...IF YOU HAVE ALWAYS PRIDED YOURSELF ON BEING A VERY PATIENT PERSON, KEEP THESE THOUGHTS FOR A MINUTE..HOW DO YOU REACT WHEN YOU ARE SHOPPING, AND HEAR A YOUNG CHILD THROWING A TANTRUM...OR...OR PERHAPS YOU WERE KEPT WAITING IN TRAFFIC "TOO LONG"...FOR A BUS UP AHEAD OF YOU TO UNLOAD IT'S PASSENGERS...AND YOU JOINED THE OTHERS AHEAD OF YOU IN TESTING OUT YOUR CAR HORN SOUND SYSTEMS...AND THEN YOU FOLLOW THE PROCESSION OF CARS TO WHIP AROUND IT FLASHING YOUR BEST "TICKED OFF" LOOK...BUT WHAT YOU DIDN'T SEE...WAS THE WHEELCHAIR LIFT STUCK IN THE HALF LOADED POSITION...WITH A GENTLE PERSON IN IT FLASHING THEIR BEST "PLEASE HELP ME" LOOK...

...PERHAPS THE NEXT TIME YOU ARE BEHIND THAT SLOWER THAN SLOW TRUCK, THAT YOU CAN'T GET AROUND, AND YOU FIND YOURSELF INCREDIBLY IRRITATED AND ARE MUMBLING TO YOURSELF "HOW MUCH YOU HATE TRUCKS"...PERHAPS IF YOU JUST REMIND YOURSELF THAT IT'S GOING SLOW BECAUSE IT'S FULL OF GOODS, ON IT'S WAY TO FILL THE SHELVES, SO THE NEXT TIME YOU GO TO THE STORE YOU DON'T HAVE TO BECOME IRRITATED BECAUSE THE SHELF THAT IS USUALLY FILLED WITH WHAT YOU "ALWAYS" BUY...IS NOT EMPTY.

AND... PERHAPS IF YOU COULD REMEMBER TOO, THAT THE DRIVER IS SOMEONE JUST LIKE YOU... HE HAS SOMEWHERE HE HAS TO BE TOO...AND...WHEN HE IS DONE, HE WILL GO HOME, JUST LIKE YOU... TO HIS FAMILY, JUST LIKE YOU...AND WHEN HE GOES TO THE STORE, HE WILL BE REWARDED WITH PRIDE, FOR HAVING TO DRIVE THAT SLOWER THAN SLOW TRUCK, THROUGH TRAFFIC THAT DOESN'T UNDERSTAND HOW HARD IT IS TO MANUEVER SOMETHING THAT LARGE...AND HE WILL SMILE WHEN HE SEES THAT THE SHELVES ARE FULL...

...I ONCE CAME UPON A RAINBOW, THAT BEGAN AND ENDED RIGHT WHERE I WAS. IT ARCHED DIRECTLY OVER THE WALKWAY WHERE I DO MY DAILY WALKING. I WAS COMPLETELY IN AWE, THINKING IT WAS SUCH AN INCREDIBLE AND AMAZING THING.

AS I WALKED UNDER IT I ACTUALLY GOT CHILLS AND THOUGHT TO MYSELF, "THIS MUST MEAN THAT SOMETHING WONDERFUL AND EXCITING WAS GOING TO HAPPEN TO ME"!. OF COURSE I LOOKED FOR THE GOLD, AND OF COURSE THERE WASN'T ANY, BUT I LEFT THERE FEELING GREAT & EXCITED. I COULDN'T WAIT FOR THE GOOD STUFF!

THE FIRST THING THAT HAPPENED TO ME AFTER THAT WAS I FELL OUT OF MY TRUCK WHEN I STOPPED AT THE STORE ON THE WAY HOME. NOT JUST ANY FALL, A WHOPPING FALL FROM THE HEIGHTHS OF A DODGE RAMCHARGER! NOT IN SOME SECLUDED PLACE, NOT JUST TO THE HARD PAVEMENT, BUT RIGHT SMACK INTO THE HUGEST MUDDIEST PUDDLE YOU COULD IMAGINE ON THE BUSIEST CORNER IN MY NEIGHBORHOOD. I HUNG ONTO THE DOOR FOR LIFE AND PULLED ALL THE MUSCLES IN MY ARMS AND BACK. MY BACK SLAMMED AGAINST THE RUNNING BOARD, AND MY HINEY.. WELL... IT WAS SOAKING.. DRIPPING.. MUDDY WET.. MY BUILT IN DRAMA WAS IN SHOCK, NOT KNOWING WHETHER TO LAUGH OR CRY. I GOT UP LIKE "NOTHING HAPPENED" AND HOBBLED INTO THE STORE... ALL YOU COULD HEAR WAS "SQUISH, SQUASH, SQUISH, SQUASH"! I DIDN'T NOTICE THE MUDDY WATER TRAIL I HAD LEFT UNTIL I GOT WHAT I WANTED AND HEADED BACK TO THE COUNTER...

"WONDERFUL & EXCITING" IS NOT WHAT I WOULD CALL A BRUISED BODY AND EGO! THE ONLY GOOD THING ABOUT IT, IS THE LAUGH I HAVE EVERY TIME I THINK ABOUT IT! I GUESS THE "GOOD STUFF" IS SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW... BUT...I'M NOT LOOKING ANY TIME SOON...