Random Thoughts

It is Saturday and I am happy to have the day off. I went shopping earlier to pick up some stuff for the road trip to Oklahoma. I am taking my mom's Mother's Day Gift with me so I filled the solar light garden globes with slippers, a Collision Kit for the glove box and some other practical things.
I am trying a set of orthotics that I picked up at Target. I hope it helps my heel spur. I can't believe how gullible I am with this heel spur. I wore flat shoes yesterday that didn't hurt for the first 5 or 6 hours. After work I was in pretty big pain, popped a Tylonol 600 and rested with my foot elevated the rest of the evening. This morning I woke up with a tight tendon but as I walked around the apartment all was better. By 8:15 I was wondering if somehow my heel spur healed in the night. I put on my running shoeing so be sensible to go shopping. About an hour into the trip, my heel is hurting. Not gone, still here. I know better, why do I always think that this time this time it might be gone? I guess I am an optimist in the end.
Yesterday was one of those rare days when I got positive feedback from customers. One customer told me that she was impressed with the way I handled two difficult patrons last week. And then later that afternoon one of our regulars said that my staff and I always handled everyone well no matter how difficult that they can be. It is nice to be appreciated.
I have been reading about emotional intelligence lately and I feel that this is really helping deal with toxic people and to be more empathic with them.
One of my regular customers works at night at Walmart down here but lives up in the Antelope Valley. He doesn't have a car so he ends up spending his days in the library when he works two or more days in a row. He reads his Bible, naps, gets up goes for lunch, comes back reads some, naps some and then goes to work. He was so excited that the was finally caught up enough that he could buy a car that one of his co-workers was selling. He got the car and then about a week later he is back in the library. He said he was sold a lemon and the engine blew. How awful is that? When you are down it is hard to make your way back up. Every little set back is so much more devastating. What impressed me was that he took it all in stride and continues to have a smile on his face. He said he should have known better and listened to the advice of his father but didn't and now he is back where he started with less money in his pocket but still trusting that he will end up on top eventually.
My road trip is next week. I am looking forward to being out on the open road and pressing my way on to Oklahoma. Back to my roots and family. I am also looking forward to getting to know my teenage niece. I hope that she has a good time and sees this as a time to expand her wings. I want her to know that there is so much more to this life and world than South Eastern Oklahoma. Not that it is bad or that she shouldn't want to stay. But I want her to make that choice because it is option she prefers not because she doesn't know anything else and is too frighten to leave her family cocoon. I also want to enjoy being having a child for a few weeks. This is me being selfish. I won't have kids and I don't regret that decision at all. But I want to have some of the joy of having one around for a while.