Since January 28th, I’ve let someone else be in control of how I saw myself. I let someone else break me down. I let one person make me unhappy, something that I am not. I don’t know how I let it get that way. I am normally a strong person. For some reason, with this person I was weak. Because of this, I have changed. I have changed the way I look at others. I have thought about how words I choose to use can hurt someone without me even knowing and how one word can break someone completely. I know you are thinking how this even relates to my off the wall blog. Well, it does, so just be patient!
For the last four weeks, I have focused on my farm. I will use that term loosely because I was told last week that it’s just a house. I don’t see it as that. I see it as a farm and so does the IRS being that it was claimed this year as one! I see a place that will one day house every type of animal that I would want…including that skunk! Haha! Some days are rough here. This week we lost a tiny piglet that I had been bottle feeding but just wouldn’t grow. I cried most of the morning over it, then asked Nathan to bury it. I couldn’t do it. We also lost our beloved ducks to an owl. Another thing that made me so sad.
I start off my days by taking food to my spoiled rotten, barn escaping, overweight Houdini pigs. They are a pain in my butt! Actually, more on the lines of pain in my calves since I have bruises everywhere on my legs because they hit me with their noses when I am not giving enough attention. They get their food, their water changed and a good 30 minute belly rub. They are punished down the road at my dads barn for now. They kept breaking into the chicken coop next door and eating all the chicken feed. After I spend some time with them, I usually see Butch for a bit and feed him bread and fruit. My nephew LOVES to come with me to see the pigs and cows! I didn’t stop yesterday morning after dropping the kids at school. I came straight home. I was greeted at the front door by a big, grunting pink pig! Peppa had escaped the barn (again) and came down to the house! I guess she missed me that much!
Enough about the pigs and back to my point. I spend my days thinking a lot and talking to the animals mostly. I don’t text a bunch or even really talk on the phone. I do take a lot of pictures. Pictures seem to say how I feel without having to actually type the words. One small flower in a pasture full of tall grass. One lone bird flying in a crystal blue sky. One tiny ant carrying the weight of a piece of cracked corn on its back. Those lone things have a great impact. That flower can send hundreds of seeds out to create many more flowers. That one bird can show the way for hundreds more to follow. That ant can bring food back to feed so many in his colony. The ripple that those lone things can create is larger than they will ever be and they don’t even know it. How amazing is that?
How do we as people not see that our “ripple” can cause a tidal wave? How do we not see that ONE SINGLE WORD can cause that ripple. Just one. If we would be so selfless like the ant to carry the food back and nourish everyone, our ripple could do good.
My animals have made a ripple in my life, giving me meaning and purpose on those days that used to be filled with laughter of 126 kindergarteners that I do dearly miss. My smile once again appears and I am not broke anymore. My own children make me see how they create their own waves with teachers and other parents. Good waves. I call them waves because they are making a big ripple! Haha!
Next time you are upset with someone or just in a bad mood, count to ten and think about your words. Make sure that ripple you create is a good one and turns into a wave of happiness and love!
Til next time! Keep the wave moving!!
Seaux Crafty 