For The Love Of Folly

By SirWilho Aka Bill Stolberg • July 25, 2014

"Deeeelish, MMMM, Delisssssshhhhh," says Mel in his appraisal of the chocolate bar I brought to him the day before. A normal day would have prompted me to smile or even chuckle to myself since its kinda cute or quaint when he says that, (that being said if a man should use such words for description).

Today was different. I was mad, irate and irritable and had just told Mel the story about how I left my Ipad and Smartphone on the roof of my car then drove off, only to realize my folly once I returned home.

The conversation with Mel started out with me telling him I had bad news. His face took on an expression of instant sadness and worry since he knew of my dads poor health and he thought the worst. I then went on blithering about the phone and Ipad for ten minutes as he listened somewhat impatiently. I took a deep breath to get a good run at sniveling some more and then Mel jumps in and goes on and on about the chocolate bar!!! Ghaaaaaaa!!! Didn't Mel know how important these things were and how much information and stuff I could do with them and I had pictures on them and they cost this much??? But Nooooo!!!!!, Mel is savoring and reminiscing the wonderment of the chocolate bar.

Mel is my (or I'm his), somewhat new buddy since his old chum passed away at the young age of 82 last winter. Mels wife of 60 years also passed on this past winter so he took me under his wing and we now garden together, make stuff and cut wood together. Mels mind is quick and his eyes still gleem, however, gravity seems to grasp him tougher nowadays so his gait has slowed a pace.

Yes, yes, I know you know where I'm going with this but please bear with me.

Mel tells me to till the garden and work off my anger and I do so with vigor until I am spent and dehydrated.

The tilling didn't make me feel any better or worse and I went off to talk with my cell phone company. They didn't help my mood at all, in fact, I think they made it worse!!! There was no sympathy but mirth towards my plight. They even told me I, yes ME, had to pay $100 to get a new phone!! What!!??? The injustice of it all...

I then called my car insurance/home insurance and told them of my folly and if they would cover these items. "Yep, we sure will, less a $1,000 deductible and your rates increase for 5 years!!" Are you kidding me? For real?

The world is against me at this point and I want to crawl into the fetal position in a corner with my blankey and a bottle of whiskey and tell the world to kiss off.

I'm still fuming when my girlfriend Hez shows up. She gives me the stage for about 45 minutes as I cuss my entire story out. No words from her, she just lets me go on and on until I'm about blue in the face and out of swear words.

Hez is empathic and sympathetic and tries to calm me down. Her niceness only inflames me more and I'm beginning to not like being around myself.

I eventually ask her about her day as a ritual of pure politeness since I only wanted everyone to be as miserable as me and only wanted to hear things from her about how I was treated unfairly and life sucks and blah, blah, blah.

So Hez tells me how they held Homeless Court that day, (A court she initiated to bring the justice system into the homeless shelters and help them clear legal issues quicker and it being much less costly) Hez then talks about her judge and how he had a media release edited to make sure to include her name in it since she was the passion and vision for the program. She then talks about a homeless lady who was just ecstatic over having a bench warrant waived after she paid her lowered legal fees. The homeless lady talked about how she was able to get cataract surgery and can now 'see five blocks'. She said she was able to afford the surgery since she didn't have to pay the huge court costs.

Blah, blah, blah is what I hear from Hez because I am still seething about my plight of non cell phone and Ipad. I mean, someone could be trying to call or text me while she was telling me about her day. Somebody might have been adding new photos on their Facebook account and I wasn't notified, I might even have new Mperks for Meijer!!! Maybe someone wants to add me as a friend even. But nooooo, I didn't have my phone or Ipad to let me know. Cheated I was and felt an entitlement of SOMETHING for my folly.

Two days. It took two full days to look at myself and feel a bit embarrassed. A week earlier I celebrated 10 years in remission for Stage IIIb, Metastatic Melanoma. About 30% of my fellow warriors live that long. I'm still living to watch my kids grow up, meet and enjoy new people and experience life on a different level.

So there, I climbed on my soapbox and spewed forth what we all know but sometimes forget. Life is lived by looking ahead and around, not by looking at something in your hand so I bid adieu to my sad story and look forward to a better one.

However, as a caveat, I must muster up an old Bible proverb, "As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly." Today I pick up my new phone and Ipad... I promise to use with good discretion.

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