“The Dog” Journal
Welcome to the Dog Journal, a blog where I periodically share my best finds for taming those puppies that gnaw at your planner.
Could be a quick time management tip, a smell-the-flowers moment, a comment overheard on the elevator. Whatever the inspiration, I hope you’ll blog right along with me by commenting and sharing your tips and stories for taming an overbooked life.
Advice From Dad
My dad’s been gone for more than a decade, and though he was an avid computer user up to the end, he was also a very private person. The thought of my writing about him here on Fathers Day would have prompted a serious talk. “Do what you want,” he would have said. “Just leave me out of it.”
In deference to his imagined request, I will not write about him here – only about his advice – the two pieces that have especially stuck through the years. So here, from my dad…
It only takes one. This refers to those times when we want someone or something to come into our lives, but the statistics are against us. For example, selling a house in the current market. If you told my dad the odds of finding a home buyer were against you, he would say, “It only takes one,” usually followed by his five recurring words of encouragement: “Don’t get your dauber down.” Whatever a dauber is.
You can’t build a fence around her. This sage observation was actually traded back and forth by both my parents so often that it’s hard to know which one started it. But it refers to those times, now popularly known as helicopter parenting, when a parent wants to jump in and stomp on a child’s passion to do something that could be a little bit dangerous. This one came up for me just yesterday when the youngest boarded a plane for six weeks in Israel. “You can’t build a fence around her,” my dad reminded me. I gave her a hug and told her to have a great time.
Thanks, Dad. I think.
Buy Yourself Flowers
I’m not sure why the cashier at Trader Joe’s wanted to know, but I’m glad he asked in front of a crowd:
“These flowers are BEAUTIFUL! Are they for you or a friend?”
“ME!” I announced, happy to share a bit of personal philosophy. “I buy some every week.”
Admittedly, there are exceptions. There are some weeks in summer – not arrived yet – when I’ve actually grown some worth cutting and putting inside.
But for years I’ve splurged on a bouquet and never been sorry. The color, the symmetry of the petals are nature’s reminders that beauty and balance are possible.
Be A Water Baby
For several years before my mom died, we did the typical role reversal – child parenting parent. Now that she’s gone, I’m delighted to notice she’s back – parenting to the max in my head. She would be happy to know this, I think, because she had so many opinions and much good advice.
I thought of her this weekend when Taylor, my granddaughter, took her first splash in a backyard baby pool. It was just like mama said – “put a child in water and it’s calming.” Once out of the pool, Miss Tay took a plenty long snooze.
Same with my visit to a lake up near Cleveland. Listening to the water pound the rocks with the window open, and voila! Instant sleep.
Whether it’s rain on the roof, a real ocean, or one on CD, give mama’s advice a try if you’re stressed. Be a water baby.
Weight Watchers Lessons
At Weight Watchers yesterday, I gained more than the one extra pound I expected. Kathy, the ever-cheerful leader, shared a story I needed to hear.
Seems that one of her star “losers” had gone to an annual national conference for work and was looking forward to the compliments she’d receive for losing 50 pounds (!) since the last one.
She came home disappointed and hurt. Nobody noticed. Nobody said a thing! A few days later, though, she received a call from one of the women at the conference.
“Are you all right?” she wanted to know. “We were all so worried that you’d been sick.”
Lessons learned: Sometimes we let the dog eat our planners when we’re too quick to interpret others’ responses. AND who cares about that extra pound? Think of all the worry I’m saving my friends.
