Stop Moving the Chairs

So, it's been a while since I've last posted. After the post about the flags I was kindly told that the confederate flag is a sign of southern pride which kinda makes sense to me. I'm not going to delete the post however, because this is supposed to be my journey. My blogging journey. Also, my laptop still won't connect to the Internet so I'm on break at the pool hurriedly typing this on my iPhone before I forget what I originally wanted to post about.

Today started like a normal day at the pool. I climbed up into the lifeguard stand and watched grown women fight over claiming chairs that they wouldn't even be sitting in consistently. All their stuff would though. A lady standing near the left of my stand got my attention. She had at least 3 blow up floats and like 4 bags full of stuff she probably wouldn't use today at the pool. Her 3 year old daughter ran circles around her as her mother began this conversation with me; her on the ground looking up at me expectantly, me up in the stand looking at the pool: 

"Excuse me?" She said. 

"Can I help you ma'am?" I replied. 

"Uhm, can I move these two chairs into the kiddie pool area?" 

Really? Benches line the inside of the kiddie pool 'enclosure' as I like to call it. It keeps the wild ones contained. 

"Well, we really don't like to have the chairs moved anywhere in the pool area," 8 chairs line each side of the recreation pool, "and there is already some seating available in the kiddie pool area. It's quite an inconvenience to have the chairs moved all over the pool deck, but I obviously can't stop you," I said that as the two women who were previously fightingover the chairs to my right moved them to the farthest corner of the pool deck, right next to two sets of bleachers we have set up (why can't they just sit in the bleachers? Plenty of room to set up camp...) "honestly from the perspective of a pool employee it's very inconsiderate to move the chairs and not return them to their place at the end of the day, which is always what happens." 

"Oh, right that makes sense. Okay!" 

I return my thoughts to the pool. Until I hear two chairs being dragged. The sound was coming from my left. 

 THIS LADY WAS MOVING THE CHAIRS I JUST TOLD HER TO KEEP STATIONARY.

Disbelief. Absolute disbelief.

I shook my head in an obviously annoyed manner and started thinking about these crazies who keep moving the chairs. 

Then I thought that each and every one of us is a crazy person who hypothetically, moves the chairs. I'm about to get metaphorical. Watch out. It made me think about what each of us does in our daily lives. We have been given a plan and a set of rules by God. He has the answer to everything we could possibly have questions about. But sometimes it seems, that even if He has told us not to "move the chairs" we still do it anyways, because its what we want to do. And along the way we make obnoxious sounds and complain about how hard it is to "move the chair" (when we really shouldn't be doing it anyways). At the end of our selfish journey, we realize that it's time to move on (or go home because the pool is closing) from our selfish way because it really didn't turn out to be right, and we leave a big mess for our faith and our own "Lifeguard" if you will, to clean up after us. How terrible it is that we don't listen, realize we're wrong for not listening and then allow someone else to clean up our mess, but how gracious He is to do so. What a revelation I had when I realized this. I really need to start listening when He is telling me to do something His way. But He is so patient, to constantly clean up after me when I don't. 

So, all of that being said, y'all stop moving your chairs, and I'll stop moving mine, too. And listen when the Lifeguard tells us what to do. He knows best. He even tells us so. 

"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare^[a] and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope." Jeremiah 29:11

I'll try to post again soon. Thanks for reading again! 

-Hailey

Confessions of a Yankee Girl

This post requires a disclaimer. I knew that from the moment I decided to write about this...That all being said, I need you all to know that I LOVE living in the south. I really like it here in Alabama. People are so sweet and I think it's really cute when little kids have southern accents. I like the south. That is my disclaimer.

 With that in mind, on to the good stuff. Today I worked my waitressing job at Cracker Barrel. It was a pretty  normal Thursday. Plenty of people ordered the turkey and dressing for dinner tonight. Tasty. Nothing very unusual happened except for a 14 year old girl with braces told me that waitresses scare her (what....?) and I didn't receive a pile of loose change as a tip. My faith in humanity is slowly being restored. SLOWLY. So here's where this whole post comes together: I saw a man wearing suspenders. But not just any suspenders.

They were covered in small confederate flags.

I have seen women at the pool with "tramp stamp" confederate flags. I have seen men with large confederate flags tattooed on their very hairy backs. One man in particular featured skulls instead of stars in his rendition of the flag of the confederacy. Original.

I do not understand this phenomena. Here's why:

The Civil War has been over for 148 years. Meaning, the Confederte States of America have not been in exsistence since 148 years ago. 148!!! The confederacy wasn't even recognized as a separate entity by President Lincoln. But let's not get technical.

Let's talk about how the Union states (Yankees, you might call us) won the aforementioned Civil War. I hate to break it to y'all, but the south probably isn't going to rise again... But who am I kidding, you could probably 'like' a Facebook page and help your state of choice secede from the United States and then it could be the United States of America minus one...I don't know. I think with enough Facebook likes you can accomplish anything.

It simply does not make sense to me...

Like, I promise you're better off now, in 2013 with air conditioning and MOST of your teeth in your mouth, being part of a nation where you have access to dental care (you may or may not take advantage of this. I strongly encourage it) than in 1865 being part of a nation (can the confederacy even be referred to as a nation?) where the best air conditioning you can get is sitting in the shade and only the most necessary of the necessary teeth in your mouth? And no dental care for you to even ignore?!

Honestly, it will probably never make sense to me. And I'm okay with that.
Except I hope you're okay with the idea of me getting a tattoo of the Ohio flag. Which is actually the
only flag that is a pennant. Technically called a burgee. It's impressive, I know.

Okay, I'm finished. And I like I said in my silly little disclaimer at the beginning. I love living in the south. It's just that some things will probably never register with me. Like confederate flags and ignoring personal and dental hygiene.  Anyway, thanks for reading and keeping up with me! I'm sure you have better things to do but why not sit around and contemplate the little things with me?! Keep the feedback coming! I'll post again soon!