Remember when Mom said that your actions will come back to bite you ?

As family got together for my uncles funeral, Some could not contain their grief, God Bless them, but there were some who were able to respect my uncle's wish to have a light hearted funeral where everyone got along , celebrating his life instead of mourning his death.Because of this there were some who were talking with everyone. Of course when you talk to people who you usually don't even see, you hear stories that you never heard. Sometimes you can even learn from these stories. One particular story was told that had many shaking their heads and stating that Mom ( no matter who their Mom was ) always said that things can come back to bite you. This story was of a young boy in grade school who was being raised by his mother but really didn't have much contact with his father.There were two other boys in the same class who this boy, for whatever reason, just didn't like and he let these two boys know how he felt by calling them names and occasionally even starting fights with them.Now I have known these two boys, who are a couple years younger than I am , for many years and let's just say that I shouldn't be too hard on the other boy :-) . Anyway this mutual dislike went on for a few years until one day the boy's Mom heard of a fight and who it was with. Instead of a lecture, she decided to teach her son a lesson that he would remember. She contacted his Dad, who she had not spoken to in years and her son barely even knew. Somehow through the grace of God they were able to get along and for the first time since she had the son were able to work together. They set up a time for him to see his Dad who his Mom introduced him giving his whole name. The boy's jaw dropped. His Dad had the same last name as this kid whom he could not stand.Reluctantly he asked, and this enemy was his first cousin , OUCH !Well, the kid thought, at least I'm not related to the other boy who is only his cousin's friend. As God's grace was abundant that day, the father decided that it was time to get to know his son and invited him over to a picnic at his house a few days later. The boy didn't look forward to seeing his cousin as then the cousin would know that they were related too. Oh could this get any worse? Well, the day came and the Boy's Dad picked him up and took him over to his house and introduced him to his Step mother, half brothers and a step brother and step sister. All was well then out walked the second rival , the one who wasn't a cousin,Thank God ! He must be visiting with his cousin the boy thought.Oh well ! The boy looked and looked but didn't see the cousin.Just then his Dad said here is one other person who you need to meet. This is your step brother!
The young man looked at the ground as he told this story and at the end said; Yep , Mom always said to watch because some things will come back to bite you on the butt ! However I am proud to report that I have made peace with both my Step Brother and cousin and am a much better person today. What a story, and it is true.( I could not make this type of thing up) Thank you to our Cousin for sharing !

Is it ever OK to be rude ?

Over the weekend I heard a story that I had never heard before. It started with a baby being born out of wedlock quite a few years ago. From what I understand the father ( who was an adult at the time) didn't deny the child but for what ever reason decided not to marry the baby's Mother nor give the baby his name.The father did however maintain a relationship with the child .I understand that the mother and this baby lived close to a lady whom I have known and respected for many years who just happened to be the paternal grandmother of this baby.Now as many of you remember, back in that day this sort of thing was not acceptable at all. This being said one day this woman who I deeply respect was walking to the neighborhood store when the mother of her son's baby approached her and asked if she cared to see her grandson. As the story goes this woman in no uncertain terms commented "no" as she quickly kept walking. The person telling the story, who was accompanying this woman to the store that day made a point of mentioning how rude this woman was to her grandson's Mother. I was shocked that this woman had it in her to be rude to anyone let alone someone who had done nothing but offer her the chance to meet her grandson. The person telling the story noticed my shock and explained that this just was not acceptable and this woman simply didn't want anything to do with the whole thing. I guess that considering the time I can almost understand her reaction but I can not grasp where she felt justified to be rude.
This story has me thinking of many cases where people have been rude not only to me or to someone I know but people in general as well as times that I may have been the least bit rude to anyone. I now question is this ever OK ?
A couple weeks back I was reading an open comments Catholic blog where Natural family planning was discussed. A couple woman chimed in to admit that they struggled with natural family planning until they felt that they could not any longer and decided to undergo sterilization procedures or use birth control. Now it is no secret that the Catholic church sees both birth control and sterilization procedures as sinful, and quite a few of the Catholic church's most self righteous were all over these women rudely bashing and condemning them . Now I understand that there are many Catholics( as well as Christians and many other religious groups)out there who feel that God has called them to spread his word by self righteously telling everyone else what they are doing that God doesn't like , be it abortion, birth control,homosexuality, or whatever. The part that I find funny is that these people are the worst examples of good and rightiousness that there is , and they want to fix everyone but themselves. Anyway, these people see no problem with being extremely rude to others. I guess that they feel entitled but it makes me ask again is there ever justified reason to be rude ?
I guess the bottom line is that I don't think that there is ever justification for rudeness. If something truly needs to be said ( and many times trust me, your idea of what needs to be said, really doesn't)it can be said with love. Rudeness never helps anything.It will not take away what is ( your son having a child out of wedlock )It will not bring people closer to God, ( rudely informing them that they are big fat sinners )It will not accomplish anything ! So next time you get in a huff over some one's words or actions, maybe you will think of today's words and decide to forgo the rudeness. It may just make things better for all involved.

