Cleveland.....Rocks?

This past weekend I drove up to Cleveland to see the Cavs play the OKC Thunder.  Having never been to Cleveland I was looking forward to the trip, if for nothing else than to check it off my life list (although I'm not really sure it was ever on there).  Upon arriving it looked, well, kind of like I thought it would. In all fairness I'm sure it's much prettier in the summer or at least when it's not 20 degrees outside.  We went to a local bar before the game, the Winking Lizard - no way I could pass on a name like that - and had a few beers.  We had excellent seats and it was cool to see LeBron, Durant, and Westbrook out there playing. Unfortunately OKC lost, but in a sea of yellow it was nice to stand out in blue.

On the way back we got caught up in a snow storm and what should have been a 2 hour trip turned into a 3 1/2 hour one.  Nothing sobers you up like not being able to see the lanes on the road and having snow coming at the windshield in such a mesmerizing pattern you can clearly see how people run off the road (please note: I was not driving).

After I got home, tired and irritated, I called a friend of mine, he asked me what was wrong.  I really had no answer other than that I was exhausted and cold....so...flipping...cold. He didn't really seem that impressed nor empathetic.  I could tell the words "suck it up" were on the tip of his tongue.  The words "YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND. YOU'RE IN A WAY BETTER PLACE. A PLACE WHERE THERE'S SUN" were on the tip of mine.  But then it hit me - that's not the point of this exercise. In that moment I was just frustrated because I wasn't in the place I wanted to be in.  But really, someday I'll look back at the time I was in a snowstorm from Cleveland, the time I was with friends and someone suggested we stop at Dairy Queen to get blizzards just to say we ate a blizzard in a blizzard, and I'll smile.

It's easy to compare - jobs, life, locations, anything and everything.  I've lived numerous places and traveled all over and if you're unhappy, well, that shit follows you everywhere.  Sun or not, everyone has their stuff and the point of the exercise is internal......

.....so in the unspoken words of my friend, I'm going to go "suck it up" and drink my hot chocolate....