• For my parents’ house to sell quickly, and at a good price.
• For my mom to find a good place for herself.
• For my parents’ separation to go smoothly and amicably.
• For Mike as he’s going through chemotherapy and radiation.
• For the rest of their household as they’re dealing with the stress of cancer.
• For me to get the job I’m crossing my fingers for (or something better) in the near future.

That’s all I can think of right now…

All of this and I don’t even get to leave the province. My vacation this summer was a long weekend in Canmore, which was really good, but nothing compared to the road trips of summers past. A lot of it has to do with money (I need it), but there have been a lot of other things keeping me busy.

On top of all of this, I have to think about my mother and helping her with the sale of some stuff. Thinking about where I will park my vehicle when they finally sell the house, thinking about the other things I’ll need to store…

So much going on… I can’t wait for school to start, if only to make my schedule more consistent.

Is it awful to say that I have been waiting for my parents to separate for quite some time now? I have known for too long that my parents’ relationship was unhealthy. I have known for too long about all the shit that my dad has put my mom through, and I cannot help but feel relieved that it is finally over.

You know what pisses me off the most about all of this: the fact that my mom is going to likely take some shit from her “good Christian” friends for making this decision. I say to all these people, in advance: fuck off and mind your own business, you have no right.

My mom told me over coffee… actually, she didn’t actually tell me… I told her that I knew what she was going to say, and I was right. I had to hold my mom’s hand to help her keep back the tears. I told her that I didn’t know how she had the strength to stay as long as she did.

So I have to help my mom sell some stuff: furniture, big screen tv, surround sound, pool table… Kijiji will be my friend. My prayers are focused on an amicable split, for my parents’ house to sell fast, and for my mom to find the perfect place to live. I have never been very close to my father, but I pray that things go well for him.

I likely haven’t thought of all the things in my life that will change with the split… so expect some future posts relating to the subject…

As of late much of that hasn’t changed, in fact God has been continually blessing me with the opportunity to work. I have an amazing summer job for 2 months of the year, but July and August is always a little more tricky. Financially this year I’ve also had to factor in expenses related to getting married (the engagement ring, deposit on the venue, etc.) This has led me to a place where I know I need to keep a very tight budget. I track every expense, down to my pennies, and allocate as needed. It’s a little stressful at times, watching numbers change, dollars disappearing, and wondering just how many hours I will be working this week…

I don’t want to be a freak about my finances, but I also loathe consumer debt. I hate the idea of spending money I don’t have (except when it comes to student loans…) and the last thing I want to do is be like my dad when it comes to money. I want to be a good steward of the money that I do have, and I know I’ve been pretty flaky about it in the past. At this point my beautiful, wonderful fiancée is making more money than I, the least I can do is keep close track of it all and put money away when we can. I want to buy her all the pretty things in the world, but for now she’ll have to be content with the rock on her finger. It’s a frickin nice rock though. Totally worth it.

I’m just praying and hoping that where I get money from, aka. my job, changes in the near future. I need to be doing something that doesn’t suck the life out of me…

In a sense it was almost more of an anniversary than anything, celebrating these two that have been a couple for so damn long. Dinner was a constant stream of anecdotes and praises for the happy newlyweds, and I couldn’t help but wish that we were a bit closer to them as a family.

Speaking of dinner. 5 courses. Started at 6:30pm, dessert wasn’t served until nearly 11pm! That’s almost an hour per course, but it was certainly fantastic.

One of the best parts of the whole wedding was that I got to see family that I haven’t in so long: my uncle, and my grandfather in particular. As an aside, my 85 year old grandfather went to bed just minutes after me last night… At 1:45am! What a healthy handsome grandfather I have. It’s been so good to see everyone, and have them all together to celebrate.

It was a beautiful wedding, a beautiful weekend, and an unforgettable family reunion of sorts.

So this week is a different one for me, seeing them so frequently is nice on one hand, but boring as hell in some ways. After a few hours spent with these old folks, it’s boring even for a 23 year old. The adults just talk about people I’ve never heard of, places I’ve never been, things I’ve never seen. I’ve made the mistake twice now of showing up way too early for family dinner. I hope to not do it again.

Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love having them here, and it’s great to spend some time with them. At the same time though, there is only so much to talk about. We lead different, separate lives, so it’s normal to not have those points of connection.

I just hope lunch today goes really well…

Weight: 209lb (down 14lbs from 223)

Total Body Fat %: 25.5 (down 5.8% from 31.3%)

My goal weight is up (3lbs) to 181lbs with 14% body fat.

Some other interesting things:

- my lean body mass is up around 2.5lbs (this is why my goal weight went up)

- my lean body mass to fat ratio is up to 2.9 to 1 (from 2.2 to 1)

So there have been some awesome improvements in my physical shape!

The hardest part I’ve found about going barefoot all day is the looks I would get from people. I mean, I don’t really care what they think but so many people have given me a look like “why the hell aren’t you wearing shoes?”…

A question that TOMS founder Blake Mycoskie likely wondered. After all, shoes are a fairly basic thing (I’ve realized this from all the looks I get) yet there are so many children in this world who do not have any.

It’s sometimes harder to walk in someone’s shoes when they have never owned a pair. If only I’ve engrained that more in my head today then it’s been worth it. Once I can afford it I’ll likely buy another pair of TOMS, and a child will get a pair. I hope others will do the same. do it here.

Resurrection: Rob Bell from The Work of Rob Bell on Vimeo.