Judgment Day

As I’ve gotten older I realized I don’t want to “fit in”.  I am who I am and you either like me or you don’t.  I’m a good person, I try to help and be good to others.  Do I always succeed? No.  Do I always do the right thing? No.  But do I try? Yes.  Don’t get me wrong I like people and I want them to like me but I’m not 16 anymore.  I’m not going to change and be someone I’m not just so I can have you as a friend.  If my life were to end right now what could you say about me?  Well, the most important thing you could say is “She was a good wife, mother and friend”.  And if that was all you could say about me, it would be okay.

 

I have very strong opinions and I’m not afraid to tell you, if you ask.  But I don’t shove my opinions down your throat and I don’t insult your beliefs.  I feel everyone is entitled to their beliefs without fear of judgment.  I do not choose my friends based on their color, religion, ethnicity, sex, choice of partner, amount of income or any other prejudice – I choose them based on whether or not they are a good person and hold certain values. 

 

Certainly there are people I don’t like but instead of being friends with them and talking behind their backs, I just won’t be their friend.  Life is too short (and sometimes too hard) to surround yourself with negative people.   I want to surround myself with people I can trust and count on when I need them.  I have very few “best” friends, in fact I have 3 of them.  I know if I needed anything I could call any one of the three and they would be there for me.  If any one of them needed me I to would do whatever I could to help.  I have a lot of friends and acquaintances, they are all very important to me too.  I value all of my friends, besides my family they are what make life interesting and worth living.

 

I guess what I’m trying to say is, choose your friends wisely.  I would rather have a few well chosen friends than be that person who has 1000 Facebook friends.  Really, I don’t know that many people!   And if you are going to be a friend to someone, leave your judgments at the door.  Be a good friend.  Enjoy all that being a friend and having a friend can be.  Be nice to people and the people who aren’t nice?  Well, give them a wide berth…

Dog days....

I can't believe how long it's been since I have stopped to write.  There always seems to be something else left to do around here, right now it's 10:30 p.m. and I still need to fold clothes and finish the dinner dishes.  So much has happened since my last post; Thanksgiving, Christmas, the New Year, Louisa's 7th birthday and we got a dog.  Yep, we got a dog.  This may not sound like such a huge thing to some people but to me it's more than huge.  I had a cat for a few years when I was young and a rabbit when I was 20 something; but other than that, no pets.  I'm allergic to everything, my husband jokes I'm allergic to water - which isn't so far from the truth.  The funniest thing I was allergic to was our first Christmas tree.  I had never had a real tree before so when Matt and I got married he wanted me to have one.  He drug home this huge 12' tree and proceeded to hack off a foot of it so we could squeeze it into the house (think Clark Griswold).  Every day at work I was fine but every night when I would come home I couldn't breath and my eyes would water.  Finally one of my cousins told me it was the mold in the tree I was reacting to, it never dawned on me it was the tree. 

Anyway, when we were at my sister's house for Thanksgiving Marty was having so much fun with her dog he didn't even want to come in to eat.  Matt and I were watching him and he said we needed to get a dog.  Um, hello? Allergic!  I told him there was no way we could get a dog, end of story.  After Christmas he went to see one of his customers who happened to be a Vet. He asked the doctors if there were any dogs we could possibly get, well long story short....  he won me over.  It wasn't easy, I thought (and thought and thought and worried and worried and wondered) for about a month before I finally gave in.  I did a lot of research and talked to tons of people and then finally found our little puppy.  I have never been an animal person.  Not because I don't like them but because it's always been so uncomfortable to be around animals, I won't even touch them at a petting zoo!  The last time I touched an animal had to be 20 years ago, it just wasn't worth my eyes swelling shut and not being able to breath. 

We decided on a Bichon and boy did we get lucky.  We got Scout about a month ago and he is the best dog.  I am so in love with this little puppy, it's almost sickening!  He has been such a great addition to our family.  It's one of those "I didn't know because I didn't know" kinda things.  And I'm happy to say my allergies are fine, well as far as the dog goes - the weather is another story.  The funny thing is I read somewhere that this breed of dog can also be allergic to dust.  I guess we are a match made in heaven!

And as a side note, the homeschooling is still going great!