From personal experience with my family, the Sanchez brothers and other friends, I have come to appreciate the great value of being efficient. In the dictionary Efficient is described thus: Efficient  (adj.) Performing or functioning in the best possible manner with the least waste of time and effort. With this definition in mind, it would seem like a nice thing to aim for.

At work, I’m a caregiver to a man who has Parkinson’s disease, being efficient makes my job a lot easier. It makes it easier on my client, also. Sometimes with Parkinson’s, the person has rigidity and a freezing effect. This can occur quite suddenly. With calm, efficient movements you can get the person settled, safe and comfortable. Efficiency in getting him in and out of the car, in and out of bed, etc. makes both of our lives easier.

At home, I mentor the 4 Sanchez brothers. On any given day, I may help all four of the brothers, in one form or another. Take today for example: Mannie stayed over last night. Jesus “showed up” at about 8 AM.  He wanted to visit his dad in Escondido (about 30 miles from home).  I had other plans but in the “larger picture,” this is an important event.  Jesus was born in Escondido and he hasn’t seen his dad for many years.  I made them breakfast and we left. We dropped Mannie at the rail station then continued on. The boys dad, Art, is taking care of Cesar ( For context, see previous blogs, “All Life is Sacred”, Other People’s Lives”, “My Eventful Day” & “On Being Thankful”).

The plan for today is to drop Jesus off and take Cesar back with me home. I think it’s important that Jesus have one on one time with his dad. I took Cesar home with me. At 3 PM, I had a job driving a client. At 4 PM, I meet Mannie. He has reservations for 3 nights at the local youth hostel. I bought him this so he could have a flavor of meeting people from different countries. He is adventuresome like that and I try to encourage it. At 7 PM, I take Cesar and exchange for Jesus. Jesus and I drive home. I make him dinner then drive him home. It was a total of 135 miles and over 3 hours of driving time. Would I trade it for anything, no I wouldn’t.  It’s such a great feeling to know that I am making a difference in their lives. I feel very blessed! Thanks to Being Efficient all of this was able to happen in a single day.

I think there are probably a lot of stories like mine out there. And I think that we can all relate to the fact that if we weren’t efficient at what we do, we wouldn’t get the things done that we do. So go ahead and congratulate yourselves On Being Efficient, you deserve it!

Wishing You Peace and Happiness, always

** A Sad Update.**

It's about 24 hours after I posted the above. Jesus was picked up and detained again for violating his probation. I'm happy for him that he got to spend about 10 hours with his dad yesterday. I pray that Jesus may find peace and happiness in his life. It would be sad to see him get used to this kind of lifestyle, I also realize that there is only so much I can do. I visualize peaceful energy directed at you for all times, my friend!