Writer's Workshop-My Obituary...Among Other Things

It's Thursday!! You know what time it is!! Mama Katt's carnival, 'Writer's Workshop'. It's a time to get the old juices flowing and get creative.


The Prompts are in bold and my stuff is in normal:


1.) If you could cut back on something in your life that takes up your time what would it be? And what would you prefer to spend that time doing?(inspired by Lady Isra)

This is a subject that I really don't have much of an answer too. The things that take up the most time in my life in order are job, kids, and stuff on the computer (be it blogging, facebook, or poker.) I guess if I had to pick one thing I would cut back on that takes time out of my life it would be yardwork. I average about an hour every other week of yard work. (Yep, our yard looks gooooooood.) I would like to make that about an hour each year. I mean it is so pointless, I mow the lawn and then it grows. It's like a never ending cycle. I mean it's like making your bed, except everyone sees when you don't mow your lawn. So, I would cut back on that and divide that hour every fourteen days into the kids and internet 'work'

2.) Share a recent adventure you had with a friend.(inspired by Amy)

Well, it was a wondrous afternoon....one that was written about by my dear wife, Sneaky Momma. But, the date was May 16th of this year. Our destination was the Ballpark in Arlington for a much needed mini vacation. We dropped the kids off at my mother and father in law's house and then headed up for the game.

As we drove to the game, we listened to it on the radio. It was there where we heard the familiar tone of Eric Nadel, the Ranger's main play by play man as John Lackey was thrown out of the game for throwing at Ian Kinsler. My dear wife, a hockey fanatic, really dug that part of the game. So, we arrived at the game somewhere around the end of the first inning. From our parking lot you could see the Red River a whole lot easier than the Ballpark. But, we hiked instead of taking the easy way out on a bus and finally made it to our seats around the bottom of the third inning.

We sat up in the cheap seats and watched a very well played game in, to me, the most beautiful park in the the majors. Well, about the fifth inning we decided that it was going to get no warmer. It was about fifty windchill and we were wearing shorts and shortsleeve shirts. Funny, we both spend most of our waking moments on line and we didn't even bother to check out the weather. So, finally giving up, we decided to go get the least expensive long sleeve shirts they sell in the place. I found one that had Ian Kinsler's number 5 on the back and held it up. 'Who's Kinsler?" My dear wife asked. Did I mention she's more of a hockey fan? So, as I explained that he is the second baseman and a pretty damn good player, she was cool with the shirt. We finished the game and as everyone was jumping to 'If the House is a Rockin' my wife pointed at the poor Ranger with the pink back pack. It's his job to get snacks to the other pitchers since he is the one with the least seniority.

After the Rangers held off the Angels, we were set to go to the second part of the date. A concert by the great Robert Earl Keen. Some of his fine work is on my playlist if you've never heard of REK. He played all of the stuff we love and even some new stuff that didn't suck. We ate after the game at one of 'our' joints, Papacitos. Stuffed, slightly drunk (at least in my case), we headed home to a childless house and had the ability to jack up the volume of the TV and live like we were first married one more time. Well, with the exception of we were both dead tired by Midnight.

3.) Describe a memorable gift. Why was it important to you?(Inspired by Kit Kat)

My dear lovely wife, Sneaky Momma gave me a thousand chip poker set as a wedding gift. It was very cool, but the part of it that was the coolest was that she was accepting me as is. She knows that I have to play in life or I'm no good. Whether it be cards, bang a tennis ball around, shoot hoops, or something. In short, she married a guy that still has the heart of a kid in a lot of ways. That gift showed that she understood this. Now understandably this is something I don't use a great deal. When I play poker 'live', it's either at a casino or somebody else supplies the chips, but it is without a doubt one of my most prized possessions.

4.) If you could change career paths now and be anything you wanted to be...what would you be and why?(inspired by Lauren)

I would like to be a greeter at Wal-Mart, but they said I'm too young. Imagine being able to change the mood people are in with a bright shiny smile and a 'How are ya today?'. Yeah, that sounds like me. None of you are buying this are you?

In reality there really isn't a job that would fit me better than the one I have now. It has taken me literally a decade to satisfy myself with this fact. I am a teacher and a tennis coach at the middle school level. The tennis gives me a slight way to give my competitive side something to do and I am naturally lazy. So, the two months a year that are non structured truly is something taylor made for me.

5.) Kim's email: In the St. Louis News-Dispatch paper, they had an article of a man who wrote his own obituary before his death, and gave it to his sister to post when he died. He summed life up in 45 words:(Click here to read his words).I know it's a morbid subject, but what about a prompt about what would one's obit say, with a word limit. You could stipulate that everyone died at 100, so we'd all be predicting what our future would be like.So there you have it. Sum up life in 45 words. :) Happy happy.

Lane passed away some day at the age of 100. Lane did not find fortune nor did he find fame, so for some, his life would be considered mediocre. However, he lived the life he wanted to live...a life based on family.