When life throws you a curve ball do you swerve to catch it or swerve to dodge it? The easy way out is to dodge it. If you go in for the catch, it might hit you in the face. But, if you have the right tools and the right team behind you, the catch is always going to be worth the risk. I applaud those that go in for the catch. They may get hit in the face but will go for it again and again and when the timing is right the ball lands right in their hands.
I love the saying; "Smile at a stranger because you never know what they are going through too." ( Or something to that effect) There is always something going on in every person's life whether it is directly affecting them or indirectly. Curve balls are being thrown every second, sometimes we are the catchers and sometimes we are the pitchers. It's hard to believe but when we make a bad decision (pitching) in our lives it does affect other people. And when we see that it really has affected other people, ignoring it isn't an option anymore. What baffles me is that some people keep ignoring and ignoring until the problem has gone beyond repair, and yet they still can't see that they just might have been the initial pitcher.
Bad things happen to good people and good people do bad things. That's just an unfortunate fact in our life journey. It's hard, in the heat of the moment, to think about what our actions would do to others and cause the ripple effect. The majority of the time we have the common sense to think of others and sometimes we can be just plain selfish. I'll just do it and deal with it later. But when is later too late?
Eventually our bad decisions or curve balls do catch up with us. Do we accept responsibility for our actions or do we ignore it and hope it goes away? Most of the time when we ignore things the curve ball has been caught and thrown back in our face. Is this when we finally take responsibility for our actions or do we start to deny and blame, causing more pitching on our part.
It seems as though every decision we make big or small, good or bad does, in the long run, affect others. As hard as that is to deal with it's what we are faced with. There are a lot of people that can see the difference and unfortunately a lot of people that simply cannot.
At times it may seem that the world is stacked against you. But in reality it is NOT. You are in control of your actions, your decisions and your role in this world. God didn't make you steal that lipstick, or cheat on your spouse or abuse your child. You chose that action. Now deal with it. Accept it and think of the person that your bad decision has hurt. Did they deserve to be in the path of your destruction?
Stop denying and start dealing. Stop throwing and start catching. Easier said than done, and wishful thinking on all counts. But I've always been a dreamer that one day we will all learn how to just play nice, just like our mothers have always wanted us too.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Saturday, October 2, 2010
The Day The Women Went
I took a very long break from the blog, not to worry I still have lots to say, just haven't taken the time to say it! This summer was busy, short and long all at the same time. Weddings, holidays and a lot of hanging out by our friend's pool! Now we are back in the swing of things, school, dance, Girl Guides, and soon to be ball hockey. My head space is much calmer when we have routine and I'm happy to be back at the grind so to speak.
Last weekend there was a golf tournament here in town put on by The Cougars Women's Hockey Team. I have heard a lot of things about this tournament since we moved here, and this was the first time I had participated. I'll admit some of the stories I had heard made me a little nervous about attending this function. I vowed that I wasn't going to partake in too many "beverages" so not to be the talk of the town! Well that vow was thrown out the window by the second hole! And after the third hole some events of our "golfing" is a bit of a blur.
The truth of the matter is that all the women at this tournament were there for a good time, a break from the roles we all have being wives and mothers, leaders, employees, business owners etc. We were there to just be ourselves. As a friend of mine put it, taking off the all the hats that she wore and putting on hers!
"That's me, unedited!", she said. And that is how we all felt.
How often can we just be crazy and let loose?
Everything went out the window as soon as we drove the first ball off the tee! There was "golf cart surfing", "golf cart derby" and "golf cart car pooling"! Who knew you could put four, six or nine people on one cart! The Marshal certainly had his work cut out for him! He told our team on several occasions that the carts are only for two people at a time. He explained that the year prior there was some damage to the carts because of too many occupants. So I sat down beside this elderly gentleman and asked,
"Do I look like I'm going to break this cart, Sir?"
Because he was an older man he knew the exact answer, and that of course was, "No miss, you are very beautiful. You just can't sit on the back of the cart, that is what the seats are for."