Flower drama

This morning after dropping the boys off at Karate, I headed to our local flower shop to order funeral flowers. Once inside I asked if they delivered to the funeral home that is being used. Not usually was the answer but because someone else (my cousin who also lives in this town thirty minutes tops from the funeral home)had ordered them, we will do it.Great, I thought I proceeded to pick out a dish garden but a nice floral arrangement caught my eye . I looked at both, thought for a minute and made a decision. OK I walked back to the counter and told the clerk that I wanted the arrangement with a ribbon that said uncle. She rung it up. The total was more than twenty dollars over what I had estimated, so I asked. Oh I was told, there is the ten dollar delivery fee( yes I counted that) and then the wiring fee. Wiring fee???? I asked. Why yes that is not our delivery area. OK, I said confused but you said you would deliver them since you had multiple orders. Well we can't the clerk informed me in an annoyed voice. OK well then I will call the shop thirty minutes away and order direct, I told her. She threw her pen down and stormed into the back room.
Gee, I thought as I left ,I didn't mean to be rude. but I did ask if they would deliver before taking up my time as well as hers to make a selection and she told me that they would and never once corrected herself telling me not to waste my time that whatever I wanted would have to be wired anyway. Yes I should be the annoyed one but I didn't throw anything and storm off, even after the rude lady left me at the counter following her rude exit. Anyway I came home, looked up a shop near the funeral home and called. The lady was happy to take my custom order and charge my credit card( significantly less than the other store to boot ). She also waived the delivery charge since she had other orders going the same place. I thanked her as I hung up but wonder does she realize how good her business educate made me feel ? Not that she did anything for me that she doesn't do for all her customers, but the lack of hassle made me feel special. Maybe that is why her small shop has survived . Anyway, Thank you Sunflower seed shop. I appreciate you accepting my business with a smile !

May the soul of Uncle Glen and the souls of all the faithfully departed, through the mercy of God, rest in Peace.

Last night at a few minutes before nine o'clock , Mom called. She had just gotten the call from one of her sisters that Uncle Glen had passed away at eight thirty that evening. Your prayers for his wife Sharon,four children, three step children, grandchildren,great grand children, Brothers ,sisters, & everyone else who knew and loved him are appreciated.

Eating a DQ cupcake by Robby age 12 today

All in how you look at it !

I didn't have much hope that today would be a good day last night at eleven o'clock when I was just crawling into bed. I was pretty sure that today would not be a good day when I awoke at one AM dreaming that the alarm went off . The feeling stayed the same, if not worse, when the alarm did go off at three AM. I grumbled a bit as I thanked God for the overtime pay that he was giving Mike as I stumbled to the kitchen to pack his lunch, cook his breakfast, and make his thirty four ounce mug of espresso. When the cappuccino pot would not turn on I knew that this could not be a good day but soon I realized that all I needed to do was reset the outlet ( gotta love those modern safety features)I got Mike off to work and watched the women's gold metal volley ball match as I contemplated what to do next.Finally I decided that another hour of sleep was what I needed to do. Once up, I asked Robby what he wanted for his Birthday dinner expecting him to want to eat out or have burgers or something like that . What did he want ..... Pasta. Now pasta as most of you know is one of my least favorite foods but I made it for him and skipped dinner. Since Cindy is working tonight and Mike has to be up at three AM again tomorrow, we decided to have Robby's Birthday Cake tomorrow and have Grandma, Grandpa, Nanny & Pops over . Because of this we needed something tonight so we went to Dairy Queen and got Robby a DQ cupcake and the rest of us PB parfaits. Since I skipped dinner, I also ordered a couple chilly dogs for me and Mike who always has room for a chilly dog. The boys were offered one too but declined. We came home , ate, and now as I am looking at the clock to see how long till bed time, I realize, today wasn't so bad after all.

Happy Birthday Robby !

Twelve years ago today God blessed us with you And we will always be grateful !
You will always be my Baby Boy and I will always love you as much as the day you were born. Have a Great Birthday and an even more wonderful year !