Hell, I have no problem just pushing buttons.

Just because things could be worse doesn't mean things aren't pretty shitty right now.

We were commiserating. She told me the first time she went to therapy. Her mother told her "Sometimes that you just need to talk to someone;" she avoided it at first.

"I was in a relationship were the guy was very mean to me and I was telling all this to the therapist and she said "You've had it rough," and that just brought a lot of relief to me because usually everyone says "Things could be worse" but to hear her say that things were rough was a comfort because at least I knew I wasn't crazy to be worried about it."

This is something I need to remember.

...

The chairs at the bar were all full so I sat at the table behind my buddy who sat at the bar. Danielle handed me a beer past my buddy. Later when two more friends showed up she brought the beers over to the table.

"One of these is for you," I said as I showed two scratch tickets. I was trying to get her to pick the one she wanted but she mentioned her luck as of late and said that I should make the choice.

I tossed one on the bar. She came back to my table to scratch it.

"If I win a million we're both out of here. If I win five hundred thousand then it's just me."

She didn't win, neither did I.

"If I had hit for a million, I would have bought Dick a watch that doesn't go off at ten minutes to nine every day," I said when she returned to behind the bar.

"Seriously, do you know how to fix it? I would but I've lost the instructions."

"Take it off." I didn't know for certain of how to fix it but basically setting digital watches are all about the same.

The labels for the buttons were mostly worn off so I just pushed a button and 8:50 was displayed. I then pushed another button and the tiny little "alarm" indication disappeared. I handed the watch back to him without a word.

"Is it fixed?"

I just nodded.

At ten minutes to nine the next morning I just smiled at the silence.