I responded with, "Well how are we going to pick up our balls without stopping and getting off then?"
He knew there was no response to that. He tipped his hat and drove off down the fairway shaking his head. I'm sure he was having a very long day, and is certainly glad that it's over for another year. We, on the other hand, are already getting our teams together recruiting more members and counting down the days until next September!
At first I was worried about what kind of women were going to be at this tournament, and worried what they would think of me, and at the end of the day I was so happy to have been invited and to have been a part of it. I'm sure there are still some that are shaking their heads as to what they actually witnessed, but it was a really good time! We were all there for one purpose and that purpose was to be "free". Free from our "hats". Free from the "rules". And to just let out that crazy inner teenager that we all have! Some expressed themselves with costumes and I must say that the "Milfshakes" were my absolute favourite!
So I thank all the women of Tofield and surrounding areas, The Cougars hockey team and my friends for an amazing day! Letting loose and having fun was just what I needed. The wives and mothers of Tofield were let out for a day and it was, in a word... epic.
The truth of the matter is that all the women at this tournament were there for a good time, a break from the roles we all have being wives and mothers, leaders, employees, business owners etc. We were there to just be ourselves. As a friend of mine put it, taking off the all the hats that she wore and putting on hers!
"That's me, unedited!", she said. And that is how we all felt.
How often can we just be crazy and let loose?
Everything went out the window as soon as we drove the first ball off the tee! There was "golf cart surfing", "golf cart derby" and "golf cart car pooling"! Who knew you could put four, six or nine people on one cart! The Marshal certainly had his work cut out for him! He told our team on several occasions that the carts are only for two people at a time. He explained that the year prior there was some damage to the carts because of too many occupants. So I sat down beside this elderly gentleman and asked,
"Do I look like I'm going to break this cart, Sir?"
Because he was an older man he knew the exact answer, and that of course was, "No miss, you are very beautiful. You just can't sit on the back of the cart, that is what the seats are for."
He knew there was no response to that. He tipped his hat and drove off down the fairway shaking his head. I'm sure he was having a very long day, and is certainly glad that it's over for another year. We, on the other hand, are already getting our teams together recruiting more members and counting down the days until next September!
At first I was worried about what kind of women were going to be at this tournament, and worried what they would think of me, and at the end of the day I was so happy to have been invited and to have been a part of it. I'm sure there are still some that are shaking their heads as to what they actually witnessed, but it was a really good time! We were all there for one purpose and that purpose was to be "free". Free from our "hats". Free from the "rules". And to just let out that crazy inner teenager that we all have! Some expressed themselves with costumes and I must say that the "Milfshakes" were my absolute favourite!
Monday, August 9, 2010
Let's See You Get Out of THAT!
Kota, our "puppy", showed us just how smart he really is. While Corey was on holidays he made Kota a dog run, and he did a pretty good job. Kota was very happy to finally be somewhat free and not tied to our apple tree, but tonight he figured out how to escape.
I was bathing the girls when Tasha our other dog started barking like crazy at the front door. Corey was playing Xbox in the living room yelling at Tasha to stop barking. When she didn't listen he got up to see what the commotion was, and when he sees Kota at the front door he asks me, "How did Kota get out?"
"Um, I don't know," I answer as I'm elbow deep in shampoo and bubbles calmly trying to wash Elise's hair as she is screaming in my ear that she "NO WANT TO HAVE BATH!"
He goes outside to assess the situation, puts Kota back in and right in front of Corey Kota escapes again, under the chain link fence, he pushed himself to freedom. Corey grabs some wire to put across the bottom of the entire length of the fence. It took him about a half hour to do this. Once he finished he looks at Kota and says, "There! Let's see you get out of that! HA!"
Corey comes back inside just about to sit down and start playing again, when Kota makes another appearance in the backyard OUT of his run.
"Uh, Honey! Kota's out!"
"What? How the......?"
