The A-B-C's of me

Mr. Johnson and I were chatting on the way to a horse show this morning. Which, by the way, is the only extended period of time that we've occupied the same 4 square feet without company in the past 7 days. It's like the good old dating days.....ahhhh.
We were chatting about relationships that morphed into upcoming family holidays. Treacherous waters here. The conversation turned to plans, houses, menus and people who happen to be in our extended family who let's be honest, we only see once a year for a reason.

Why, oh stinking why, are relationships so difficult to navigate? Why the games? Why the silent treatment? Why the UN-authenticity? Why the unreturned emails, phone calls and texts? Why the passive aggressive nature? I'm not calling out my family I'm including ALL relationships.

 Then I got to thinking about me. Do I do the same immature treatment to others? I'd like to think not but the harsh truth is probably.  It's just sometimes hard to see my own junk and I am convinced if you were honest, you'd say the same.

My mom always says "the first time someone ticks you off deal with it then.....and only then." Good advice and I wished I used it. Instead I let the infraction cause emotional and physical distance and in the end I dump the relationship. That's not fair. It's not fair to the other half, they have a right to know what they did hurt me and get a chance to apologize.

There is a great quote in a book entitled "Wild at Heart" by John Eldridge "Let people feel the weight of who you are and let them deal with it." I like that.

But I also saw a bumper sticker this morning:

I like that too.