Dealing with it all

Hi neighbors. Have you seen any robins yet? I have seen several in my yard and around the town. Robins are the most beloved birds in this part of the world, I think. Everyone knows that when the robins show up spring can't be far behind.

At first I didn't know if they were new arrivals back from the sunny south; or if they were just some bunch of dummies that stayed the winter. I do hope they are here because some little birdie told them winter is almost over and spring isn't far away.

I don't know if we all like spring so much because it means new beginnings, or simply because we are sick to death of winter.

I am ready for August! I do not like snow, ice and cold weather at all. I've often wondered why people would choose to live in places where they get an average of 40 inches of snow each winter. If you can sit inside a warm and well-stocked house and just watch it snow, maybe. But if you have to venture outside, no way! Missouri isn't the perfect climate I know, but our seasons are a bit more moderate. At least they have been.

Between global warming and the oncoming ice age, who knows what to expect. At least I don't think we have to worry about tsunamis. It seems the hurricanes are getting closer each year though.

When it comes to weather, I don't think there is much we can do about it except guess what's coming and complain about what has been or what is going on right now.

With spring coming on soon, I can't decide whether to build a shelter of concrete blocks and re-enforced steel, or just move to a cave somewhere. Tornado time will be here too soon for my liking.

As unpredictable as the weather is a person's well-being. If our health stays reliable, some accident hits. My little jaunt through the trees in my car taught me that! It seems life is out to get us from the first breath we draw.

Most of us ignore life's little battles and pick our fights.

We've all seen some people though who seem to have the world on their shoulders. Nothing is right, even if nothing is wrong. I call these folks the "Woe is me" bunch. My friend Flossy says these are the people who would complain if they were tied with a new rope.

I told her that people can't help if they are depressed and she agreed. Then she added, "But people can stop looking for misery." She's right I suppose. Although any of us can be pulled down by life sometimes (or just changes in our bodies) there are some who just look for a reason to be miserable.

"And misery loves company!" Flossy adds.

I've known some folks who just have a negative outlook on everything. They always see the glass half empty.

Flossy added, "Our grumpiness is calibrated according to how old we are and how many people we know. The more people you know, the more likely you are to know people you don't really like but have to get along with. The older you are, the less likely you are to want to share what little time you've got left with people you don't like." Of course, it's easy to dislike people you don't know simply because you can assign them all the human attributes you don't like.

All we usually see on television are radical groups that want to kill everyone, blow up buildings, crash airplanes, subways and put poison in pain relief medicines. Yes, those people make me depressed simply because I can't figure out why they are so motivated to make everyone miserable.

Maybe Flossy is right, misery does love company and these terrorists are more miserable than motivated.

Or maybe the news is to blame for so many people being sad and angry these days.

How do you feel after watching the news for an hour? Angry? Sad? Confused? Maybe even a little frightened of the future? You can change the channel and watch the weather -- that ought to cheer you right up.

Until the next time friends remember we all have to monitor our thoughts and make certain our feelings about things that happen around us actually come from us -- not from other people's opinions.

Lots of things in the world today we might not able to do anything about; but we can determine for ourselves how we are going to deal with trouble when it comes.