One thing I like to do, especially in the spring and summer months, is sit back with a glass of lemonade and do some reflecting as the birds jockey for position at the bird feeders.
Like a lot of people, I don't take the time to do this as much as I should, because life happens. But after my latest "life happens" moment, which was a car accident involving me and a UPS store, I've made a vow to myself to engage in some quiet "lemonade musings" on a more regular basis. Because your mental and emotional health is just as important to try to maintain as your physical health.
Just enjoyed some delicious @ChickfilA lemonade this morning. Now, time to get crankin'. pic.twitter.com/7yRo674Rvo
— Sister Toldjah 💙 (@sistertoldjah) May 6, 2021
When you go through something like that, your life flashes before your eyes in a split second, and judging by the comments to that piece, a fair number of RedState readers have been in similar situations where, thankfully, they were okay when all was said and done. But as it did with me, it certainly gave them a new lease on life, and how we all should be better at not sweating the small stuff. Because, as the saying goes, life is too short.
SEE ALSO (VIP): A Reminder to Appreciate the Little Things
One thing I've found that helps after I've gone through a bad experience is to distract myself with something that will take my mind off of it, whether it be throwing myself into work or household responsibilities, immersing myself in a book or magazine, engaging in retail therapy, or binge-watching some of our favorite YouTube channels.
Sometimes the distractions that present themselves, however, are fraught with perils of their own.
Roughly 24 hours after the accident, our lawn care guy arrived to do our scheduled lawn maintenance. We've known him for a long time, having learned about his lawn care services from a neighbor. Super nice guy, works hard, one of the types of people who will go the extra mile and who will be there for you to take care of whatever lawn issue you need anytime you call him.
We talked for a few minutes before he got started, and he recommended someone he knows who he said would be able to repair or replace the front bumper on my car. I thanked him for the tip, and he went about his business, while I went about mine.
About 45 minutes to an hour later, he finished up and left. But about five minutes after he drove off, he called Mom and me and said, "Oh, by the way - I forgot to tell you. There was a copperhead snake by your back steps. while I was cutting the grass."
Um, what? The place where I happen to park myself when I'm filling up the bird feeders?
Now, I know this is the time of year you see more of them. In fact, he had previously told me he'd already killed about three dozen of them over the past couple of months at other properties.
Our next question, of course, was, "Did you kill it?"
He assured us he did, but advised us to get something called "Snake Away" and put it all around the house.
I was certainly appreciative of the suggestion, but, though I've taken on my fair share of projects in and around the house, I... did not want to partake in this one.
FLASHBACK (VIP): The Impeccable Timing of My Latest 'Life Happens' Moment
We asked him to do it for us, and so he went and got a bag/container or whatever it comes in, and came back and put it around the perimeter of the house. We put a reminder on our calendar to ask him to do it again in another two months or so.
The good thing here is that, despite the snake scare, being on "snake lookout" is something I'm very familiar with, going back to the olden days when we lived in the country, and snakes were a regular sighting.
The bad thing is, well, you know, when I said I needed a distraction, that's not exactly the type of distraction I was looking for...
