I’m not a “pretty” crier.  My eyes turn red, swell and hurt.  My nose turns red and runs like a faucet.  My cheeks get puffy and I look horrible.  Of course, then there is the head ache that follows, along with the tiredness and apathy.

It Takes A Lot To Make Me Cry

I have spent hours, days, weeks and months crying over the years.  I have cried so much that I actually started getting mad just so I wouldn’t cry anymore.  I have also learned to hide behind my dragons to protect myself.

Why am I talking about crying today?  Because I have spent the last 36 hours either crying or trying not to cry.  So much has happened in the last week that it will take me time to work my way through it all.  I will also, probably, be crying off and on for a while yet.  Ugh!

Life Is What Happens When You Make Other Plans

Life is not a race or a destination.  It is a journey.  Yeah, yeah, yeah, I hear this all the time.  Life happens.  A lot.  Sometimes several times a day.  Some days I just want off the merry-go-round.

I have had more opportunities for growth and character building this week than I wanted.  Life, however, doesn’t always give us the option.  After whining, complaining and throwing tantrums for several days I sucked it up and did it.  Yes, I even enjoyed myself.  But that doesn’t mean I liked it.

Mile Stones and Pot Holes

We all strive to reach the milestones in life.  We graduate high school.  We go to college.  We get a job.  We get married and have children.  We have a career.  Etcetera, etcetera.  What we don’t understand is that these are not mile stones.  These are just social markers for the pot holes in life.

Pot holes are not bad, they just provide a lot of opportunity to reach the true milestones.

• Perseverance and patience are milestones that leap-frog each other through life.  Every time we think we’ve reached them they move farther off.
• Tolerance is accepting people for who they are and not trying to make them like us.  It is a milestone that often feels like we have to carry it with us.  Even if it is just to hit some idiot over the head when they get in our face.
• Acceptance is not tolerance.  Acceptance is the ability to take current circumstances and make the best of them without tantrums or pity parties.
• Forgiveness is not a milestone, per se, it is a series of mile markers that can guide us to happiness, joy and peace.

I have had a lot of opportunities this last week to explore some big pot holes in my life.  It will probably take me a long time to fill these in.  They are deep and painful.  They are also fiercely guarded by Bip, Pots and the twins.  It is not a bad thing because it keeps me from falling in.  But it does make it difficult to fill them in.

A toast to pot holes!  Pass the chocolate.