Open Mouth, Insert Foot

Surely I am not the only person who has ever done this. There you are, small group of people, just visiting and having a good time…. And before you know it, something inappropriate or offensive has flown out of your mouth. Now it is beyond your control – the damage is done. No amount of apologizing or backtracking can take it back. You can’t fix it.

A) Do you at least try to fix it?

or

B) Do you just skim right on over it hoping no one heard you or at least didn't take offense to it?

Age old problem.

My knee-jerk reaction to my own guffaw was to keep right on going. Pretend like it didn’t happen. Hoped no one would take personal offense. Not sure it worked, but it seemed like the best choice at the time. Meanwhile, I have stewed and worried myself silly about it. Ridiculous.

I tried to put myself in the receiving end of my own comment. It occurred to me that I have been there many times. The exact same comment! Why am I so worried that I said the same thing this time, yet I am expected to take it from someone else over and over? Well, because I don’t care if others offend me, I am not going to let two wrongs make a right.

Self-respect, patience and a desire to avoid confrontation will take you a long way. So in the future, I will not be willing to discuss race, gender, or similar types of stereotypical subjects. Don't engage me. I will just have to stay away from subjects where political correctness is required.

Whew! I feel lots better.

And PS - this happened several weeks ago. It's ancient history. :)

What is today?

Of course, it is Women's Equality Day!

Ninety years after the ratification of the 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote, we still earn 77 cents to every one dollar that a man makes.  Crazy.

Let's keep fighting the good fight.  Let's celebrate how far we've come.  Yay for everyone that believes in equality!

Too Hot Tuesday

Welcome to my blog.  I make the rules.  When the temperature outside exceeds 102 degrees on any given day, I reserve the right to decide not to post.

And guess what?  103 degrees.  Sorry.  It is too hot to post today. 

Maybe tomorrow.

4th of July - delayed posting

We had a fun and relaxed 4th of July.  Gant was in town, and so we kind of celebrated his birthday since he won't be here on the actual day later this month...

It was a plenty warm day.  But the sky was blue and full of fluffy, photogenic clouds.  We had probably 7 cameras among the 8 of us....  so we snapped and snapped away!

 
We just kept snapping.  And posing.  You never know when you are going to get that phenomenal picture.  You don't!  So we kept trying....

And here were the wonderful red velvet cupcakes, made specially for the occasion by Cups, LLC.

And it just wouldn't have been the Fourth of July without some sparklers and a few fireworks! 

And we had a very patriotic and festive Fourth of July, 2010!

How lucky am I?

I cannot help but think about my freedoms this weekend.  No matter how hard I try, I will never be able to fully comprehend the benefits of the freedoms I enjoy.  I am so lucky.

I am not going to be a member of the military and serve my country on the other side of the world, so I won't see what those people have done for me.  I wasn't born in a third world country with the odds stacked against me, so I can't imagine what it would be like to sleep on the ground every night, or obligated to carry a heavy basket of something or other on my head.  I just haven't had to pay the ultimate price, personally.  My uncle gave his life in service.  Mike's uncle did the same.

So because I am free, I can see the world.  I can go anywhere in my little town that I want, whenever I want to go.  As a matter of fact, I can go anywhere in the world!  And while I am able to go wherever I want to go, I am able to see loads of things.  And what I see, might be different than what you would see.  Even though we are looking at the exact same thing....

I am okay with you seeing something different than what I see.  Totally fine with it.  I think it is what makes the world go round.  It is a really big world.  There's enough room for all of us. 

Be a citizen of the world.