Last Monday Made Me Smile

I said that I'd write about some things that made my day during the week, this is one of them. (However, I'm not going to disclose names...not that it matters anyway).

There are a few customers who make my day when they come into the store; one being a gentleman in his late 40's who always buys a pound of Decaf Espresso every Monday night and his nightly triple grande latte around 9:30pm. Sometimes he lets his kids come along on his coffee run, Monday being one of those times. All of his kids are well mannered and it's evident that there is a lot of love in that family. His one daughter (the oldest maybe in 4th grade) is the cutest little button ever. His second oldest (maybe in second grade) yup...his sly smile reminded me of my brother when we were little. The youngest was maybe in kindergarten...cute kid.

"You guys keepin' Dad company tonight?" As if prompted to respond in one accord, "YES....," they said. "We were just at the grocery store...did you know that they give away free samples of cookies in the bakery sometimes?" Thinking of my brother, I chuckled and said, "Well when my brother and I were little, I used to ask him to get the cookie samples because I was too shy." Excitement filled their feet with nervous shuffling when the oldest asked with an inviting smile, "Well we could get you a cookie if you wanted." "Awe...that's sweet of you, but you don't have to do that," I responded thankfully. This evoked a couple random jump spirts of excitement from the two boys as the oldest said, "It's ok...maybe we could."

They left waving "bye" and smiling. I think their Dad was getting a kick out of this as much as I was. The excitement and joy from those silly kids warmed my heart. About 10 minutes later I hear a "Hey!" I looked up as she said, "We brought you a cookie!" offering the present with two hands in front of her....dang, it felt like someone just gave me the world.

"Aaaawwe...'no-way,'" I said surprisingly, through the most joyful smile I've had in a long time. "That's soooo sweet of you...awe." "I said I'd get one for you," she said with a smile. Her Dad was smiling too, only with pride; blessed to know about his daughter's giving heart. I thanked them again and waved goodbye as they left.

Even today, I still can't get over how awesome that was! I haven't felt like that in a long time! Being, by far, the most difficult week of school ever, I took that moment with open arms.

Study Update...

All-nighter successful. I'm alert, but we'll see how much stuff I'm able to cover for the final. Didn't get all the material, but a little is better than taking an F, or giving up. I'll keep ya posted. Thanks for the prayer!

God Is Good...

Dang...everyday this week has been made. Little things in life I guess, but still...they're big to me. I'm on the "Gotta Keep Going" train right now, and have two more days until I'm home free. Things are good, life is in perspective, my days are bright, and I feel blessed beyond belief. Thank you all for your prayers! I'll knock out a big update at the end of the week. Gotta get to practicing now...sax jury at 2:45pm. Thanks again =)

Doing Great...Will Do Better With Prayer...

Again, I will keep this brief. Gotta finish up a long paper that I've been working on for a while. Work's been good but I'm scheduled 40 hours (5 days) from last Thursday-this Tuesday straight. I'm getting stuff done and staying very positive. Please just pray for sleep at night (last night was rough) and alertness while I work on my studies. It'd help out a whole bunch. I'll have time to breathe after next Thursday (my last final), and let ya'll know how everything went. Thanks guys!

-Chris

Encouraged

I'll write more about it later, but I am blessed and encouraged this weekend. Kinda nice when an absolute stranger has a dramatically positive impact on personal life perspective. Have crazy homework/papers/practicing to do for next week finals and juries, but I'll get there...just a matter of time. More to come about all this next week...

Busy Week List

- I got my phone fixed today (yeay)
- Got car insurance again (after a 2 month lapse...yikes, but need to have pictures taken again)
- Getting apartment ready for a moving out inspection
- Fixing an error on my IRS Return =(
- Fixing an error on my home phone bill =(
- Fixing my student loan ( Need to talk with Wells Fargo and Financial Services at SJSU. They started to bill me early) =(
- Send tux shirt for dry cleaning for concert Friday
- Practicing for master class performance tomorrow night
- Practicing for concert Friday night
- Working 36 hours this week (yikes)
- Doing tons of homework and papers
- Cooking/cleaning/laundry/bills

Ugh...almost home...gotta get there