Category Archives: My Own Category

Because sometimes it’s about me.

Let Go of the Rope

I keep having this recurring dream that I’m water skiing behind a boat. I’m using a rope so long that I cannot even see who’s driving the boat. I just know that it’s going way too fast and I’m very scared.

I’ve almost hit the rocks on the side of the lake numerous times and my rope almost took out a couple innocent people on jet skis at one point.

A voice in my head keeps telling me to “let go of the rope”, but I’m even more afraid of letting go than I am of holding on.

Now if I could just figure out why letting go seems to be so much more difficult than holding on while I’m being dragged through dangerous waters, maybe I can make the dream go away.

Some people live their lives by asking themselves what Jesus would do. Generally, in moments I’m unsure of which turn to take, I ask myself what I would tell Cole if he were in my position and needed my advice. Here, I wouldn’t tell him to stop swimming or even to stop skiing. But I would advise him to maybe let someone else drive the boat.

 

 

Nut Grass

So I have been putting forth massive amounts of energy trying to grow and maintain my front lawn.

Massive amounts of energy.

Seriously.

My husband hates grass for some reason I don’t comprehend and in his eyes, the dirt front yard set us apart from the rest of the block. Granted, he was right about that … but it was never in a good way. His favorite yard ornament is the huge effing cactus that does the opposite of welcome anyone attempting to knock on our door.

Apparently, Code Enforcement agreed with my perception of the situation because we were given a notice stating we needed grass or bark decorative crap spread around or plants throughout the space or just something other than dirt. Weeds were even acceptable provided they were decent looking weeds (I assume this to be true after looking at my neighbor’s yard a little more closely). Apparently we live in a historical district. That sounds cool – but it really just means we can’t do shit to our house without special approval and, as the notice warned, needed to have a presentable exterior area. They threatened fines and further actions not specified. I think my husband thought they were bluffing.

We paid $300 in fines before he agreed to let me grow some damn grass.

$300.

And even then, he wasn’t completely on board with the idea.

Anyway, I’m getting distracted from my main point here. What I’m saying is that it was tough to begin growing grass on this particular dirt. It doesn’t absorb water well at all (that’s an understatement). It’s uneven. It is hard as a rock. It is unwilling to change for me or anyone else who tries to give it life and oxygen and a reputation as anything but tough and unmanageable. But I have been working since Feb. to change its mind about cooperating. I grew some pretty great grass on my 3rd try (not bad considering it was Feb.). I even grew a tree in the front strip of dirt by the curb (I know that has a name, but I don’t have a clue what it is). I am far from a green thumb, let me tell you. I remember growing a Lima bean or some shit in the 2nd grade. That is about the extent of my planting/ growing/ maintaining experience. I was not in a comfort zone. But I was prepared with tools and strategies and books and of course, Google. I made that grass my bitch.

And then … just when I thought I had it all figured out … I saw several weeds trying to infiltrate my beautiful masterpiece.

I was not having it. Not even a little bit. Had I spent so much of my time and energy and money getting things exactly the way I wanted them just to be showed up by some wild fucking weeds? No. I had not.

So I went and bought the best weed killer you can buy to show those assholes who the boss was around here. I sprayed them vigorously with the super powered killing juice with a victorious smirk on my face. I was going to show those bastard weeds who was boss.

A week later, nearly every bit of grass I’d grown had died. My whole yard was no longer the bright green color I had loved so much, but “fire-hazard-yellow” instead. I even managed to somehow kill 1/4 of my neighbors grass/ weeds in the process. I really did get the best killer.

I have since attempted to reseed and reignite the determination and drive I had the first time around. I am just so frustrated that I had it just how I wanted it and with one wrong move, I ruined everything I’d worked so hard to have. I did my best… and made a rookie mistake. I don’t know that I have the ability to try as hard the 2nd time or the 3rd time as I did the first. I don’t feel so sure of my abilities and all the flaws in my yard? You know, the dirt and its unwillingness to yield to become what I think it should be… those flaws are no longer small things I can work through. They’re huge defects that throw out red flags and cause me pause. Should I really invest more time and energy and money into something that’s failed me already? Sure, I know not to buy that strong of weed killer next time, but how do I know I won’t do something else equally as lame to screw it up should I ever even get it to where it once was?

Do I even have the ability to give as much of myself this time around? Or am I still a little bitter about my lack of gardening skill? Will I do it half ass so I am not forced with the reality – again – that my best is not good enough?

How can I be sure that the foundation on which everything is built is not defective?

