The Little Annoyances...

... are the ones that have historically gotten me the most upset; but somehow that seems to be changing somewhat. Yes I still get upset the most by petty, mostly inconsequential, things that have a way of getting under my skin like: no soap in the shower and I'm already soaking wet, ditto for no shampoo, things moved from where I last put them so I can't find them easily, things I put somewhere other than I thought so I cannot find them easily, nothing ready to eat when I am hungry after a day at the office, traffic jams when I am in no particular hurry to get anywhere, being late when I want to get somewhere on time (usually caused by me), and the list goes on and on. Most of the time I would take out my frustrations by getting angry, and vociferous about it.

I am getting better though. I have been trying for years, and I guess it isn't easy to change a lifetime of the wrong way of thinking and reacting to things, but I am doing it slowly and surely. Today for example, just before getting ready to leave for work, I took the dogs for a quick spin in the back yard to answer nature's call. I pulled the door closed behind me and there was the problem - it closed all the way and locked. Not too worry, I went to look for the ever ready spare key that was ever so cleverly hidden in the super-duper secret hiding place; but of course, it was not there. Yes I got mad, for a moment, but no screaming, no name calling, no muttering (well a little muttering maybe), and I went around the house to see if any of the windows were left open. Sure they were not, except of course for the bathroom window that was about 20 feet over my head! Oh well, I tried to see if any of the basement windows had been left unlocked, so I could open one and squeeze in and lower myself to the basement floor hopefully without killing myself - nope no luck there. What to do? Maybe I could call the wife from a neighbor's house and ask her to come home and let me, the knucklehead who had slammed the door shut behind himself, into the house. As luck would have it, no neighbors were home.

What to do? I checked the mailbox. No one had gotten the mail yesterday, another past pet peeve of mine, but this was good. There was the local rag for me to read. So I sat down next to the two dogs, hoping the one left in the house was not peeing all over the carpet, and I read the paper. Then I thought, why not water the lawn, so I set the sprinkler and went back to reading. Once of twice, I got up to move the sprinkler. The paper was not very interesting, our local one usually isn't, so once done with it I set about watering the potted plants using a watering can so it would kill more time than using the hose. Done with that in too soon a time, I sat back with the dogs, and almost as soon as I sat, they perked up looking toward the front of the house. That usually means one thing, the wife is home or soon to be home. A few seconds later, our car pulls up and out pops the bride. She was kind enough to let me into the house without haranguing me for being a jerk and locking myself out for the better part of two hours in the first place.

So I did better today let's say than I would have done 2 years ago, much better. I was even pleasant to my wife when she arrived instead of venting on her. All I did was asked where the spare key was located, and she told me that the son of ours probably had it, and I imagine I can deal with that later by getting another super secret spare key to be hidden away in a super secret ultimate hiding place of which only I will know the hiding spot. Why I have never thought of this before, after having been locked out more than a few times, is beyond me. I guess all that getting upset blinded me, maybe that is why they call it 'blind rage'. Oh well, I have learned a little bit about how to control my emotions, and usually it centers on doing something else to distract myself - or simply walking away from whatever it is that might get me upset. Not walking away forever, just when I am getting upset, maybe even only on the mental level, sort of like Ralph Kramden when he would say: "Pins and Needles, Needles and Pins, Its the Happy Man That Grins"; then he would grin and count to ten. It works, really it does!

Now the back lawn is watered, the potted plants are watered, the dogs got to go (and the other one inside held it in), I filled the bird feeders, I read the local paper, the dogs and I got to bask in the sunshine of a beautiful and warm day, the dogs and I listened to the birds singing, and I missed work and a doctor's appointment. Yes I caled in to reschedule the appointment, and I called in to work take a vacation day because I had wasted too much of today locked out of my house, and it probably would not have been the best idea for me to drive into Manhattan and then deal with 6 hours of work after having recovered so nicely from my little annoyance. So maybe I had best make this a worthwhile day at home and get something else done.

All the best,
Glenn B