Out he goes again, more assessing, some head scratching, some thinking. I made the suggestion to grab the pegs from the trailer that we use to hold the awning in place, to hook the fence down. He agrees that that just might work. So he finds them and fastens them in. We lure Kota back into the run.
"NOW, let's see you get out of that!"
Kota sits and waits for us to go back in, I walk to the window and boom, out he goes AGAIN!
"Uh, Honey! He got out again!"
"Geez...(bleep, bleep, bleep) dog!"
Now Corey grabs a board and two big bricks from our fire pit. Puts it in place with meaning, and with a kick at the ground and a point of his finger he says, "THERE, now let's see you get out of THAT! HUMPH!" and off he walks into the house.
I sit on the deck and watch. Kota moves the brick out of way with one flick of his paw, manoeuvres his head over the board and under the fence. Now this took a little more doing on his part but he got out no problem.
"HONEY! He's getting oooouuuuutttt!" No answer.
"COREY! He's out now!"
"NO he's not, WHATEVER!" he answers as he thinks I'm joking, well hopes that I'm joking.
"YES! YES he is!"
Jokes over, now he's mad, not finding the humour in it as I still do! It's hard to keep my facial expressions under wraps and laughing at that moment would not have been a good idea, so I chose to go inside, grinning from ear to ear. He gets him back in, moves the brick to the outside of the run, this time doesn't say a word to Kota and walks back into the house. Muttering some sweet nothings, I'm sure, under his breath.
Finally Kota is secure in the run, but is in the process of moving his body across the fence to find out if he can get out somewhere else, so we are crossing our fingers that he won't figure out that the rest of the fence is just as flexible. It's only a matter of time though.
And so Kota I take back all the times I called you a dumb dog, cause clearly you are pretty smart!
I was bathing the girls when Tasha our other dog started barking like crazy at the front door. Corey was playing Xbox in the living room yelling at Tasha to stop barking. When she didn't listen he got up to see what the commotion was, and when he sees Kota at the front door he asks me, "How did Kota get out?"
"Um, I don't know," I answer as I'm elbow deep in shampoo and bubbles calmly trying to wash Elise's hair as she is screaming in my ear that she "NO WANT TO HAVE BATH!"
He goes outside to assess the situation, puts Kota back in and right in front of Corey Kota escapes again, under the chain link fence, he pushed himself to freedom. Corey grabs some wire to put across the bottom of the entire length of the fence. It took him about a half hour to do this. Once he finished he looks at Kota and says, "There! Let's see you get out of that! HA!"
Corey comes back inside just about to sit down and start playing again, when Kota makes another appearance in the backyard OUT of his run.
"Uh, Honey! Kota's out!"
"What? How the......?"
Out he goes again, more assessing, some head scratching, some thinking. I made the suggestion to grab the pegs from the trailer that we use to hold the awning in place, to hook the fence down. He agrees that that just might work. So he finds them and fastens them in. We lure Kota back into the run.
"NOW, let's see you get out of that!"
Kota sits and waits for us to go back in, I walk to the window and boom, out he goes AGAIN!
"Uh, Honey! He got out again!"
"Geez...(bleep, bleep, bleep) dog!"
Now Corey grabs a board and two big bricks from our fire pit. Puts it in place with meaning, and with a kick at the ground and a point of his finger he says, "THERE, now let's see you get out of THAT! HUMPH!" and off he walks into the house.
I sit on the deck and watch. Kota moves the brick out of way with one flick of his paw, manoeuvres his head over the board and under the fence. Now this took a little more doing on his part but he got out no problem.
"HONEY! He's getting oooouuuuutttt!" No answer.
"COREY! He's out now!"
"NO he's not, WHATEVER!" he answers as he thinks I'm joking, well hopes that I'm joking.
"YES! YES he is!"
Jokes over, now he's mad, not finding the humour in it as I still do! It's hard to keep my facial expressions under wraps and laughing at that moment would not have been a good idea, so I chose to go inside, grinning from ear to ear. He gets him back in, moves the brick to the outside of the run, this time doesn't say a word to Kota and walks back into the house. Muttering some sweet nothings, I'm sure, under his breath.