The most ironic part of all this grass drama is that I’ve felt the same way about my life and relationships lately. If I can’t give the grass an honest do over, how can I expect myself to even entertain the idea of doing so with my personal relationships?

I’ll Pencil You In

I loathe schedules. Even if I make the damn thing myself, I hate having to do things at or by a certain time. Obviously, this can be an issue while dealing with oh, I don’t know, everyday life.

As an adult, I am expected to live by a certain kind of social contract. One that involves treating others the way I’d like to be treated. I will say that if I’m waiting on someone for more than 5 minutes past the agreed meeting time? I’m pretty irritated. It makes me think that they must think their time is worth more than mine or they must not respect me enough to keep their word or some other irrational conclusion that leads back to me and how it makes me feel because I’m so self centered I can’t think for a second that maybe – just maybe – there was an accident on the freeway or something else as simple and legitimate.

When it comes to meeting people in a situation that relies on me to do my part, I rarely disappoint. This is why I’m finding myself in an identity crisis at the moment.

Part of the awesomeness that is me is the fact that I’m somewhat of a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants type of girl. Granted, The Cole hindered my gypsy lifestyle quite a bit, but at least I still felt as though I could act on impulse and without purpose every now and then. These days, however, I couldn’t possibly get away with anything of the sort. I feel slightly guilty for even posting this right now because I should definitely be handling matters that need my attention in my work world.

I love what I do and have chosen to be as involved in it as I am. I don’t HAVE to spend 10 hours a day (at least) getting this off the ground. But I committed myself and I’ve seen the results. They are great. Better than anyone before me, at least. And I know that anything worth having is not easy to attain. I know that it’s always rough and demanding in the beginning, but if I lay the groundwork correctly, it will run itself in just a couple of years. I know all these things – but I sometimes look at the schedule I’m forced to keep track of, with all these circles and highlights and yes, even color coding, and wonder what the hell happened to my life.

I guess I grew up.

No one saw that comin’.

Part Two

It’s so easy to take life for granted. We go about our day-to-day routines and complain about traffic or work or the girl at Starbucks who can’t seem to remember to go easy on the foam. We assume there will be a tomorrow. And there will be. But who’s to say you’ll be around to bitch about it?

I saw a woman die before my eyes that day. I’ve seen death before. I’ve seen death on people I knew and cared about before. Only one before this has ever had a comparable (and far greater, even) effect. I won’t talk about that death here because it is not my place to share the life and death of a child taken too soon. But this woman – the one I’d never known before that day – her death has impacted my life significantly.

That day I was driving back to my home to pack my things. My husband and I had been fighting non-stop for too long and we decided it just wasn’t worth it anymore. Then I was given a reality check on what “it” really is. It is this short time on earth that allows us to love and to laugh and to learn. To let go of the small stuff and sometimes even the big stuff is not always simple, but it is always necessary. To forgive is to let yourself be free. Letting go is one of the hardest things to do for me. I hang on too long to things or people who are not worth it. But as I watched that woman in her last seconds, I wanted only to feel safe. Safety lies, for me, in my husband’s arms and in the home we made.

I am not thankful for that woman’s death; but I am eternally grateful for my life.

Part One

That day “home” was a relative term.

I can’t say whether or not I was headed to it or coming from it.

We were on the same path, headed in opposite directions.

She was probably driving home from work. Or maybe she went by the mall to return some unwanted gift she received for Christmas. She could have been on her way to pick up her kids from school. She could have been doing anything, really, because it didn’t really matter much where she was headed when the car that barreled into her turned her world upside down.

I was mindlessly switching between the gas and the brake pedal, looking through swelled eyes that had cried countless tears in the last 24 hours. I felt nothing but sadness and grief. And then I heard the sound of screeching brakes and crunching metal.

Her car ended up facing the wrong way on the freeway, up against the center divider.

I snapped out of my preoccupied state and focused in on the compact car that had just landed within several feet from my car with such an impact, I found my hands covering my ears to protect them from the sound.

There was a woman inside the car. She was about my age.

As I started to take in the entire situation for what it was, I saw her move, ever so slightly.

Her head tilted just enough so that we could make eye contact. Her eyes were full of fear and terror and sadness and panic. She looked at me, her eyes pleading and hoping.

It was like we had a conversation with just our eyes, she and I.

She was begging me to tell her she would be alright. That it wasn’t as bad as it seemed. That she could still make it to her house in enough time to prepare dinner for her family.

I regrettably replied, my eyes full of sorrow and regret, to tell her that it was okay – just not in the way she thought.

