"Rock On!"

So, my "Blog Buddy" -the Smalltown RN gave me this award today and apparently in a delusional state of mind, she also seems to think I show a lot of patience. Boy, how little she REALLY knows about me!

I am, frequently, one of the Most IMPATIENT people you can imagine! I like things done as quickly as possible - at least most of the time anyway.

But, then too, as my son frequently points out to Katie, the 15-year-old in the house when he sees she is more than a little frustrated with some of my ways, actions, beliefs, etc -"This is not the same person I grew up with!"

And, thinking back over the years when my kids were much, much younger, patience rarely was a strong component within me. Maybe, to some extent, I have finally developed some of that commodity, but in my opinion, not nearly enough to be called a really "patient" person.

There are times when I'm dealing with the little, nitty-gritty things ALL little kids do - like getting into everything and anything and cleaning up the continual flow of messes caused so frequently by those little fingers (and the little feet too that keep taking them to places they shouldn't be) -I know 25-30 years ago when my son or younger daughter were the age the little Princess is now and had they done some of the things she's notorious for doing, they probably would more than likely spent a lot of time nursing a behind that may have been just a little bit tender now and again. (No, I didn't beat my kids, don't do that with Maya either, but I did occasionally let the palm of my hand make contact with the seat of their pants!) And the funny thing is, in many ways, some of the things Maya (and the baby too now) do, are just variations of many of the same things their mother or their uncle did way back then. But then, when it was MY kids involved in needing discipline and I do think too because even when my ex and I were married, it was more like I was a single parent because maintaining "law and order" always feel at my feet, I was always very concerned that my kids behave at home and especially in public in a certain way.

It's not that I don't have the same concerns for Miss Maya or little Kurtis -I want them to grow up to have good manners, be polite, mannerly, well-behaved children too - but you see, because Maya definitely has "issues" from time to time due to the autism factor -and by the looks of things, it does appear that Kurtis may have these same problems in life too, disciplining takes on a whole new aspect with them, than what it was two or three decades ago. Now, it involves finding ways to show these two little ones what is expected and getting a means to get the concept across so they understand it then. Like I said -it's a whole new ballgame in the park these days!

There are other ways though in which I have changed with respect to the patience thing though too. One thing that helped bring about some of those changes was when I ventured out 31 years ago and joined a really great group - "Al-Anon" -and through it, their tenets, I realized I was trying to change others, to take control of things over which I had no ability to change nor was it even maybe my right to think I should or could change some aspects.

One thing I did change was my thinking process about how to deal with people I felt had offended me. The idea of trying to "get even" was one thing I changed then and I've since tried my best to get my kids to see things from the perspective that when you strive to "get even" it is almost inevitable that you will have expended - and wasted - a whole lot of energy to do something (usually not a nice something) that tends to backfire or blow up in your face. If it is meant to be dealt with in a "get even" type manner, my mode of operation became to let it be, do nothing to retaliate, and eventually things would fall into place to where the person (or group) I was irritated with would get their "dues" and I would not have spent a lot of time fretting over something so petty. (And, usually in the long run, seen through different perspectives, things like that frequently are just that - petty.)

And, if I do indeed have some small amount now today of "patience" I would have to attribute it to that philosophy.

One thing that has been making me lose my patience today though, at least somewhat, stems from several phone calls that I received today. Each time, when I answer the phone, there is a recorded message telling me to "please hold briefly" as soon as I pick up and then, I sit here and wait for whoever it is that is calling to click the appropriate buttons and such on their end to complete the connection process so I can find out what it is they want to talk to me about but no one ever comes on the line. Instead, I hear the buttons clicking in the background and eventually, it clicks to some other area where the phone is ringing and I get connected to the phone company message "If you are wish to make a call, please hang up and dial again!" Now that kind of nonsense really grates on me and makes me rather upset to the point where I would like to reach through the phone wires and put my bony fingers around the neck of the person who makes these calls or to find the mechanism responsible and rip the wires out so they are unable to make these calls and bother people! If you want to talk to me -and want me in a fairly good humor to begin with - then don't use these methods to call me! Please remember an adage I cite with respect to patience -"Patience is a virtue and I am not a very virtuous person" and, if a real person were to come on the line, eventually, from one of these calls, they just might meet the really very unvirtuous, not very patient at all, person I am down deep inside!

Now, those who like reading the Bushism for the day are probably aware that I didn't post yesterday -therefore there was no Bushism for Thursday. So, as a result of that oversight on my part, today you get a triple-header! One for Thursday, one for today and because I probably won't post until way late tomorrow unless I forget to do that, there will be the Bushism for the weekend as well! So here they are now!

Thursday, June 21, 2007
"It's a time of sorrow and sadness when we los a loss of life." - Washington, D.C.; December 21, 2004.

Friday, June 22, 2007
"We got the best workforce in America - in the world." - Washington, D.C.; December 2, 2005

Saturday and Sunday - June 23/24, 2007
"We expect the states to show us whether or not we're achieving simple objectives - like literacy, literacy in math, the ability to read and write." - On federal education requirements; Washington, D.C.; April 28, 2005.

Now, everyone go out and have a great weekend. And, in the meantime, I'm going to be thinking about who I will nominate too for a Rockin' Girl Blogger award too!