an option when I’m a husband to the sweetest woman in the world, plus the father of the 5 most awesome humans ever made.

Sorry, haters… I ain’t dead yet.

GAME ON!!!