Blessed and Overwhelmed

Today I feel blessed and overwhelmed. I will start from last night, the beginning. I took yesterday afternoon off as it was sunny in Seattle and went with my family to the zoo. After supper I went out to a local establishment to study and get my work done that I didn't do in the afternoon. My good friend met me there and we were going to study together. We were only there for 15 minutes or so when my friend reached for his drink and it spilled all over the table and all in my computer. The computer shut down immediately and has not came alive since, 24 hours later.

As you could imagine this caused an awkward silence and deafening wonder between my friend and I. There was not much to talk about after this, we both were thinking about the disaster we just witnessed, not the spilling of micro brew, but the computer drowning. Anyway, the time came for us to talk about the worst possible situation. What if we needed to replace the computer? My friend did the noble thing and said that he would pay for it, just as if I had spilled the drink on his computer I would pay for it. It is amazing how quickly beauty can turn into pain

So, this morning I took Justice (computer) into the apple store and got the estimate. It was going to cost $1350 to get her back to normal. I was sick by it, but what could I do. I was not sick because my computer was broke, or because a drink was spilled, but I was sick because someone had to sacrifice and lose out as a result. Here is where my #1 strength empathy comes in. After I dropped off the computer Amy and I went to a store on the way out of the mall to buy some presents for family. I told her that the present she picked out would go great in my mom and dads house. We both looked at each other and I just stood there and started to cry. My parents have been separated for four years now. I couldn't believe my words. Amy just looked at me and said "I never realized how emotional you are Phil."

So now I am done another day. I still feel horrible for what happened with my friend and the computer, but it is feeling bad for him, not for me. I am grateful to you my friend for being cool with this. Thank you for making it easy on both of us and for being a responsible, and true bro. In light of these last 24 hours I have felt, through my small, minuscule loss a heart for those in San Diego who have lost homes, memories, family and more as a result of the fire. I pray God give them comfort.

Thanks for listening.

Phil