suddenlysinglewomen

Ahhhh yes – the rumble strips of life.

What’s a rumble strip you ask?

Think of them as those annoying speed bumps that the city puts down to keep you from speeding.  Some of them are bone jarring.  Yes they slow you down but they’re annoying as . . . .

Well, you get the picture!

So I was sitting here contemplating the rumble strips of my life lately.   I wonder (and long for) when I might have a day where absolutely nothing goes wrong?

Without sounding too whiny, don’t you wish you could experience a day where everything just  . . . works??

There’s always a blasted light bulb out, but of course, it’s one in the vaulted ceiling.  Your cable box only sends you error messages and the cable companies answer?  Unplug it.  Seriously?  You have a huge rain storm and your roof leaks . . . again . . . and the water stain shows up where you JUST HAD IT PAINTED !@#$%^&*?

You decide to try a blind date again, even though you’ve sworn off dating EVER AGAIN – and the dude wants you to pay for your own lemonade and he just orders water.  Your plants die from lack of water, your plants die from too much water.  Your plants die.

Your senior dog can no longer “hold it” and you come home to yet another “accident” on the rug you’ve had cleaned so many times that the next one will cause it to fall apart.  You can’t afford a new one.

You receive a bill in the mail, and five days later a nasty email that says you’re 30 days past due?  HUH??  And while we’re on the subject of the United State Postal Service, can you believe that after you stock up on “Forever Stamps” before they raise the price, that they now have lowered it??  Double Seriously??

I could go on, but that would just be fruitless (like those Meyer lemon trees in my backyard) because complaining isn’t going to help.  I just have to accept and tolerate that my life is full of rumble strips and maybe a handful of . . .

Oh yeah, my M&M bowl is empty.  SIGH!!

“Yield.”

My first thought with this word, or concept, was as it pertains to traffic and operating a motor vehicle.   I’m thinking I remember that we’re to yield to the right, or you yield to the car already in the intersection or a traffic circle, or the pedestrian in the crosswalk.  Slowing down to yield could save a life, or at the very least avoid a heavy repair bill.  But people don’t.

My second thought with this word was regarding certain political speeches where they “yield” the floor, but that doesn’t equate to agreeing to the other side’s point of view.   It’s politeness in politics.  (is that an oxymoron?)  But in most situations, people don’t.

My third thought was how it pertains to an argument or a fight.  To yield is, in essence, to give in or give up.  In our society, we’re built on competition and thrive on winning.  To yield would mean to lose – and that’s never looked upon favorably.  I don’t know many people who care to yield to a fight, once they’re in it.

In the equestrian world, there’s such a thing as a leg yield.  It’s simple, it’s just gently pressing against the side of your horse with the inside of your leg to get them to move over.  Once they do, you stop pressing.  They’ve done what you wanted, you reward them by taking the pressure off.

Maybe as this relates to a Life Lesson, it just means to take a step back.  Don’t be so unbending in your opinions.  Don’t be so blinded by your own that you can’t see the other side.  Maybe if you do, the pressure will stop?