Preservation of Life

I have never considered myself to be an environmental advocate. The carbon footprint I leave behind on a daily basis is probably larger than it should be. It's not that I am actively and deliberately destroying the planet. I just comply when it's convenient. If I have to go out of my way or spend more money to be green, it just doesn't happen. Hell, if Johnny Appleseed saw the package of paper plates sitting in my pantry right now, I'm certain he would have just thrown in the towel on his whole tree planting venture. The environment, however, is a cause that I could get behind. Living in Seattle really helped me to appreciate this effort a little more. The beauty of the trees and the mountains and the environment that has been protected is amazing. With all of that being said, I find it interesting when my children make choices to take steps to protect the environment since this is not a point that I emphasize on a daily basis.
The environment is one thing, animals are another. I would never begin to say that I care in any way for animals. Now, I don't promote cruelty to animals by any means. I would never tolerate any type of abuse. But, I am going to eat cheeseburgers and chicken and steak and I will NEVER feel an ounce of guilt. My father has always been into hunting. So, this is just something with which I will always be ok. Well, I have recently discovered that my son, apparently, is against killing animals. You would never know this by watching what he eats. You would never know this by his lack of desire to tend to his one pet that he owns. Actually, until yesterday, I was completely unaware.
We have more flies in our house right now due to my youngest daughter constantly leaving the doors open. So, I was swatting flies as I was attempting to get ready yesterday morning. I finally got to the point where I yelled for my son and told him that it was his job that day to get rid of every fly in the house. So, he began by attempting to capture with his bare hands the fly that had been annoying me all morning. After observing this bafoonery for a few moments, I finally asked him how that was working out for him. Just as these words left my lips, wouldn't you know it, he caught the stupid thing. I just rolled my eyes and told him to throw it away and wash his hands. Instead, he left the room. When he came back in a few seconds later, I asked him if he threw it away. "He wasn't dead so I threw him outside." he replied. "I don't like killng things." Well, this was news to me. So, I immediately attempt to show him the holes in this new resolve of his by coming back with, "So....you aren't planning on going hunting with grandpa when he wants to take you?" My son is very intelligent. Sometimes he is smarter than I would like for him to be. He's also very quick. Like his mother, he's not usually one of those people who leaves a conversation only to think of all of the good things that he could have said when it's too late. He's on it. So, I was prepared for him to fully defend his position. I didn't have anything better to do with my time than to argue with my son over this topic. I was ready for just about anything he had to say. Little did I know that there was no preparing for the response that I was about to receive. Never in a million years could I have predicted the words and the conviction that was about to be delivered.
"There's a difference!", he proclaims. So, at this point I am prepared to hear all of the noble facts about killing a deer to include eating the meat for nutrition and using the fur for warmth and whatever else he could possibly find. Once again, however, the child never ceases to amaze me.
"There's a difference! It's not like I'm gonna hang a bug's head on my wall!!"

I've got nothin'!

Confronted with the brutality of reality

I came face to face with a couple of harsh facts about myself. People can say what they say and think what they think but it is all a matter of perception. Some say that perception is reality. The truth is that the perceived reality another person may have of you is, in your perception, not reality. It is simply their perception.....until you are confronted with the reality that their perception truly was the reality all along.
As a Realtor working for a broker who happens to be my father, I am paid commission checks by my mother. I drove to her house to pick up a check and headed straight to the bank. I pulled up to the window at the drivethrough, filled out a checking deposit slip and deposited the entire check into my account. After that I drove home to start on some work. As I began I remembered that I had a bill coming due which would take a huge piece of the money just deposited. I looked online and realized that there were some changes I needed to make to the account which would require a phone call so I decided to just pay it over the phone while I was at it. I took care of my business over the phone and paid the bill. I was still looking at my account information on the website which had the last 4 digits of my checking account listed when the service rep started to read my confirmation number to me. That's when it hit me. This is a fairly new bank account and I still don't have the account number memorized. I never looked at those numbers that day prior to that very moment. So, I panicked and racked my brain in an attempt to figure out what numbers I would have used to fill out the account portion of the deposit slip. Instead of reaching into my purse and pulling out my checkbook to retreive my account number, I decided to use the account number on the check that I was depositing. Yes, I deposited that check right back into the account from which it was written. I am a MORON!! I called the bank but the check had already been sent out so there was nothing they could do. I had only one option. I had to explain my embarassment to my perfect mother (and that's not just my perception).
So, out I go to pick up another check and once again head to the bank. I pull up to the window at the drivethrough and start to fill out the checking deposit slip again. This time I'm smart. I'm not going to make this same mistake twice. I reach into my purse and pull out my check book at which point I decide that a check book is a great surface to use while filling out a deposit slip. So, I fill out the deposit slip and grab the check that I'm depositing so that I, once again, can use it to provide the necessary account information to deposit it. AHHHHHHHH!!!! Fool myself once, I'm a moron. Fool myself twice.....I don't even know. Someone just needs to put me out of my misery! Thankfully I was able to catch my error prior to the transaction taking place this time. However, at this point I'm starting to wonder how I ever made it this far.
After pulling away from the bank I attempt to convince myself that I truly am as smart as I once perceived myself to be and that it must be low blood sugar that drove me to temporary insanity. So, I pull into the McDonald's near my house to order a meal. For some reason, the large fries are always good and the small fries are always good. You order a medium and they're always old. I realize this as I'm pulling away and decide it's worth it to me to turn around and trade them in for some fresh ones. The drivethrough line is ridiculous so I park and run inside. They very quickly replaced my fries and I started to turn and leave when one of the girls behind the counter said, "You decided to dine in today?" I said, "Excuse me?" She then repeated herself and said, "You decided to dine in today? You're my usual drivethrough girl!"
I didn't even attempt to make light of the conversation as I just shook my head in the disgust of self-realization and said, "WOW! I'm really here every day! Aren't I?"
"My usual drivethrough girl" This is my title. I'm a regular. This is the point a person reaches when they start ordering "the usual"!! As if it isn't difficult enough for me to face the fact that I am a complete moron, I now have to just accept that I am a hopeless cause. I am a completely hopeless moron!! It's a good thing I like me.