Finally Kota is secure in the run, but is in the process of moving his body across the fence to find out if he can get out somewhere else, so we are crossing our fingers that he won't figure out that the rest of the fence is just as flexible. It's only a matter of time though.
And so Kota I take back all the times I called you a dumb dog, cause clearly you are pretty smart!
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Big City Driving
I clearly have been moulded into the small town way of life, laid back, voluntarily waving at people I don't know, no traffic to fight and no road rage to deal with. Today I had to drive through the city to take Emma to her annual check-up in St. Albert. And every year I feel more and more like small town folk. I've never liked big crowds or lots of traffic but it seems as though the city is not getting any smaller and drivers are not getting any nicer. Despite all the campaigns out there for safe driving it seems they are making an opposite reaction in the big city.
Today I learned that keeping a cars length between me and the car in front of me is only an invitation to others to cut in front of me, and not keeping a safe distance. I also learned that stopping abruptly trying to avoid being t-boned by a cab driver, will cause the cab driver to also stop abruptly but proceed to make obscene gestures and yell at you because you avoided an accident and possibly death that he would have caused. He also taught my 6 year old some words that caused her to ask what they mean, and honestly I really couldn't give her the proper definition other than...(never mind, it's a bad word do not repeat it!).
I am not a slow highway driver, I do speed but not enough to warrant a ticket, but in the city I tend to stick to the limits because of all the cameras and radar traps, I just don't want to pay the fines. And this especially goes for construction zones! But the words SPEED FINES DOUBLE mean nothing to city drivers, and quite frankly if you adhere to the limits be prepared for major road rage. I would like to thank the city driver for schooling me today in the construction zone. I sure learned my lesson when you came up on my rear end so fast and then swerved around to cut me off and slam on your brakes. That was just awesome, my kids won't have seat belt burn over that one at all. I'm sorry I didn't bet the memo that 95 was the new speed limit for construction zones. The workers must be so relieved that we can go faster so that they will be splattered all over the road instead of just in one spot.
Granted I am a small town person and have been for 4 years now. We don't have to fight traffic and we don't even have to wait for a traffic light! The only things we wait for are trains, crosswalks and the seniors in town when they make a right or a left turn. At first this used to bother me, and now I welcome it. But to brush up on my city driving maybe I'll practice some of the gestures in town and see what kind of reaction I'll get! Or I'll just take some anti-anxiety medication for each drive into the city.
Today I learned that keeping a cars length between me and the car in front of me is only an invitation to others to cut in front of me, and not keeping a safe distance. I also learned that stopping abruptly trying to avoid being t-boned by a cab driver, will cause the cab driver to also stop abruptly but proceed to make obscene gestures and yell at you because you avoided an accident and possibly death that he would have caused. He also taught my 6 year old some words that caused her to ask what they mean, and honestly I really couldn't give her the proper definition other than...(never mind, it's a bad word do not repeat it!).
I am not a slow highway driver, I do speed but not enough to warrant a ticket, but in the city I tend to stick to the limits because of all the cameras and radar traps, I just don't want to pay the fines. And this especially goes for construction zones! But the words SPEED FINES DOUBLE mean nothing to city drivers, and quite frankly if you adhere to the limits be prepared for major road rage. I would like to thank the city driver for schooling me today in the construction zone. I sure learned my lesson when you came up on my rear end so fast and then swerved around to cut me off and slam on your brakes. That was just awesome, my kids won't have seat belt burn over that one at all. I'm sorry I didn't bet the memo that 95 was the new speed limit for construction zones. The workers must be so relieved that we can go faster so that they will be splattered all over the road instead of just in one spot.
Granted I am a small town person and have been for 4 years now. We don't have to fight traffic and we don't even have to wait for a traffic light! The only things we wait for are trains, crosswalks and the seniors in town when they make a right or a left turn. At first this used to bother me, and now I welcome it. But to brush up on my city driving maybe I'll practice some of the gestures in town and see what kind of reaction I'll get! Or I'll just take some anti-anxiety medication for each drive into the city.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Is It PMS? Or is it really ME?
