hat trick, received and accomplished

Dear Tony,
Glad to receive your last letter! It was waiting for me when I returned from Tallahassee on Sunday. I had told the bfe on the trip that if a letter from you was in the mail, that would make a "hat trick" for me. It's a hockey term, meaning 3 goals scored successively by a single player.
Say what? What does that have to do with you?
Well, I look at it this way. I have three brothers. A hat trick requires there to be 3 things concerning a single person. Here's how this worked on Sunday. While on the backrooads of Georgia and heading home, I received a phone call from Ronnie. That was one! Then, while we were in Blackshear having dinner, I received a phone call from Smitty. That was two! That's when I told the bfe about hat tricks and that I hoped a letter from you would be waiting for me.
Then, when I arrived home, I saw I had received a letter from you! 3 contacts from 3 brothers, to me! Hat trick!
Well, of sorts. Right? maybe you have to hold your mouth just right to be able to tell.
:) ☺ (:
The trip, obviously, went well. We stayed at Penny and Steve's house and we all had lots of conversation and good times together. Aunt Linda came over on Sunday, around 11 AM, and we had sandwiches and talked a bit more. I don't think Aunt Linda really understands my friendship with the bfe, but Penny does. Steve and the bfe talked physics and that made both of them happy. And that made mea and Penny happy!
Their sons, Jacob and Alex, are 14 and 11 now. Aunt Linda was there to also help tutor Alex before his math test this week.
Okay, it's getting pretty late, kid, so I think I'm going to bed now.
Sweet dreams to you!
(That happens to be one of my favorite things that the bfe says.)
with my love!

***** ***** *****

So, that letter completes the third "goal" for me today, making my hat trick of appreciation complete.
The first goal was accomplished this afternoon, for my middle brother. His phone will now be active for sending and receiving phone calls for the next thirty days.
The second goal wasn't accomplished until late this evening. That was for the benefit of my oldest little brother, Smitty. For him, I filed his sales tax report for August, after spending three hours getting the data for it and reconciling the numbers yesterday.
Then, as I said, I wrote to my youngest brother, sending him love and much talk of hat tricks.
As Penny once said to Sheldon on that physics show I enjoy so very much, "Oh my God, you're about to jibber-jabber about jibber-jabber."
And I did.
(smile)

Pretty cool that I accomplished my hat trick for my brothers in the same order in which I had received the communications from them on Sunday.
Pretty cool.

hat trick, redux

Yesterday, I had dinner with the bfe. Yeah, once upon a time that seemed to be a fairly regular thing, but not these days. Our schedules have gone awry, but maybe that will change soon.
Tonight, I had dinner from him - and that was good. It had been a long day and I was relieved to not have to think about what was to be my dinner. The Smoked Mozzarella Chicken was at least as good, if not better, than it had been the night before. No, not leftovers - this was a full portion, part of their current promotion, "Buy One, Take One". So, he and I were able to enjoy a meal there, complete with soup and breadsticks, then each have a free meal to eat another night. Minus the soup and breadsticks. And minus each other's company.
The dinner had been his idea and his treat.
A very nice surprise. To be honest, I had thought we might be splitting the check. We once took turns picking up the tab, as friends do, but I had certainly lost track of whose "turn" it might be. Perhaps it was his turn? Still, it was a nice treat to not have to pay and to have another night's free dinner.
So, as I was dining tonight, I was inspired to do something nice for others.
And I realized that I have been doing so for my three brothers.
Another hat trick.
Unlike that previous occasion, when I had accomplished the feat in a single day, this has been spread out over slightly more than a week. Also, the trio of deeds will not be completed until Sunday, so, technically, I should have to wait until then to write about it. Right?
Probably. But I choose to do so now. I have time now.
As it is, I have truly only completed one task at this writing. Last Thursday, for my eldest brother, I worked for him for four hours. I had only intended to be there at his office for an hour or so, to prepare his monthly sales tax and his federal and state quarterly taxes. Well, that turned out to be a greater task than either of us had planned. So, after close to two hours had passed, he went off to another meeting and I stayed to continue wrestling with numbers.
By the time I had completed my initial goals, as well as updated his inventory and written some needed invoices, I thought I would catch up on some data entry for his subcontractors. You know, just do a little good deed, get that caught up, too.
Instead, I found he had not yet entered any of that information. For the entire year. And it's now the tenth month. Jeez.
Well, in for a penny, in for a pound, as they say. I slogged away at the task given myself until all of the checks written to labor subcontractors had been entered into the program. Done! Four hours of my time spent to better his work load and keep his business more organized. Definitely a good deed.
Yesterday afternoon, I spoke to my middle brother. I have bought a new phone for him for three months running. For three months in a row, he has lost his phone. I had told him the last time that he needed to keep better track of his phone, as I am only working part-time right now and cannot afford to spend $100 on a new phone (including month's service) evry month. After all, that sum represents almost half of a week's pay for me.
So, as I was saying, I spoke to him yesterday afternoon. One of his friends had called me, then put my brother on the phone. I was determined not to relent and pay for yet another phone for him...but, tomorrow morning at ten AM, that is what I will do.
After all, he needs to be able to keep in touch with family and that will not happen without a phone. He needs to be able to keep in touch with former employers, so they will know he is available for work. He needs to be able to have a lifeline.
I am the one who decreed it to be so, ever since he had a TIA during the summer of 2010. Thank God he was with his girlfriend, so she was able to call for an ambulance. Of course, she was also part of the problem, as they were both smoking crack at the time. Still, she did call for help, so I give her props for that.
That transpired during a period when he was not paying for a phone. Other materials demanded his money, other fun trips away from the reality of the world. If she had not been with him, he most likely would have died. he would have had this ticking time bomb that no one was aware of and he would have had no means of calling for help.
That was a reality check for him, and also for me. I found I would rather pay for him to have phone service than to risk losing him from my world. So, ever since then, I have made sure he had a phone.
Lately, though, he has been losing phones and aggravating me greatly.
Still, when I neet him tomorrow for this new phone and service, I will probably take him to breakfast, too. I think I can definitely plan on that. And I will take the time to enter his contacts into his phone, so they will be ready for him to use right away.
I am also going to require him to check in with me and his daughter every week, just so we can hear his voice and know he is alive. And so he can hear our voices and know that we care. That way, the phone will be a benefit for all of us, but mostly for him.
As for my youngest brother, I will see him on Sunday. This will be the first time this year that he has been allowed visitation. The prison he is housed in has been on lockdown ever since the beginning of this year. Three inmates deaths in as many weeks, an ineffective and dirty warden, about two hundred (!) cells with nonfunctioning locks, dangerous men able to come and go at will. Very scary stuff.
I have tried to do my best to send him comfort and love this year. Still, nothing beats seeing someone you love in the flesh, you know? To be able to give them a hug and receive one in turn...nothing beats that for comfort. So, I will take the six-hour trip to see him. I will visit with him for the four or five hours we will be given: sharing hugs, eating snack-machine lunches, catching up on sights and sounds to store in memory until the next "live and in person" event. Then I will drive the six hours back home, happier than before.
Hat trick, done.

