Don’t Take Things or People for Granted

 

There are a lot of times where we go about our lives and just do things and expect it to run smoothly. We’re fine when it does and we keep sailing along. But the second something bad happens, many of us freak out. We start screaming and yelling and saying things that are just altogether inappropriate. If something hadn’t interrupted your day, you’d have been fine and probably wouldn’t have noticed what caused your day to be as smooth as it normally is. But when you find out that the world can come to a halt, you are stunned and irate. Have you ever thought about the fact that maybe you should thank the people who do make life go smoothly most of the time? I mean, when things get done and there are no problems, you should really think about it and be grateful! And remember the time when it wasn’t like this. And then thank the people who caused it to go so smoothly. While it may be their job to make things run efficiently, it would be nice for others to acknowledge them from time to time. I know I have certainly felt that way before. I have been in jobs where the only time I got feedback was when the bottom dropped out. That’s not a great strategy for keeping up morale for the workplace or in friendships.

The moral of the story is that people want to feel valued, valuable, appreciated, respected, etc. Is it really that hard?

 

I took a chance

 

I have talked about making changes. Today I decided to do something. I wrote an “article” and submitted it to a local women’s monthly magazine. They may or may not like it. But know what? I finally wrote something besides my blog. Initially I went to their website and sent them a quick email just stating that I had an article written that I would like to submit for review. They responded very positively within an hour to my message. As soon as I got the response, I emailed back with my piece. It’s just a short piece, only 600 words. It’s a small, local magazine for women so they don’t do huge articles. I hope they want it. I would love for them to say YES!

But anyway…it was a chance.

 

Which Box Do You Mark?

 

 

 

wedding rings (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

When I fill out paperwork and it’s something that asks if I am single, married, divorced, or widowed I always wonder which box I am supposed to mark. Sometimes I can check more than once, but if I am filling the form out online, I can only choose one. So which one? I was married. I am divorced. I am single. So do I choose single? Do I choose divorced? And for the record, my divorce was over a decade ago so it feels like the marriage almost never really even happened. And then to further complicate things, what if I married the guy, divorced him, remarried him, and he passed away? Then which box would I choose? See the dilemma? It’s not so easy, is it?! Would you be divorced, widowed, married, single? And sometimes does it even matter? I mean, unless I am doing something where a spouse/mate/partner needs to help make the decision, I don’t think it has much bearing. But why all the freaking confusion?!

 

Anyone else confused? So which box do you mark?

 

So Nothing Makes Sense

Sense (album) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I ran across a saying from e.e. cummings that states that “Unless you love someone, nothing else makes sense.” Maybe this is right. Maybe it is wrong. Life often doesn’t make sense to me. But this saying bothered me. I think we often put too much value on being in love. Maybe he meant just caring/loving someone. Most people would look at that saying, though, and assume that it was about being in love.

So does that mean if you’re not in love that you just don’t matter? I think the world acts that way a lot. You’re pretty much irrelevant if you aren’t married or in a relationship. Those relationships define you in more ways than you know. It’s as if you are a better person or worth more if you are married or in a relationship. You have more credibility. If you’re single, people tend to just overlook you and act like “What do they know? They’re alone!” (Like it is the plague.)

Some days single life is good. I don’t have to consider another human in life decisions. Life is about me. Other times, I wish there was someone to help with life decisions. But the fact of the matter is that life doesn’t make sense most of the time to me in general. When I was single, life didn’t make sense. When I was married, life didn’t make sense. When I was divorced, life didn’t make sense. So nothing makes sense.

Related articles

• e.e cummings and the fight for self (marissamullins.me)
• ee’s cumming to e.e. cummings (eroticexploration.wordpress.com)
• How to Be Who You Are (unityinhealing.wordpress.com)
• Impressions of a Quirky E.E. Cummings Poem (workingsandbox.com)

Forgotten

Sometimes I feel like third shift makes me forgotten. You know how absence makes the heart grow fonder for some people? I sometimes don’t feel that way. People don’t see me because there is just no time and they just forget me. And it is hard to keep up. I have a hard time talking to them because usually when I am awake they are asleep. And when they’re awake, I should be asleep. It makes life hard. Some of these relationships probably should have gone away and others…well I don’t know what to say about them. I miss some people. It does make me wonder if they miss me. I know that some people don’t know exactly when they can call or whatever. That’s fine. It’s a hard schedule. But they could text or send an email once in a while. It would make me realize they haven’t completely forgotten me. Oh well. I guess some of them haven’t forgotten.