The pain she felt twisted her face into something unimaginable and indescribable. I don’t know if the pain was physical or emotional, but I know it lasted for far too long.

Realistically, probably one minute had passed; but it felt like a lifetime had gone by.

For her, one had.

Hiatus

I don’t think I’ve gone this long without posting since … well, ever.

Holiday crap has taken its toll on my free time, of course, but more than that, my everything has been a little out of sync, it seems. I usually “blog about it” when I need to figure shit out. It really makes a difference. But I’ve been working on the same blog post for a week. I have like 60 words left after I finished editing.

I got nervous about being so honest. I was concerned I was giving too much of myself or my private thoughts to the general public. I didn’t know if I’d crossed the line by writing about my very personal life and the people in it. I still haven’t resolved these issues or answered these questions for myself in a way that would allow me to rewrite and post what took me a week to spill. But as I sit here typing, it has become quite obvious that I will do it anyways. I wouldn’t have even mentioned it otherwise. Duh. So there’s that, I guess.

I just wanted to touch base and apparently corner myself into being vulnerable in front of an audience. Small as it may be, I am just barely learning to do all that by myself. But “go big or go home”, right? I’ll get to it.

Thanks for letting me talk myself into my own solution, WordPress. Good looking out ;)

Cyber Monday?!? Seriously?

I think we should bring back “Naked Thursday” before we worry about anything that happens on a Monday.

Just a thought.

Cyber fucking Monday. Give me a break.

I Don’t Know Why

My life, especially in the last 8 years or so, has been a quest to find out the answer to one question:

WHY?

Why do I think this way?

Why does he do that?

Why can’t I just move on without solving the puzzle?

I am constantly trying desperately to get to the bottom of things. I need to know the core issue. I need the original sin. I want to pull out the root, so to speak.

As I sit here, I have to stop myself from explaining why I always wonder why.

I think this way of thinking has done some good in certain situations. This is obviously my personality type, so why go against the grain, right?

Wrong.

Some things are just whatthefuck they are. Some things have no deeper explanation. Some things are exactly what they seem to be.

The result of my figuring out some great mystery is nothing but a short-lived satisfaction of knowing why. It is only satisfying until I realize that even though I understand the cause? I can still do nothing about the effect.

Acceptance is key. I know this. I know that nothing stays the same and that letting go is the hardest, and most valuable lesson I could ever hope to learn in my lifetime. I know these things because I read them in books written by people I consider to be very “enlightened”, if you will. I know these things because I’ve heard people who I admire and respect say them and I trust the wisdom in their words.

I’ve also learned that knowledge doesn’t do much good when it’s not applied.

Fuck the why. I think it’s time to focus on the when. And that? Is right fucking now.

Denied!!!

I went to check out the people who make Kris come this morning, just as I do every Wednesday morning. I was not disappointed by any of her choices this week. She is a good chooser.

I should know. She chose me once.

I’m getting distracted by my ego again. One sec…

Okay, so I go to visit a blog titled, Bad Words: I couldn’t make this shit up. Great title and tag line, don’t you think?

I do.

The author of this blog, Tulpen, has a little sidebar gadget that intrigued me. It’s a Live Traffic Feed from Feedjit. I went to go add my name because I hate being called “Anonymous”. So I went through the small sign up process.

It first asked me if I was “family friendly”.

Well, fuck yeah I’m family friendly. I get along with my family very well … mostly. I checked the box.

It then asked if my blog was about me, as opposed to being a business or commercial site.

Duh. What isn’t about me? I checked the box.

Finally, it wanted me to confirm that my blog does not contain any web spam.

Absolutelyfuckingnot. I hate Spam on every level. I checked the box.

So after that rigorous interrogation, I was asked to enter the URL that linked to my blog. I complied and waited impatiently for the opportunity to clear my name of it’s mask of anonymity and possibly even get my own cool Live Traffic Feed box for my site.

Several dots trailed each other across my monitor, gradually filling with color then disappearing off the side of the screen. I must admit, it felt a little like Christmas morning in the moments before my screen displayed the result of my request.

Much to my dismay, the result was NOT what I had anticipated. I did not get a “Welcome to your cool new Live Traffic Feed Box” message. There was no “Your blog rocks and we’re glad to be a part of it” confirmation. Instead, it read.

“Sorry but your website appears to contain innapropriate content.”

Fucking seriously? Inappropriate content? I was pissed. I was sad. But mostly? I was laughing at the fact that whoever was in charge of this specific site? Could not spell inappropriate correctly. I don’t want to be part of that club anyway.

But why didn’t they let me in? Bastards.