Along for the ride
The prompt this week at Sunday Scribblings is
"I don't want to be a passenger in my own life." (Diane Ackerman)
I'm at odds with this one. It's got me thinking about choices. Particularly the choices I make in my own life.
When you speak to my dad, his pat answer to "How are you?" is "Wonderful, wonderful." Lately, he mixes things up with "Just ginger peachy." Mother's answer is always "pretty good."
I've been thinking about the differences in their personalities.
Dad's a 'wonderful-wonderful' personality. Mom's a 'pretty good' one. Got it? Dad's positive, Mom's mostly positive. Daddy is the one who is attractive to me when I need a parent--or even when I don't. Mom grates on me, because being 'pretty good' seems to correlate with being a bit tactless. I don't know want to be that person. (Tact hasn't been an issue, but it's close cousin pessimism is.)
I've listened to myself this week. I never say I'm 'wonderful-wonderful.' I'm always 'not bad' or 'pretty good.' And I think that's a hindrance
I've pretty much been along for the ride the last few years. Occasionally I make some navigatory remarks, but for the most part, I just sit quietly in the passenger seat. Not always a bad thing. But, it's left me 'pretty good.'
I want to be 'wonderful-wonderful.' (I'd shoot for 'ginger peachy' but I think I need to take it slowly--ginger peachy sounds like a bit much for me aim for just yet.) And I think that being wonderful-wonderful is a conscious decision. A decision to be made daily.
Okay..so keep me honest, kids. No more 'pretty goods.' Only wonderful-wonderfuls, please.
For other thoughts on this prompt, check out this week's Sunday Scribblings
"I don't want to be a passenger in my own life." (Diane Ackerman)
I'm at odds with this one. It's got me thinking about choices. Particularly the choices I make in my own life.
When you speak to my dad, his pat answer to "How are you?" is "Wonderful, wonderful." Lately, he mixes things up with "Just ginger peachy." Mother's answer is always "pretty good."
I've been thinking about the differences in their personalities.
Dad's a 'wonderful-wonderful' personality. Mom's a 'pretty good' one. Got it? Dad's positive, Mom's mostly positive. Daddy is the one who is attractive to me when I need a parent--or even when I don't. Mom grates on me, because being 'pretty good' seems to correlate with being a bit tactless. I don't know want to be that person. (Tact hasn't been an issue, but it's close cousin pessimism is.)
I've listened to myself this week. I never say I'm 'wonderful-wonderful.' I'm always 'not bad' or 'pretty good.' And I think that's a hindrance
I've pretty much been along for the ride the last few years. Occasionally I make some navigatory remarks, but for the most part, I just sit quietly in the passenger seat. Not always a bad thing. But, it's left me 'pretty good.'
I want to be 'wonderful-wonderful.' (I'd shoot for 'ginger peachy' but I think I need to take it slowly--ginger peachy sounds like a bit much for me aim for just yet.) And I think that being wonderful-wonderful is a conscious decision. A decision to be made daily.
Okay..so keep me honest, kids. No more 'pretty goods.' Only wonderful-wonderfuls, please.
For other thoughts on this prompt, check out this week's Sunday Scribblings
Nov 13, 2006, 9:35:00 AM
what a fun essay to read! I think we'd all like to be ginger-peachy, but if we were always ginger-preachy with everyone in our lives, I think we might miss out on some initmacy and real sharing of the fact of life that sometimes things are only pretty good?
Nov 15, 2006, 9:38:00 AM
I like this piece Jayne ... isn't it funny how we can just slip in to some of those pat answers and not really get to the meat of things ... whether or not their wonderful & ginger-peachy or pretty bad or somewhere in between. I think the goal is to be authentic, real and intentional in how we're living our lives. much peace, JP