I'm going to open right up here and discuss my flaws that I have come to realize I actually have during that great time the medical world has dubbed PMS. For me, there is only about a week out of every month that I feel somewhat "normal" and the other three weeks I will blame on my cycle. I could just chalked it up to the three weeks being my actual self since it consumes more of my time, but then I would just look and sound like a bitch, and well if you don't live with me, then I'm not, I'm quite pleasant to be around! (or at least that's what I like to think!)
The physical pain of PMS isn't really my issue, it's my mood swings and hormones that I try to keep under wraps. Since I've been in my 30's I've noticed that these trips down the pre-menstrual highway have become a lot more bumpy and unpredictable, almost like a train derailment. You know things are bad when the simple sound of breathing makes me want to turn my head and hiss at the person that is near me making the annoying sound they must do to stay alive! Don't get me wrong, if they are across the room, I'm good but if they are sitting beside me or behind me it's like nails on a chalkboard. I know this is bad and it's even worse that I can't vocalize my problem! I would love to say, "Must you breathe so loud, I'm trying to write a very important blog entry here!" But I'm grateful that I haven't passed the point of no return just yet and made the mistake of vocalizing what I'm thinking. I know that my time will come though when I hit the journey of menopause, because by that point I really won't care what I sound like!
Another one of my not so favourite sounds is chewing. I'm not talking about rude chewing either, because then I could say something. Nope for me it's just normal chewing of the food with a closed mouth, it could be crunchy food, soft food, or even soup! For some reason the sound is amplified like I'm sitting in the front row of a Marilyn Manson concert. I have been so annoyed sometimes that I have removed myself from the table and went to eat in another room! That's right I said it for all to see!
I am an emotional person by nature, but when the hormones are turned up on high I am all over the map. Laughing one minute, crying a half second later, then angry, and back to laughing. Commercials are the worst for that trigger! No word of a lie, one time there were a sequence of commercials that made me do this in a very short time span. The DQ commercial for the flame thrower burger where the dude takes a bite then goes to talk and flames shoot out of his mouth; makes me laugh every time, then the CIBC commercial where the dad is giving his daughter away at her wedding and gives her a big fat cheque too; leaves me bawling, then the Always commercial that ends in "have a happy period", yup ANGER; then the Cadbury commercial with the clucking bunny, total laughter! If that's not an emotional roller coaster, I don't know what is! And my poor family that had to witness that, I'm sure they were searching for the Midol for me, but I happened to be out of it that day.
My vocabulary becomes very limited as well. My husband will lovingly ask, "What's your problem?" and I lovingly answer with the stink eye, "NOTHING." To which he replies, "Oh." He'll try again, and ask, "So, how was your day?" And then I don't try and say with a hiss, "FINE." Then you see the light bulb go off in his head and he knows what time of month it is, and quietly moves on. The kids ask, "What's for dinner Mommy?" I answer, "NOTHING!" "Why?" they ask scared that really aren't going to eat for the next few weeks. "Because the only thing Mommy wants to see, smell and consume right now is chocolate, and that is not good for YOU, so......you get nothing!" Emma has been in the family longer than Elise so she gets it already, just walk away and Mommy will stop. But Elise still has a few years before she gets it, and will continue on the quest of" what's for dinner?"
Eventually they get fed, and we sit at the table like a family and talk about our day. I have" nothing" to say because it was" fine", and the sound of them breathing and chewing at the same time causes me to explode internally or like I said before leave the room entirely. Sometimes family dinners are not the way to go in our house, as the Swanson Frozen dinner people claim they do. They may keep my kids out of trouble and off of drugs later on in life, but for now, in the Jack household, they are giving them more ammo for their weekly therapy sessions. I do hope they don't do drugs, but if they do, I hope I find them, and then maybe Mommy will be easier to live with!
