My 2020 NYE post on Instagram said something along the lines of: "This is going to be the best year ever!! Let's DO THIS!" So, I'm pretty sure this past year was my fault. I'm sorry. Now that I've apologized, I'm moving forward with what I personally gained and learned. I gained a massive appreciation for personal touch. I'm a hugger....and holy smokes do I miss hugging people. I'm not one of those one-armed-pat-you-on-the-shoulder huggers either. I go in with both arms and full body, and I squeeze until I hear a slight straining for air from the other person. That's when I know I've nailed it. The Monkey Arms Hug Especial...so you can look forward to that.
Something I learned is to forgive. Holding a grudge is toxic...like when you walk outside barefoot and step in sap, but you don't know you've stepped in sap. You keep walking while collecting pine needles, dirt, and bits of pine cone on your foot's undercarriage. You take a seat and Google how to get sap off your foot and realize you don't have any of the things. You do your best to pick it off with your fingers and walk inside, only to collect cat hair and that dust bunny from the corner that Roomba couldn't get to. And since you also have sap on your fingers, remnants of paper napkins and fibers from your sweater are turning your hand into a fuzzy glove. You put your hand to your forehead in disbelief of what's happening, and now you've just touched your face leaving fuzzy sap balls clinging to your eyebrows. You notice your nose starts to itch, because guess what? You have allergies. You take a toilet tissue and work at it, and before you know it, you now have sap and tissue fragments stuck to the inside of your nose. I guess all you can smell now for the rest of your life is the scent of your mom's linoleum floors drenched in Pinesol...you see where this is going.
A grudge is like that. If you hang on to anger and resentment, and don't take the time to develop the tools to deal with it, your sap inside your soul (soul sap) will continue to collect and fester until your entire soul is pine needles, dirt, bits of pine cones, cat hair, dust bunnies, napkin remnants, toilet tissue fragments, and fuzz from your sweater.
YOU ARE READING
SOUL SAP
HumorGrowing up in a small town and in a family that normalized putting dead animals in the garage freezer, pending future burial, these are stories of childhood shenanigans, humility, resiliency, growth, and really terrible haircuts.
