SUMMER WITH THE SLUG RATS

New Day Dawning

I woke up thinking about the unfinished application. I shook off the dread as I slid out of bed.

“New day,” I said to the dog. “Gotta be grateful for a new day.”

Most of my days were full of promise: another sunrise, a fresh cup of coffee, ‘I love you’ from Dr. Deb, a chance to do some good in the world. With luck, I’d get to spend time with Blondie, TyGuy, Brat Boy, and CharChar.

I’d learned in challenging times a new day was an opportunity to chip away at something hanging over me. Another day wading through the swamp brought me that much closer to dry land. Surviving a tough day proved I was up to whatever life threw at me.

“New damn day!” I said again to the dog. She wagged her approval.

Today I’ll be grateful for a new day.

Summer with the Slug Rats © 2020 by Ken Montrose

Summer with the Slug Rats is a work of fiction. Any similarity between the characters and anyone you might know is purely coincidental.

Other works by Ken Montrose are available at:

www.greenbriartraining.com  

https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001K8MG0S

https://www.pinterest.com/kenmontrose/mt-rose/

SUMMER WITH THE SLUG RATS

Judgment Day

By the afternoon I realized I wasn’t going to meet a deadline. I’d put in extra hours, come to work on a Saturday, and worked at home on an application. It hadn’t been enough. We’d have to pay a late fee to get our trainings approved for psychologists.

After I got done beating myself up, I got another cup of coffee. What would I say if Flyin’ Ryan or the Marketing Maven told me they’d missed a deadline?  Thanks for ruining my life and the lives of everyone who works here? Polish your resume and pack your stuff, you’re outta here?   Not likely.

I’d probably shrug, and tell them you can’t win ‘em all.  We’d more than make up for the late fee by adding psychologists to our audience.  Let it go, focus on the next deadline.

I still felt frustrated, and a little angry with myself, but I said to my laptop, “I’m not going to judge myself more harshly than I’d judge a good friend.”

Today I’ll judge myself no more harshly than I’d judge a good friend.

Summer with the Slug Rats © 2020 by Ken Montrose

Summer with the Slug Rats is a work of fiction. Any similarity between the characters and anyone you might know is purely coincidental.

Other works by Ken Montrose are available at:

www.greenbriartraining.com  

https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001K8MG0S

https://www.pinterest.com/kenmontrose/mt-rose/

SUMMER WITH THE SLUG RATS

False Hopes

Roger, a rabid baseball fan, stepped into my doorway as he was leaving.  He pointed to his cap and said, “Short season. Anything could happen. They could win the division.”

“You might as well root for the coyote,” I said.

He laughed, “Sooner or later the coyote would have caught that cocky roadrunner.”

“The Pirates will win their division, the coyote will catch the roadrunner, and you’ll control your drinking. Any other false hopes you need to let go of?”

Roger laughed again. “Someday my son will get a job and move out of my basement.”

I said, “Let go of the controlled drinking one first. It’s killing you.” After he left I wondered what false hopes I might be clinging to.

Today I will let go of false hopes.

Summer with the Slug Rats © 2020 by Ken Montrose

Summer with the Slug Rats is a work of fiction. Any similarity between the characters and anyone you might know is purely coincidental.

Other works by Ken Montrose are available at:

www.greenbriartraining.com  

https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001K8MG0S

https://www.pinterest.com/kenmontrose/mt-rose/

SUMMER WITH THE SLUG RATS

It’s Going Around

High Flyin’ Ryan poked his head into my office just before lunch.  He looked like he could conquer the world. I looked like the underside of a dumpster.

Ryan was my corporate counterpart. I trained mental health and addiction professionals. He worked with employers, helping them deal with drugs in the workplace.

“We can do this,” he assured me after outlining an ambitious plan for the fall training series.

“We can do this,” I echoed, not really believing it. I would have told Ryan he was crazy, but his enthusiasm reminded me of my first sponsor.

“You can do this,” my first sponsor had reassured me.  

“I can do this,” I had said, thinking I’d happily push him under the bus for just one shot of vodka.