The physical pain of PMS isn't really my issue, it's my mood swings and hormones that I try to keep under wraps. Since I've been in my 30's I've noticed that these trips down the pre-menstrual highway have become a lot more bumpy and unpredictable, almost like a train derailment. You know things are bad when the simple sound of breathing makes me want to turn my head and hiss at the person that is near me making the annoying sound they must do to stay alive! Don't get me wrong, if they are across the room, I'm good but if they are sitting beside me or behind me it's like nails on a chalkboard. I know this is bad and it's even worse that I can't vocalize my problem! I would love to say, "Must you breathe so loud, I'm trying to write a very important blog entry here!" But I'm grateful that I haven't passed the point of no return just yet and made the mistake of vocalizing what I'm thinking. I know that my time will come though when I hit the journey of menopause, because by that point I really won't care what I sound like!
Another one of my not so favourite sounds is chewing. I'm not talking about rude chewing either, because then I could say something. Nope for me it's just normal chewing of the food with a closed mouth, it could be crunchy food, soft food, or even soup! For some reason the sound is amplified like I'm sitting in the front row of a Marilyn Manson concert. I have been so annoyed sometimes that I have removed myself from the table and went to eat in another room! That's right I said it for all to see!
I am an emotional person by nature, but when the hormones are turned up on high I am all over the map. Laughing one minute, crying a half second later, then angry, and back to laughing. Commercials are the worst for that trigger! No word of a lie, one time there were a sequence of commercials that made me do this in a very short time span. The DQ commercial for the flame thrower burger where the dude takes a bite then goes to talk and flames shoot out of his mouth; makes me laugh every time, then the CIBC commercial where the dad is giving his daughter away at her wedding and gives her a big fat cheque too; leaves me bawling, then the Always commercial that ends in "have a happy period", yup ANGER; then the Cadbury commercial with the clucking bunny, total laughter! If that's not an emotional roller coaster, I don't know what is! And my poor family that had to witness that, I'm sure they were searching for the Midol for me, but I happened to be out of it that day.
My vocabulary becomes very limited as well. My husband will lovingly ask, "What's your problem?" and I lovingly answer with the stink eye, "NOTHING." To which he replies, "Oh." He'll try again, and ask, "So, how was your day?" And then I don't try and say with a hiss, "FINE." Then you see the light bulb go off in his head and he knows what time of month it is, and quietly moves on. The kids ask, "What's for dinner Mommy?" I answer, "NOTHING!" "Why?" they ask scared that really aren't going to eat for the next few weeks. "Because the only thing Mommy wants to see, smell and consume right now is chocolate, and that is not good for YOU, so......you get nothing!" Emma has been in the family longer than Elise so she gets it already, just walk away and Mommy will stop. But Elise still has a few years before she gets it, and will continue on the quest of" what's for dinner?"
Eventually they get fed, and we sit at the table like a family and talk about our day. I have" nothing" to say because it was" fine", and the sound of them breathing and chewing at the same time causes me to explode internally or like I said before leave the room entirely. Sometimes family dinners are not the way to go in our house, as the Swanson Frozen dinner people claim they do. They may keep my kids out of trouble and off of drugs later on in life, but for now, in the Jack household, they are giving them more ammo for their weekly therapy sessions. I do hope they don't do drugs, but if they do, I hope I find them, and then maybe Mommy will be easier to live with!
Monday, June 28, 2010
Do You Work?
Recently I was asked by a woman if I worked. I could end the blog here and you could probably fill in the blanks as to how I handled this question, but seeing how I "don't work", I have the time to let you know exactly how it went down.
I was grocery shopping in the middle of the week, in the middle of the day with both girls in tow. One screaming that she wanted to walk and not be in the cart, the other "helping" me shop by loading the cart with all the "healthy" food she could find. Not really a moment where I felt like chit chatting with strangers and not a good moment to be asked questions by the Wal-Mart credit card person who was trying to get me to fill out the application as she followed me down each aisle. At first I politely ignored her, but she was a persistent little bugger and decided that she would be" helpful" by asking questions as I shopped and she would fill out the application for me.
