Dear Reader:

Have you ever gotten in a “funk” when you are just “not with the program?” I remember telling my own students (who were day dreaming or writing notes during class) to “get with the program.” (follow the procedures)… Yet now it is me struggling to do just that…I suppose I could blame it on the new cancer prescriptions…it has become the target for all my other complaints…so just add this one to the list. Honestly, however, I think it is just me…who is now doing the day dreaming…

I feel myself just kind of drifting off for no reason…until a noise, the phone, a loud commercial on television, a knock on the door startles me out of my reverie. I am definitely not “in the moment”…and I couldn’t tell you exactly where I was…even if I were being interrogated by the police…I am just out there somewhere thinking about something… and nothing.

I have certainly been berating and admonishing myself for my lack of “togetherness” lately… but all for naught.

I just finished a wonderful little summer read called “The Tour” by Jean Grainger that takes place in Ireland. It was touching and hilarious at the same time…about a group of tourists in a small private coach seeing the sights of Ireland together and learning about each other along the way.

The main character-the tour guide Conor O’Shea- is quite memorable…especially because of his own self-deprecating Irish humor. He continuously calls  himself an “eegit” numerous times throughout the story for forgetting to do certain things on time.

This is a term one finds used most frequently in Ireland, Scotland, and Australia….like most words it can be a hurtful connotation if directed at one from strangers… but normally in these countries it is used as an affectionate term among friends. It means “idiot” (in the kindest way possible) 🙂

Personally I like the word….so let me give you some examples of my “eegit” behavior the past few days. If you look back up at the title photo you see three orange impatiens that I planted when I bought the bench a few weeks back.

If you look carefully…there seems to be a blank spot between the first plant and the other two….there is a reason for that…there should be four impatiens. A couple of nights ago…as darkness was descending rapidly I decided to get up off my “arse” and go water the impatiens….in spite of hungry mosquitoes waiting in attack mode.

I filled up two empty gallon milk cartons and headed outside…I counted the plants as I watered them…one, two, three, four. But then as I glanced back I could see a tall weed  beside the second one….so in my hurry to get back in…I quickly pulled it and dropped it behind some other bushes.

I was in Mt. Pleasant the next day and gone the next…so yesterday I went back out to water and there was the empty space. “Darn squirrels” I muttered to myself (I definitely “watered” that  “darn”response down)  shaking my head in frustration…it wasn’t until last evening that I realized I had pulled the impatiens up along with the weed. “Eegit!”

Besides pulling flowers and plants instead of weeds, I have driven past post offices, restaurants, deli’s, stores, dry cleaners, friends’ homes…you name it…I have “over shot” them or made the turn practically on two wheels at the last moment as imminent thoughts fill me … “Where am I going? I can’t believe I almost forgot the turn! Duh…EEGIT!”

I always pause and look around …as if I think some special patrol officer for “eegits” is monitoring my embarrassment with some kind of secret radar.

I know this excuse probably sounds like a “cop out” but maybe our human feeble brains just aren’t supposed to always run on high beam…maybe we need a vacation or a tour too. Just maybe not “getting with the program” is exactly what we need to do to remind ourselves that we are only human and as such prone to error and “eegitism.” 🙂  *(my newly created word)

So until tomorrow…“There is nothing in nature that blooms all the time…so don’t expect yourself to do so either.” (There is a reason for dormancy)

“Today is my favorite day” Winnie the Pooh

***I am beyond excited! The doorbell just rang and it was “Amazon” calling! I had ordered the second book in the Conor O’Shay” series actually Sunday afternoon and the book arrived last evening…one day…amazing amazon!

• If anybody else has recently experienced an “eegit” moment I would appreciate your story…”eegitism” loves company! 🙂

Garden beauties…