Partly because of my sponsor’s enthusiasm I had done it. 

“We will do this,” I said to Ryan, gratefully catching his enthusiasm, and thinking how much easier it was to be infected with the world’s negativity.

 

Today I will catch someone’s enthusiasm.

 

Summer with the Slug Rats © 2020 by Ken Montrose

Summer with the Slug Rats is a work of fiction. Any similarity between the characters and anyone you might know is purely coincidental.

Other works by Ken Montrose are available at:

www.greenbriartraining.com  

https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001K8MG0S

SUMMER WITH THE SLUG RATS

Add or Subtract

The next day I felt sluggish. I hadn’t slept well, mostly because of my bloated stomach.

I downed a mug of coffee on my way to work, and drank another after I signed onto my computer.  I poured myself a third, knowing coffee growers in Brazil depended on me.

An hour into my day I was wide awake, and keenly aware of how crappy I felt. The coffee had done nothing to settle my stomach.

 “I need to subtract the big meals, not add more caffeine,” I said to my laptop.

I thought of a couple who really didn’t belong together.  Instead of subtracting each other from their lives, they added hobbies, thinking a little time apart my help their marriage.

He bought woodworking tools, and built himself a comfortable stool. Next he hung a TV over his workbench so he could watch DIY shows in the garage.  He lost the tips of two fingers on his table saw.

She took up cooking, discovering with the right recipe, and wine and Xanax, cooking could be fun. I met them after she got a DUI on her way home from the grocery store.

Adding more coffee hadn’t helped me. Adding hobbies hadn’t helped them.  Sometimes subtraction is the answer.

Today I won’t add when I need to subtract.

Summer with the Slug Rats © 2020 by Ken Montrose

Summer with the Slug Rats is a work of fiction. Any similarity between the characters and anyone you might know is purely coincidental.

Other works by Ken Montrose are available at:

www.greenbriartraining.com  

https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001K8MG0S

https://www.pinterest.com/kenmontrose/mt-rose/

SUMMER WITH THE SLUG RATS

A Little at a Time

At dinner time I made myself a small Pittsburgh salad.  Dr. Deb stared at me.

“What?” I asked. “It’s a salad. Lettuce, tomato, onion, and peppers.”

“Hotpepper cheese, fries, a hardboiled egg, and strips of salami,” Dr. Deb said, frowning.

“Diet pop,” I said holding up the can.

“Heart attack,” she answered pointing at the salad.

I knew she was right. My diet was doing me no good. Like a lot of people, I tended to underestimate the damage I was doing if the harm was gradual.

For every person who came into the rehab because he’d had an accident, there were many more just rusting away in alcohol. For every professional about to lose her license, there were more abusing meds, but managing to get by at work.

Today I’ll beware of harm done gradually.

Summer with the Slug Rats © 2020 by Ken Montrose

Summer with the Slug Rats is a work of fiction. Any similarity between the characters and anyone you might know is purely coincidental.

Other works by Ken Montrose are available at:

www.greenbriartraining.com  

https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001K8MG0S

https://www.pinterest.com/kenmontrose/mt-rose/

In a Minute

I stopped at a drive-through on my way home, thinking I’d get a fish sandwich and small fries. 

“I’ll have a Gut Buster with bacon, a vat of tater tots with cheese, and a cherry pie,” I said when it was my turn to order. “Oh, and a diet Coke.”

When I finished my meal, I tallied up the calories. Whatever good I’d done at the gym, I’d undone and then some.

“I’ll have a small salad for dinner,” I said to the steering wheel.

 ‘The shock absorbers asked me to remind you there’s a limit to how much weight they can bear,’ I imagined the steering wheel answering.

My workout had taken 90 minutes of sweat and effort. I had devoured my lunch in ten, sitting in my car, listening to the radio.

“Good done in an hour can easily be undone in a minute” I said to the wheel, remembering a guy who’d lost 23 years of sobriety, his 30 year marriage, and his business in one weekend.

