Musings

9/11/20 ~ Fear. What is fear? I’ve been struggling with it lately. Well, in all honesty – for a long time. It’s hard to admit. As a kid, I was fearless. I would play under the deck in the dirt, among the spiders (gasp!) and other crawlies. When I was older, I wanted to make some money, so I made some flyers and put them in my neighbors mailboxes, offering my babysitting services. Not that I ever had babysat. My parents didn’t know I had done that. They were quite surprised when one of our neighbors came to the door to take my up on my offer. The looks on their faces! And, I was such an introvert. How did I do that??

Now, I’m living my dream of being a writer. I am so damned lucky. And so damned afraid. All the what-ifs. ALL the what-ifs. How, as adults, when we, for the most part, have our shit together, feel afraid of the unknown. Not of the ghosties and monsters under the bed (the dust bunnies have waged war and scared them all out by now at my house!), but of the new job? Even though it’s the one we want. The hesitancy of trying a new hobby? Even though we’ve always wanted to try it. The new neighbor who waves hello every day? We want to know what they want. Is it the cynicism we learn as an adult? We doubt everything, and ultimately, ourselves?

There are a million (maybe more!) books on how to overcome… – well, you name it – it’s out there. Our common sense reminds us, if we fail, so what. We will not actually die if we try painting, or say hello to that new neighbor. Our current isolation is making this much worse for some. Reach out. We can’t give in to the boogie man. Even the ones of our own making.

12/16/19 ~ I worked on my Christmas cards recently, and came across and old family friend’s address. I have lost touch with them, they live in another state, and have moved from the address I had. They have also changed email addresses, phone numbers, etc. Don’t know if they purposely tried to eliminate their own electronic trail, or just life. I miss them, they are good people. the kind you want in your life. The kind you’d trust your kids with. They have a son, and had a daughter. She, I will write more on later. She was one of the kindest and bravest people I’ve ever known.

I, by chance, googled their address, and that’s how I had found they sold their house, so, I wrote an email to the realty who had handled the sale. Explaining how I knew their clients, and how very much I wanted to connect with them again. I did get a response from the realtor asking which particular property I was referencing (I had forgotten that part!), but have heard nothing since. Maybe the writing of this, the putting it out into the universe, will somehow get to them, and we will find each other again.

Is there anyone in your life you wish to connect to again? Let’s talk about it.

10/28/19 ~ It’s fall here in Michigan, seasons changing, things ending, things beginning. Depending on where you are in the world, these seasonal changes may lift you up or bring you down. The amount of light in the day changing. The leaves sunny and golden today, temp’s to reach the low 60’s. May be the last day we get to feel this warmth for months. How do you handle the seasonal changes? Do you embrace them? Do you fight against them, craving more light? Or do you dive into the darkness? Share with us, let’s talk.

Archives

9/25/19  Do you still go shopping in the traditional sense? Pack the family, or just yourself, and head to the mall? Or have you switched completely to home delivery? Or a mix of both?

I have to admit, the home delivery option is nice, convenient. But, I sometimes almost feel like a recluse, just waiting for whatever it may be to show up – the only human connection I might get that day. And, it’s not much of a connection. s/he doesn’t have time for idle chit-chat, or to even talk about the weather.

Not that if you head out to store of choice, your there making bff’s. But at least there are other human’s there doing human things. And, I think, this is how I should shop – support the local retailer selling cute local products. I usually have a good experience there, they know their stuff, and are happy to talk with you, about their products, about your pet or your Aunt Matilda. Then you go to a chain store, and see why the online retailers/home delivery retailers are winning.

Bad customer service. They don’t know where anything is, are usually grumpy, and act like you are a bother. Really?? This is really the only thing that stands between success and defeat in today’s marketplace – the people that work behind the counter, that wander the aisles.

One of my first jobs was for a retailer, I know customers can be jerks sometimes. But, you don’t know what their coming from, or going to. YOU may be the highlight of their day. Smile, it will lighten their load, and, most likely, yours.

9/18/19  Are you ready for fall? The colors, the cider mills, kids back in school, craft shows gearing up towards the holidays. Do the changes inspire you or do they make you sad because we lose the light, darker mornings and evenings? Or is fall your favorite season? Tell us what you like, or what you don’t!

I found a Canadian goose on a hot day in July, she was sitting beside the road, so of course I was worried about her getting hit by a car. I approached her slowly, she didn’t move, so I knew something was wrong. I got about a yard from her before she got up and I could see her leg was badly injured. She was very near a small pond which is filled with turtles so I thought maybe one had bitten her, or she had been hit by a car. She started to hop away, I backed up, no need to stress her out.

I started calling every entity I could think of, emergency services, rescue sites, the local DNR. Of course this was a Sunday, so many places were closed. The emergency services couldn’t come out unless she was in the road. Understandable. The one rescue site that answered, doesn’t come out. I needed to catch her and bring her to them. I’ve had animals my whole life, but that doesn’t mean I know how to catch a wild animal that can possibly take flight – and that I could potentially injure further! Ugh.

And then there was the DNR. In my state, like many, the state promotes it’s natural beauty, and the many things you can do, the lakes, the trails, etc. I believe the variety of animals who live within it are part of that natural beauty, and should be protected and aided as necessary. They nab poachers (good thing), but do not come to the aid of injured animals. Huh? Am I missing something? Why not? They certainly have hundreds, if not thousands of employees (tried finding exact number, as of this writing, was unable) – why could they not have at least one employee in each jurisdiction (if not more!) trained to assist in situations like this? I am happy to take Lucy (what I was calling Miss Goose) to a rehab facility, but a little unsure of how to catch her, without further injuring her. Especially since there is not one rehab facility in my county, it seems their expertise would be invaluable.

My neighbor saw me outside making calls and stopped to see what was going on. He’s and older gentleman, long retired, explained the situation, he said his son would help catch Lucy and he would take her & myself to rehab facility. In his new convertible muscle car. We didn’t catch her, he did take me for a quick ride, wherein he tried to kill me – but that’s a story for another day!

I put some food near where Lucy had been, had a restless night and the next morning, she was back by the road. I started a new round of calling additional rehab places, did finally find one that would come out – but they wanted a video. They wanted to make sure that she didn’t have arthritis. I explained again about the bad angle of her leg, about the flies all over it. They still wanted a video. I guess I can understand, they were coming from a bit of a distance. So I went to video Lucy, and she was nowhere to be found. I looked for days, never saw her again.

I had seen her fly a short distance, I had seen her eat. I can only hope that she mended enough to move to a better, safer location. That she found some feathered friends and is living her best life.

Have you ever had any interactions with the DNR in your area? Do they assist injured animals?