My husband and our youngest son went deer hunting in Wyoming this past week. So tomorrow is our family's official Thanksgiving-dinner-day. My grand plans to write and blog and recharge doing "chick things" were squelched when our yellow lab, Hannah Banana, decided to eat something that has no place in a dog's tummy.

So, Wednesday night I was at the Vet's office having her x-rayed. She's better. Looks like she'll avoid surgery, though I'm a little worse for wear despite the fact that I was alone most of the time. Just picture me in the backyard at three in the morning with a flashlight praying the dog will poop!

I did manage to do a little reading. This slayed me:

"I suppose a sensible way to gauge virtue is to examine how the virtuous behave when things disappoint them." --Rhoda Janzed, Mennonite in a Little Black Dress (A Memoir of Going Home)

Oh how I wish to be a better human being than the one I saw in the mirror last night after venting to a relative I'm blessed to see maybe once a year.  I was tired. I was angry. I was wrong to think I could maintain my composure under the circumstances. This morning I awoke more disappointed in myself than in the other person.

Of course I apologized. Of course. But the regret . . . I'm still learning. I still fall on my knees, desperate for my Savior, grateful that HOW I acted is not WHO I am or how I carry myself from one day to the next. For that I am truly grateful.

"A fool vents his feelings, but a wise man holds them back." Proverbs 29:11

I learned this one the hard way.