Today I’ll remember good done in an hour can easily be undone in a minute.

Summer with the Slug Rats © 2020 by Ken Montrose

Summer with the Slug Rats is a work of fiction. Any similarity between the characters and anyone you might know is purely coincidental.

Other works by Ken Montrose are available at:

www.greenbriartraining.com  

https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001K8MG0S

https://www.pinterest.com/kenmontrose/mt-rose/

SUMMER WITH THE SLUG RATS

Isolation

“I’m worried about you,” Blondie said at dinner that night.  I knew why. The kids were all going back to school or to work.

I loved time with my family. My idea of the perfect evening was Netflix and chill, which for me meant family movie night and ice cream.  I resisted going anywhere, but was always happy afterwards when Dr. Deb made plans with friends.

I also liked time alone. I rode my bike alone. Except for the occasional trip with my neighbor, I fished alone. I wrote alone. I lifted weights alone. 

Like a lot of people, when I was sad, as I would surely be when the kids scattered, I tended to isolate.  I knew I was doing the exact opposite of what I needed to do, but I did it anyway.

“I promise to not to do more than one thing alone on any given day. If I fish, I won’t ride my bike. If I ride my bike, I won’t do any writing that day.”

“And you’ll visit?”

“Sure. I’ll want to see TyGuy. If you’re there I guess that would be OK,” I joked. She elbowed me.

Today I won’t isolate.

Summer with the Slug Rats © 2020 by Ken Montrose

Summer with the Slug Rats is a work of fiction. Any similarity between the characters and anyone you might know is purely coincidental.

Other works by Ken Montrose are available at:

www.greenbriartraining.com  

https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001K8MG0S

https://www.pinterest.com/kenmontrose/mt-rose/

SUMMER WITH THE SLUG RATS

Listen Up

A couple of day later I was half an hour into a stationary bike ride at the gym. Sweat pooled on the floor beneath me as I raced toward a personal best. An old man tottered up to me, stood not a foot away and said, “Hey, you sweat a lot.”

He said it loudly enough for me to hear him clearly even with my earbuds in.  “My wife was sweaty,” he said shaking his head. “Don’t miss that about her.”

I smiled trying to seem polite but disinterested. “Her people were sweaty,” he added.

He was an old man looking for someone to talk to. I thought, ‘why me?’, but I took out my earbuds, slowed down, and listened. 

Today I will listen to someone who needs to talk.

Summer with the Slug Rats © 2020 by Ken Montrose

Summer with the Slug Rats is a work of fiction. Any similarity between the characters and anyone you might know is purely coincidental.

Other works by Ken Montrose are available at:

www.greenbriartraining.com  

https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001K8MG0S

https://www.pinterest.com/kenmontrose/mt-rose/

SUMMER WITH THE SLUG RATS

Time

Brat Boy was in the driveway when I got home.  He held up a basketball. “Too tired, old man?”

I said, “Game to eleven, win by two.” He threw me the ball.

Ten minutes later he was up 9-2. He would have been up 10-2, but he tried to dunk on me, and I knocked him into the neighbor’s yard.  I loved him, but we old guys have to hold onto some dignity.

Brat Boy was a much better athlete, but I was bigger and stronger.  We’d been evenly matched for several years. I realized time had caught up with me.

I had complained many times about getting older, and the painful reminders of time passing. That day I was almost grateful. AA was full of people who weren’t aware of the passage of time until it was too late. They had gotten sober after the damage they’d done couldn’t be reversed.

I’d known too many people who were going to fix their marriages, or change jobs, maybe take better care of themselves.  By the time they did, too much time had passed.

Today I won’t complain about reminders of time passing.

Summer with the Slug Rats © 2020 by Ken Montrose

Summer with the Slug Rats is a work of fiction. Any similarity between the characters and anyone you might know is purely coincidental.

Other works by Ken Montrose are available at: www.greenbriartraining.com https://www.pinterest.com/kenmontrose/mt-rose/

SUMMER WITH THE SLUG RATS

“You’re killing me ‘alls’.”

