A Little Water Between Neighbours

13 Sunday Aug 2017

Posted by dianasschwenk in Diana's Enormous Book of Quotes, My Stories

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Diana Schwenk, Diana's Enormous Book of Quotes, Don't sweat the small stuff, growing up, Life's like that, peace, perspective

When you look at a field of Dandelions, you can either see a hundred weeds, or a thousand wishes.

~ Unknown

My apartment building was painted a while back, including my balcony. It looks so nice that I bought one of those outdoor carpets to enhance the look. Next year, I plan to buy a couple of potted wild grass pots and comfy chairs to spruce it up even more – maybe I will even get outdoor solar lights to string on the railing!

Today my upstairs neighbor watered her balcony plants. Honestly, she used so much water, it poured onto my balcony, drenching it, drenching the carpet, splashing up onto my patio door.

“HEY!” I called up, “you’re messing up my balcony, creating a mucky mess!”

I don’t think she heard me. She just kept watering. I would have run upstairs and pounded on her door, but I was still in my jammies – maybe that was a good thing. 🙂

Instead, I focused my adrenaline flooded body to the task of hanging my carpet on the rail, and mopping the mucky water from my freshly painted balcony.

I’ve laid the carpet back down and my balcony is once again my urban oasis. You know, in retrospect, I’d been thinking of mopping the balcony anyway. It looks great.

It was just a little water between neighbours. Nobody died. What’s the big deal?

~ DIANA’S ENORMOUS BOOK OF QUOTES ~

There Are Worse Things Than My Report Card

10 Wednesday Feb 2016

Posted by dianasschwenk in Hump Day Chronicles, In My Opinion, My Stories

≈ 35 Comments

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Diana Schwenk, Don't sweat the small stuff, family, growing up, happy, health, Hump Day Chronicles, kids, life, living in the moment, memories, parents, Relationships, teenagers

I found the story below in my files yesterday.

I first came across it when Michaela was about 15 or 16 years old and kept it as a reminder to me, not to sweat the small stuff.

I wasn’t always successful, so I had to continually tell myself there are worse things than a bad report card, purple hair, or a messy bedroom.

I hope you enjoy the story as much as I do, especially if you’re the parent of a teenager!

A mother passing by her son’s bedroom was astonished to see that his bed was nicely made and everything was picked up. Then she saw an envelope, propped up prominently on the pillow that was addressed to ‘mom.’

With the worst premonition she opened the envelope with trembling hands and read the letter.

Dear mom:

It is with great regret and sorrow that I’m writing you. I had to elope with my new girlfriend because I wanted to avoid a scene with you.

I have been finding real passion with Stacy since I met her last month and she is so nice. But I knew you would not approve of her because of all her piercings, tattoos, tight motorcycle clothes and the fact that she is much older than I am. But it’s not only the passion…mom she’s pregnant.

Stacy said that we will be very happy.

She owns a trailer in the woods and has a stack of firewood for the whole winter. We share a dream of having many more children. Stacy has opened my eyes to the fact that marijuana doesn’t really hurt anyone. We’ll be growing it for ourselves and trading it with the other people that live nearby for crack and ecstasy. In the meantime we will pray that science will find a cure for AIDS so Stacy can get better. She deserves it. Don’t worry mom. I’m 15 and I know how to take care of myself.

Someday I’m sure that we will be back to visit so that you can get to know your grandchildren.

Love, Your Son John

PS. mom, none of the above is true. I’m over at Tommy’s house. I just wanted to remind you that there are worse things in life than my report card in my center desk drawer.

I love you. Call me when it’s safe to come home.