Me? I got plenty of them, thankfully not so many serious.
Roughly from least to most:
More.
- Not enough time to spend in my yard. And by "not enough," I really mean I can't be out there all freaking day. The nice Cambodian grandmother who lives behind us gave me a bunch of chrysthanemums this morning, to which Mrs P and I added some lilies and coreopsis that we got on sale at the local garden center.
We got them in, and Mrs Pastor cleaned up some overgrowth in another flower bed. But now I want to do some trimming, some edging, I can't wait to overseed and hit the lawn with some corn germ, or to rip out the arbor vitae in the back and install a vegetable garden.
You see what I mean? It's taking over my brain, and I'm not even Frankenoid.
- A developing obssession with Neil Young. Bought his "Greatest Hits" at Costco today, and I'm listening to it for the second time through, some parts 3 or 4 times. Thank God for headphones; otherwise, I'd be out one marriage.
Take the poll, yo.
- Priorities and tradeoffs. Mrs Pastor and I spent $120 in a blind auction yesterday. Our office put it together for a family that lost its 8-year-old son, without insurance for his burial or medical costs.
We raised a lot of money: $800 between 20 of us, plus another $300 someone else donated. The $800 will be matched by our state office, for a total $1900. That helps.
But the part that sucks is that I can't do enough to help this kid, other than publicize his situation here:
Michael [Beall-Ellersieck] has again run away and has been gone a little over a month.
Michael is a person at risk because of his mental health concerns. He has Reactive Attachment Disorder and a dissociative disorder and has been the victim of sexual abuse.
As far as a description, he is 5'10" tall, weighed 140 pounds on June 27th, has brown hair, which is curly when longer. Michael has a fair complexion, which we expect to be sun burned and weathered looking, wears contacts, which he probably no longer has as he didn't take his extra lenses or cleaning supplies. His ear lobes are attached, and his teeth are stained yellow. He loves music and basketball and is perpetually moving, i.e. swaying while standing, or playing with a ball, bike, or any kind of sport. He can be seen walking, sort of in a trance or aimless shuffle. He ran away in the early morning of June 27th, and may have been seen on July 4th. We have reason to believe he is no longer in the area.
I've known Michael's mom since 1999, when we both started in the Penn Central Conference. She's poured I don't know how much love into this kid, and if there's anyone who deserves some peace of mind, it's her.
Please, do what you can. I don't know if an Amber Alert has been issued--all I have is the information above.
And that is a freaking problem.