Fact of Life Funnies

I'm an adult child of an alcoholic and a divorced family. My mom is recovering from the alcoholism after three failed marriages. God reached her through the Salvation Army, where she worked when she had nowhere else to turn. My life as a child at home was not much fun. I remember the first time I went to a friend's house and realized I was living in the city known as Dysfunction Junction. I was a quiet kid for the most part; just another one of the long-haired potheads. I didn't laugh much, and I detested high school. I found Jesus at 16; otherwise I don't think I could have made it. I also discovered I could make people laugh, and that made me feel good. I hadn't had much laughter in my life. With my new found talent and the fact that I had discovered I could talk my way into some rather pleasurable situations with the ladies, I let Jesus out at the bus stop and took the wheel myself. Huge mistake, but it happened.

I went to college one semester and dropped out. I was too busy having fun. Soon after I dropped out, I was in a rock bar here in Austin called Mother Earth. I had just gotten my hair cut for a job, and I was feelin' a little blue. It was dollar pitcher night. Yep, you heard me right. . .a pitcher of beer for a buck. For three dollars, you could lose your identity, your car, and one guy I know well woke up in the sack with a girl he didn't know, got up and walked out of the house in his underwear. I'm pretty sure it was his. Anyway, on this particular night, I bought pitcher #1 and saw a guy sitting at a table with the same bad haircut that looked about as sad as I did. So, I go up and ask him if I could join him. I later found out he thought I was hitting on him. That was pretty funny, because if I was wired funny, he would have been way too ugly for me. I have standards, you know! Steve and I became best friends, and for the next few years, the streets of Austin were not safe. The title of this blog was one of his favorite sayings. He was full of 'em, and he was full of . . . It was not a healthy friendship, but he taught me how to laugh. Unfortunately, he never kept a job and had a bad drug habit which I fell into. Unless he changed, he is dead or in jail. That's too bad, because he was smart, funny, and had the same silver tongue I did.

That was years ago, but I had a "fact of life funny" happen to me today. If you happen to read my ramblings, you know that my A/C died and that put a stop to my HD TV plans. Today I learned that financing was turned down because we did a debt consolidation three years ago. I am debt free, but I have no credit. I need to build it up. So I say to myself,"Self, how the Sam Hill can I build up my credit if I can't get any (credit)? I need A/C now, not in four years!" So I made the decision to go to the flea market this weekend to sell some of my overstock (junk I can't sell at the shops). I drive to the flea market, go into the office, and there is the exact TV I was gonna get. Then it hit me - I need to build up my credit - I want a TV - I have a Sam's card. I swore I was never going to charge another thing, but that's not the way our financial system works, unless you have saved money or have a lot of it. So on a whim, I apply online for credit from Sam's. Almost instantly, I was approved with a $600 limit. How much was the TV? $572. It's sitting next to me as I type. On top of that, my step-daughter referred us to an independent A/C guy. He came out, and lo and behold, my wife had taught his kids. He's going to help us figure out how to replace this wreck with a new system, one component at a time. It's not carved in stone, but I could tell he knew we were in a bad situation, and I think he was sent here to help.

Fact of Life Funnies. . .ain't God good?