Stay warm.

It got cold tonight. Frigid. I zipped my jacket up to my wimpy chin and my wimpy neck still got blasted by arctic wind on my last delivery.

I had to open a chain-link gate. Those get cold. They are made out of the same stuff that Anna was that one time after Elsa got all emotional.

I tried to touch the latch as little as possible. It clanged back against the post as I stepped through and up a few concrete steps. The front door was surrounded by cold, cute knick-knacks.

I knocked. A small yippy dog went wild and I saw the customer get out of the chair. She answered the door in a bright pink robe. The dog was a Yorkie with a plaid sweater on.  He must have been the attack version or something. The owner didn’t open the door more than an inch. It was just enough to fit a hand out with her money. The dog’s tiny head was kept inside.

As I handed her the receipt, Yorkie yapped.

“He obviously wants the receipt, not the pizza,” I said. The customer laughed.

“No change,” she said. I thanked her and told her to stay warm.

It’s so easy to get cold nowadays. It’s easy to roll over and give up. I’m in that rut in some ways. My diet and exercise. My self-image. My ability to wake up early. My lack of care about what kind of socks I wear sometimes and whether they match my pants.

The struggle is real. For serious. Athletic socks are easy. When I wake up, it’s dark.

But today and yesterday warmed me up. And not just because my full-time job was Monday stressful.

First, I told the story about a kind, good spirited, uninsured coworker being attacked by a family member. Then you people donated $115 in the first day and a half to help him out. That warms my heart. It should warm yours! And the donations aren’t done till Sunday night. Several people have said they still want to help.

I also heard that a fellow Dave Ramsey disciple – Domi Golden - just finished a promising interview for a second job. If you haven’t read her guest entry about working her way out of divorce and poor money management, you should. Hearing that news made me feel very happy for her.

Also, I found the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University CDs in my car and started listening to them again. I listened to Dumping Debt (disc 4). I listened to the history of consumer debt. Then I listened to how his consumer debt went history. And how mine can, too. It made me think of all the debt we’ve destroyed and how good it feels to not worry. That lit up my spirit pretty good.

It’s a cold, long road out of bad behavior. Any bad behavior. But especially when it comes to money. It’s a lonesome one, too. I am grateful to work with – and deliver pizza to – such amazing people. These are people that keep me safe from their plaid-bound Yorkshire attack hounds. Or people like Monk that I can talk with about RTS games, J-rock and Anime or Manga. Or Zacatecas, Cap’n, Leff-tenant, the Traitor, and so many other good people.

And that’s just my night job. 

It makes the long haul of getting out of debt just a little easier to stomach.

Pick your crowd. I’ve been on cold roads of bad decisions and poor habits. I much prefer to stay warm.

ROE INTENSE