"What is your name?"
"Mommy"
"Oh, no your legal name."
"Mommy."
"Okay, what is your date of birth?"
"I can't remember it was so long ago."
"Hmmm....okay well, do you work? What is your occupation?"
And that is when I could no longer play nice.......it got ugly.....and fast.
"Yes as a matter of fact I do, and you are interrupting me as I do it! My occupation is, Mommy as I stated in my name. Imagine that, my name and my occupation are the same damn word! I work from 6:30 am until 10:00 pm every single day including holidays. Holidays require a double shift, and if someone is sick I'm pulling an all nighter! I do dishes, laundry, clean bathrooms and toilets, make meals, vacuum, kiss the boo boos away, scare the monsters back to where they came from, and wake up the next day to do it all over again. My income is less than you make here, but what I lack in income I am rewarded in love and hugs from these two right in front of you. A little word of advice my dear would be that you rephrase your question to Do you work OUTSIDE the home. You just may get a better response, and when someone ignores you that means they aren't interested in your credit card!"
"Right.....sorry about that....."
I am not going to start a war over who is more overworked a working outside the home mom or a stay at home mom, I believe we are equal in our endeavours. I'm sure both kinds of moms are a little envious of the other, one would like to be home more and the other would like to get out more. But my days get just as busy as the next moms and they all sometimes mesh together. The credit card lady caught me on a really stressful busy day and I'm sure I could have handled her differently. But I did not, yes she was just doing her job but so was I. My job requires me to be an annoyance to my family, her job requires her to be an annoyance to the public. Either way we were both annoying to each other.
I was grocery shopping in the middle of the week, in the middle of the day with both girls in tow. One screaming that she wanted to walk and not be in the cart, the other "helping" me shop by loading the cart with all the "healthy" food she could find. Not really a moment where I felt like chit chatting with strangers and not a good moment to be asked questions by the Wal-Mart credit card person who was trying to get me to fill out the application as she followed me down each aisle. At first I politely ignored her, but she was a persistent little bugger and decided that she would be" helpful" by asking questions as I shopped and she would fill out the application for me.
"What is your name?"
"Mommy"
"Oh, no your legal name."
"Mommy."
"Okay, what is your date of birth?"
"I can't remember it was so long ago."
"Hmmm....okay well, do you work? What is your occupation?"
And that is when I could no longer play nice.......it got ugly.....and fast.
"Yes as a matter of fact I do, and you are interrupting me as I do it! My occupation is, Mommy as I stated in my name. Imagine that, my name and my occupation are the same damn word! I work from 6:30 am until 10:00 pm every single day including holidays. Holidays require a double shift, and if someone is sick I'm pulling an all nighter! I do dishes, laundry, clean bathrooms and toilets, make meals, vacuum, kiss the boo boos away, scare the monsters back to where they came from, and wake up the next day to do it all over again. My income is less than you make here, but what I lack in income I am rewarded in love and hugs from these two right in front of you. A little word of advice my dear would be that you rephrase your question to Do you work OUTSIDE the home. You just may get a better response, and when someone ignores you that means they aren't interested in your credit card!"
"Right.....sorry about that....."
I am not going to start a war over who is more overworked a working outside the home mom or a stay at home mom, I believe we are equal in our endeavours. I'm sure both kinds of moms are a little envious of the other, one would like to be home more and the other would like to get out more. But my days get just as busy as the next moms and they all sometimes mesh together. The credit card lady caught me on a really stressful busy day and I'm sure I could have handled her differently. But I did not, yes she was just doing her job but so was I. My job requires me to be an annoyance to my family, her job requires her to be an annoyance to the public. Either way we were both annoying to each other.
