Don't Stop

Photo credit: wtae.com 2021-0510 Monday. 1019 PM. Most nights, after the kitchen was half clean, after the kids' last favorite episode was watched and they were in bed, after the dogs were walked and fed, and after I'd checked everything around the house, I'd sit down outside to write and doze off before I'd written anything substantial, so I stopped my practice of writing daily. Today, my teenage daughter got upset about replacing her bike chain. We went over her options and used the internet to investigate what we could. After answering several questions through our online search, we ran into bedtime. Apparently, the intersection of not enough information, not enough time at this moment, and no immediate resolution was a stresser she was unable to shrug off. After her clear communication that she was unwilling to postpone with a good attitude and wished to write it off all-together, I encouraged her to focus on the bedtime routine, so we could resolve the bike chain problem tomorrow. I encouraged her not to give up, despite unmet expectation and lack of resolution.

I've heard my own advice and decided to continue my practice of a daily column, recognizing that lack of resolution may sometimes be part of the equation. Joe Kinsey, writer for OutKick.com , once tweeted with me, encouraging me to just write something daily. So, I sit here, outside, after the kids and dogs are done. I got an open bottle of Bud, an empty bag of Snyder's pretzels and my Camel non-filters. The games for the day are finished, so my YouTube Music station plays The Traveling Wilburys on my headphones. Tonight was a Blazers win, bringing our magic number to 2- that's any combination of Blazers' wins and Lebrons' losses in order to claim the six seed in the Playoffs and avoid the play-in tourney. Regarding the aforementioned play-in tourney to decide the seven and eight seeds, I'm all about it. For me, it's simple. NBA ranks pretty low on my list of sports followed. What makes an NBA game interesting to me is the possibility of the losing team becoming eliminated from Playoffs contention. This new play-in tourney gives me more of those opportunities.

Photo credit: insidesports.com

Sometimes, stuff in life doesn't go the way we want. We get relegated to the play-in tourney or eliminated from the playoffs. We get offended or we offend others. Sometimes we lose or people don't like us. Others say stuff with which we disagree or others write us off. I guess the response needs to be: Don't stop. I know I don't have the answers for everybody. Only King Jesus does. My advice, though, is don't stop. I don't like to waste time sleeping, so I burn both ends of the candle. The only way for me is to not stop. I don't like to sit. I like to make eye contact. I like to be present. I want to keep talking, keep playing, keep singing, keep working, keep going. It's an abundant life, so don't stop. This is bakesHere. 2021-0510 Monday. 1019 PM. ACQUIRE as NEEDED. bakesHere.com