Graham Cracker House?

The appointment I had yesterday yielded some very good results. I was not only allowed to tour one of the premiere treatment facility in the countries I believe I have forged a relationship with this facility for the long run. This business of treatment is really about personal connections and referrals. There are so many people who enter this field and think either they are going to save the world or make tons of money. Sadly neither comes true because that thinking is short sided on both ends. I know I cannot save the world and saving me is tough enough!! There was a point in my life where I thought I would make “tons” of money but I was very dishonest in going about it and now thankfully honesty prevails in my life. I have only been associated with this industry for the past 10 months and really in the last 3 months I have seen how a successful operation works.

There is no doubt I am eternally grateful for this opportunity and I am doing my damndest to make this work for the very best. Yesterday I sat with people who have a number of years of experience in this industry and just listened to what they had to say. This particular facility is not in competition with our facility since the price points aren’t even close. I think they are of more value to us than we are to them; however; it really is a big community of people helping people. I received some of this help yesterday and had a full “docket” today putting all these pieces together.

The morning started just like the morning started on Monday where it was pouring down rain once again. There was another rainstorm on the horizon and I drove the children to school this morning because of the weather. I learned my lesson from Monday and took another route but the 2 block trip still took nearly 10 minutes. I did also make my way to the gym for my daily workout and my calf has responded extremely well and doesn’t have any lingering efforts whatsoever. Since it is Wednesday I ramped up the intensity and didn’t feel any pain in my leg but I did notice that the bottom of my right foot had a very dull pain.

Of course I continued and because the pain was very minimal. I would later find out it was just a blister on the underside of my foot and my wife called it a “blood blister” which is just part of logging miles. This also goes with my big toenail hanging on by a thread and my toes bleeding every now and again during runs. I once read an article on an “ultra marathoner” (people who run in races greater than 50 miles) who said that toenails aren’t part of long distance running. I don’t log ultra marathon distances but I do see the point.

The run was over and I had things to do this morning. I had a very important appointment this afternoon as my son’s class was hosting their “holiday” spectacular in their classroom. I certainly had this on my calendar and was not going to miss this for the world. These are those moments I have missed over the past two holiday seasons and when I “went away” my son started attending school so this would be my first school holiday spectacular for my son that I would attend. I was looking forward to this all day and the time arrived where my wife and I made our way over to the school.

This was so cute and yes, it was held in the classroom. The children performed Christmas songs (which is probably inappropriate in the public school curriculum and I think we as a society have sort of screwed ourselves by trying to be all things to all people and in sense we keep alienating most of those people) and it was so cute. I had the video recorder and recorded the entire 15 minute program. This was followed by a gingerbread house making as a family. My son’s teacher had all of the ingredients for the gingerbread house and I notice there wasn’t any gingerbread. I guess graham crackers work better than gingerbread but gingerbread house sounds much better than graham cracker house!!

It was the three of us putting together the house with the graham crackers, vanilla icing (the glue!), along with assorted candies and marshmallows. It was a very interesting dynamic looking around the room at the 19 other children. Most everyone had at least one parent in attendance and I felt bad for the few children who didn’t have a parent in attendance. The afternoon went by so fast putting together the gingerbread house and it was a masterpiece!!! I think my son had more fun eating the ingredients for the gingerbread house than actually putting it together but the fact that I was able to attend this function was indeed great. I missed the first two years of his school activities and now thanks to recovery I am actually enjoying every moment of these precious moments.