This morning, around 6:45am I looked out the front window to see two teenagers sitting on the curb. Not such a big deal, they were obviously cutting school since all the buses had gone already. It made me a little nervous only because we live on a dead end and no one really ever comes over here, not even for Trick-or-Treating on Halloween. Well, the kids left the area about 1/2 hour later. Ok, so no big deal. I then went out food shopping and when I returned I saw the mess these little hooligans left. A mess of loose leaf papers all over my lawn and wrappers of some sort all over the curb. I was just really aggravated that on top of hauling in my groceries and my babies, that now, I had to clean up someone else's mess. Someone who was too rude to think that maybe their loitering and littering would affect someone else. Where are these kid's parents? I thought to myself. But most of all, I think I was angry because I too was once a teenager. I was the girl who wore baggy clothes so as to not bring attention to myself, I looked a mess (I think I did at least), I did not think of others and I hung out in the woods smoking weed (sorry to my Grandmothers who are reading this since they both think I am so damned near perfect). I am sure that people wondered where my parents were. Why was I out so late? I was angry because I probably made someone else feel badly by the way I spoke, or littered, or just disrespected. Actually, I pretty much did not realize "other people have feelings too" until I had children and saw how much my words, actions, even negative thought patterns affect others. My daughter will ask me for something then let out a big "huff", because, that is what I do. Especially when I am getting aggravated at her. hello! She is 2 years old and I find myself getting aggravated way too often, and mostly because her needs "cut into" mine. Like, I lay down for a nap and that is when she seems to want me the most. Or, I look up to see something interesting on The View and she wants my attention. I need to be more present with her, with everyone. I need to take notice of what bothers me about a situation and figure out why. It always has to do with me, not the situation itself. I need to listen to that little voice inside me, instead of shushing it or ignoring it. That little voice usually tells me "call you friend, send some flowers, be kind". Instead I usually worry and spend endless energy on negative thoughts, gossiping, judging, forgetting that there is a whole world out there outside of my little dead end street. I want my children to see the world, to understand that their actions speak volumes about who they are. I want them to think of others as extensions of themselves. I want to effortlessly feel this way too.