I Admit This Thought Started As A Joke, But It’s No Joke

The holidays are a time when many people struggle with mental illness . . . and not necessarily their own.

Dealing With It Has Become Easier Though

Mind you, what’s even more awkward than explaining about a “fallen iguana” are the times I have to explain than sometimes a “fallen iguana” becomes a “won’t be getting up again” iguana.

No . . . No, I’m Not

It’s always a little awkward (albeit amusing) trying to explain about our falling iguanas here because the usual response is, understandably, “Are you kidding?”

And It Was Starting To Feel Like *I* Was The One Doing The Bit

I was originally planning to make an observation how it can be difficult sometimes to tell if someone is “doing a bit” or not (especially online), but it was surprisingly difficult to find a good definition of the phrase as I was planning to use it. (I try to remember my words aren’t always being read in English, and some turns of phrase can be far more regional that I might think they are.)

While I did eventually find a good definition, it’s the second one listed in the entry, and it all just seemed to have become unnecessarily complicated.

That Was The Day I Learned The Correct Order Of Crisis Reaction

Years ago I had a teacher tell me about the time she was a pool lifeguard and literally had to hold a guy’s head together with her hands while waiting for the paramedics to arrive. (There’s a reason they say to be careful when you’re diving, kids!) The entire time she was calm and collected, and it was only after the paramedics had taken over that she made her way to a quiet spot for her freak-out/meltdown.

On The Other Hand, Maybe That’s How Politicians Are Created In The First Place

Before I get into the holiday spirit, let me just get this off my chest real quick:

The hypocrisy involved in pointing out someone else’s hypocrisy in an attempt to distract from one’s own hypocrisy is not only staggering, it’s becoming so common in politics I’m starting to wonder if there’s a critical threshold where all this hypocrisy will collapse in on itself under its own weight forming a point in space so dense that not even thought can escape it.

Actions Have Always Spoken Louder Than Words IF You’re Paying Attention

My concern in an age where so much is said . . . and said . . . and said again, is that people aren’t paying enough attention to what’s not being said.

It’s The Sort Of Comment You Tend To REMEMBER!

A week or two back L’s Mother shared with me an insight about a book series we both had read. It was one of those insights that’s obvious once it’s pointed out, but it also manages to . . . reframe your feelings about the series. (And, no, I’m not talking The Chronicles of Narnia, but if you, like me, started reading the series knowing nothing about C.S. Lewis and, like me, had a “Wait! What?!” moment while reading the last book, you have some idea of the sort of thing I’m talking about.)

Regardless, I mentioned said shared insight with L’s Mother this morning, and she said, “That’s why I haven’t mentioned it again. I thought maybe you’d just forget it.”

“Let me put it this way,” I told her. “That’s a bit like, after all the years we’ve been together, you saying, ‘But I only said once that I knew all along we were brother and sister . . .'”

Two Related Insights From My Day

Sometimes you just don’t know how much you are influencing someone else’s life. Sometimes you find out a few simple words of encouragement to an acquaintance meant more to them than you could have possibly imagined, and sometimes you are disrupting someone’s rest because you will not stop opening and closing your damn door!

I’m Just Saying

Only the people who really care about you will get out of a warm bed at early o’clock in the morning to get you toilet paper.