Happiest Place on Earth

Happiest Place on Earth

Friday, April 26, 2013

My Social Filters...



… are seriously deficient right now.  I do not think I have quite reached the point at which I will say or do catastrophically stupid things, but I recognize that I am dangerously close.  Let me give a few examples…

I came within moments of pulling over the Nazarene limousine, offering to buy coffee for the guy who has been stationed on the corner of Main and Broadway wearing a two way “turn or burn” sign (it doesn’t really say that, but it’s close enough), and then telling him exactly what I think about his theology and what a travesty it is, especially in this town where we have poured over five years into the lives of people who are anti-church, for him to be wearing that sign and making us all look like idiots!  Instead, I opted to go purchase lots of frozen food that I knew would not survive a long coffee shop chat.

That was, in itself, a pretty bad idea, because in a momentary memory lapse I forgot that I live in a small town and that going to the grocery store almost always requires me to talk to multiple people who know me.  It’s really hard to stand at the bakery making small talk while thinking, “I don’t understand why you walked away from our church”.  It also borders on embarrassing to be hiding out behind the day old bread cart because I recognize faces but can’t come up with names, or even contexts from which I should know people, to save my life.  The only redemptive thing about the grocery store was that I did not know the cashier or bagger (I usually look for people I recognize, but remember, I am avoiding conversation like the plague right now) and that all they were really interested in talking about was my opinion on whipped yogurt as opposed to regular yogurt.  Somehow, I managed to navigate that one alright…

I also almost gave my real opinion on VBS to a whole group of people with small children.  I didn’t, though…  I didn’t…

I don’t do “girl angry at the world” very well anymore.  It just seems so “early 20s” as opposed to “mid 30s” (I am 33…  does that still count as early 30s, or do I have to claim mid 30s at this point?)  But I am angry.  I am currently coping by hiding out at my house, hoping people don’t call, and listening to loud, angsty music from the late 1990s… and apparently by posting things to my blog that I should probably just leave unsaid…

You know what, though?  The more I think about it, I realize that I am less angry and more tired… exhausted… completely spent.  And I absolutely hate it when people waste my time.  I mean, we are talking #1 pet peeve (or if not, pretty close to it).  Each of us only gets so much time.  I’d like to use mine for things that ultimately matter… or at the very least for things I enjoy…

So if you should happen to find me with my mouth shut, please just smile and wave.  It’s better that way.  I’m busy putting myself back together again, and I am a really lousy multi-tasker.  I can’t pick up the pieces and filter everything I really want to say at the same time.

L. 

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