I’ve grown accustomed to your face….

I bought a Willie Nelson CD the other day at Target….popped it in my player on the drive home, and smiled as he sang “On the Road Again”, but the words to one of the other songs just nearly made me weep:  “Maybe I didn’t love you, quite as often as I could have, but you were always on my mind; you were always on my mind”.  You know how a tune keeps playing through your mind?  The lyrics to that one, has kinda been hauntin me.  Well, that song made me think of my daddy and my mother, who were only together maybe a little over four years (cause they couldn’t maintain the “altitude” of bliss; the air is thin up there).  My dad was a handsome Scotch-Irish-Swede stationed in San Antonio, TX, during the Korean conflict.  He met my mother, a Spanish-beauty, and they fell in love and came to Illinois to share their heavenly bliss.  But you know the nature of bliss?  We can’t seem to hold on to that mind-frame very long, it seems.  It all falls apart; and why?  Exalted expectations?  Selfishness?  Callousness?  Boredom?  Yeah, all that, and sometimes we just forget to treat each other as sweetly as we should!  And then we fall into bad habits.  Sometimes the persons that we choose to “hang with the most” or live with (because they are our favorite people? right?; that’s why we’re choosing to spend so much time with them?) are the ones that get the least courteous treatment from us, when it should be just the opposite.  “I know you were trying to give me the best of your love” ( Eagles), but you couldn’t maintain the attitude!!!  Most of us try to be polite and tolerant of those we come into contact with….out in the world, but then maybe we snap or yell at, or bully or ignore those with whom we are closest in relationships.  Yeah, I know we get most annoyed by them, because they really know how to push our buttons and get under our skin.  Maybe they mock and minimize things important to us.  And they’re around ALL THE DANG TIME!  Maybe we get impatient or bored with them, or just plain FORGET to be nice, but …..well, take this as a public service announcement or a reminder from your elder or a nudge from a teacher/guide:     “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”.  Isn’t that like….kindergarten 101?  Let’s BE NICE to each other….PLAY NICE OUT THERE!  If we act badly, we offend others; ever heard of that?  And offending others is almost never in our best long-term interests.  Let’s be our most charming selves at home AND out in the world!  When we’re all alone and lonely, we wish we had someone nice to play with.  Absence makes the heart grow fonder….so find some nurturing things to do for your soul and then come back to those relationships and be grateful for the people who love you (or try to).  If you find yourselves being snarly too much of the time, and you’re hateful in your primary relationships, then you have work to do on yourselves. DO THE WORK!  Figure it out! (before you join the NFL — no friends left).   And possibly, (just possibly) you’re with the wrong mate…..because I believe that we should seek out a life partner who truly inspires us to be the highest and best that we can be ….so we are INSPIRED to give the “best of our love”.  And keep in mind….if you have children….you’re teaching your children how to be in a love relationship.  If you want them to have good self-esteem, speak to them respectfully and lovingly.  You are the pattern-maker and mirror for them.  Is your relationship with them and your “beloved” really what you want your child to learn to aspire to?  “And maybe I didn’t treat you quite as well as I should have.  If I made you feel second best, well I’m sorry I was blind, but you were always on my mind; you were always on my mind”  (Willie Nelson singing a Christopher-Thompson-Jones song).  Don’t we all love, Love, LOVE  those folks who see the best in us, who understand us, and give us the benefit of the doubt when we screw up?  Yes, we do; we cherish them!  So let’s emulate those behaviors, and give the best of our selves to our most special, closest and dearest ones; the ones we chose to be in relationship with.  And as in all other things, if we need help with this; we need only ask our angels to help us; they’re willing to serve us and READY to be asked!   We need to HOLD each other up, SEE the best in each other, and EMBRACE what needs to be healed.  Be in allowance of it, and it will occur.  “Let It Be!”  (McCartney).  I share it, cause I’ve been there, folks.    From your Elder Sister in Love, Trish