On a Wet Tin Roof…

I love the sound of rain…on a tin roof…the ping…ping…ping…so relaxing…mesmerizing…unfortunately…I don’t have one…but…what I do have…is a gutter…and…when the rain hits the gutter…it makes that same…pinging…sound…

That’s the sound I heard yesterday morning…right after I got up…before I turned on the radio…loud enough…to wake the neighbors down the street…I could hear the soft landing…of so many little drops…as they hit the gutter…before sliding down into the yard…

I admit it…it was dark…but…I went outside anyway…so…I could hear it better…such a soothing sound…it really didn’t matter…that…I didn’t have a tin roof…I had a gutter…

Bertha…reminded me of a phrase…that…Granny…used to say a lot…and…that is…making do…

Now…I’m sure…most of you are familiar with that phrase…and…in these economic times…there’s still a lot of making do…essentially…doing without…

At first glance…the phrase does seem to mean…settling…settling for something less than what I want…because…I can’t afford it…or otherwise can’t have it…but…Bertha…had me to look at it again…as…making peace with where I am…enjoying what I currently have…and…still being hopeful…for more…

I like the change in that perspective…making do…no longer feels negative…like something to endure…and…I think about my non-tin roof…it’s only a couple of years old…and…as much as I love the sound…I see no reason to consider replacing the roof with tin…not…when I have gutters…I love going outside during the rain…sitting on the porch…in Granny’s rocker…listening to the…ping…ping…ping…

Besides…something tells me…if I had a tin roof…it…would…get hot…and…Bertha…would…put the cat on it…and…then…where would I be…

Jane

Does a Fish Have a Climbing Gear…

Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.

Albert Einstein

I love this quote…I’ve saved it for months…I just haven’t been sure…exactly what I wanted to write about it…and…I’m still not…

And…maybe that’s the point…maybe…it doesn’t require anything else…maybe…Einstein…in his wisdom…said it all…but…then again…I can’t imagine…that…Bertha…would let…even Einstein…have the last word…

Hmmm…let’s see…is she being quiet…

No…

She’s pointing out to me…that…I have been guilty of judging others…trying to make them climb trees…when they really just need to swim…

She brings to mind…kids…at school…makes me wonder…how can we do it better…how can we maintain order…without forcing at least some of them to climb upstream…I don’t have an answer…but…of course…Bertha…does…she always does…

She says that…there is no…we…there is only…me…and…that…I listen to them…give them the opportunity to talk…to be heard…to be understood…to be loved…and…while that doesn’t solve the problem…from the educator’s standpoint…it does from mine…and that’s the only one I can change…

Of course…there have been relationships…big and small…when I have expected others to be what I needed them to be…not who they really were…so…I ask…how do I do it differently…her answer is…I listen…I hear…I understand…I love…I let them be…

And…last…but…by no means…least…she points out the bumps…bruises…and…scars…from days when my own discontent…with who I was…sent me out of my pond…in an attempt to scale some distant tree…I ask…how do I do it differently…her answer is…I write…I hear…I understand…I love…I let me be…

That’s a lot…to think about…I think…it will take some time in the contemplation chair…to wrap my arms around it all…and…hopefully…while I’m there…I’ll be able…to hear…to understand…to love…myself…

Jane