Ramblings...

Today is just a philosophical post. Lots of "stuff" going on that I feel helpless to do anything about. Not to us, we're mostly fine.

 I got a call today. I don't wanna put any identifiers on the caller, cuz someone would figure it out. Other than it was a "she". This person has had more trials in her life than anyone I know. In fact, when I think back over the last 30 years or so, I can hardly think of time when she didn't have some big "thing" she had to overcome. Today, she was in tears. First time since about ten years ago when she told me that she just wasn't gonna cry about it any more. And, you know me, anyone else cries and I'm a goner. So we cried about the current, seemingly insurmountable, issue. I wished I lived closer so that I could physically be there to help her solve some of the smaller issues. Just about all I can do is let her call and cry whenever she wants, and pray for her and her family. It made me think about why some people have so many more big problems than others. I realize some people bring big problems onto themselves and even though I still feel for them, it doesn't seem senseless. From a gospel perspective, I understand that we are supposed to learn from our trials. But, this person, who seems so much wiser than me in most ways, has WAY more trials in her life than I do. None of them self-inflicted as far as I can see. I have a few, most are not a big deal, some seem so at the time, but in retrospect I think I've had a remarkably easy go of life. I know that God gives more to people who can handle more. And, I suspect they grow more. I'm not brave enough to do an Elder Eyring and pray for a trial. I'll stick with my little trials for now. And keep praying for her burdens to be lightened somehow.

 The other thing I've been thinking about a lot is the issue of taking offense. I'm pretty easy going, I rarely get offended. I get annoyed sometimes, but it passes pretty quickly, because it's just a waste of energy to stay mad. I got better things to do. However, I tend to avoid people that get easily offended, because, frankly, just don't want to worry about it. My closest friends are very frank people, who I am certain would tell me if I did something stupid (if it was important enough to be mad about....I do little stupid things on a regular basis, I'm sure). And, if they ever did something that I took issue with, I could tell them. But, it's NEVER happened. But, what do you do when two people you love are in a snit with each other? Especially family members....how do you plan a family gathering when part of the family isn't speaking to another part? I have to say that Sam's family is pretty good about gathering anyway, and the offended parties all act like it's OK, mostly to keep Mom happy, I suppose. I don't recall when a family feud ruined a Bailey family reunion. Maybe before my time, or I"m just happily oblivious.

 OK, I"m rambling now. I vaguely recall that there was a point when I started, but I seem to have forgotten it. OK, so I'll just quote Elder Uchtdorf: "When it comes to hating, gossiping, ignoring, ridiculing, holding grudges, or wanting to cause harm, please apply the following: Stop it!" I just wanna cross-stitch that and hang it on my wall. Ok, not cross-stitch, I was kidding about that part.

 When Meggie was five, she took 50 cents to school to buy after-school ice cream. During recess, she left it on a picnic table because she was worried about it falling out of her pocket. Of course,someone swiped it. As she was in tears on the way home, she kept asking why someone would take that money when it was hers. I explained that some people might have thought, "ooh.. just found 50 cents" and didn't think that it might belong to someone else. Or someone might have just decided they didn't care that it belonged to someone else, because some people are just not nice. There was silence in the back seat for a bit and then she said, "Mom. Everyone in the world should just be nice all the time!". That's another good one to cross-stitch, if I was into that sort of thing.