Author: Lady in the Forest

Lady in the Forest http://mylady.blog I am a retired lady, who happens to live in the Stanislaus National Forest, in Northern California.

Control Thyself

There are three things in life that we cannot control:
Other People, Places, and Things.

It is a very emotional and exhausting process to teach someone how to control themselves. Ask any parent with a toddler. Most toddlers learn how to control their emotions, eventually, and become more acceptable to others in public. I think it is similar to “breaking” a horse in, really. We call it “teaching” regarding our children, but aren’t we actually taming a wild animal?

You’ve seen these ‘animals’ at the grocery store, the Mall, the theater, and popular public places like that. Their parents cannot make them behave (or listen) or keep them from running around willy-nilly and irritating people. I’ve seen parents sit a child down in “time out” and ‘explain’ to them what they are doing wrong. You may as well try that on a horse.

Just sayin.

Why I Love My Dog

How Can You Resist This Face?

Oh, Let me count the ways…

  1. Sweet and Loving
  2. Never nags or berates me. Verbally.
  3. Needs to be near me
  4. Protective of me
  5. Child-like
  6. Will work for treats
  7. Comical
  8. Doesn’t mind being called “Stinky,” “Butt-licker,” or “Goof-Ball” because of the way I say it.
  9. They devote themselves to you. You are their life.
  10. She is smart and can train their master in just a few weeks

The Thaw

It stopped snowing in June. Our spring was bypassed, and summer hit on the 1st of July. Heat, then cooling, and now heat again. It is fun to wake up in the morning and get dressed without shivering – better yet, you enter the shower gently, enjoying the mild warming water that caresses your skin. You smile as you suds luxuriously in the warm air, not hurrying along as in winter.

After 6 months of (impatiently) waiting, I am NOT using the A/C! Next week, September begins, and the temps are getting cooler. People are talking about Fall. I say, “Shut up! Shut up!” Two months of summer is not enough. I have not thoroughly thawed from last winter yet.

I fear we will return from the tropical paradise Cabo San Lucas on Sept. 28th and have to shovel snow to get into our driveway. I will be the short one, barely standing above the snow, crying.

Rotten Words

I used to cuss a lot. I mean A LOT. My Mom cussed like a sailor – I was used to it, right? But you should have seen the faces of those confused strangers when those words would come out of a petite (5’2″) lady with a West Virginia accent.

Seeing her in action was amusing as long as Mom was not hollering at me. I was 5′ 4″ of medium build. No accent. This made me a young lady with bad manners – not amusing.

Years & years later, I was studying the Bible and came across this letter that Paul, the apostle, wrote to the congregation in Ephesus.

“Let a rotten word not come out of your mouth, but only what is good for building up and, as the need may be, to impart what is beneficial to the hearers.”
— Ephesians 4:29

I asked my teacher if the author meant calling people names or cussing. She asked me to read the entire scripture again, and this time notice what kind of words I should be using.
Words good for building up and beneficial to the hearers.

Oh.

When Mom got mad and bombed me with cuss words, they never built me up. In fact, the anger and viciousness in her voice scared me. The word that comes to mind is “hateful.”

Anyone around that could hear her was probably not benefitting from this either. Hey, Mom; sorry to use you as an example, but I didn’t know of anyone else in the family that cussed like you did. Until my daughter grew up. Now she cusses like her mamaw. This probably makes you proud in some twisted way – Ha! You were always a rebel.

As for me, I will try to eliminate the rotten words and learn to express myself in positive ways. It will be a challenge.

Midweek Thoughts

I hate the term “hump day” – a pet peeve I’ve had since childhood.
Why am I telling y’all this? I have no idea. It has been a weird day today (Tuesday). I need a vacation in the worst way, and so does my husband. I had our 35th wedding anniversary trip all planned and confirmed. We were going to stay in Maui – our original honeymoon location.

Then tragedy struck, and Lahaina was gone. I spent the past few days mourning and unable to come to terms with the fact that I needed to start from square one for a new location. I started thinking about Baja & Cabo, and when I woke up today, I got on my computer and began to change my reservations. I was on hold for many minutes several times this morning.

Please pray that nothing bad happens to Cabo San Lucas. Please.