Sunday, October 15, 2023

Give me the strength to........

Living the dream 2023 style. Building bicycle frames for a living is not an easy thing , no matter how you slice it. I have been very fortunate to be able to say that I indeed have a self sustaining shop that is productive in spite of the usual pitfalls. Some of these issues are things that I can fix, some not. This summer has shown me that issues do not need to show up one at a time but can come as a pair, a trio or a whole damn village. 

Here's the village of the fall of 2023: In July I took a corner on my bike and unexpectedly ( that's usually how it is, isn't it ? ) I fell and broke my femur in two places. I am still recovering from that as of this writing which is about three months after the date of my surgery. Next thing was that I got lost in the system and my appointment for my follow up X-ray never got booked- now I have a wait that I did not expect. Also, for some reason , my email with my business stopped working and now customers will have a bit of trouble getting in touch with me. I have spent numerous hours online and on the phone with no success......I'm getting pretty frustrated but at least I have plenty of work to keep me busy for awhile. Doing this work with a gimpy leg is not that easy but I am getting it done. Next issue is my old trusty truck of 22 years has a check engine light that comes on every week- the mechanic does not seem to be able to cure the problem......kind of like my email issue- the experts are stumped for now. Another issue was that I had to quit a band I was in for the last year suddenly- this was tough as the people in the band were very nice and they were puzzled and hurt that I had left-sadly, it was something I had to do and I felt very strongly about the decision- this did not make it any easier.

Yes, these are not life or death issues but still pretty numerous for a semi-crippled frame builder with a semi crippled email, truck and attitude. This brings me to consult the old AA saying : " Lord, give me the strength to fix the things I can fix , accept the things that I can't fix and to know the difference " . I quote that saying now because the line between the things I can fix and the ones I can't is seeming not to be a line any more but a blurry spot of blindness. I can't really see solutions to some of these issues and it makes me pretty discouraged. This lack of clarity about the issues I am facing has made me turn to the shop-some times 7 days a week- it is the one place I can be where I can fix things, build things and find some sort of validity to the space I am taking up on this planet and in this life. Outside the shop my life really is not seeming like the happy place it can be - I can't ride , I'm in pain much of the time, I don't really feel like there's any activity such as going to a movie, going out to eat or really any type of recreation that I feel up to. But.....cutting and welding metal ? I can do that and as soon as I got off this barely functional computer I will go to the shop and see if I can fix or build something and if not, know the damn difference.