The Law of the Garbage Truck

This was on The Bert Show on Q100 yesterday....

How often do you let other people’s nonsense change your mood? Do you let a bad driver, rude waiter, curt boss, or an insensitive employee ruin your day? Unless you’re the Terminator, for an instant you’re probably set back on your heels. However, the mark of a successful person is how quickly that person can get back their focus on what’s important. Sixteen years ago I learned this lesson.

I learned it in the back of a New York City taxi cab. Here’s what happened:

I hopped in a taxi, and we took off for Grand Central Station. We were driving in the right lane when, all of a sudden, a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver slammed on his breaks, skidded, and missed the other car’s back end by just inches! The driver of the other car, the guy who almost caused a big accident, whipped his head around and he started yelling bad words at us. My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy.

And I mean, he was friendly.

So, I said, “Why did you just do that?

This guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the hospital!”And this is when my taxi driver told me what I now call, “The Law of the Garbage Truck.”Many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it. If you let them, they’ll dump it on you. When someone wants to dump on you, don’t take it personally. You just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on. You’ll be happy you did. So this was it: The “Law of the Garbage Truck.”

I started thinking, how often do I let Garbage Trucks run right over me? And how often do I take their garbage and spread it to other people: at work, at home, on the streets? It was that day I said, “I’m not going to do it anymore.”I began to see garbage trucks. Like in the movie “The Sixth Sense,” the little boy said, “I see Dead People.” Well, now “I see Garbage Trucks.” I see the load they’re carrying. I see them coming to drop it off. And like my Taxi Driver, I don’t make it a personal thing; I just smile, wave, wish

them well, and I move on.One of my favorite football players of all time, Walter Payton, did this every day on the football field. He would jump up as quickly as he hit the ground after being tackled. He never dwelled on a hit. Payton was ready to make the next play his best.Good leaders know they have to be ready for their next meeting. Good parents know that they have to welcome their children home from school with hugs and kisses. Leaders and parents know that they have to be fully present, and at their best for the people they care about. The bottom line is that successful people do not let Garbage Trucks take over their day. What about you? What would happen in your life, starting today, if you let more garbage trucks pass you by? Here’s my bet.

You’ll be happier.

Life’s too short to wake up in the morning with regrets, so..

Love the people who treat you right.

Forget about the ones who don’t.

Believe that everything happens for a reason.

If you get a chance , TAKE IT!

If it changes your life , LET IT!

Nobody said it would be easy…

They just promised it would be worth it!**********************************************************************

Change has happened...

Everything culminated in a phone call in which I really don't remember what I said, but I remember the response. It was yesterday late afternoon with Melanie Kingston. I said something about work and her response was  something like "we're just going to have to pray for you a new job, no matter if you have a replacement or not."And the miracle of the situation; I heard and agreed, mostly. I hung up the phone and cried because I can no longer keep saying "well, when this person gets trained, then I'll get the work schedule I want." I've said that SO many times in the past year.  I could go on and on about all the changes pushed on me staring with three weeks into my maternity leave with my boss saying that I couldn't bring Steven into the office as promised BEFORE I was pregnant.

And then there's Chad's assignment changing. Its "supposed" to start next week with the DEA, but we're holding our breath because it was suppose to happen a few months ago. However whenever it happens, there's going to be a lot of over time. He's going to be really happy with it, but there's a lot of stuff at home that will need to get done that he's been doing.

So the decisions been made. I told my boss today. dunh, dunh, dunh...I'm moving to part time and if I work one minute over then I get over time. We're hiring a full time admin asst and I'm just going to do office manager stuff; like I should have been doing for a long time.  It's going to be difficult; I'm taking a huge pay cut. But can you pay for sanity?

I'm going to be looking for something else; at least part time to supplement and then maybe I'll cut back even more. This is a huge start for me to set a limit and I'm going to stick with it.

I'm excited about what's to come and what doors will open because of this decision.

A Wonderful Mother's Day!

