Odd Experience

It had been a long day, so I decided that I would go home, eat, relax, and play something on the computer. I pulled in the driveway and grabbed my stuff, heading straight to the office to dump everything. I entered the office and started up the computer just as my stomach started growling. While I waited for the computer to load, I went to the kitchen and made myself a couple sandwiches. I began chomping greedily as I typed the password into my computer. I began to open one of my favorite games of all time when I sensed it. Something was terribly wrong. I paused for a second to make up my mind. There was no going back. This is my home and I will make sure that I am safe. I casually reached down and gripped my baton. As I withdrew from the drawer in which I kept the baton I stood up and turned, swinging the baton into the air and expanding it. Nothing. I looked around the room. I could tell that something was still wrong. I crept through the hall slowly, ready to attack. I made my way to the bedroom and grabbed the glock 17 from the gun safe in the closet and the vest that hung above the safe. I began to clear the house, one room at a time. I made it up the stairs and into the spare bedroom. There was only one room left. My heart pounding, I moved to the door. My hands started to shake as the adrenaline pumped through my veins. “This is it.” I thought, “I have this person cornered.” I reached for the handle and turned, pausing to catch my breath. I kicked the door, sending the door flying on its hinges. As the knob crashed into the wall, I stood there in the doorway, staring into an empty room. I didn’t understand. Something was wrong, I sensed it! I checked the room and holstered the glock. I walked back to the office puzzled. I ran backwards through everything that just happened, then forward, like I was walking through the house again. What was wrong? What had made me so uneasy? I began going through it all again. “Came home, grabbed my stuff, started the computer, made my sandwiches, went back to the…. Wait.” Why did I make my own sandwich?

Christmas' Past

In light of the holiday season, I thought I would take a little time to reflect on past holidays and maybe tell a few of my favorite things about Christmas. I am, as many people will tell you, quite the Grinch. I have never been a big Christmas fan and I am always a bit difficult to please at Christmas. Well, maybe that’s an understatement. I have always been impossible to please. Looking back, I realize that I was every parent’s worst nightmare when it came to Christmas. I was never happy with the presents that I received. My parents tried so hard to make me happy, but no matter what they bought me, it never made me happy. It took me a long time to see this, and now I really wish I would have seen it sooner. My favorite Christmas was the one where I watched all my siblings open up presents and realized that my parents didn't get me anything. I realized that they didn't do that on purpose, they just forgot about me. I laughed a little inside and joked about how I had been forgotten and how now I knew that I was the middle child. I was looking for a reason to be mad that day and my parents gave it to me. My mother tried to find something to give me as soon as she realized what had happened. She found some clothe and told me that she would help me make a hoodie. I was happy enough with that. And so, the day went on. I got mad when I wanted to, and I was never once upset with my parents. That Christmas was the one that I needed. I realized that year that all the years that I had gotten something and wasn't happy, I would have been just as happy not getting anything. My parents tried to buy me things and make me happy, but the truth is I knew that Christmas was the time of year to give. To me getting presents was receiving and all I wanted was to give. I never told my parents all this. I recently had a conversation with my wife and realized that my mother never forgot that year either. So, I want to take the time in this blog to remember my parents.

To Mom and Dad, I love you both and I never told you how much I appreciated being forgotten. That Christmas woke me up and taught me a life lesson. I joke about the Christmas I was forgotten, but it's because it was what I needed, and it was supposed to happen at some point. I am, after all, the middle child. Thank you both for giving me that present.

Here's to the best Christmas memories!