DON'T GET AHEAD OF YOURSELF!!!!!

I must have been eleven or twelve years old.  Mom was going to teach me how to iron a shirt.  Now at that age, learning to iron was not  one of the things on my  "Things I want to learn to do list."  I tried to tell her I had no interest in learning how to iron any dumb clothes, and besides,  ironing was  woman's work  and I wasn't a sissy.  Of course my mom was hard headed and wouldn't listen to the good reasoning of a twelve year old.  She began to tell me that it would be a good thing to know how to do in years to come.  Little did she know that I would grow up with the attitude of "I don't have to impress anybody" and ironed clothes would never be at the top of any list I ever had.  But to make a long story short.....At the age of twelve I learned to iron.

I would grab the shirt, lay it on the board and just start ironing.  Mom would say  "NO NO NO....You have to do it in certain steps.  You must start with the shoulders."
Then  she would then gently place the shirt on the Ironing board and smooth it out with her hands first,  then test the iron with her index finger, which she had stuck into her mouth to get wet, by touching her wet finger to the iron and listening to the sizzle to insure it was hot enough.  This was my favorite part of ironing because it involved what I determined to be danger.....A manly thing.  As I would try to iron,  my first priority was to get finished.  Outside there were football games to be won or wars to be fought.  I didn't have time for all this girly stuff, but I can still hear mom's voice saying  "slow down,,,,,hold your horses,,,,Don't get ahead of yourself!!!"

 Patience and order have never been a virtues of mine.  I've always been a "let's get finished person."  When I was a kid they said I had ants in my pants and couldn't sit still.  I had to be going all the time.  If they would have had Ritalin back then  it would have been my number one food group.

I say all this just to let you know, I once again have gotten ahead of myself. Sometimes I forget important lesson I've learned in the past. You see two days ago I wrote my post for the New Year.  Now I always publish my post as soon as I get through writing them.  Of course I usually get Peggy to do some proof reading first, but they are published within 30 minutes of writing.  For some reason when I finished the New Year post I just saved it.  I didn't really know why.  Peggy asked...." Do you not want me to read your post today?" My reply was  "I'm not going to publish it right now,  you can read it later.  I may change some things."  The New Year post is just that....It's all about the coming new year.  I think what I'm trying to say is "It's great to look ahead, but in order to look ahead with the right attitude,  we must first look at the past.....When I wrote the new year post I had got ahead of myself.

What made me think of this was a phone call I got yesterday from my Brother-in Law Julian.  Now a phone call from Julian isn't unusual.  Julian and I talk on the phone three or four times a week for an hour or two each time.   Julian and I have what most people might consider a unique relationship.  Let me start by saying when we met I was around the age of twelve and Julian was around twenty two.  Right off the bat we had something in common.  We both loved the same girl,  my sister Dianne.  Another thing we both had in common was we reached the age of adulthood in the same year....I was 35 and Julian was 45.   We thought we had done pretty good because Julian's uncle Jack didn't grow up until he was 85 people said.  We were way ahead of schedule.  When Julian came into the family he was a member immediately.  He was always like the older brother I never had.  We have had some times in the past that would be good reading for maybe an adult blog but it would probably be best not to write about them here.

Well,  getting back to the phone call,  we were talking about different things and he brought up some things about this past year.  He mentioned about the death of my cousin Stuart and the deaths of some other friends.  We talked of getting older and not being able to do things we use to.  We talked about the health of some of our family members and we also talked about some personal problems some of our family members have had and were having.  Now you can look at the things we talked about and it may start to get you down.  You may say to yourself how depressing all of that is.  but I say to you think a little deeper.

I can remember bad times in my life.  I can remember decisions my children have made that most people would call mistakes.  I can think of many things I've done that most if not all of us would say were bad decision or poor judgement on my part, except.......except....those decisions,  those mistakes,  those poor judgements weren't the end of the story.  Life went on.  Those bad judgements made us stronger people.  Sometimes those mistakes changed our priorities in life.  Sometimes they set us straight.  I've always liked the saying "What doesn't kill me will make me stronger."

Yes,  Julian and I talk of getting older.  We talk sometimes of our ailments.  We talk of our kids and grand kids.  We talk of times when we were young growing up in Atlanta.
We talk about Kirkwood and Grant Park and Cabbagetown.  We talk like I said sometimes for hours.  Julian is always nice to me because he says he's afraid no one else will talk to him as often as I do.  We talk about the past and the past is important.  It's important because it has helped to determine where we go from here.  And going forward isn't a depressing thing.  It's an exciting thing. so sit back and enjoy.........and

Don't get ahead of yourself!!!!