People. Let's get along.

Uncanny likenessThere was a great deal of strangeness going on at the UPS store a few weeks ago.

I'd gone there to return something to Amazon. You can do that for free now. It's about a mile and a half from my house, and it's always a pleasant, quick transaction.

Hand over the stuff (you don't even have to wrap it), hold out your phone with the return QR code showing, and wait a few seconds.

And with a cheery thank you, you're on your way to the next errand.

On this day, it was cold and windy. As I approached the door to the storefront, there was a lady just ahead of me.

She was carrying something large, and as I got right up to the door, I realized that there was a line.

That's just never the case, and I was hoping that I could indeed get inside the door and close it behind me, because as I said, it was cold.

As it turned out, I was able to get inside -- just -- and as the door closed I realized that the real problem was developing right there in the store.

Because two females -- both middle aged, one white, one Asian -- were having a noisy confrontation.

Ugh I so wish I'd been there at the beginning of the kerfuffle -- because the Pirate can be so helpful in such situations -- but what I was able to pick up was, the white lady had accused the Asian lady of being rude to her.

Baby Guy on Christmas morning in East Tennessee

It doesn't cost a penny to be nice! she shouted.

Who do you think you are, the President? the Asian lady responded.

You slammed the door in my face! That's just rude! the white lady countered.

So you think you're someone special? the Asian lady demanded to know.

Believe it or not, no one was using their phone to record this fascinating exchange. Everyone in line was staring straight ahead, silently, as though nothing untoward was taking place.

But since it was taking place in front of me, I had to watch it unfold.

Rhett with his Sweet Love in church Sunday before last

And I was praying, Please God, don't let anyone start throwing punches.

And no one did. The Asian lady (who was on her way out) recognized futility as it stared her in the face, decided (wisely) to call it a day, and left in a considerable huff.

I don't know who had the last word.

The white lady with anger issues, still in line, even with her back to me registered intense agitation. She was half coughing, shaking her head back and forth, and sort of twitching her shoulder up and down.

Like at any moment, she was going to blow. Maybe turn around and go after Madame Fang.

Oh mercy, I thought.

My granddog Sybil Ann Porter on Christmas morning

But then, as if a switch had been flipped to the off position, she relaxed. She leaned forward to the person (another lady) in line ahead of her, and began vocalizing in dulcet, conspiratorial tones about something or other.

I couldn't tell what she was saying but her message (to all and sundry in the awkwardly quiet line) was obvious: I am the nice person here. That other lady, she was the mean one. She's the one you should be judging.

Merry Christmas, everyone! Peace on earth, good will to other UPS customers.

Right.

So then the person in front of the confrontational lady had her turn at the counter, and then the lady herself had her turn, and that left one person in front of me. 

That person was called up to be waited upon, and I was left standing about eight feet from the lady who had been going ten rounds with the Asian lady when I walked in.

Audrey's Christmas decor included this terrarium

She had plopped up onto the scale a box that, if taken at face value, contained an air fryer.

The top of the box had been opened.

I heard her say to the cashier, We opened it to look at it but we didn't take it out, and so it needs to be taped back shut. It was a hundred nineteen dollars.

The cashier did not react but just asked where the package would be going.

The white lady who claimed to have had the door slammed rudely in her face started giving an address but then she had to repeat it and I noticed that the cashier had what looked like a hearing aid in her ear, and it was obvious that she had not gotten all of the information.

So the lady who was not having a great day, repeated the information a few more times until even I knew the address by heart.

We attended Christmas Eve service at First Presbyterian downtown

It was in Greenville, South Carolina.

That's where my mother lived, and where Henry still lives, as well as where my sister and several of her children and grandchildren live.

We get up to Greenville about a half dozen times a year; you can be there in significantly less than two hours.

Anyway the lady with the quick temper and loud voice had finally finished reciting the address of where she wanted the air fryer to go, and had moved on to stating her wish that it be delivered "to him" the next day.

The cashier, unflapped, never took her eyes from her screen. Tappity tap tap on her keyboard.

Then she said: For it to be delivered tomorrow will be one thirty-nine.

Dagny and me on December 28th

The lady who was prone to flip out leaned forward at the waist, her chest touching the flaps of the air fryer box, and enunciated in elevated volume: One. Hundred. THIRTY. NINE. DOLLARS???

The cashier never looked up. 

That's if you want it delivered in the afternoon, she said. If you want it delivered in the morning, it will be one seventy-six.

Lady with the short fuse refused to engage. She was fishing in her purse. She produced two twenties and waved them around as though they were magic wands.

I was hoping that forty dollars would take care of it, she asserted.

Lady what dream world do you live in? I wondered, but only in my head.

My Tennessee grands impersonating little angels, only yesterday

The cashier did not take the bait and did not even give those twenties the time of day. You could almost hear her thinking: As if.

Still consulting her screen and tapping on her keyboard, she said, For delivery next Monday it will be eighty two dollars. For delivery on Tuesday will be fifty six dollars.

(I think this was on a Thursday.)

Lady with anger management issues stuffed the twenties back into her purse.

I'll take the one thirty-nine, she said. Just so he has it sometime tomorrow.

? ? ? ? ?

The air fryer cost one nineteen! I'd just heard her say so!

I took this on December 20th ... overall, South Carolina is peaceful

I turned around and looked at the lady waiting in line behind me.

