Been on the porch in the swing this morning eating breakfast and enjoying this beautiful blue sky full of cotton boll clouds. Filled the bird feeders up early and lots of them are half empty now. Those goldfinches are serious about their seeds. The yard is full of birds and their symphony is lovely. I filled up one suet basket and the downy woodpecker sat close and watched. He’s a beautiful little creature. Not any yard work going on in the yards around me. The wind chimes are singing together. God’s given me another pleasant day and I’m counting my blessings.

Went to the mailbox after lunch and found a letter from the Alabama department of revenue saying I needed to file my state income tax papers for 2020! Jeez, that struck my brain like a loud cymbal and has drowned out the bird symphony. Not only did a tax accountant do my state return that year, but according to my bank statement I paid the state $776. Woe is me! Actually got a human on my first call but she could not find a record on me for 2020. Transferred me to another number where I am patiently listening to their terrible waiting music for, as of now, 1 hour and 34 minutes. I started out as caller 28 and this is what I’ve heard for almost the last two hours, I’m writing it down — “You are caller 28, 25, 27, 1, 3, 1, 11, 28, 29, 31, 2, 12, 14, 17, 23, 28, 16, 24, 21, 27, 24, 24, 21,23, 23, 27, 22, 16, 19, 19, 17, 4, 16, 16 (with wait time of 1 minute, NOPE!), 13, 13, 12, 12, 11, 9, 9.

I got to a number one caller with a 3 minute wait and then I jumped back up to the 20’s. I’m not giving up but this boring music might kill me. Just putting the phone down and trying to enjoy my birds but I’m aggravated. I have been number 16 for 15 minutes of what they said would be a 1 minute wait. Stew is calling Shady Oaks ‘cause he thinks I am crazy for staying on hold for what is now 2 hours and 44 minutes. The phone is on speaker sitting on the swing cushion. They better not tell me to call back tomorrow!

Well, three hours later they tell me “systems are experiencing problems” so call back later. Not never, no not ever calling back! I will just send them copies of that years’ return and all y’all start making corn pones with files cooked inside incase I go to jail for tax evasion. Oh, and bring some hoop cheese with the corn “file” bread!

Nothing aggravates me more than customer service with a long list of push…for this and that. I’m a reasonably intelligent person, sometimes, but it would be nice to occasionally speak to an English speaking human being, without a foreign accent, to have questions answered. I have more than enough patience. I can pleasantly wait in line at Wally World while y’all’s grandmothers count out their change from the bottom of their purses. I can endure a long price tag check wait, or even wait patiently if you left your debit card in your car, but I have no patience with waiting on the phone.

I hate the phone. Ask my friends and they’ll tell you I never call them but they call me and I’ll talk forever. When Chief died I spent so much time on the phone. With the social security office closed because of Covid, it was a nightmare of phone calls. One social security representative told me if I didn’t answer the random phone call when they called back, they would not call again, and my benefits would be delayed three months! I took off that day from work and kept watch over the phone.

Patience is so hard for some folks and when you add being grouchy to the list there is no turning back. And their impatience leads to frustration. I hate it when people are hateful to cashiers. It’s not there fault when the store has long slow lines. If you don’t want to wait, stay out of the store or use the self checkout, or the grocery pickup service.

The Oxford dictionary defines patience as the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without getting angry or upset. Sounds serious!

I used to look out the window in my classroom and watch the parents hurrying their children out of the car and dragging them to the door away from something on the sidewalk that interested them. One daddy delighted me every day letting his two little boys do a little exploring. They’d pick up a stick, watch an ant, look at the birds on the feeder by my window. He never hurried them along. He knew they were exploring the wonders of their world. He was so patient with the boys.

I think patience is hard to come by in this fast paced world we live in. If we really learn to listen to someone we’re practicing being patient. Sometimes we want them to hurry and finish speaking so we can talk but if we’re patient, we’ll wait for them to finish talking. I’m bad to interrupt and I’m working on being patient in conversations.

“Patience is not the ability to wait but the ability to keep a good attitude while waiting.”—Joyce Meyer