Wow! 2 months
I don't know if this is a start at getting back on livejournal, but here I am.
Big drawback is that I can no longer access livejournal or any blog/social network at work. Which I am sure is a good thing for keeping me focused on work, but I did take advantage of spending a few minutes reading posts and writing a few at work.
Then there is my mindset. I log in and bring up the POST AN ENTRY page and don't know what to write. I really don't want to spew any more about the upsets in my everyday life. In fact I think better not to spend any more time worrying about things I cannot change.
I just finished a "beachy" read, Low Country Summer by Dorothea Benton Frank. Kathryn Stockett recommends the book on the cover, right below the photo of an old wooden rowboat with the very southern straw hat resting between the gunwales and the seat. The first few pages weren't encouraging as the main character is the owner of an old family plantation passed through the generations on the maternal side of the family. She's very Southern and matriarchal in her thinking. But I came away from the book with some good advice about life. In life you are bound to come across people who have mental health issues...addictions....and other things that make the daily stuff tougher to deal with.
For example: take my drive to work yesterday. A change in the traffic pattern on my path to work has caused me to be extra vigilant about expecting people to follow the rules. So when this guy in his Honda SUV cut me off way to closely (like 5 ft,) I was ready but I laid on my horn. Well, he throws his car into park and gets out to confront me. Boy can that start your heart pounding. "What's your problem, Lady!!" he screams in my window. "You didn't use your directional!" I countered. "I use my directional when I am moving from here to there." as he points to the lane we are in and the one he left. "You are wrong," I said. Just then the lady behind me honks at him.... so what does he do but go back to yell at her. She didn't even put her window down. Continuing his tirade he keeps yelling at me as he goes back towards his car. I just said, "You are wrong sir!" We then all sit at the light together for a few minutes. The lady who had been behind me has zipped around and is in front of him. With the change of the light I see that he is trapped behind that lady and someone in the adjacent lane as I try to leave the mess behind me.
So do you let that ruin your day.... do you scream back and try to match wits with someone who obviously has anger issues and is being unreasonable. NO. You cannot reason with mental illness. No way can you ever see "eye to eye." There is not logic to their reasoning, so logic can not bring them back to reason.
Back to the book..."Love is the most wonderful miracle in the world. Don't ever apologize for loving someone. Our ability to love someone else is still the greatest gift God ever gave us." To quote Caroline the main character.
"My Auntie Fan is a crackpot and whatever she says about me is totally irrelevant to me. Even her girls know she's a nut bag. Who cares? Uncle Trip will kick her butt and she'll be okay for a while and then something else will set her off and we"ll be going at it with her again! It's who she is! She's the family lunatic! So, don't waste your time getting all worked up over a crazy person. She can't help it. You know?" Caroline's son tells her.
Then he corrects his Mom who says "she's so awful!" "Nope. She's crazy first and then she's awful, Mom."
So for whatever reason, this logic did break through to me and really got me thinking about the women in my son's life. Do you think it's what I want to hear, or do you think it makes sense? Any crazy people in your life.