DAY IN THE LIFE:

First, I'd like to acknowledge some actual good news in the headlines: "U.S. death toll in Iraq for July hit 8-month low"

YAY!!!!!!!!!

I hear the "surge" is doing well and that morale is up, too.

Ok....this is my day. It is laugh-worthy:

I take my dad out to lunch once a week and today was the day. As soon as he gets in the car, he's in a mood. My dad doesn't handle disappointment well. He has how he sees the world should operate and when it doesn't....grrrrrrrr and sometimes approaching meltdown. So the repairman didn't come as promised, when promised and that makes him want to get rid of the house. Yeah. My dad has cognitive issues and I know how to work with him, but your average person, unless a good people person and observant, won't catch on and will just think he's an overly friendly guy. It hurts to see how people react to him somtimes.

So.....he asks how my car is running while we're sitting at a light. I state, "It needs an oil change real soon, but other than that...fine." (We'll get back to this later.)

We get to the diner and my dad takes a shine to the waitress. Not unusual, as he is 20 year old guy stuck in a 68 year old's body. I get uncomfortable when my dad chats women up in front of me (actually hasn't happened in a while). I think part of it has to do with why my mom left my dad. But it also has to do with all the times my dad had me out with him on a Saturday (as per the judge's orders for visitation) and he'd scope out the "talent" wherever we went...well a lot of the time. I remember going to some kind of parade/bluegrass festival when I was little and my dad picked up the lady standing next to us. We ended up having dinner at her house. Her kids were around my age, so me, being the good-natured kid, always had fun with them. I actually liked her and they dated for a long time. Another time that I remember is when we went to an air show when I was 19/20 years old. I thought it would be nice to take my dad to see the Blue Angels. He left me alone for almost an hour to go chat up the female Golden Knights.

So, I just felt really weird sitting there with my dad and him getting flirty with the waitress. She turned out to be quite a motormouth and you could see him get a little uncomfortable. HA! She kept talking about her church and discipleship classes, too. He's not so much a church-goer. I got a giggle at the end.

I drop my dad off and he is in a good mood. My next errand is to take my mom out for an interview outfit for a job fair, tomorrow. CAN YOU FREAKIN' BELIEVE IT??!?!?!?!?!?!? Yes, my mom has started looking for a job after 2 1/2 years. YAY!

This part is the "RT's" luck section:
We stop at the post office so I can mail my bills. I try to put down my window and well, it gets stuck. Then it finally goes down and stays down...won't go back up. So much for everything being fine with my car, eh?

Immediatley, my mom said, "Let's just go home." Having recently recovered my spunk I said, "No. I'm going to buy you an outfit and lunch (don't worry I didn't eat two lunches) and then we'll drop the car off at the dealership."

Which I did. Then I explained to my mom that I've been living in fear, with a defeatist attitude and it is time that it stopped. Three years is enough. After all, God is in control. :)

Hope you got a little laugh at my day. I did.