During our Sunday morning coffee and eggs, my buds and I vented about our well-loved but aggravating annoyances. One is a spouse who ignores doctor’s orders; he figures they are like speed limits – suggested and for everyone else. Another is a young adult who hasn’t left the nest yet and frequently disregards her dirty dishes. And the third annoyance is an energetic teenage puppy with too much intelligence to be easily managed by her human.
We were all annoyed that these creatures could not see our wisdom and play along with our rules. After all, it was for their benefit that we are making them (and us) crazy. Finally, the three of us realized that what we had was a failure to communicate.
We had to stop being Noids and think about why these almost alien life forms behaved this way. Here’s what we figured out:
The spouse is anxious about his upcoming procedure and is trying to get as much accomplished as possible before he’s laid up. So let him do what he can while he can because it is the perfect distraction. Plus, an occasional slight cheat on the new meal plan should be allowed as he adjusts.
The junior adult is new to adulting; we all remember being young and oblivious to how much work there is to becoming a responsible adult. And breaking the old habit of mom-as-the-maid requires consistent retraining and forbearance from both the mother and offspring.
As for the teenage puppy, that critter is completely devoted to her human and truly just wants to be a font of unfathomable love. Her displays of affection are an excitable choreography of bounces, tail wags, and zips around the house. That’s what a puppy does. Eventually, she will calm down, we hope.
All three of us Noids felt silly for being miffed at our loved ones and returned home fully caffeinated with a more tolerant perspective.
By Jane Maulucci, The Reactive Voice