Many, many years ago I had a very bad temper.
That’s not true. I still have a bad temper. I get mad and I stay mad for a LONG time. But it used to be worse; when I would become enraged, I would throw things, scream, punch walls. One time, when I was about 13, I chased a girl down and punched her. Now, I still think she deserved it, but that’s not the point. I shouldn’t have hit her.
Since that day – I’ve learned to keep my temper under control. Hell, even in the past few years, I have stopped yelling at my step-son for stupid things he does. In a calm voice, I explain why I’m mad and what we can do to solve the problem.
However, there is one story that I need to share, even though it is embarrassing and horrible… I just need to put it out there.
At our old house, Tim and I spent a lot of time putting in raised garden beds. We built them from cedar, filled them with compost and topsoil and planted them. At this same time, we got a dog and named him Marshall. Thankfully we had a fence, so we could just open the backdoor, and let him do his business.
Now, one of the things that we planted in those garden bed was seed potatoes. Little pieces of potato that you plant about two inches deep that grow a new plant. Well, after they had been planted just long enough to sprout, we let Marshall out to do his thing. He couldn’t have been out there more than ten minutes when I went to get him. I opened that door, and there he was, running towards me covered in soil. I was shocked – what did he tear up? I had four garden boxes, all planted with different things…
He had dug up every last seed potato and eaten it. Not just dug… ATE them all…
I flipped. I screamed and chased him around the yard, trying to catch him. Needless to say, I was not quick enough to catch him. So, I tried to get him in the house to punish him with a “time-out”. He wouldn’t have that either. Finally, mad and tired, I calmly grabbed one of my step-son’s foam covered baseball bats and went back outside to the tree in our backyard. I screamed wordlessly, beating that tree until the plastic core of the bat broke.
I know that wasn’t the most adult thing to do.
I know it wasn’t the most SANE thing to do.
I know that someone at the old house probably saw or heard me do it.
But, it was satisfying to get it out, and I didn’t beat my dog.
I also didn’t plant potatoes ever again.
