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If we weren’t all crazy…

Wait, what am I saying? Of course we are. Thus making the entire opening line totally irrelevant. But it’s a common error… what looks like crazy to others might actually be someone else’s entire definition of sane.

But I digress. And overstate the obvious. As usual. You’re welcome.

Another weekend of inn-keeping with my AirBnb side gig and it went pretty well. A family this time – a Mom and her in-laws traveling here for Florida Southern College Family Weekend – and I think they enjoyed their stay. Know they liked the amenities… but then I do tend to go a bit further than the average host. Nothing succeeds like excess, right?

Yeah, I thought so too.

Again the guests were fairly low maintenance, again I didn’t really do anything but just stay out of the way, and again there was no real imposition on my weekend routine. The split design of my house is what I think makes a difference. Once I close the French Doors to my end of the house it’s over. I never even know they’re there. Until they start making coffee and I smell it… and I wake up temporarily confused because I forgot someone was in the house with me.

Yikes!

But anyway… it was successful for both parties, and I have to confess that I’m starting to like it. It’s nice to have someone around occasionally. Believe it or not living alone isn’t always all its cracked up to be. Having that feeling of people around is nice. Especially since they’re paying to be here.

Bonus!

But now it’s Monday and I’ve already changed the beds back there, scrubbed the guest bathroom, and ran the vacuum and dusted both rooms. Being hyper efficient is a curse sometimes. And clearly I need more to do if I’ve already done all of that and it’s only 9:15.

More Monday… now with actual efficiency… who knew I could do that?

Er, yeah…

Rolling the dice…

So everything is a risk. Nothing is a sure thing… ever. No matter the situation there’s the point where you think it’s a success, there’s the point where you think it’s still workable, the point where you think it’s a write off, and then there’s the point where you know there’s no way to come back.

The hard part is that every one of those are usually right before everything finally works out the way it’s supposed to be. However, lest you think that’s a good solution, the way it’s supposed to be is not necessarily the way you want, it’s just the way it’s supposed to be. Do yourself a favor and don’t ever get those two things confused.

They most certainly are not.

In the end everything you do is gut work, no matter how much preparation you do and no matter how much risk management you build it… at the end of the day you have to guess, give it a shot, see what happens… but there’s no guarantees and everything can change in a moment.

Life is like that. All you can do is the best you know how and you hope for the best. Everything is sitting on a lucky roll of the dice…

Do you feel lucky?

For your listening pleasure…

Because sometimes we all have to put up the “Filter” in order to enjoy our family time together…

On this Thanksgiving week know that I’m thankful for all of you and I love you all!  Hope your holiday is filled with the the sweet, the tasty, the wonder, and the love… and if all else fails…

FILTER!

Being safely unsafe…

There’s something reassuring about routine… something comforting… something safe.  And figuring this life lesson out for me has been hard.  I’m a natural change agent… I like change, chaos, turmoil, and the danger that all bring to my life. I like having to adapt, switching up the routine, moving in different directions, sometimes quickly, with no time to adapt, and no time to adjust.

Until I don’t.

Until I crave sameness.  Until I need safety.  Until I go to ground.  I do that sometimes.  Go to ground.  Put myself into a place where things are the same.  Things are not changing.  Things are static and predictable.  So I can catch my breath, color inside my lines for a little while, and just be me.  The other me.  The me that doesn’t like all the things that the other me thrives on.  The me that craves quiet and peace.  For a little while.

Until I don’t.

Safety and sameness, chaos and change… opposite sides of the same coin.  Elements of my life.  Equal parts of me.  One side tidy and safe, the other side fearless and brave… both 100% all me.  Living life.  Fully.

And you never know which one you’re going to get.

Good luck.