Feels like...

7
Last year this time I would be on the bike no worries. This year, yeah, a bit different. I have all of a sudden become averse to the three hour solo 24 degree 15mph wind training ride. Maybe I am smarter? Maybe I am more of a sissy? I guess I will do a little knobby tire MTB ride over to the local poaching locale and twirl for 90 minutes and slog home. As I write this, upstairs, I just heard K breathing hard on the trainer downstairs. I shudder to think what that effort was. She can suffer as much if not more than anyone I know. Yep, for numbers geeks she was rolling along at her race TT pace. Hay friggin' Zeus!
Enough on training.
I have the good fortune of having a pretty good job. One of the downsides of the job, downside if you actually give a shit about humanity, is that I spend a fair amount of time in community mental health centers. One of which is a facility for children. There are times when I leave that place and am so sad and disheartened. Thursday was one of those days. A major scientific premise, that has been proven, is that mental health disorders are hereditary. Your risk factors increase exponentially if your parents suffer from a mental health disorder. That being said, I was in this facility for about 30-40 minutes Thursday and 50% of the parents that brought their kids in, were definitely passing along some less than stellar genes. The other 50% were such derelicts that I felt so bad for the kids. Those poor kids do not stand a chance in their lifetime. What is your chance for a decent life if your point of reference is someone that has a hard time living their own life? It is moments like these that I hate doing what I do. Not because I am not of value, but because I see little kids that are destined for such an incredibly hard life. No matter what any doctor, nurse, therapist will do or say the unfortunate child is still going home to a parent/guardian that will only make matters worse.
Let me be clear that you do not need to be affluent to be a great parent. This has nothing to do with that. It has everything to do with bad parenting and the unfortunate fact that children of parents with a mental health disorder are forever stuck behind life's eight ball.
So in tough economic times and you think you have it bad, take a field trip to your local community mental health center or MHMR facility and sit in the waiting room for thirty minutes. It will give you a new perspective of the gifts that we have, and take for granted.