hat trick

What a curious phrase, but I find it was the first one that leapt to mind last Wednesday. Although the sport of hockey is the one I associated with the term, it apparently is also used in quite a few other sports, including marbles. The term, dating back to 1879, was originally associated with cricket, a game I've never witnessed and cannot fathom. Hockey, on the other hand, is a game I enjoy watching, no doubt ever since Paul Newman brought it onto my radar with Slap Shot in 1977. Raunchy, action-packed, and hilarious - and me, newly in the Navy, away from home and discovering THE WORLD! Several years later, while stationed in San Diego, I attended my first game in Los Angeles, with a Canuck as my guide to the finer points. I've even cheered the South Carolina Stingrays, live and in person in Charleston, several times now and try to be at the Savannah Civic Center for the college games in January. Good times! But I digress.
My "hat trick" has naught to do with sports of any kind. Rather, it's more on the order of performing an act of love for each of my three brothers. I had not intended to try to perform three kindnesses for my three brothers. The cosmos just arranged for the scenes to be set and for me to recognize the magnificent opportunities afforded me. Incredible and great serendipity.
For my eldest little brother, I agreed to represent his presence at the home of our long-lost cousin in Augusta. Not in so many words did I agree to this act. When he asked what I was taking, I told him of the cake and chocolate pecans. He had been smoking turkeys all day for various friends and neighbors and he rather spontaneously made an offer of half of a very large bird. And so I accepted and transported his gift of cherry-wood-smoked turkey, even completing the cooking of it and making sure it arrived warm and fragrant.
My middle little brother was there at the smoker, too, having been dropped off by his boss to quaff a few beers and serve as a taster with the other fellows from the old neighborhood. When I went to leave, he had no ride, so I offered to take him to his place, and along the way we talked about SAD and how it affects our family. I even treated him to dinner with me and we were graced with a very sweet waitress at IHOP that evening.
As I dropped him off at his apartment, I was thinking about how great the evening had been and I noticed it wasn't yet 7:30pm. Quick as a shot, it occurred to me that I had long postponed a promise made to my youngest little brother. I had gone to visit him for his birthday and he had said that ten dollars a week would mean a lot to him. I had relayed the message to family members and my stepmom had given me the money for five weeks for his account. Several weeks had passed and I had not yet made the deposit. (Head hangs down.) So, down Chatham Parkway I went, conscious now of my need to fulfill this promise to him, my need to do a kindness for each of my brothers, my need to complete this cycle on this night. Done!
I felt that my steps had been guided that night. Thank you to my angels for helping me SHOW love to those I love. 

Especially at the time of Thanksgiving.