Bad day yesterday, then an email.

[Russ]

For those not friends with me on Facebook..

Sometimes crap happens and it makes angrier than a hornet, become cynical and you lose your faith in humanity.

Well, that happened yesterday to us.

My father in law, an avid 76 y/o hunter, went out to his deer blind at the back of our property yesterday to make sure everything was all set for this mornings opening day of firearms deer season here in Michigan.

Much to his dismay, some HOLE had broken out the windows and cut up and destroyed the seat we had for him.

Needless to say, he was heartbroken. My MIL said when he came in the house he looked like he was ready to cry. Wife and I were PISSED!

This is the kind of crap that makes you hate people.

Ironically, we got the following email in our in-boxes today.

One day I hopped in a taxi and we took off for the airport.
We were driving in the right lane when suddenly A black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver slammed On his brakes, skidded, and missed the Other car by just inches! The driver of the other car whipped his head around And started yelling at us.
My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. And I mean, he was really friendly.

So I asked, 'Why did you just do that? This guy almost ruined your car And sent us to the hospital!' This is when my taxi driver taught me what I now call, 'The Law of the Garbage Truck.'
He explained that many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, Full of anger, and full of disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it And sometimes they'll dump it on you. Don't take it personally .

Just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on. Don't take their garbage and spread it To other people at work, at home, or on the streets.

The bottom line is that successful people Do not let garbage trucks take over their day. Life's too short to wake up in the morning with
regrets, So ... Love the people who treat you right.

Pray for the ones who don't .

Life is ten percent what you make it And ninety percent how you take it!

Have a garbage-free day!

"Faith is not believing God can,

It is knowing that God will ."

For me personally, I knew there was nothing we could do, but fix the blind and move on. My wife however, doesn't shrug things off as easily and this morning she was still very angry and upset, and looking to blame certain neighbors.

Then she got that email.

[Debbie-cat]

That is horrible what happened to the deer stand. I would be livid too. The ail sure put things into perspective though didn't it? Someday karma will bite the people in the a$$ who did that to the stand. Good luck to your FIL in bagging a big one!

[Laney]

I am guilty of letting other people's crap ruin a perfectly good day for me. dh has pointed this out to me and it is definitely something that I've been trying to change.


thanks for sharing the email

[nodmicks]

Russ I really like that email. I've never looked at it that way!

Like I said yesterday Karma will get the rotten person that got the tree stand. How sad for them that they are so mean.

[nuisance26]

~I'm a smile and wave person too. Maybe because I'm vain enough to think that I'm so awesome that anyone's rage couldn't possibly be personal since if they knew me they'd have to appreciate my awesomeness.
Seriously though, I had to disassociate my personal feelings when our house was robbed this year. I was very upset about the photos that were on my camera but the loss wasn't so bad when I focused on it not being personal.
The burglar wasn't a friend or relative. It wasn't someone I wronged that wanted revenge. It wasn't some creep who was after more than just stuff to sell. I'm 99.99% sure the memory card was instantly erased and the pictures aren't out there somewhere. It could have been much worse.
I'm sorry about your hunting blind. Did you take pictures and file a police report? After doing that, clean up and fix up ASAP. Doing that helped me so much. When I got some of our replacement items I remember staring at them and thinking that it was too depressing trying to use new things and pretend they were our things. Well, about a week ago I pulled out my handheld game system and it too me a whole 5 minutes to remember that the system I had in my hands wasn't the original. The original had a lot of sentimental value. With time I'm actually attaching the old sentimental value to the new stuff.
That's only possible when you choose to have a good attitude. When you choose to not rehash the event over and over and feel it's a personal attack. If you do that, you will do more damage to yourself than the criminal did in the first place.~

[Missourimom]

Good story. My step grandfather was just that kind of man. I remember him being the slowest driver and people flicking him off with the finger and he would just smile and wave at them. He was the sweetest man I ever knew.

[Russ]

My father in laws response yesterday:
"That's fine. I can still hunt and I won't let it bother me. Sometimes this kind of thing happens."

So we took pictures and I did stop by the police dept and as I figured, there is nothing that can be done.

We fixed it up as best we could and he is out there this morning doing what he loves to do.

[peanut]

I have problem disassociating myself from other people's actions, but in my head I know I have to do it...for my own health. I love that email Russ. I've seen it before. It's a good reminder for me. Especially as I stress out coming into the last Crafting for Missions sale. Whether people buy or not is not up to me. Whether people pressure me to produce product or not. Just smile and wave.

[HappyMama]

Russ, sorry about your FIL hunting blind, glad you could get the situation fixed for him. My grandfather use to love hunting, so that brought back good memories. I hope he gets the big one. Even though I love bambies and even the big ones are bambies to me....LOL

I loved the email so much, reminds me of some sweet people in my life.

I try hard to disassociate feelings from others actions but it is real hard and hurtful at times when it is your own Mother ( who has issues bless her heart) . I have been put down by my Mom for having that attitude over the years and called a Polly Anna or life through rosy glasses but it has helped me many of times. I really needed this today, you have no idea and thank you so much for taking the time to spread the wonderful thought email. I need to be able to get back to that with certain ones...sigh...

Blessings to you and your family today.

[valerian]

I'm sorry that someone did that to y'all Russ. Glad that you got it fixed up and DFIL is out there enjoying his hunting. Makes me mad when people do such stupid things for stupid reasons! Thanks for the email though! I wish that I was a little more like the smiling, waving taxi driver...lol!

[mystypooh]

Russ, he sounds like a good man. Both my grandparents were like that - they had what I call "gentle souls" - and I miss them dearly. By following their actions I think it made me a forgiving person, one who doesn't hold onto the negative emotions. I find it makes my life easier. At times it can be difficult, I'm no angel, but when I stop to think about it I always think to myself "How would my grandparents handle this?" It helps calm me.

Terribly sorry about the deer blind. Some people are just rotten.

[cheryl65]

I'm so sorry someone did that. I just dont understand some people. Love the positive message in the email.

[mauimagic]

Mahalo for the story Russ - makes an impact and I will be sharing it -

[frugalfranny]

Thanks Russ.

Sorry that happened and hope you got it fixed okay.
Some people are just born AH!!

Loved the email..........think I needed to be reminded........and loved this line and will try to remember it...........

Life is ten percent what you make it And ninety percent how you take it!

[shoiji]

Garbage trucks, hmmmmmm, I really need to think about this. Hopefully I can get this in my mind so when they come along I can remember this. The other day I was reamed out by a counselor. Apparently she is strung out right now and I was a perfect target. Will definately be calling her supervisor soon. Just need to calm down enough before I do.

Great e-mail and greatly needed to read right now. Thanks Russ for sharing!!