Rude People!

I am so fed up with the total lack of concern for the feelings of others in our society today! Twice today I was witness to behavior that made me shake my head in stunned silence. And I know that my life is pretty sheltered and these are far from the worst things going on in the world right now, but come on! Forget getting along, can't we all just leave each other alone?

Brent and I were out trimming the 18 foot tall ficus tree in the front yard this morning. By the way, we ARE feeling better, thanks for asking. (So polite, OUR friends are!) Not 100%, but, you know. Had to take advantage of the unseasonably cool weather we are having. So, we're out trimming the tree and this old lady drives by, slows to almost a stop, and gawks at us with a horrified look on her face for what felt like 5 minutes. It was probably more like 5 seconds. She was likely thinking, "What are those people doing out there in their pajamas, standing on that table, massacring that old tree like that. It looks crappy. I hope my property value doesn't decrease because of this." And she was correct on all accounts, but what business is it of hers how I trim my trees? In my own defense, I've been in my pajamas for the past day and a half and I wasn't about to shower before doing yard work. And I did put a bra on. Also, we don't own a ladder so we drug our old dining table out of the garage to elevate ourselves. Much like fancy, albeit low, scaffolding. And the tree looks as good as just about any in the neighborhood, really. A little lopsided, but it has charm. In my humble opinion.

So, yard work finished, we took the kids to the dollar movies today to make up for missing the drive-in last night. I know I should have set my expectations a little lower knowing we were at the dollar theater. That was my mistake. There was a lady with a freakishly large hair-do a few rows ahead of us. No big deal. How she wears her hair is her business. We adjusted ourselves accordingly so all the monsters could see the screen. It was the girls who came in after the movie had started and stood in front of me and Sydney for a full minute trying to decide if that was where they truly wanted to sit that I took offense to. Then. THEN, their mother comes in and says, in full conversational voice, "Do you really want to sit behind the huge head?!" Pardon me?! That "huge head" is a person with feelings who can hear you talking! Who do you think you are?! I was appalled, but the "huge head" didn't even turn around.

Maybe I'm making too big a deal of these things. Probably because I was scarred for life when Sydney threw a tantrum in a Wal-Mart when she was about 18 months and this mean old lady made me feel like crap as I was hurriedly struggling to get her out of the store. Her children would never have been allowed to act like that when they were young, I was informed. Well, you know what old lady, I don't care!!!! They didn't even have Wal-Marts when you were a young mother so you have NO IDEA how your children would have acted in this situation. And you don't know how long a walk it is from the fabric department in the very back corner of the store to the front door when your toddler is screaming and throwing herself on the floor and you are trying to drag her along without having anyone feel the need to call CPS. And I can wear whatever I want and stand on anything I want to trim my darn lopsided ficus tree and there is nothing you or anyone else can do about it! Yeah!!!

Whew!! That feels better. Today was actually a very pleasant family day. Hope yours was nice, too.