It’s appropriate in saying, “A funny thing happened on the way to the office this morning.” Like most people who are on their way to work, I think about some of my duties for the day, as well as allow my mind to wander a bit while driving and admiring the great outdoors. Did you know that we don’t really notice things while driving nearly the same streets every day until those things become noticeable? I’m certain it’s because we become too used to seeing the same things every day and unless there’s a big change in something being driven past, we really don’t notice the smaller changes simply because slight or gradual changes don’t register in the minds of most people. It would certainly be an information over-load if that happened with everyone. This morning I suddenly realized that I was starting to notice some of the subtle changes in both the natural and man-made world around me. The more I looked, the more I noticed, and in noticing more, I found myself looking even more. Some of what most would consider the silliest of changes like far too many of the Hackberry trees are leafing out much later than normal and they appear to be struggling. I’m pretty certain the Emerald Ash Borer has arrived in our County due to the way some of the Ash trees are appearing around the area. I noticed one particular Red Oak tree with some of its branches without Spring growth. Is it because our growing zone has changed from four to five, or is there some other environmental reason for these changes happening with the trees? As far as man-made changes, I’ve noticed that there are blocks of homes that are in desperate need of repair while others are looking better than ever. One of my clients is visiting here from out of State and while driving around, I was pointing out the blocks of charming homes as well as the blocks not being of even a close resemblance. The question was asked, “Why is this happening?” I said, “Likely because of owner apathy. When more and more people in a block or district don’t take pride in ownership, it seems the rest simply throw in the rag and consider an attempt at keeping up the neighborhood to be an exercise of futility.” Some of the homes we were driving past looked as though they were being used for storage purposes only. My client said, “Evolution or de-evolution of any neighborhood usually begins with one who is determined to make change in either a good way or bad.” I know of one family who moved into an area about 50 years ago and worked diligently to make positive changes and years later, their efforts came to fruition. The success was not so much for that family, but rather for the owners in that district as a whole.
I had heartily laugh today in hearing someone speak of the reasons why her brother and his wife are getting a divorce. Some of them were normal, but others were laughable. For example, her brother’s habit of leaving the toothpaste cap off drives his wife crazy in the morning. His wife refuses to clean out her hairbrush on a regular basis and leaves it in very annoying places. Her brother has had a nasty habit of licking his fingers while eating in public and at home which drives his wife crazy. I guess the craziest of the reasons is that neither the husband or wife will come to terms with which way the toilet paper roll should be hanging. He wants under and she wants over. I got a good laugh out of her when I said, “Tell your brother’s wife to buy a toothpaste pump so she doesn’t have to worry about the cap, and tell your brother to bend a little and clean his wife’s brush and drill a hole in the handle and attach an old phone cord to it, and tell your sister-in-law to hand him a napkin every time she even thinks her husband is going to lick his fingers, and lastly, tell them to get a “his and hers” set of toilet paper dispensers for their bathrooms and likely they’ll save themselves the agony in divorce court and likely not fall right back into the same ditch with someone else even more annoying.” I do know that most people are really touchy about the over or under way in which their toilet tissue is hung. Maybe I should go into marriage counseling. What do you think?
