#18

SKIP SCHOOL

Let me preface this by saying that I rarely take personal days. I hate missing work because it always creates more stress (and work) when I am not at school.

About a month or so before Jason's birthday, he sent a group invite to let people know he wanted to go to a concert the night of his birthday but was taking the day off to hangout downtown before then.

A week before everything happened I let Jason know that I was planning on taking the day off with him to hang out and celebrate the day of his birth. I filled out the personal leave form and got ready for a wonderful day off. By the time his birthday rolled around the next week, I was trying to figure out what on earth I was supposed to do for him for his birthday. I asked a couple of friends of mine for suggestions and finally just settled on going to his house in the morning and making him breakfast. His mom and roommate were going to be there as well so I brought plenty of food. Turns out I am turning more and more into my grandmother every day. (She always has enough food to feed a small country when there are only a half dozen people needing to be fed). I brought the fixin's for french toast (including syrup and powdered sugar), strawberries, eggs and cheese for omelets and sausage. It took awhile. I was really nervous about messing up his birthday breakfast but it turned out all right. I mean, his roommate did ask if I could come back and make breakfast again. The most important part is that nobody got sick. :)

The weather was not the best that day so the day downtown turned into hanging out on the couch watching movies. His mom mentioned how she had never seen "The Princess Bride". OMGoodness... Can you believe it?! We decided she HAD to see it so the three of us sat on the couch and watched the movie. Jason's brother and dad came to visit for awhile and his roommate went to work. "The Princess Bride" was followed by "Fight Club". Interesting combination, don't you think?


After the movies, Jason, his mom, and I headed down to Little Five Points to a restaurant called... hmm... Crap, I can't remember the name of that place. J, you're gonna have to help me out on this one. Anyhow, about 7 or 10 people met us at this restaurant. I would love to suggest it to you all if you are ever in Little Five Points but ... well, you know. I DO remember that it is right down the street from the Variety Playhouse where we went for the show. It's a pub/grill type restaurant. Man, this is going to bug me until I get the name. I know it has a P somewhere in the title. Anyhow... let us continue...

The dinner was followed by a great show by The Punch Brothers, a folky band. Honestly, I didn't think I was going to enjoy it. I listened to a little bit from their website and was not all that thrilled. BUT... it was Jason's birthday and that's what he wanted to do and sometimes we suck it up for people we care about. Turns out, I REALLY enjoyed the show. Watching them live was a great experience. And I would go see them again. I love how personal live shows are compared to just listening to CDs. The Variety Playhouse is not the smallest establishment I have ever seen live music; however, the personality of the musicians comes out in shows that you wouldn't get a chance to experience otherwise. THAT is what made it great.

All in all. It was a great night. A couple of poor judgment calls lead to a little bit of drama but it was nothing devastating. More of just a learning experience. Sometimes we make decisions that wind up causing more harm than good. I'm not talking about intentionally trying to hurt someone's feelings. It is obvious those choices would cause more harm than good. I'm talking about the times where we make a decision that we think is the best possible choice at the time and it turns out that decision is actually the exact opposite of what is best. All you can do is ask forgiveness and do your best not to let it happen again.

Think about it this way. Sometimes we expect things to happen a certain way. When those expectations are not met, our feelings are hurt and sometimes we tend to get bitter or resentful because of it. Honestly, it is not like the other person is bad because of it. We are just mad or sad but instead of owning those feelings and finding a constructive way to deal with them, we let it fester. The best way to deal with it is to have honest and open communication about what happened, relay your expectations and how they weren't met and figure out how to avoid similar situations in the future. It's like I tell my children when they fall down, "Get up. Brush off. Move on. You're good." I'm not suggesting that is necessarily what happened. I'm just making suggestions in case any of you out there tend to do that. ;)

Despite the minor drama, I really had a GREAT day. The only problem with skipping school is that I want to do it more often. I think I'll just try to hold out until summer vacation. May 20th, you cannot come fast enough!!


TASK #18 ...COMPLETED 3/27