Stories - FD Thornton

I remember when I used to read books (before school, I read a lot) and I remember how kinda' sad it was to finish one. Know what I mean? Well, I'm in my second week of my next to be last course I'll take at UoP. And, while I was finishing my personal assignment for the week, that thought come to my mind. That I'm really near the last chapter of what was a very long book.  What do you do after winning a hard fought goal? Not some short term something, I mean something that was part of your life for 4 years. What will it be like to get up after that last Monday in class and not have discussion questions to answer or assignments to plan or complete? This school has been such a central part of my life since 2008, that it kinda' feels like watching my kids leave home again. Realizing nothing going to be the same, that a phase in your life is over.  You know, I don't mean to make this sound sad. You would think that I'd be overjoyed, and counting the days till...

I know that I don't have to tell any of you how bad the economy here in the U.S. and in the world is right now. Not only do we hear it on the news, but we see it at work, and you see it at home, because your out of work. Each day millions of us decide, is it the lights or food. We have all learned some hard lessons about how easy it is to go from doing OK to going to bed hungry just to feed our kids.  These are times only my Grandparents could recall, that my Dad (if he were alive) could remember from his childhood in the 30's & early 40's. But you don't need me to remind you how bad things are. We are living it each day.  Now that I've cheered everyone up, let me get to my point. Although, many of us face hardships with paying bills and meeting our obligations. There are still way too many who, face even harder times. They look at the upcoming bills and have to decide which utility they can live without this month. Or rather they can skip two, three, or...

Whether we admit it or not, we all like to feel important. Unfortunately, some of the most important people in our lives are the ones that either "be little" us or never "pat" your on the back. For a long time , I have suffered this type of abuse, from loved ones and even myself. It took me a long time to get to the point of self-worth that I'm even at today. But it's something that I work on and hammer at every time I get up. Being in the middle of this crappy economy doesn't help the situation either. With each "Dear, John" letter you get from a company, you feel less and less powerful and important. Now, I don't have any instead karma answers or even great pearls of wisdom. All I can tell you is, having value and self-worth are important. At some level you have to be confident in who you are. In my darkest hours of worthlessness I always had the fact that my children were cared for and well-adjusted. That even if I thought of myself ...

Just about every morning I get up grab a cup of coffee and head for the porch. My front porch doesn't face the sun as it comes up, but I can still see it's light shorten the shadows on my lawn. Monday though Friday I watch my neighbors rush off to work as the school bus drives by, with the noise of distant cars heading down the highway just two block over. But, while it's like this five days a week, on Saturday and Sunday it can be so quite, you hear the squirrels running along the cable line on the power poles.  Either time I sit and watch the neighbors or squirrels quickly head off, simply sipping coffee and packing a smoke. When the coffees gone and my smoke is through I then head to work. You see a few months ago I would do my school work and my day was pretty much done. But lately more and more opportunities have been coming in to put in applications. About to the point where I'm spending way more time on them then my course work.  You'd think, if ...

It seems to me that people today are either moving too fast or not at all. At work, people are either working too many hours or not enough. When traveling, we are either on the go too much or not moving at all. With our families, again, we either don't have enough time together or we see each other too much.  I tend to class myself with not enough's, although I have also been a too much. I empathize with those on both sides of this coin. While making ends meet or being successful, you loss time watching your kids grow up and out. Or you desperately look for ways to feed our family, while worrying at night about how your children will ever see the light of day. Yes, both things make us pay a price.  I can't sit here and offer anyone a simple answer as to what to do in either situation. I believe each of you knows that answer already. What I can tell you is, no answer is an easy answer. Each one requires dedication and developing the path to make the answer a habit. I w...

As much as I hate to say it, today's kinda' been a lazy day. For the first time in weeks it wasn't a steam bath just sitting on the porch this morning. There were a few good games on TV today. And, I got a really good nap in the early afternoon. Some of you may think, "Why do you hate saying it was a lazy day." "Doesn't everyone deserve a lazy day every once-in-a-while?" I guess my answer would be, I spend everyday in school trying to complete my goals. I'm either reading, researching, or writing, and when I'm not doing that, I'm waiting on teammates to turn in things. When I'm not in school, I'm networking and/or filling out applications for work. I have heard that you should treat job searching like a 40 hour a week job. But after 2 years, I think of it as a sunrise to beyond sunset job. So when I do take a day to just rest, I feel like I could be missing out on an opening somewhere. Even this morning I was checking in at scho...

You know, as I approach the landmark birthday of 50. I look at other folks my age and wonder shouldn't I be in the middle of a career and have established myself by now. But then I laugh at myself and think, "hell, maybe I'm just going through my second childhood a little early". I say that because I feel very young and ready to start. It is so absolutely crazy to be doing what I'm doing. To be someone my age learning a totally new field acting like a rookie graduate fighting for jobs like a 24 year old. But I love it, and I mean love it not because I'm "re-living" my youth. But because I get to do what I know I can do. It should also be noted that the situation that I see around me. A poor economy, limited job openings, and a general bleak attitude from everyone around, isn't going to deter me from my goal.   If you see yourself in a situation like me, where you feel lost and see no more happy endings. Then I have some advice for you. When p...