Later that night I was in the locker room at the gym listening to an ‘alls.’ Alls think they have simple solutions to serious problems.  During the Cold War a guy who worked with my dad used to say, ‘Alls you gotta do is nuke some Russian island. They’ll back down.” He didn’t see starting WWIII as an issue.

Alls had bad advice for every situation. Troubled marriage? “Alls you gotta do is let her know who’s boss.” Not enough retirement savings?  “Alls you gotta do is buy enough scratch-off tickets.”

Over the years I’d seen too many people take the advice of ‘alls’ and reactivate their addictions:

·         “Alls you gotta do is stick to beer.’

·         “Alls you gotta do is stick to the pills from a doctor.”

·         “Alls you gotta do is stick to weed.”

·         “Alls you gotta do is eat one big brownie and call it a night.”

·         “Alls you gotta do is pay for it now and then.”

·         “Alls you gotta do is only gamble with friends.”

As I walked out of the locker room, I thought, ‘Problems that affect your whole life take whole life solutions. The ‘alls’ will kill you.’

Today I’ll avoid the alls.

Summer with the Slug Rats © 2020 by Ken Montrose

Summer with the Slug Rats is a work of fiction. Any similarity between the characters and anyone you might know is purely coincidental.

Other works by Ken Montrose are available at: www.greenbriartraining.com https://www.pinterest.com/kenmontrose/mt-rose/

SUMMER WITH THE SLUG RATS

OWAAT (One Whatever At A Time)

Because of the pandemic, many professionals were using our home-study courses to get their required training hours. A stack of envelopes containing completed tests sat on my desk when I got to work the next day.  More had been sent as email attachments.

Correcting the tests and mailing certificates filled my time until the early afternoon. I trudged into Miss Rella’s office and dropped the envelopes by the postage machine. “Done!” I said in weary triumph. Cindy winced and pointed to the stack of faxes in my mailbox.

I weighed my options. I could accidently drop them in the shredder one at a time. I could dye my hair, lie about my age, and join the Air Force. I could fake my own death. Sure, people would suspect Dr. Deb killed me, but would anyone blame her?

I picked up the stack, determined to get through them like so many things in life, one at a time.

Today I’ll take ‘em one at a time.

Summer with the Slug Rats © 2020 by Ken Montrose

Summer with the Slug Rats is a work of fiction. Any similarity between the characters and anyone you might know is purely coincidental.

Other works by Ken Montrose are available at: www.greenbriartraining.com https://www.pinterest.com/kenmontrose/mt-rose/

Sleep

That night I took an inventory of my day. I’d gotten a lot done. I had spent my time with my family. I hadn’t wished once my children were back at school, studying abroad, maybe the National University of Tierra del Fuego at the tip of Argentina or the University of Tromsø in northern Norway. Not that I’d given it a lot of thought.

I hadn’t given Dr. Deb one reason to kick me to the curb. I hadn’t picked up the first drink or done one thing to be ashamed of.  

They say a clear conscience is the softest pillow.  I drifted off to sleep, grateful that I could.

Today I’ll look forward to a good night’s sleep.

Summer with the Slug Rats © 2020 by Ken Montrose

Summer with the Slug Rats is a work of fiction. Any similarity between the characters and anyone you might know is purely coincidental.

Other works by Ken Montrose are available at: www.greenbriartraining.com https://www.pinterest.com/kenmontrose/mt-rose/

Something Extra

I trimmed the hedges. While I was at it, I edged the grass, pulled some weeds, and watered the flowers.  Because I’d put extra effort into it, the yard looked great when I was done.

In school I had done just enough to get by. I turned in papers I’d written overnight, took tests on books I’d read the day before. My high school and college transcripts looked like something the dog left in the yard.

I’d written something about addiction and recovery almost every day since I got sober. I scrupulously avoided alcohol, and built up sober relationships.  Having made the extra effort,  life had looked really good for a lot of years.

Today I will make the extra effort.

Summer with the Slug Rats © 2020 by Ken Montrose

Summer with the Slug Rats is a work of fiction. Any similarity between the characters and anyone you might know is purely coincidental.

