Peak Before You Boo

I'm out here in the Hidden Valley of California, enjoying some amazing songwriting, fun time, friend time, show times. A very memorable trip indeed here with Joel and Karen Jacks.
So, I've been staying at their lovely home and have worked my way in as one of their family members...for a week. They're so comfy to be around.

So, yesterday, I was taking a shower, getting ready for a day of writing. I got dressed and was about to dry my hair when I heard someone outside the open bathroom window. I thought, "Surely they know I'm in here. I'll show whoever it is not to hang out outside the bathroom window when someone's getting ready (The Jacks are cool...I knew any of them could handle it). So, I ripped open the curtain, and in my finest "Princess Bride" / lame Renaissance Festival actress Cockney accent, I yelled, "BOO" (which, in that dialect sounds more like "BAAEEEEWWW!).

To my utter shock, it wasn't any of my friends, but a completely innocent Terminex bug sprayer who was simply trying to spray the windows.
The most hilarious part was, even though I gave it gusto, he never even flinched. Can a person really be that unaffected???

I mumbled out my apology, stumbling over every word as if I'd forgotten the English language, further making me look like a blubbering idiot. I ran out of the bathroom totally embarrassed and laughing so hard no sound was coming out.

Life Lesson #1: It's always a good idea to peak before you "BOO".

It's Just a Toenail...

Some of you have heard this story, but I wanted to blog it for the rest of you who haven't. So, Thursday of last week, my two and a half year old daughter and I were driving into Nashville for her to have a play date and me to write. She had a pink bow in her hair and her cute little girly pink shirt on and she just looked as cute as a cupcake. We were talking and singing on the way up. In between I noticed that she was chewing on something. I asked her what it was, and she wouldn't respond. Between our little conversations, I kept asking her. Finally, exasperated, she answered, "It's just a toenail!" As if it could have been something gross, but it was benign. :') She doesn't understand the things we walk through in any given parking lot with our sandals on... The germs that cling onto our toes as we step across a retail store. "It's just a toenail."

To bring it into perspective, it wasn't a battery or a screw or a bug, so all's well. But I can learn something from the flipside of that, too. Maybe sometimes I minimize my actions, justifying that it could be worse... At least I'm not telling the homeless man I ignore to "Go to H$*&." I'm just ingoring him. At least I'm not robbing a music store, I'm just ripping one or two songs (I don't really do that one!). At least I'm not killing anyone, I just don't give a $1 donation to St. Jude when the lady at the Kroger checkout asks me. "It's no big deal." Well, maybe a lot of "no big deals" could make a major impact if I did them. Yeah, maybe I won't get the gratification my daugter does when she chews on her toenail (:') ), but it wouldn't kill me to extend myself past my own justifications for laziness sometimes.

Morgan :')