On the menu tonight...

Humble pie, with a side of crow.

Only problem is, it should be in front of someone else.

There are many things in this world that I dislike doing. One of them is getting scolded for other peoples mistakes. Worse still, is having to eat a big ol' slice of that other person's humble pie. Especially if they're sitting across the table, grinning at you. That's pretty much been the theme of this week.

This month really.

For both of us.

Seems that everywhere Goose and I turn, someone has screwed something up, something that can't be proven, and blamed us.

Now, don't get me wrong, we screw up all the time...at least I know I do. There's no shame in making mistakes, even big ones. So why on earth do people have such a hard time with it, and in turn, put so much energy into blaming other people? I just don't get it.

It's not that I usually take these things lying down. I don't. I'm a real pain in the ass sometimes, and will continue to press the issue until it's been resolved CORRECTLY. With the correct people taking responsibility.

Sometimes though, that's not an option.

Do you remember that issue of The Wonder Years where Mr. Arnold gets the new boss who's an a-hole? The one who is totally unreasonable and yelling at him for no reason and Mr. Arnold just keeps replying 'Whatever you say, Ken'? Well Kevin doesn't get it. Thinks his dad is an idiot for putting up with all of it, then gets a job as a caddy and realizes sometimes you've just got to put up with unreasonable people, accept defeat in battles you weren't even fighting in, and admit fault for things you had nothing to do with.

Today we were both Kevin. It hit us like a 15,000lb sack of bricks, and neither of us liked it very much. There's this really weird point in life, where you really really really get all that crap about choosing your battles...and what exactly Dad means when he says 'it's just business'. Its unsettling. Strangely soul crushing. And I think the revelation itself may have aged me 15 or 20 years.

I miss the days, really miss them, when I had the luxury of being able to tell my boss/professor/neighbor/whoever to f-off. When right was right and wrong was wrong and I was in a position where I didn't have to accept anything in between. Where walking away from anything and everything was still 'totally reasonable', at least in my mind.

Being a grown-up, it sucks. Life is really all in-betweens. It's all politicking, networking, ladder climbing. It's meeting about nothing, endless memos and golf on Sundays. It's one big freaking campaign commercial and no one realizes or cares that one who throws mud inevitably gets hit with it too. Worse yet, no matter how much I don't want to play, real world economics dictate, at least for today, that we - Goose and I - bow to the system.

I don't know Dear Friend, I don't know. Seems that this past year has been particularly unkind to you and I . . . possibly to the world at large. . .
As T-Day approaches, and I face my first batch of holidays in recent memory without you and QD, I can't help but think that maybe, just maybe, we're not out of the woods quite yet.