GRITS...

Think Grits are a breakfast food? Think again! I find out that the word Grits is also used to denote: Girls Raised In The South-AKA GRITS! So when some Southern guy says " I love me some grits " he's not talking about the breakfast food! Well he probably loves him some breakfast grits as well but...
Learn something new everyday:)

The Pecking Order of Seagulls...

Mike and I were sitting on the beach today and we witnessed the pecking order of seagulls. A lone gull was standing about ten feet from us, he was a noisy gull, just yakking away. He was the only gull there for awhile then the rest of his clan showed up, there were about 7 gulls in all, he was clearly the most vocal. The whole clan was just kind of hanging around being gulls when apparently the noisy gull pissed off the HGIC ( head gull in charge ). The HGIC charged at the noisy gull and started to violently peck him and pushed him out of the circle of gulls. I don't speak seagull so I don't know if the noisy gull said something he shouldn't have, if the HGIC was having a bad day, or if the rest of them had just voted him off the island. One other gull almost got involved he started squawking at the HGIC but that didn't go well for him as the HGIC charged him, so he stopped. The noisy gull hung out on the outside of the group and slowly tried to reenter the group until the HGIC charged him again and started to peck him. The noisy gull tried this three times each with the same end result then he gave up and stayed on the outside. All of the gulls with the exception of the noisy gull finally flew away, the nosy gull was left behind. He stayed by us for most of the day, alone. Finally he flew off also when two dogs came on the beach and chased him, but he flew off alone.
I think there are four lessons learned from the gulls:
1) If you piss off the head gull in charge you might just get pecked to death.
2) Don't get involved unless your prepared to take a beating from the HGIC.
3) Follow the three strikes policy: Try 3 times to work your way back in and then cut your losses.
4) Once you are ousted from the clan, stay on the outside of the circle you might be alone, a little battered but you'll be alive.
Life lessons learned from seagulls, who would have thought?

At All Costs...

Today at work I had this customer, an older black woman, very sweet, very proper. She said that her Reverend said she should see me, I do know her Reverend- through my job only. He and I have had many encounters as he seems to feel that I should not do my job where he is concerned as he is a man of the Lord. I on the other hand do not believe that his being a man of the Lord makes him exempt from paying his debts. We had a very nice conversation while I helped her with her situation. When the work was done she thanked me for my help then went on to say that the Reverend had told her about my "situation". I asked " what situation would that be? " She said he told her I was divorced and she thought that was sad. I told her that I was not sad but quite the opposite I am happy. She looked like she was taken aback by that statement. She went on to say she and the Reverend felt that couples should stay married " at all costs ". I asked " just exactly what does that mean ? At all costs? " She said " no matter what if you enter into marriage under the Lord you should remain in the marriage under the Lord ". By this time I was feeling just a bit pissed off so I sarcastically said " Is that the Reverends idea or the Lord's ? She said both, the Reverend preaches it but the Lord said it " I again sarcastically said " Did the Lord tell you this personally? What in a phone call? fax? email? letter? just how did the Lord impart this information to you so that you could be here today to relay it to me? She said " It's in the Bible " I said so you believe that people should stay together no matter what? She said " Yes it's the right thing to do ". I said no matter what they may do to each other, no matter how much pain they might inflict upon each other, no matter if there is abuse, infidelity, dishonor or disloyalty. She held her ground and said " Yes , no one said it would be easy ". She told me I should come to hear the Reverend preach, and ask the Lord's forgiveness. This woman does not know me, she does not know my situation, she does not know the particulars, all she knows is that the Reverend told her I was divorced. I asked her if the Reverend had told her to talk to me about this, she said yes. So... I told her she could tell the Reverend that he would never find me in his audience listening to him preach, that I would not be donating money towards his " love offering " and that maybe he himself should be asking the Lord for forgiveness, after all I did know alot about his " situation ". And since I do know what I know- I will be staying away from his brand of worship " at all costs ".
She told me she would pray for me and she left.
So really what exactly is " at all costs"? Just what does the Lord think about this subject?
Does the Reverend always use sweet little old ladies as his muscle? What does the Lord think about that?!