Twin Demons

Temper and impatience.  Over and over and over again, the character flaws with which I struggle mightily even at the best of times.  On days like today, when I am tired and there is much background drama going on, all bets are off.  I formally warned the children this evening: "Mom is officially out of patience now!"  They all know that I mean this when I say it.

An acquaintance sent me into a blinding fury earlier today through pure stupidity and obliviousness.  She is what she is and likely won't change much, though.  If I am to deal with her, as I unfortunately have to do, at least in the short term, the only thing I can control is my reaction to her.  Easier said than done, but necessary.

Time to go back to basics, and circle back yet again to the source of my blog title:

"God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,

The courage to change the things I can,

And wisdom to know the difference."

To get to that wisdom, I need control, and neither temper nor impatience move me in that direction.  Wishing tonight, for the hundredth or thousandth time, that I'd thought to ask for the brown oval Serenity Prayer plaque that hung in my grandparents' Ohio kitchen for all those years when they downsized from that house.  If it were here, I'd hang it over my desk right now, in the kitchen in my house.