Deal With It

My method of coping when I find myself slipping into overload is to stop looking at the big picture.  The Big Picture is too overwhelming and I get stunned into inertia.  It's much easier to deal with small segments one step at a time.  The tractor did get picked up yesterday; check.  The grocery shopping did get done; check.  The rain did stop; good.  The tractor didn't get back; oh well.  The cheese did get made; done.  Inga didn't come in to get milked; can't do a thing about that.

The day before our wedding in 1987, I was pulled over by a CHP officer for not having current registration tags on my van.  "But I have them right here!" and I took them out of the console.  "Were you waiting until next year to put them on?" asked the officer.  (Tags are dated for the following year.)  I envisioned a rerun of that embarrassing event when I got in the truck to go to town yesterday.  Last week I'd received new tags for the truck and stuck them under the visor so as not to forget about them.  Of course, I forgot about them and there they are still.  To fuel my paranoia on the road, my left turn signal and taillight went out.  I made an extra stop in town so that if I were pulled over on the way home, I could produce my registration tags and the new bulb for the taillight.  I breathed a huge sigh of relief when I got home without incident.  Just another couple of items for The List.

That darned Inga.  It wasn't enough that she stood watching me with that blank stare yesterday.  Just so I'd know she was thumbing her nose at me, she looked into my eyes as she lay down.  Well, we'll deal with that today.

It's a bright, sunshiny morning.  It's going to be a good day, one step at a time.