Zach Vineyard

I’m taking a break from my dull existence of frozen entree’s, half-watched law and order episodes, and writing scripts for  Saved by the Bell so that the series will never end. In so doing I have  decided to explore the realm of stories from my own non-offensive existence.

My current employment is that of helping young kids through a difficult part of life by taking them out on small adventures once a week.

It’s a great job that I don’t wish on anyone.

—-

After one of those long days of adventuring, one of the guys was noticeably feeling down. The problem is that I’m not a therapist, I have no training in this area. I’m just the guy that pays for food and activities, and yelps at them with his dads voice if they get out of line, and I am fine with that. I knew he was feeling down because he came in last at bowling, and was sinking back into himself as a kind of defense mechanism. So, with a groan, I tried to interact with him…

Hey bud, you feeling OK…?

No response…

Your free ice cream is melting chief, you doing alright?

No response…

Look amigo, I know your feeling down about the game, usually the bumpers are our friends?

No response…

Well Champ, let me tell you a little something, there is always going to be another mountain, your always gonna wanna make it move. It’s always going to be an uphill battle, but sometimes your gonna have to lose. It’s not about how fast you get there, it’s not about what’s on the other side…its the climb.

The kid lifted his head thinking about what I had just said

Then one of the kids in the back with chocolate ice-cream all over his mouth said with a slight lisp and great discovery, “That’s a Hannah Montana song?”

“Is it?”, I said

With that all the kids broke into laughter and slowly the one kid picked up his ice-cream.

Some people gleam gems of wisdom from war stories, or philosophers.

I’m stuck listening to top 40 songs.