So I keep thinking that today is my first mother's day, but then I remember it's not. However it is the first when my son thinks I'm the stuff. From first thing in the morning; to picking him up from the nursery; to laying him down for bed tonight I received the best smiles.  When asked what the rabbit does, he moves his hand in a hippity hoppity motion. He does the twist whenever he hears music and when he's put into his carseat he points to the radio/cd player for it to come one.

and he likes lettuce; a lot or maye he's just really hungry. He's quite the charmer to everyone he meets and he's mine in part for a little while.  I thank God constantly for giving Steven Chad McDonald, Jr. to me and Chad, because there is no greater gift.

I know one day he will not adore me as much as he does now. Today he really does think I rock and I'll take every moment I have that he does (and doesn't) because he's my son and there is nothing like the love for a child.


For several days he hasn't given me kisses; he actually smacks when he gives them and tonight he decided he would give me two; the perfect ending to my Mother's Day! I've cherished the day with my son who adores me and shows me that he loves me all the day long. I'm blessed to be a mother; especially his!

Taking back control.....

Taking back control of our lilfe is what Chad and I decided it was time to do over vacation. So, next week I'm going to start working one more day at home because it was supposed to happen two months ago.  Over the past few years we've sacrificed and done for others too much at times but now with a son things are different. So that's what we were going to do, take back control. Then this afternoon a sheriff's deputy was killed serving a search warrant (Chad will be doing the same twice next week) and I'm reminded how out of control our of lives we really are.   We don't know him personally, but these types of events shake you to the core. Deputy Mahaffey had two young children; one a baby who will never know his father who died protecting others. What an honorable way to die, but so devestating that it has to happen.  And these types of things don't just happen to law enforcement officers they happen to all sorts of people. So life is precious; especially precious in my heart right now.

Getting my head out of the sand....

I am obsessed with finding seashells.

So much that on walks on the beach I keep my eyes to the ground and hardly ever watch the waves. However, I'm trying to turn a new page in life, so I've determined to spend more time looking at the ocean; to gain a greater perspective on the bigger picture.

Because life is much greater than we realize when we have our head in the sand (haha!)

And then the storm came in

but was quite disappointed when it didn't bring in more seashells; just seaweed

and dead fish

and jelly fish.

But as the storm rolled away

and in the midst of it all

clairty came.

Praying blah, blah, blah...

Two weekends a year I do what I went to school to do; children's ministry. This weekend prior to our vacation was one of those weekends.  I just had the older kids (ages 4-12) and only 24 of them, so it was less choatic for me. 

Well, the first two sessions we talked about why do we worship God; what's a sacrifice; and what's the difference for us compared to the Israelites. It's always amazing to me to hear what comes out of these kids minds. One five year old said something so prolific and I wish I could remember the exact words, but it was about Jesus' sacrifice and at the end of her statement many of the older kids (9, 10, 12) said she should be a preacher when she grew up. On Saturday night we had a Passover Meal. The younger kids (4-6) partook of all of the elements, but in a simplified format and the older kids partook as we partake of Passover when we celebrate it as a family.  
The last night was a conglamorate of things. As I sat down to do a lesson that never got delivered, I wanted to do a review what we had learned the two days prior.  I was asking questions and one child spoke up and said that we need to remember that it had to be a spotless lamb sacrificed and Jesus was sinless and somehow we were diverted to a five year old speaking of how she is confused right now because her friend was in a car wreck and now has something wrong with her brain and she can't even remember how to walk or talk.  Then one seven year old urgently raised his hand and said we had to pray for her, so could he. Before we could start praying I felt I began to lose control of the classroom. The five year old's sister spoke up and said that the littel girls brother was in the wreck too and he had a cut on his forehead that looked like red velvet cake. How can you keep a straight face?! And all the kids were laughing and you have to stop them, right? Well, then the boy who offered to pray wanted prayer for his dad's dad's brother who died recently. "I mean he was just in his bed one day and then died." And then somehwere in there in reference to the little girl, someone said "her brain is just messed up."  Well, we finally got to the prayer and little boy kinda got lost in how to end his prayer, which was so sweet up until he started going "and blah, blah, blah and all that stuff."  However do we sometimes pray blah, blah, blah?!?