5 things i'm over- 2008 version

1. our nice neighbor feeding the squirrels and local feral cats. as a result of her constant snack allotment, they are basically overrunning our garden in tag-team fashion and stealing all of the seeds or leaving behind stinky reminders of their presence.

2. wasteful parkers. when you park on the street, just keep in mind that maybe the three feet in front of your car and the four feet behind your car could be consolidated into one seven foot stretch where someone else could park. i know this is more of an urban issue, but, people, please. think of others trying to find a parking spot! oh, and if you are parking on your street and you actually have a driveway- here's a crazy idea: use it. i promised matt in january that i would no longer rant about wasteful parkers, but it's the end of december and i've done pretty well so far, so i gave myself permission. 

3. the fact that every time i leave a message on a cell phone, that the automated voice explains to me to leave a message after the beep for 5-10 seconds. it is 2008, not 1984, and we live in the united states of america, not in the rural part of a developing country where voicemail or answering machines are a novel thing; i think 99% of the population understands that a beep preceded by voicemail message is the prompt to leave your own message in return. i know that it is a dumb way for cell phone companies to bump up the length of your call in order to make more money but obviously, i can't let go.

4. hearing loss. i know it's not going anywhere; it's pretty much here to stay in our family. and i never ever ever want a different daughter than the one i have, but i'm kind of over what comes with little m being deaf: hearing aids, hearing aid feedback, speech therapy, the dumb things people say about her deafness, the fact that people's pets can hear and my child can't and the random waves of fill-in-the-blank emotion (depends on the day: sad, angry, weary, etc) that hit me out of nowhere. let me repeat, i love my daughter just the way she is, i'm just over all the aforementioned. some days it's just hard.

5. lying + manipulating. ok, so i know this list went from mindless to serious fast right around #4, but wow- when you are in relationship with someone who lies and manipulates it's pretty hard to heal, move on, and hope for something new. i think matt and i both (as well as a few other people i could list) are ready for a big dose of healthy in 2009. the problem is, when you're wounded by someone who lies it takes a really long time to get to a place where you can evolve into wholeness and trust. 

here's to 2009: the year of fewer scavenging garden critters-bad parallel parkers-voice mail instructions-hearing loss dramas-and-plain ole' lies. (seems a little too long to be a slogan, but here's hoping anyway)