Sound Wisdom

My good buddy Uncle Skip* has been having some trying times as of late and has been keeping us all posted via his blog. (Hold on, be patient I'll give you a link soon. Let me build up the drama first. Okay?)

In one of his recent posts (here) he said the following (and I quote):

Hungry, angry, lonely and tired is a bad mix.

This resonated with me on any number of levels. Because he is absolutely correct. In fact, I would argue that any three out of the four is not a good thing. Two out of the four could be volatile. It all depends on where your head is at in any given moment and the surroundings you find yourself in.

I've been on kind of an emotional roller coaster lately. I know it has a lot to do with the return to the road. The need to travel "up north". Again.

For two years, seven months and two weeks I worked away from home. Three to four nights in a hotel, every week. I thought I was done with that. But no, that was not in the cards.

While this little stint should last no more than a month or so, it's still a colossal pain in the butt. I was most content to be back on a regular schedule. Monday through Friday, eight hours a day. Now I'm back to four ten-hour days. The three day weekends are nice, but Friday is usually spent just catching up on sleep.

I'm generally not "hungry" per se, I do miss my wife's cooking while I'm on the road. So I do hunger for the way she puts together a meal. Always creative and always done with love.

So yes, there's that lonely thing going on. I really miss the Missus while I'm traveling. And the cats. We have two. I've told you before, I am a cat kind of guy. They are my boon companions. Take it for what it's worth. Without the Missus and my feline buddies, I get awfully lonely "out there".

Tired. I just have trouble sleeping in a hotel. I've stayed in this hotel many, many times over the past three years but I still don't sleep worth a damn while I'm there. The beds are just not as comfortable as my own. It's not just because that's what I'm used to. We spent a nice chunk of change buying our current mattress. And it's worth every penny. Extremely comfortable in a firm kind of way. And yes. It's what I'm used to.

So we got the hungry (a variation of that really). We got the lonely and yeah, we got the tired. Three out of the four. Not a good thing.

Now while the need to travel for work all by itself could make me angry, it's not that. Not really. I kind of enjoy being on the road. I enjoy the journey in many ways. But the job itself has made me rip roaring, steaming, head pounding mad. Simply angry doesn't quite cut it.

It's been another long cavalcade of bad management decisions and people deciding how long a thing will take when they've never actually done that thing. It's all about schedule and budget. Oh, and following "the process". So yeah, I'm angry.

I'm batting a thousand on the "bad mix". Sucks to be me right?

Wrong. I'm just being a little whiny at the moment. Things will get better. They always have. Maybe I'm just irked that the kids and grand-kids live so far away. Maybe my first day of being sixty is just a little rougher than I'd care for.

We shall see.

But when all is said and done, I head on over to Uncle Skip's place. The stuff he's dealing with is so much more intense than anything I have on my plate. And he seems to keep himself functioning and on an even keel. Lately, Uncle Skip is one of my heroes. He perseveres. And like Skip, I'm glad it's Thursday.

So excuse me while I run home and put on my big boy pants. The weekend approaches.

(I also owe you all a Friday Flyby, especially as last week's was kinda short.)

*(not necessarily your) Uncle Skip that is