09.28.24 Trying hard not to sweat the small stuff...

 

....and most of life is just small stuff. As many of you know my friend, and a friend to thousands of people, Bob Popovics, was critically injured in a hit and run accident this past Monday. He remains at Jersey Shore Medical Center today. That's not the small stuff. And while I am rocked by this, and trying  to resist day to day small stuff from getting to me, it is life, and life does go on. We've all been there before. We get jolted by something or when someone we know and love has their bad day, but life around us all goes on. Life doesn't pause for anyone. And, at times, that just adds to our own anger and grief. Keep Bob and his family in your prayers. 

     The above pic, taken by Tom Lynch, is just fantastic. It shows Bob in his beloved rose garden at his beloved Shady Rest where he works with his beloved partner Alexis and his family. He's looking down, probably at his phone where he is commenting on someone's half-ass tied fly posted on social media, giving them positive feedback and encouragement, that's just the guy that Bobby is. 

     So Since Monday I've let the small stuff get in my way. Problems at work. Problems with the 1,000 jokers on Facebook Marketplace telling me they're coming for a pick-up, and even getting to a CT scan 

appointment over in Staten Island. Add to that our getting ready to put our down dog who's losing her bladder everywhere in the house, and that's just some of it. All small, all annoying, but in no way in the realm of real life stuff people we know are going through. It's just life. 

     I remember when Ryan passed away. I remember the days of his wake and funeral. Who was there or not? Who wasn't there but posted pics of them at a party holding up a drink or a large striped bass they caught that day. Other peoples lives go on, it just is what it is. And what's ironic, is when those people have their turn in the shit barrel, they then see and ask, "How can their (others) day to day life, at the moment, go on?", while they, or I, are having the worst moments of life. 

     So, I'll go there, because it is what it is. This past week my 2004 Jeep started sounding wonky. Old things, like people, experience that. So I took Theresa's car to work on Friday and left her with my old bucket of bolts. I wasn't surprised when I got that call, "You're car broke down and AAA is on the way". My first concern was for her safety, check, the cops made sure of that. My mind goes to her getting rear ended as she sat on the shoulder waiting for the tow. I made my way to her location and swapped out spots with her. 

      The tow truck driver was a nice young guy. He was ecstatic. This week he and his wife are expecting their first child. He rushes every tow just in case it was go time. The events in his life this week could bring him the greatest joy and memories someone could experience. As we drove to my house to drop it off I thought of the small and big things. For me, my friend in the ICU, my cars broke down, and the dog might have to be put down. But, here's another human expecting one of the best days of his life. Life goes on and it is what it is. 

     On Friday I dove in under the hood and onto the You Tube videos. The car had spit the belt, not shredded it. I went and replaced the belt and the idler and tension pulleys. But to do that I had to remove the alternator and the bracket because I had snapped off the pot-metal tension arm. So I had to drill it out. After all that I fired her up and it spit it again. Upon further You Tubing I have diagnosed the problem as a "Harmonic Equalizer" problem. Which calls for the radiator to be removed as it's the largest and lowest pulley that goes into the driveshaft. From what it looks like it's a job, and one that will take me 5xs the time it would take someone in the know. Couple that with no lift and a five dollar tool set this should be interesting. Needless to say I'll be running my pick-up. Luckily that's a project I completed, almost. 

     In the end we're all in this together. We all have our suck. Sometimes it's a big suck and other times not so much. Let the small things go. We can't control others or life itself. But what we can do is be aware that someone next to us might be going through the worst of times. So be good to yourself, and each other.