Last Friday I’m walking our dog, Harley.
We rescued him after our neighbors couldn’t handle him. He would escape and get lost. And the neighbors loved him, but they weren’t home enough. So he would mess up the house and run away.
We’ve had him for a few years now. I’m not a pet person, but my wife and daughter, Natty are. Here is his picture.
So last Friday, I’m walking Harley and we run into his previous owners. They point out to me that there are a bunch of emergency vehicles across the lake that we live next to. We fear the worst. That someone drowned in the lake.
Sure enough, we hear in the news that 2 boys, ages 11 and 9, went out on a paddle boat that night. The water was rough so they should not have been out there. Anyway, the boat capsized, and the boys screamed for help. A nearby fisherman came by and rescued the 11 year old. However, he could not recover the younger one. So the police searched most of the night and continued in the morning. They finally recovered his body on noon the next day.
The fire department decided to have a fundraiser on Monday. And my wife offered her face painting services for the event. They refused, concerned that face painting would not be appropriate for this time. So my wife chose to do her own face painting fundraiser at our house. She gets some people, just a few. But later the parents and the family of the boy stop by to thank her. There are 4 daughters in the family. He was the only son. He was good friends with the neighbor boy that was with him when he drowned. The mother was not aware that they took a paddle boat out in the water.
My wife face painted the 3 younger sisters and hit it off with the family. They are Puerto Rican and so is my wife. They invited my wife to the memorial service on Wednesday. That would have been his 10th birthday. They were going to have a big party for him on Sunday, but instead, they’re mourning his death.
Our church set up another memorial service with food on Friday, yesterday. My wife has been gathering commitments from restaurants to provide meals for the family. The family is leaving today to go to Florida to have him buried there. They’ve only lived in Wauconda, IL for one year.
So my wife offered to care for their dog, China, for the next two weeks. China is a big 1 year old German Shepherd. And she wants to eat Harley and Lucy, our Chihuahua, and our 2 turtles, and our 3 birds, and our 8 guinea pigs.
Here’s a picture of her.
But there’s more. My wife and daughters and staying at a hotel for a church event. So I stayed at home by myself caring for the dogs. I’ll reiterate, I’m not a pet person.
But being at home by myself has it’s challenges. I could have acted out and I thought about it. I’m always craving. They left the TV on. I turned it off. Against my boundaries to watch it alone. Then I found my original smartphone still in the drawer where we left it. Locks were not set. So I reset them. I noticed that my daughter, Abigail, left her phone behind. It’s not a smartphone, but it’s still a 3G phone. Had to pick up my son from work and drop another one off to work so I didn’t have time to inspect it. Resolved to turn it over to my son when I return.
But instead, I go to bed. It’s 11:30Pm when I get home. I’m tired. I slept, but I still had a lot of cravings. Didn’t brush or floss my teeth that night.
Wake up at 5:30AM. My other son is done with work. He needs a ride. Before I head out, I check Abby’s phone. Yep! I can access the internet with it. 3G phones are the devil. If data is turned on, there is no way to block the porn. I could have acted out all night. Glad I didn’t. I will encourage Abby to password protect her phone today.
Wasted an hour skimming through the Friday Night thread. Didn’t floss my teeth this morning. I’m losing control.
Recently read a post from @Zuz_Anna on not being perfect. Thanks! That’s definitely me. Friday was not a perfect night, but I’m still sober and I’m gonna take it.