Sometimes Potato Chips are a Metaphor for Life..

There are times in my life where I look at the situation I am in and realize that all that is left to do is sit back and laugh. It is at these points that I realize that all other forms of expression (crying, screaming, punching pillows, etc.) are pointless. All I can do is laugh. Let me give you an example, using my life as of late.
There's a lot going on in my life right now.

My dad is really sick. We don't know what it is, the doctors still don't know what it is, he can't work at all, and seems to get worse by the day. It's hard to be 3 hours away. I hadn't really seen him since he got sick, so it was really eye-opening when I went home a few weeks ago and saw in just how bad of shape he was. Sometimes I cry, but all I can really do is pray.

Our football team is really good. So good, in fact, that they get to play a game on Saturday, November 30th. Two days after Thanksgiving. Football game at home = marching band plays. This means that I get a 3 day Thanksgiving break instead of a 5 day one. If this was just Thanksgiving dinner I was missing, I would be a bit bummed. No, I get to miss out on part of our big Kuklenz Family Christmas celebration. I will miss out on Saturday and Sunday of this party. All I can do is be thankful for the time I do get to spend with my family, and for how flexible my family is being, moving around activities, games, and fun stuff so I can enjoy as much of it as possible.

My brother has taken a bit of a backslide as of late. He's in the hospital again. Hopefully they can help him out and get everything straightened out so that he can be back on track again. It really stinks, because we weren't really expecting him to have to be in the hospital again, and we would like him to be home for Thanksgiving. All I can do is pray.

I got a job back in October. It was a "Cat Caller" position. Basically, I call Alumni/friends of the University, update their information, tell them about what's going on around campus, and ask them for donations. This was the most uncomfortable job for me. Ever. I don't like calling strangers and I really don't like asking people for money. Nevertheless, I worked hard, and slowly got a little bit more comfortable with the whole gig. Whenever we would get a donation, we'd get "Bearcat Dollars" (basically monopoly money). All of the money that we earned was usable at the auction we were having at the end of the semester (yesterday). Cut to yesterday's auction. I had just over $2,000 Beaercat Dollars to spend, so I thought I would be set. There was food, a few apparel items, and a bunch of gift cards. I had my eye on a Maurices gift card, some HyVee gift cards, and a few others! Getting even one of these, I thought, would make all of my hard work a little more worthwhile!

via WalMart

I'd have something I could really enjoy! As we were going through the auction, the first item I got my hands on was a party pack of 20 mini chip bags. I thought that was just the beginning. Little did I know that it was the end. I didn't get any other things that night. What I had been looking forward to for the whole time I was calling people ended up being a bag of potato chips. All I could do was laugh.

Sometimes, potato chips are a metaphor for life. That you want your life to be that gift card, that nice thing that you enjoy. Instead, sometimes it ends up being more like a bag of potato chips. That's how I feel right now, and all I can do is laugh and pray.