Other works by Ken Montrose are available at: www.greenbriartraining.com https://www.pinterest.com/kenmontrose/mt-rose/

Excuse Me

After dinner Dr. Deb reminded me I had promised to trim the hedges.

“I’d like to, but I’m wounded,” I said, pointing to my leg. “I probably shouldn’t put any weight on it.”

Brat Boy laughed. “What did you say about excuses and reasons?”

We’d had that conversation just the day before. I played dumb anyway. “I don’t remember,” I said.

“Don’t mistake an excuse for a real reason,” Brat Boy said. He hadn’t wanted to clean his room because he had to work that night stocking shelves in a grocery store.  I had told him I was pretty sure he had the stamina to do both.

I’d told him about people who’d driven through a blizzard to the liquor store but wouldn’t go to an AA meeting in the rain.  They started believing their excuses were real reasons. Soon they could justify not doing anything they didn’t want to.

“Is your room clean?” I asked.

Today I won’t mistake an excuse for a real reason.

Summer with the Slug Rats © 2020 by Ken Montrose

Summer with the Slug Rats is a work of fiction. Any similarity between the characters and anyone you might know is purely coincidental.

Other works by Ken Montrose are available at: www.greenbriartraining.com https://www.pinterest.com/kenmontrose/mt-rose/

Wounded

I trudged up to the bathroom to clean the scrape, our dog at my heels. 

When I was a kid, moms cleaned cuts with something whose commercial slogan should have been “Liquid Hellfire, the napalm of antiseptics.”  She’d tell me, “Oh, that doesn’t hurt.” It made me question her grasp on reality.

I used soap and water, which stung a little.  With the dried blood and dirt cleared away, I saw the wound was a scrape across my shin bone that ended in a gouge on my calf. The gouge bled a little until I dabbed it with toilet paper.

They had been right. If I had waited, the wound was deep enough to get infected.  I thought about other times I’d been wounded, often by my own poor choices.

“Here’s the lesson,” I said to the dog. “Stop the bleeding first, clean out the wound despite the pain, allow time to heal, accept the scar.”

The dog wagged her tail in agreement. She got that I was talking about more than my little scrape.

Today I will care for my wounds.

Summer with the Slug Rats © 2020 by Ken Montrose

Summer with the Slug Rats is a work of fiction. Any similarity between the characters and anyone you might know is purely coincidental.

Other works by Ken Montrose are available at: www.greenbriartraining.com https://www.pinterest.com/kenmontrose/mt-rose/

Wounded

“You’re bleeding,” Dr. Deb said, pointing to my shin.

“I scraped it moving a rock,” I said. “I’ll clean it up later. Let’s eat.”

Blondie punched me. “Later an infection will set in and you’ll die a writhing mass of pus and boils.”

“Pass the potatoes,” Brat Boy said, unmoved by his sister’s dire warnings, his mind completely absorbed with obtaining and devouring tater tots.

 I looked to TyGuy, who shrugged. He’d been a boyfriend long enough to know disagreeing with his girlfriend’s father was a traffic ticket. Disagreeing with his girlfriend carried the death penalty.

 “Ready to eat, kiddo?”  I asked CharChar, hoping she’d take my side.

“I’m with them,” CharChar said. “You should clean it out now.”

I sighed, convinced the scrape could wait, but knowing Blondie, Dr. Deb, and CharChar were just looking out for my well-being.

Today I’ll be grateful for people looking out for me.

  

Summer with the Slug Rats © 2020 by Ken Montrose

Summer with the Slug Rats is a work of fiction. Any similarity between the characters and anyone you might know is purely coincidental.

Other works by Ken Montrose are available at: www.greenbriartraining.com https://www.pinterest.com/kenmontrose/mt-rose/

The New Abnormal #33

Controller in your hand, hat on backwards, vaping, screen name DeathByNumbers. "Gonna play some #$%@ GTA up in here #$%##ers!" You're a 47 year-old CPA who doesn't think the lockdown had any lasting effect on him.