Her eyebrows went up. Way up. And she didn't even know about the immature verbal altercation that air fryer lady had been in, not ten minutes earlier! She hadn't been in the store yet because I was just inside the door!

I said to the lady with only half of the information: She could have been halfway to Greenville by now.

Right? the lady said back to me. Just get in your car and drive there and leave it on his porch. You'll be back home by suppertime!

Or, I said, Zelle him a hundred twenty bucks and tell him, drive around to the Walmart and get you an air fryer!

The lady behind me and I both rolled our eyes. Oh well, we agreed. Bless her heart. (which, where I live, doesn't mean what it sounds like.)

Baby Guy at the park last Saturday

And then it was my turn and since I always like to be part of the solution rather than part of the problem, I hustled over to the waiting cashier and within ten seconds, I was on my way to the next errand.

People! Use your brains! Think! 

One: If someone seems as though they are or were being rude to you, it was probably not intentional!

Two: Even if it was intentional, so what? Forgive and move on. It saves so much time and agony.

A young husband and father was shot to death in a Target parking lot over the weekend. Over a parking space.

I rest my case.

When I got home and told TG about the scene at the UPS store, he said, You should have offered to drive the air fryer to Greenville for a hundred dollars. She would have saved thirty-nine dollars and you could have had tea with your sister before coming home a hundred bucks richer.

I thought -- Why didn't I think of that??? 

But I didn't, and I am sorry that I didn't.

I sent this to my kids on New Year's Day

Anyway since I did not take pictures of the nonsense that went on at the UPS store, I've included a few recent photos that I thought you might like.

Audrey and Erica took their children and went to Greenville just today -- no air fryer to deliver -- to visit Henry, who only yesterday got settled into an assisted living facility not a mile from the cemetery where my mother is buried, and where his own grave beside hers is already paid for.

Henry is in failing health and is not likely to get better. TG and I are going to see him on Saturday.

Dagny posed with me on the Sunday between Christmas and New Year's, and at eleven years old is beginning to look as though she skipped twelve, thirteen, and fourteen, and went straight to age fifteen.

Rhett is devoted to his mother and even calls her Sweet Love. I heard him do it the other day, while we were out to eat at Cracker Barrel. May I have a drink of your water, Sweet Love? he said.

Ember and Guy, our Tennessee grandchildren, are thriving and we hope to see them again soon.

Elliot A/K/A Skippy at my mother's grave today

Melanie in North Carolina, our disabled granddaughter who turned twenty-one a few weeks ago, has also been extremely sick and has had several hospital visits and a few overnight stays.

Her parents, our daughter Stephanie and son-in-law Joel, are working every day to get her the help she needs. It's a sad situation and we need your prayers.

Are you as busy as we have been? Every year I think it will be different, and every year it is not.

But we will keep soldiering on, until the day break and the shadows flee away.

And that is all for now.

=0=0=0=

Happy Tuesday

Comments

[Mari]

I don't know what's wrong with people. They seem to be getting far touchier and much ruder. It's bad enough in person, it's even worse in cars and online.
Love the Venezuelan National bird!
Look at those grandbabies! Adorable - every last one. As I scrolled through, I did a double take on Dagny. My word - she is growing too fast.
I've been praying for Melanie and family and just today thought I would send you a message tonight to see how things were, and now I see this. We're praying for all of you and Henry too.

[Jennifer]

@Mari ... yes we need to talk. I would like to pick your brain about a few things. Let me know when I can call! xoxo 🏴‍☠️

[Amanda Bennett]

Dear Jenny,
You were more patient than I would’ve been in that UPS Store! Don’t you hate it when your husband has such a great idea but wasn’t with you at the time for you to use it?
I want to tell you something about “bless your heart”. Having read your tales for quite a while, I believe you don’t know what I’m about to tell you: For many folks in this world, “bless your heart” means worse than what you implied. It means the worst words you could say to someone in anger. Your husband might know since men are more worldly about these things. I know that you are very proper and feminine and I just wanted you not to have folks thinking you meant something that you did NOT. For your own sake, ask TG. I mean only the best. I once got a bar of soap in my mouth for saying something I didn’t understand, but good luck to anyone who tries to do that to you!!
Your Tennessee grandkids are precious! I’m praying for Henry and for Melanie. Save travels on your way to Greenville and I think Rhett calling his Mother, Sweet Love, is just the sweetest thing I’ve heard in quite a while! XOXO—Amanda!

[Ginny Hartzler]

What a story! And I agree with every single opinion you have! It seems that people are getting meaner by the year. And don't even get me started on road rage! The Elliot photo at the grave is so sad. And Dagney has all at once grown leaps and bounds! She may be just about as tall as you are!

[Jennifer]

@Amanda ... Bless your heart is a southern thing. I know what it means and it's nothing particularly bad. More tongue-in-cheek than anything else. But thanks for your concern. Yes the grands are precious and getting bigger every day. xoxo

@Ginny ... People do seem to have shorter fuses than they used to. I just smile when out and about, and I seem to find only friendly folks. I hope that does not change. That being said, I am as sinful as the next person and could certainly lose my temper so I pray to God that I will remember my manners, haha! As they say, ain't nobody got time for that! Yes Dagny will top me before long. I think she's going to be a tall one! xoxo