Some things I’ll never understand, like why do the hillbillies have to spit all over our front steps?! The same steps they sit on to text, their kids run barefoot on, and we have to maneuver around to get in and out. There’s a whole lawn they could use, but no, it’s like a gob minefield. It’s disgusting and unhealthy. Seriously, someone please explain this repulsive behavior to me. It’s uncivilized.
Late into last night the banging and slamming seemed even more escalated. We had a moment of hope when one of their redneck friends loaded his truck with a mattress and other stuff from the apartment, and drove off, hopefully taking one of their scruffy co-habitators with him. Maybe it’s too much to wish for, but we remain optimistic.
That’s why, when we finally find a tiny place of our own, with privacy and a garden we can actually use, it will be a luxury. I’ll never take any little thing for granted again. I’ll be heartbroken if my family is no longer there to live near, after all the hoping and striving, but life’s like that, I guess. Karma. I probably had it coming. You can never control people or events, just make the best of the consequences. That’s what living here has taught me.
This is why I make much out of small, mundane stuff, because when the big hopes and dreams fizzle and fade, as they inevitably do, it’s the momentary minutiae you’re left with in the end, that take on new meaning. You start to appreciate every little thing you still have, for whatever time you may have left. It hasn’t been easy to adjust my thinking and expectations in this way, but it’s the only way to adapt to reality and keep going.
So I spit on all the spitters of the world, and try not to let them get me down. Their time will come. All we can do is act right ourselves, and leave our fragment of the world better than we found it. Unlike some.
People or things, by nature, will let you down and disappoint you; the trick is to become someone who can be counted on yourself, for better or for worse, and own the impact your own actions may have on others. You can never undo or take back damage or regrets, just resolve not to repeat them or pass them down. What others do is out of your hands.
Take it from me–I’m still learning this myself, after all these decades. So I count myself fortunate to have the few dear people and basic necessities I still do. Anything more is a bonus.
