ABC: Greener Grass on the Other Side

We believe in allowing our grass to go dormant during the hot summer.  We believe it's a more natural and healthier way to care for our yard.  It's our own little way of going green.

Baloney.

We would love to have a green yard, but I ran over too many sprinkler heads with the mower and they're too old to replace easily. Thus, we no longer have a working sprinkler system.

Fortunately for us, our neighbor does and he waters about four times a day.  Graciously, his watering overshoots the yard boundary by about three feet giving us our very own three foot strip of green grass.

Sometimes the grass is greener on the other side, and for about three feet on our side?  It's just as green. 

ABC Wednesdays: P is for ...

It's not as though she has no where else to recover from her busy days of chewing grass and snoozing.  It's not as though her family members live like the Shakers with austere furnishings and ladder-back wooden chairs upon which to meditate. What it IS must surely be a world-record. 14.3 seconds after this brand new rug entered our house,

Pepper the pampered pooch claimed it as her own.  Oddly enough, not a single

human has attempted to dissuade her of that notion.

ABC Wednesday: O is for Open

I made her acquaintance through mutual friends.  They had little use for her, so that's the approach I took, also.  For years she would attempt conversations with me, and I would remain very reserved and polite, but never warm.  After all, those mutual friends had good reason not to like her.

Then circumstances changed and my path began to cross regularly with her path.  She spoke to me every time.  Not just, "Hi," but genuine, gracious conversation.  Somewhere in there I began to pray and ask the Lord to allow me to see others through His eyes - not her - just others in general.  That was a sizable prayer with its own obligations, but what I began to see bothered me.

I saw her faithfulness to others.  I saw her always willing to listen.  To help.  To support. And instead of being drawn to her, I supposed that she was working very hard to be someone special.  And for that, I chose to remain aloof from her.

But how can one pray but be unwilling to accept the answer? So I continued to pray.

And  then, amazingly, my ears, my eyes, and my heart were Opened.

I heard her tell me that she shuddered at past decisions and mistakes.  I heard her say she was tempted to withdraw from life and hide, but that God's grace had found her.  I saw her gently cradle the devastated widow.  I saw her hold the hand of the mother whose child is breaking her heart.  I watched as she helped a fractured family find their way to healing.

And when she sat down for a visit with me the other day, my heart smiled at her, my friend.

For other less preachy and more interesting O's, go here!

ABC Wednesday: N is for Nice

When did the word, Nice, become such a wimp? When did it become synonymous with boring, uninspired, blah?

"I had a Nice time." Translation? "I was counting the minutes until it was over."

"She's a Nice girl." Translation? "She doesn't have a living cell in her brain."

"Thanks for the Nice gift." Translation? "Maybe there's a gift receipt in here somewhere???"

There seems to be universal acceptance of the idea that our society is evolving from a polite society into a society of drive and determination. The Golden Rule is out. Me, ME, ME!!! is in. We've become louder, less forgiving, determined to prove that we are alive, desirable, and in charge of our own destinies. We're active; not passive. We've embraced exclamation marks and icons to show our emotions. It's all about what I can get of out life right.this.minute!!!!

So what happened to Nice? It got stepped on, kicked to the side, and reworked into something weak.
Don't you know that "Nice guys finish last" ??

But you know what? I still love nice. I still want to be thought of as a nice neighbor and friend who has time to listen. I hope I am the Nice teacher who cares beyond the boundaries of the textbook. Nice means smiling at store clerks and telling new moms that their babies are beautiful. It means choosing happiness. It means thinking before I speak and taking responsibility if I hurt someone. It means that I won't always get the best seat or the last word, but it doesn't have to mean that I am boring, insipid, or without direction.

I want Nice to live here. And if some people interpret that to mean that I want to be a flat liner and perpetually beige, they are welcome to take the gift receipt and exchange me for someone a little less Nice.

Have a Nice day!!!
For more ABC Wednesdays, go here.

ABC Wednesday: M is for the Michigan Map

What does M stand for?

Could there possibly be anything more fascinating than a state where each resident holds up his or her hands to show where on the "map" his or her home is?

It completely confused me when I first moved to Michigan and wanted to know where a city was and everyone in the room would hold up a hand. But how great is a state which is shaped just like a couple of hands!

Want to know where I live in Michigan?

Go here to find out what else M stands for.

ABC Wednesday: L

The letter L has diverse connotations for me.

One of my earliest memories is going to the Library with my mom.We went all the time and always checked out a stack of books. As soon as my own kids were walking, we went to the library. They didn't love it :(

Maybe I'm just different because I'm Left-handed. That makes me part of the 10% of the general population who are southpaws. Unfortunately, it also gives me an increased risk of breast cancer. (Left-handed women have double the risk of pre-menopausal breast cancer.)

In an attempt to improve the tenor of this post after the breast cancer mention, I'll think about the day I got my driver's License. It was thrilling, but now that my daughter is old enough to begin driver's training, I don't feel the same excitement.

My children recently asked me for confirmation that mothers can't remember their Labor pains. I thought about my labor pains times four, and said, "Sorry to disappoint you."

When I lived in Massachusetts as a child, Lady Slippers grew behind our house. I can't say that I've seen once since then.

One time Checkered and I were boating on Lake St. Clair, and when I pulled my feet out of the water, they had small leeches on them. No, I am NOT going to show you a picture.

Oh, that's gross!! So one more positive L word. Let's see. I was going to say my name, but Caution starts with C!

For more ABC Wednesdays, go here.