I'M SORRY, BUT...UMMMM, NO, NO, NO

As I've grown older, wiser and ultimately more upfront about things than I used to be...I've also become a whole lot more understanding of the words, "I'm sorry" and "I forgive you". Not always presented with those specific words, but you know all the adaptations out there.

My bad.
Oops.
I really screwed the pooch on that.

And likewise...

Don't give it a second thought.
No worries.
Fugeddaboutit.


Things happen in this life and none of us, I repeat, NONE OF US are perfect. And you may even be one who thinks, "No, I'm not perfect, but I try harder than most." you're wrong. You have no idea how hard (or not) others try. Get over that little theory pronto.

When I mess up, and unfortunately I seem to do this a lot more than I'd like, I admit it. It isn't easy. It can be downright humiliating. But I own up to it. If I said I would do something for you and I forget, you're gonna get a big, fat, I-can't-believe-I-did-that apology and I guaranty you will forget about it long before I do.

Same with commitments. My schedule is crazy and I'm not glorifying that. I'm saying I'm not always perfect (there's that word again) at keeping it as on track as I'd like it to be, but I actually do realize my schedule may affect someone else's and when there's a conflict, I try to let it be immediately known. Likewise, when someone else has a hic-up in their schedule and it affects my life, I blow it off with a, "Please...things come up. Don't worry about it!"

So today, when someone I'm working with on a deal wanted to blame their mistake on me and have our clients think that to be the case? Ummmm...no. Not gonna happen. While I definitely am not the type of person to throw you under the bus with your clients if you make a mistake - don't even THINK it's okay for me to take the blame for something you forgot to do.

Sorry. No. Uh-uhhhh.

Always remember and never forget: If you mess up, toss out a sincere "Dang! I'm sorry!". If you aren't forgiven, that's the other person's baggage to carry.

I LOVE TO...

Like the author of the article I'm posting the link to below, I tend to be too wordy at times. (Who? Me?). It's always been my nature. Oftentimes this little trait will cause me trouble.

I may use 127 words when actually 3 would do and confusion sets in with the party I'm attempting to communicate with. Shocking.

But the mom below (www.handsfreemama.com) said it best.

When we are trying to let our kids (or someone else) know how we feel, it doesn't always take a dissertation to relay the sentiment. We aren't always called to teach a lesson or guide a path. Sometimes we just need to say a few, albeit, monumental words.

Ben and Shelby...
I love to be with you.
I love hearing you laugh.
I love hearing you argue with each other.
I love knowing you will be there when I walk in at the end of a long day.
I love knowing you count on me.
I love more about you than you will ever know or I could ever put in a list.
I love you.

http://www.handsfreemama.com/2012/04/16/six-words-you-should-say-today/


Thank you to my friend Anna for bringing this wonderful blog to my attention. :) Sometimes it's the little things you do, like posting a blog link on your Facebook page, that turns someones day around. Sometimes we never know the impact we have on others. Well Anna...consider me 'impacted'!

TECHNOLOGICAL GUT PUNCH

My son joined Facebook this weekend. He's 13...aka of Facebook age...and I honestly think it's more of a technological interest of his that hopefully passes. I say hopefully because it's something I'm beginning to think I need less and less of in my life.

I work in an office with no windows and 95% of the time, alone. It's what I've always referred to as my link to the outside world. My watercooler, if you will.

But on a night like tonight...and I'll admit I've had quiet a few of these nights in the past couple years...technology has put a sour taste in my mouth. My blog has become my main means to vent. And that's just when I make the time to log-in and do it.

Most of my time is spent hanging with the kiddos, but these first two days of summer break has been an eye-opener. They are stuck in this apartment so they have nothing better to do but...you guessed it...technology. Video games. Television. Crap. My youngest actually passed up the opportunity to go get a snocone tonight in order to stay home playing some stupid video game. Who does that? I was so baffled and thought she'd actually change her mind when we headed for the door, but she didn't. Next time, no choice. She's going.

I don't want them to turn into "those people".

You know the type. Heck...you may be the type. The kind of people who aren't there. Who, when family or friends call or come by, they are so preoccupied with the one-dimensional world, they don't pay attention. Or they just no longer make time for a phone call. When in a room with people, they're more interested in rudely carrying on a text conversation than a face-to-face one with people in the room.

If someone calls me, I answer. If I'm not with my kids or in the presence of someone else and you text me, I answer. If I'm with someone, I'll answer soon, but you definitely won't be ignored. And I do this NOT because I'm less busy than you. I do this because it's just what you do. Or at least, it's what you SHOULD do. I'm a busy as the next person (and believe me, I'm in no way glorifying being busy...we all are!), but I flat-out make time for those in my life (unless you yell and cuss at me, then not so much!).

I don't want my kids to forget what seems to be a HUGE thing missing in this world...communication. Not technological communication. Actually talking to someone. Making the time for them.

People don't pick up there phones anymore with a friend calls. It's disgusting. And I've been bad about it in the past, but have made concerted efforts in the last few years. Maybe because I'VE needed people to pick up, so it became evident to me just how important a phone call can be.

Regardless, for someone who has earned a paycheck due to technology...it's really punched me in the gut tonight.

THE ONLY REAL TRAP IS GETTING ATTACHED TO ANY OF IT...

Dear David,

We haven’t had any communication in a while, and it’s given me time I needed to think.

Remember when you said we should live with each other and be unhappy so we could be happy? Consider it a testimony to how much I love you that I spent so long pouring myself into that offer, trying to make it work.

But my friend took me to the most amazing place the other day, it’s called the Augusteum. Octavian Augustus built it to house his remains. When the barbarians came, they trashed it along with everything else. The great Augustus, Rome’s first true great Emperor, how could he have imagined that Rome, the whole world as far as he was concerned, would one day be in ruins?

It’s one of the quietest and loneliest places in Rome. The city has grown up, around it over centuries, feels like a precious womb, like a heartache you won’t let go of…as it hurts too good. We all want things to stay the same, David. Settle for living in misery because we’re afraid of change, of things crumbling to ruins.

Then I looked around this place, at the chaos it’s endured, the way it’s been adapted, burnt, pillaged then found a way to build itself back up again and I was reassured. Maybe my life hasn’t been so chaotic, it’s just the world that is and the only real trap is getting attached to any of it.

Ruin is a gift. Ruin is the road to transformation.

Even in this eternal city, the Augusteum showed me that we must always be prepared for endless waves of transformation.

Both of us deserve better than staying together because we’re afraid we’ll be destroyed if we don’t.

 —  Elizabeth Gilbert (Julia Roberts), Eat, Pray, Love