On nothing in particular

What an odd city.

This afternoon tornado sirens were going off, fierce winds attacked everything in sight, the sky blanketed the land with darkness, and rain fell in sheets.

A few hours later it was in the 80's (F) and bright and sunny, without so much as a gust of wind.

Huh.

Anyhow I took Lu and Lump outside to play in the front yard for a few minutes. All was well and then, like flipping a switch, Lu started wigging out when her flip-flop fell off her foot..

"Pick up my shoe! Pick it up now! Arrrrgggghhhh! Pick it up now Daddy! I hate you! Pick up my shoe!"

Booyah, off to bed with some words between the front door and her bedroom. The worst part? It took place in full view of the folks we believe called us in as a daycare. In my valiant attempt to continue civil relations I jokingly asked him if these fits would end by the time the girls were twelve. 'Give me some hope,' I said. He laughed and said they would, then he went inside to poke a pin in my voodoo doll.

That last parts just supposition tho'.

Work continues to be a subject verbotten here, but I will say that this morning I attended the inaugural meeting of a steering committee for our business district. With a 1.5 million dollar (starting) budget we have a lot of decisions to make, and the state DOT (Department of Transportation) says that the physical changes they'll implement on our behalf will stand for a quarter century or more. It's a legitimate way for me to leave a mark on the city, even if I wind up selling apples on the street corner when the new owner says 'see ya!'.

I always go into those meetings feeling insecure. I sit down with politicians and business owners and I think "What the hell am I doing here? I'm just the dorky kid from high school, the kid who'd nearly have a panic attack when you went around the room introducing yourself on the first day of class. Now it's 16 years later and I'm sitting here with the cool kids - oh crap!"

And then it starts and at some point I say something, or object to something, and a roomful of people nod and run with my idea. And no matter how many times that happens, or how many times folks ask me to join these committees, I always let out an inner 'yee haw', as if I've managed to pull the wool over their eyes one more time.

Man, I've got some 'core' issues.

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Today of course is the 64th anniversary of the invasion of Normandy. To all the living survivors of that event, thank you.