Bumps, Cuts and Bruises

The first time I chipped my tooth I was in the second grade, at least I think I was. For 1st and 2nd grade I had the same teacher. So two years of my life are blended together. Anyways, I have had many accidents since then that have caused me to chip my 2 front teeth. Some of the ways I have chipped my teeth include: falling while ice skating, one-on-one basketball with my big brother, eating a piece of toast, grinding my teeth when I was sleeping, elbow to the face when playing basketball, dodge ball to the face, and baseball to the face just to name a few. Each time I chipped one of my teeth I often thought, "Why don't other people chip their teeth as often as me?" I am still searching for that answer.

Most of my teeth injuries are related to sports (even the grinding of my teeth was probably the result of having a sports related dream). I did chip my tooth on toast. That may not sound sports related but it was right after a long basketball tournament where I am sure it was loosened up by someone else. It happened to be the week before Junior Prom. Although most people who sustain the same recurring injury discontinue the behavior that is causing the injury in the first place, I simply do not follow that frame of thinking.

October 14, 2011 (click to see the picture) I was in the emergency room dealing with one of the many cuts I have received while playing basketball. Since then, my face has never looked the same. The scar is a constant reminder to me each time I look in the mirror. I think to myself, "Don't play down to the level of your competition, always play above it." During the game where I got my latest gash, I took a couple of plays off and BOOM!!! an elbow to the face left me with 6 stitches above my lip 2 days before my wedding. 

Obviously I have issues with falling or being hit in the face. The connection of chipping my teeth and having minor catastrophes before important life events must mean I am a clumsy-in-your-face kinda person. Regardless if I get injured through adversity or sports, I'm going to keep doing what I love.

Thinking back to each time I was hit in the face I have realized that attacking life head on is not the same as attacking it face on. Maybe I should use some caution or just protect myself better. Whatever I do I have to to remember that if life or sports gives me bumps and bruises, they will heal themselves. If life or sports lead to stitches, broken bones and chipped teeth, they can get taken care of by a doctor.

Blame

"Never take the blame. Your wife will always be ready to assign the blame whether you ask for it or not." That was the advise that I received from a trusted adviser. With many years of experience being married, that was some advise that he thought was worth while for me to know.

It is too easy to blame someone else for doing something wrong, bringing up their faults or anything else to bring them down. Another thing that is extremely hard to do is to erase "no" from your vocabulary. Erasing the word "no" or any other variation of the word (don't, won't, can't or not) is even harder than you may think. Over the past couple of months I have been trying to get rid of the word. Instead of saying," I don't want to eat soup for lunch," I would say, "I'd rather have something else to eat for lunch."

Changing your statements the way I did in that example may seem very easy but try undoing 20 years of no's! As I have learned from being around small infants (months old) to 4 year old children for most of my life, "no" is in the top 5 vocabulary words that children learn. It usually only topped by "da da" and "ma ma" who are usually saying no to them.

Without blaming parents or any other figures who taught me of the importance of the word "no," I have realized that was their own way of expressing what they would rather have me do. For the next couple of weeks, try to eliminate that word "no" including all of its variations and try to stop blaming others directly. How do you think people will react to you? My guess is that people will notice a change and be more apt to requests.

Objects in Motion

Being from New England, I have experienced more than one spin out when driving in the winter. All it takes is too much gas or speed on a slippery surface and before you know it you begin fish tailing. Now that I think of it, I did this in the fall when I was driving to my wedding rehearsal dinner.

Have you ever felt like you were running in a wheel that wasn't moving? Or have you ever felt like your wheels were spinning but all you were doing was going side to side? Nonetheless, the feeling of going side to side instead of forward is uncomfortable and unwanted. Sometimes I get that same feeling. It is important to remember that attempting to move forward is sometimes all you can do.

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What Are Little Things?

The little things in life make life worth living. So often I have found that the little things are like a basketball net. The big things in life are the empty spaces in the net. Without them, we still have a life and you can still make a basket. With them, you still have a life and you can still have baskets. So I guess the moral is make sure your life is filled with the little things so you can throw positive memories into your hoop to build up your net of positivity.

Positive memories that give support to me: A last supper before a major surgery. A belated birthday celebration. An anniversary on Valentine's day. Stopping by just to say hello. K.A.D. Enjoying your company when driving to and from potential graduate schools. Going for a walk around the lake.

All of these are little things have tremendous value to me, maybe they do to you too. If not, maybe they should!

Light as a Feather

With all that has happened lately, I feel as if I have said this a ton (2,000) of times, "Thank God I found my wife." With plans for this past weekend I think I leaned on my on my wife enough to make her sick, oh wait, she did get sick. 

Planning a group trip is very stressful but taking part in the planned group event I feel can be even more stressful! Clayton Bigsbee said it best, "Open your heart and let the hate out." Some times that feels like that's all I do when it comes to group events.

As minutes turn to hours and they soon turn to days, before you know it, a week has gone by. What seemed like a ton of bricks has turned into a feather. So the to-do list continues to get smaller and smaller. Now I am beginning to look forward to the weeks becoming fortnights, and fortnights becoming months. The months coming up are warm, sunny and fun. 

Sounds like Summer!

Birthdays

Going out with the "fam" has changed. Everything in life changes so I should expect birthdays to change as well.

This past couple of weeks has been full of madness, draft woes, unofficial failure and tardy celebration. Now that, sounds much more familiar to a birthday celebration week that I am used to.

Madness in the form of NCAA basketball, draft woes in two different fantasy baseball and tardy celebration in the form of the new B.I.L. and his belated 24th.

Time waits for no man so I am going to man up and get past more poor picks in fantasy bball. Get over losing in my Pick'm pool, and enjoy celebrations as they come along. I can still remember when I was in college my wife often told me, "Things seem like a big deal now, but in a couple of years your going to look back and think it was nothing."

To-Do Lists

Does having a to-do list actually help? I seem to think so. Most of the time I feel I spend my time procrastinating in making them so I end up having a to-do menu. Some of the items that have made it off my menu lately include: resume, school work and dinner. I am pretty sure I'd never skip dinner.

But seriously, lately I am beginning to feel that my to-do list should really become my 5 year plan. That's what I'm beginning to think how long it is going to take to get some things done. To make it through the next couple of months will be the easy part. If it were 6:32 pm my father would say,"It's minutes to 7." I think he was trying to say that time waits for no one, so just do it now! 

I'll end with a quote from my beautiful wife,"Worrying is like a rocking chair, its gets you no where fast."

New Beginnings

Spring is approaching fast and my grad school is coming to and abrupt end. When something ends, something new begins. That means with the spring fast approaching and graduation around the corner, I should put the pedal to the metal in my job search efforts.

First Day

This is my very first blog. I am actually very excited about this and I can't wait for feedback. I should have much more experience with this because of the technology age, school requirements, etc. but today I take a leap into the unknown on my own.

Today there happens to be reason for celebration. My wife went wedding dress shopping with her future sister-in-law and mother. It is exciting for the whole family but especially me. It's exciting for me because I will no longer be the "new" guy in the family. Although it has been enjoyable being the latest addition to the MacElhaney/Connelly family, it is much better when there is someone who is greener than you. Wouldn't you agree?

Sometimes with the good comes the bad. Some of the bad news I heard late this evening relates to my former high school basketball team. For you all that know me, you know how much I enjoy playing basketball. My alma mater was playing in the state championship game today and they lost by 8 points. Although the game was close, they played the entire game from behind. However, they still have next year...

and reader, you will have too will have to wait until next time.