Aloha!
I don’t have much in the way of writing or “hooker” news this month. The summer has been crazy to say the least. There was not one weekend where we stayed home. No grand vacations, just weekend MN events. We did manage to sneak in a trip with our camper, which was cut short with a grandbaby delivery! No complaints there. Boy #4 for my son. My heart is full.
We had a wonderful week-long visit here with my cousin, who grew up as a sister to my son, and lived with us her junior year. She’s been a tattoo artist for the past 20 years and just left the industry. I was her 1st tattoo and now I’m her last!
I’ve been wanting the Hawaiian Islands for quite a while since that’s home. I’ve just held out for her to do it for me. (What happened in Lahaina hit me hard, but I’m very fortunate my family is on the other side of the island. Please look into supporting any way you can if you are able.) The turtle was a last-minute add-on. I stole my son’s. His had a K at the bottom – we turned it into a B so I could add the new addition. (L, D, N, also on the shell.)
My cousin is a truly amazing soul. Always positive. She told me a story, but I don’t remember if it’s something she read or someone she actually talked to. It went like this: A man was in an airport and got into a conversation with someone. Once he learned where the man was from, he said, “I was looking into moving there. What are the people like?” He replied with, “What are they like where you are?” “They are rude, impatient, and self-centered!” “Oh, that’s too bad. That’s what they are like where I’m from.” He later got into a conversation with someone else that started off the same way. When she replied that people were so kind and friendly, he replied, “That’s what they are like where I’m from, too. You’ll love it.”
Take a minute to let that sink in. You take your BS with you. Changing locations doesn’t change anything but your location. I loved that and it made me take a look at myself. I can relate to this in my morning commute – and it was an eye opener. I only had about a seven-minute drive, but it was terrible. There’s one stoplight where people will race to the light to gun it to make sure they can get ahead of you as the road merges together shortly after. I never engaged in the battle and just stayed slow, not wanting to be cut off horrifically each day. I would still mumble about them and call it the “a-hole” lane. There has been a detour on it for over a month, and I now have about a 20-minute drive. I was thrilled to find a less stressful route…but the a-holes were still there. Hmmmm… I’m hoping I put that in the proper perspective and maybe there will be one less a-hole now – no matter what the route is. Just this past month there has been road-rage incidents here in Minneapolis with a merge lane for construction, and one on Maui where a young man passing a car drove head-on into an older couple and killed them all. I try to always be the one to slow down and let the “racers” in, but I do need work on my “not so inner” dialog as they do so. The soundtrack to my highway to hell will most definitely be my car dialog. It’s a work in progress. 
Not sure about you, but I’m ready for the fall colors and cooler weather!
Happy Reading!
~Bug
