Driving my son to work this morning meant I wasn't able to go out fishing with my S.O. this morning.  There may have been a time in my life where this parental responsibility intruding on my time would have kicked up feelings of irritation and even resentment, but I've come to know that life is just too short for such things.  My experiences over the years has taught me to enjoy every moment of my life, including those that may seem mundane and intrusive.  I chose to have children, thus I made the choice to give up much of my "me" time for several years to come.  It is a choice I do not regret.  Instead of sitting in a boat near the ocean feeling the bite in the air and tug on a fishing line, I spent a few more minutes with my son, and even though we exchanged very little conversation, it's time spent with as much importance as the couple of hours in that boat with my S.O.

Sometimes you just have to shake your head and wonder if habitual liars will ever realize how they are viewed by those around them.  Fibbing is all about self image, but instead of the desired effect of great prowess and achievement, the offender usually appears to others as a complete idiot who can’t be trusted.

We don’t always have all the facts. In truth, we usually only make our decisions based on the hearsay, opinion and claims of others, who are often themselves as removed from the situation as the rest of us. We are completely oblivious of the grapevine affect of gossip and spitefully driven opinions. The opinions we hug close and call our own are never derived from vengeance or jealousy.

I have no doubt we all know at least one relationship with a nagging woman.  Look up the word nag and you will find nothing positive in the definitions or descriptions; words like anxiety, complaining, faultfinding, annoying, unrelenting, torment are what you’ll find.  Having been in a number of terrible relationships myself, I know the signs of abuse, and nagging is a form of abuse.  Women can be just as guilty of abusing their significant others as men.  In fact, emotional abuse can have far more damaging effects than physical abuse.  Nothing good comes from nagging.  

A good laugh is good for what ails you, even if it's only for that moment that you are laughing. 

A coworker recently gave me a gag gift and convinced me I should bring it in to work to share.  It is a pen shaped like a finger and when you pull on it, it creates sounds similar to flatulence.  I work in a doctors office where outright laughter is usually greeted by a manager's stern glance and a remark about having better things to do with our time.  It's not that they don't want us to be cheerful, but they feel such gathering and laughing leaves the illusion of not caring especially when sick people are awaiting care. Idle chit chat and laughter amongst ourselves is kept to a minimum.  The pen was a different story. 

Recently I had been hearing questions about the lapse in posts on my blog.  One thought perhaps I had writer’s block, another asked if I didn’t have anything passionate to write about.  My little hiatus had little to do with either really, although it would be a whole lot easier to chalk it up to either of these excuses and leave it at that. 

There were a few silver slivers buried within the dark brown and a few more wrinkles then I recalled, but otherwise he didn’t look any different.  As with all such encounters I suppose, it was completely random and unexpected.  I frequent this place often and had never run into him before.  We shared a relationship at one time.  My life was a chaotic mess then. So was his.  Our relationship changed the course of my life.  Now, nearly a decade later it seems like a lifetime has passed yet at the same time only a matter of days.  I must say I am relieved to find that my heart doesn’t race at the sight of him as it used to.  It seems time really does heal old wounds and sore hearts. 

People know I like to write. They are usually shocked to find out that I am nearly as terrible at spelling as I am at math. The fact is that being able to write well doesn’t mean one can spell well, or even that we are good with grammar. Editors are the ones who are good at that stuff. I just like to put my thoughts down on paper. I always have, whether it was writing letters to pen pals, writing in my diary or writing papers for class. Writing for me is about finding peace within myself, not about the proper use of punctuation and sentence structure.

It always starts small; accusations, name calling, raised voices, a shove.  It rarely comes out of the blue without warning.  It's all about low self-esteem and stress.  Sometimes the person who seems most in control is really the person most out of control.