What Am I Doing Hangin' Round?

 One of my favorite Monkee's songs. 

The Second Act

Weird, somewhat intimate confession, I love all the intricacies that come with the second act. You know, that part of the play, book, or movie, where the hero faces his/her greatest obstacles and is seconds away from giving up, being destroyed, and losing everything. 

When there is no way out, no rescue is coming, and fate has once again extended it's winning streak. Grief, death, the extinguishing of hope, the penultimate breath.

That moment, that seems to last a lifetime where everything hangs in the balance. And then, without warning, suddenly everything changes . . . 

I love to listen to people's stories. I like to listen long enough to sense the arc of their stories, the ebb and flow that will pull back the curtain on the decisions and emotions that accompany most of our lives. And without exception if you listen long enough, you will uncover those crossroad moments, those cliff-hangers, where the destiny of their lives was there for the taking, awaiting a push, plotting the next step, pleading for a sign. And if your storyteller is being brutally honest, they might describe that moment when emotions were running rampant, they couldn't imagine taking one more step, and lacked assurance that they could even endure one more second in that season of their life. 

Ronald Acuña Jr

Ronald Acuña Jr is having an unbelievable start to the 2021 baseball season! Check it out:

Beating out a infield hit with a speed of 31 feet per second! Click HERE to watch. 

As of April 15th he was an amazing 21 of 40 with 7 homers!

He has had 14 extra-base hits through Atlanta's first 13 games which is tied for the most in franchise history, matching Hank Aaron who also had 14 extra-base hits through 13 games in 1959. (Stats since 1900)

He has 1.000 slugging percentage 12 games into this season, plus he has reduced swinging at pitches outside the strike zone by 10 percent and only chases 9 percent of the time . . . 

The Paper

"Has anyone seen the paper?" 

This was a frequent question at my house when I was growing up. Part of the problem arose from the fact that there were competing forces for the same sections of the newspaper. For instance, my brother and I fought to confiscate the comics section of the paper, and my parents both sought possession of the front page news. Sometimes this didn't end well for all the parties involved . . . 

But before the initial plans could be made to circumvent the others goal of reading your favorite section, the paper first had to be located. Depending on the paperboy, (or papergirl - I honestly never remember seeing this person actually delivering the paper to our house), the newspaper's eventual destination varied greatly.