Saturday, June 12, 2010
My Army
Something we can all relate to in our lives is some form of loss or tragedy, no one wants to experience it, but at some point we all have to. That is the common denominator, how we deal with or work through that loss is entirely up to us. We cannot control our future, but we can control our actions. We chose our own path; is it one of further destruction or one that we can learn from? The harder road is the one we take where we actually have learned from. It takes more work on our parts, more heartache in some cases but in the end the most rewarding. For some it is the road less travelled.
Choosing to be the victim, for me, seems to be more work. You smile less, you laugh less, you are not your true self. You lose yourself , and ultimately lose out on life. We all deal with things in a different way, some take longer than others to move on, that in itself is neither right, nor is it wrong. What is wrong is when you become a "toxic" energy and in turn start to take others down with you. Others that were there in the beginning to help dust yourself off, and help you take a deep breath, put one foot in front of the other and move forward from the past. Those that helped comfort and support, lend an ear, give a hug and wipe the tears. Those that try to show you that you are stronger than what has happened, you, as a person, are stronger than the situation or the other person that hurt you. I believe that we all are blessed with these kind of people in our lives, whether we know it or not, there is someone there that wants to help and wants to see you help yourself.
I truly am blessed with an army of people from family to friends, and friends that are family. I feel that some I have taken for granted, though not on purpose, just could have shown a better appreciation for the role they play in my life and my family's life. I find that I have guarded my heart to new relationships as I'm sure we all have for obvious reasons. I am the one to push away or step back, and I am the one to just trust the future.
As tough as I try to portray myself, I really am not hard as nails. With an outpouring of love and support from my true friends and family, today I woke up with the sun shining through my window, trees moving freely in the wind, and the birds singing their songs welcoming a new day. I decided that yes, it is a new day, the past is the past, and there is always a tomorrow. I learned this week that there are two fantastic women willing to get to know me and wanting the best for me. As I do for them, and that ultimately I am thankful for what has happened, because from a bad situation and toxic relationship sprouted two more soldiers in my army. I look forward to good times, good conversation, much laughter and a positive outlook for things that have happened and things that are to come our way.
I know I do not say thank-you enough to my circle of family and friends for their constant love and support, so I say it now. Thanks for backing me, lifting me up and just loving me for me through the good times and the not so good times. Without all of you I would not have the great life that that I live.
Choosing to be the victim, for me, seems to be more work. You smile less, you laugh less, you are not your true self. You lose yourself , and ultimately lose out on life. We all deal with things in a different way, some take longer than others to move on, that in itself is neither right, nor is it wrong. What is wrong is when you become a "toxic" energy and in turn start to take others down with you. Others that were there in the beginning to help dust yourself off, and help you take a deep breath, put one foot in front of the other and move forward from the past. Those that helped comfort and support, lend an ear, give a hug and wipe the tears. Those that try to show you that you are stronger than what has happened, you, as a person, are stronger than the situation or the other person that hurt you. I believe that we all are blessed with these kind of people in our lives, whether we know it or not, there is someone there that wants to help and wants to see you help yourself.
I truly am blessed with an army of people from family to friends, and friends that are family. I feel that some I have taken for granted, though not on purpose, just could have shown a better appreciation for the role they play in my life and my family's life. I find that I have guarded my heart to new relationships as I'm sure we all have for obvious reasons. I am the one to push away or step back, and I am the one to just trust the future.
As tough as I try to portray myself, I really am not hard as nails. With an outpouring of love and support from my true friends and family, today I woke up with the sun shining through my window, trees moving freely in the wind, and the birds singing their songs welcoming a new day. I decided that yes, it is a new day, the past is the past, and there is always a tomorrow. I learned this week that there are two fantastic women willing to get to know me and wanting the best for me. As I do for them, and that ultimately I am thankful for what has happened, because from a bad situation and toxic relationship sprouted two more soldiers in my army. I look forward to good times, good conversation, much laughter and a positive outlook for things that have happened and things that are to come our way.
I know I do not say thank-you enough to my circle of family and friends for their constant love and support, so I say it now. Thanks for backing me, lifting me up and just loving me for me through the good times and the not so good times. Without all of you I would not have the great life that that I live.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)