IT'S MONDAY..."ALL DAY LONG!"

Today has been a "real Monday." A "real Monday" is exactly the opposite of a "real Friday." If you don't know, a "real Friday" is that Friday that you get paid, and have the whole weekend off work.

I awoke this morning at 4 am as the victim of a home invasion. The invader was not necessarily threatening my life, or liberty, but it was threatening my pursuit of happiness. After several restless nights of battling flu-like symptoms (fever, chills, body aches, cough, & The Big D) I had finally had a full, quiet, peaceful 7 hours of sleep.

So, at 4 am when it invaded my bedroom, my first thought was to pull my weapon from the nightstand, and send the bastard right straight to hell. But I realized that I would likely wake The Mrs., and she's even worse off than me now (she's about 3 days behind me with this crud). So, I just touched the wretched thing's snooze button and gave myself some time to ponder the day.

As I laid there I realized that I might actually live. I felt about 50%. Now, on a normal day 50% would be reason enough to turn the clock off, and roll back over. But this is not a normal day...it's Monday. Monday is not Saturday, or Sunday...it's Monday. Monday is the day when all good fathers, husbands, providers, citizens, put aside all selfishness and hit the bricks. But I swear, I could find no motivation.

Then out of nowhere, I heard the words of the savior in my spirit, encouraging me. I knew then that I had to giddy-up and go.

Since The Mrs. is totally wasted, it fell to me to do her job and mine today. And if I must say, I did a pretty danged good job under the circumstances. Fortunately, it is President's Day, so I did not have to rouse our youngest and get him off to school...thank God.

So, I set about the task of getting back to business. It seems that all of our customers that had forgotten about us over the last year have remembered us...all at once! Yep...as I opened up my online order inbox at 4:30 am, I discovered that we are now about two to three weeks behind in our ability to fill all of the orders that came in over the weekend. Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful to God for the business...but I'm a stupid chump that can comfortably ask, "Why didn't all this business come before the grim reaper made a hard left down my street?"

I figure that we're overrun with orders now because Obama's stimulus plan has passed Congress. Folks must figure that things are gonna get a whole lot better now... Foolish, I know, but I'll take it.

So, away I went to begin the task of making a dent in this mountain of orders. I must admit that during the day working by myself (The Mrs. is still unable to move...laying in bed waiting for the Angels to come transport her 'cross the River Jordan) I got tired, achy again, and felt a little hopeless about a few things.

But there it was in my spirit...the words of the savior kept spurring me on to work. So, WORK I did. Actually, I had a few profound thoughts that will change your life...stuff about President's Day, Mardi Gras, fishing, and handicap license plates...but I'll have to tell y'all about it all when I'm better than the fraction of the 50% I started out with this morning.

I finally finished up about 5:00 pm (well, not finished...just quit), and now I must cook some supper for me, my 12-year-old, and for The Mrs. (swing low...sweet chariot).

Looking back at today I am truly grateful. At 4 am I wouldn't have given myself even odds to survive until now. These words of the savior have kept me going, and will strengthen me for tomorrow.

I share them with y'all because I love you. You may have to face a miserable day soon. Just remember...