Calm Like a Duck

Sometimes, I just have to laugh. Today proved to me that I am in the process of mastering the ability to be what someone needs me to be. Case in point, it is in my children’s best interest for me not to burn any bridges at their school. They have to go from K-8, and so I decided early on, not to get involved with politics, to bite my tongue, and turn a deaf ear to the gossip, and mostly, not to be too forceful in my opinions… with the thought of ‘Does this really matter?’ If it is the case of the education for my children, then yes, but all else, it’s not worth losing my temper. Ever.

I received a phone call today from a Mom apologizing. “I used your name and I want to apologize. So-and-so got really angry at someone and I told them, ‘Every one gets angry over that situation. Even D. got angry and yelled at someone over that. Can you imagine D. ever getting angry? She is always so cool and calm.’…” and then she proceeded to apologize again for telling a story about me. (I like this Mom and did find the entire story amusing.)

But what I found the most amusing about the situation, is that there is this large group of people who think I have no temper. Trust me, oh readers of mine, if you have not gotten a drift of it here, my family and friends reading this are currently laughing out loud. There are many many stories about my temper, from my lunging at someone at work once to losing it to the point that my brain started to hurt and I thought for sure I was about to stroke out.

Typically it comes out when I feel someone has been wronged, I’ve been lied to, or if I feel I’m having to needlessly defend myself.

Heh. I find this incredibly amusing. I’m being used as a pillar of distinction… of the calm and cool that have it all together and never lose it. If they only knew… and as The Great Omnipotent One says, “A duck may appear to be floating serenely across the water, but in reality he is paddling like hell to stay afloat.”

That is me.