Hope

Dr. Deb whistled to let me know dinner was ready. I jogged up the hill from the pond to my house. ‘This has gotten steeper over the years,’ I thought, stopping to catch my breath.

CharChar and Brat Boy, TyGuy and Blondie sat around the table. Doom and gloom leaked from the news program on the living room TV.  I smiled, looking at the kids. The world would always have its problems, but each generation brought new problem-solvers, new reasons to hope.

I sat down to dinner, a can of diet pop rather than a beer by my plate. I never thought I’d get sober, but after my first AA meeting, I never drank again. As they say in the rooms, I learned from others’ “experience, strength, and hope.”  

The people in AA who got sober before me had left behind wisdom; some from good ideas, some from mistakes made and painful lessons learned.  I’d learned from past generations, and hoped others would too.

Today I’ll have hope.

Summer with the Slug Rats © 2020 by Ken Montrose

Summer with the Slug Rats is a work of fiction. Any similarity between the characters and anyone you might know is purely coincidental.

Other works by Ken Montrose are available at: www.greenbriartraining.com https://www.pinterest.com/kenmontrose/mt-rose/

The New Abnormal #32

You convince your lazy, obnoxious, lunch-stealing, hypochondriac coworker that rapid blinking helps prevent covid infection. You get everyone in the office to blink whenever they're around her.

Don’t Quit

Brat Boy and Char left and I went back to digging. My shovel hit a rock. I tried to dig around it. The rock was huge. I cursed under my breath.  “You just gonna stare at me?” I yelled at the frogs.” No reply.

I flipped the rock onto the slope of the creek bed. The next flip was going to be uphill. I put my back into it, felt something shift and knew I was going to be in pain the next day. The frogs kept staring. “I know a French restaurant that would be happy to have you on the menu.”

When I had the rock halfway up the slope, I wanted to quit, let the rock fall down, cover it in clay, and pretend I didn’t know it was there.

I pushed the rock over, thought I couldn’t possibly do it again, got my legs into it, and heaved the rock onto level ground.

 As I sat to down to rest, I realized every time I came to the pond I’d get to sit on that rock and be glad I hadn’t quit. 

Today I won’t quit.

Summer with the Slug Rats © 2020 by Ken Montrose

Summer with the Slug Rats is a work of fiction. Any similarity between the characters and anyone you might know is purely coincidental.

Other works by Ken Montrose are available at: www.greenbriartraining.com https://www.pinterest.com/kenmontrose/mt-rose/

The New Abnormal #31

You hear frogs croaking. This being 2020, your first thought isn't ''pond out back' or 'nature channel.' Your first thought is 'are the locusts next?'

SUMMER WITH THE SLUG RATS

“It’s The Engine Not The Caboose That Kills You.”

“Why is Mandy’s dad an idiot?” Brat Boy asked.

“Maybe idiot is too strong a word,” I said, “But back in the day he kicked his coke habit. Stayed clean for  years and figured a little booze couldn’t hurt.  Quickly became addicted, but decided drinking was tied to a craving for sugar. He ate candy bars by the fistful to stop the cravings. Didn’t work.

 “He tried cleanses, supplements, acupuncture, and hypnosis. He joined a rowing team, thinking he’d be OK if he sweated out the alcohol. Threw up on the guy sitting in front of him. Twice.”

“Yuck!” CharChar said, “I’d push him out of the boat.”

“You know what he won’t do?” I asked.

“Stop drinking?” Brat Boy asked.

“Stop drinking,” I agreed. “Deep down he knows he has to not pick up the first drink, but he keeps doing it.”

Today I won’t pick up the first one.

Summer with the Slug Rats © 2020 by Ken Montrose

Summer with the Slug Rats is a work of fiction. Any similarity between the characters and anyone you might know is purely coincidental.

Other works by Ken Montrose are available at: www.greenbriartraining.com https://www.pinterest.com/kenmontrose/mt-rose/

SUMMER WITH THE SLUG RATS

Past

CharChar and Brat  walked up to the pond. “My mom met somebody who knows you,” CharChar said. “Mandy?”

I laughed. “Miranda Rights Jones. Her father was a recovering addict who’d been arrested many times for petty crimes.”

“Ok, that’s just wrong,” CharChar said. “He might as well have named her Dee Tension.”

“He was an idiot,” I said. “But, people have a tendency to twist the past. They remember what they want to.  That’s one reason people go back to painful relationships, or relapse even. He thought she’d be a living reminder of how many times he’d been read his Miranda rights.”

“Couldn’t he have just made a list of times he’d been arrested?” Brat Boy asked.

I shrugged, “Like I said, he was an idiot. Did I ever tell you I wanted to name you Notta?”

“Is that an Italian name?” Brat Boy asked.

“No, it’s short for ‘Oh No, Not Another One’.” Bubba the frog croaked, which is how frogs laugh.

Today I’ll try to remember the past as it truly was.

Summer with the Slug Rats © 2020 by Ken Montrose

Summer with the Slug Rats is a work of fiction. Any similarity between the characters and anyone you might know is purely coincidental.

Other works by Ken Montrose are available at: www.greenbriartraining.com https://www.pinterest.com/kenmontrose/mt-rose/

The New Abnormal #30

Fearing another lockdown, you create a 'wine cellar' and stock it with only the finest boxes of $4 wine.

SUMMER WITH THE SLUG RATS

Redundant

The spring that fed my pond started a little ways uphill. I dug a large hole in the dry spring bed, building a small clay dam between the hole and the rest of the pond. Adam the frog watched me.

“The next time it rains,” I explained, “this hole will fill with water.  If we have another dry spell, I’ll break the little dam to add water to the main pond.” Adam made a croaking noise that sounded like ‘redundant.’

“Yes the digging the pond deeper should be enough, but why not add a redundant back-up plan just to be safe?” I asked Adam.  I gave him other examples of being redundant in a good way.

“If I’m going to be around alcohol, I always have Dr. Deb or somebody in recovery with me.  I also try to have my own way home in case I want to leave. 

“I tell Dr. Deb I love her. I show her I love her just to be sure she knows. And, I mention it in my blog. It’s always good to be redundant with the people you love.”

Today I’ll be a little redundant.

Summer with the Slug Rats © 2020 by Ken Montrose

Summer with the Slug Rats is a work of fiction. Any similarity between the characters and anyone you might know is purely coincidental.

Other works by Ken Montrose are available at: www.greenbriartraining.com https://www.pinterest.com/kenmontrose/mt-rose/

The New Abnormal #29

A colleague who worked during the lockdown plays the 'more essential than thou' card. You point out it's a thin line between essential and expendable.

SUMMER WITH THE SLUG RATS

Can You Dig It?

Not a drop of rain fell for the next five days, despite the weather service predictions.  My little pond had a clay bottom and was fed by a tiny spring.  The shallows were exposed as the spring dried up.

“In life, dry times are when you bust the dam or dig,” I said to Adam, one of the two frogs who lived in the pond. His blank stare told me he didn’t understand.

“I could give up, break the dam, and let the pond turn to grass. Instead, I’ll dig out the shallows so they stay wet during the next dry spell.” Adam continued to stare, frogs being a little slow on the uptake.

“If the good times aren’t flowing, you have to excavate.  Couple of examples: when your drinking turns sour, you have to dig deep to find other things to do. When relationships falter, you have to dig out the anger, jealousy, selfishness, whatever, if you want that relationship to deepen. And when a pandemic strikes…” More staring from Adam.   

   

“The good news is, the more you dig in the dry times, the more you enjoy life when the good times flow.”

Today I will dig deep.

Summer with the Slug Rats © 2020 by Ken Montrose

Summer with the Slug Rats is a work of fiction. Any similarity between the characters and anyone you might know is purely coincidental.

Other works by Ken Montrose are available at: www.greenbriartraining.com https://www.pinterest.com/kenmontrose/mt-rose/