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this is what the 1983 Toyota Pickup truck Sunny does.   For 5 years,  including yesterday,  Sunny brought Goat feed.  Bales of it.  Every month or so.  Never missed.  Always.  Didn't skip a beat.  like i've said before,  they are highly valued farm trucks.  every time i am getting gas up at the truck stop,  someone asks…Wanna sell that truck?   

 

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after unloading the bales of Grass Hay from pick up yesterday,  this is where Sunny waited.   for Travis and Everett.   

how to say this in 5 words or less.

the original plan was that Travis would use an Auto transport to pull Sunny….like, he would be up on it,  a flat bed thing.  Late last night that fell through.  Changing to a Tow dolly…front end up but riding on rear tires.  Not the dream for long distance.   But i listened and thought.  Today finally, they get here and i study it,  the Tow dolly.  It's strong,  heavy duty.  Travis points out it's new tires.  Lots of tread.   But he also adds that because the truck is rear wheel drive,  he will need to undo the drive shaft…tie it in place with baling wire.  Baling wire.  Travis is one of the Baling Wire people.  I KNOW them.  

eeeee

I have choices.  I can say NO.   I want to say NO.  But he and Everett are so totally happy and optimistic,  so sure of themselves,  or who they believe themselves to be.  I say things and Travis responds with what his own experience is,  what he Knows.  I stand there.   and i say….Don't bullshit me, Travis.  This is crucial.   and he responds,  it will be Fine, grace.  It is still my decision.  and since i don't really know,  and since i DO know that in order to Get There,  i have to Go,  i say ok. 

we load Sunny with all the stuff i mentioned yesterday,  except for the Janet Chairs.  I just couldn't.  Couldn't send them.   

and as Travis was disconnecting the drive shaft,  Everett and i notice that the passenger side tire (new) of the tow dolly is almost flat.  I go up to the truck stop and buy a can of the Fix a Flat.   They go off,  Sunny, disengaged drive shaft behind,  helpless,  and in their optimistic way,  intend to get air at the truck stop and the set out.  Driving all night.  Through N Mex,  into Arizona and on to California.

which brings me to that term Default.   When i was having coffee with Sydney the other day,  she said some things about  her "default setting"….how she is Re~Viewing that…what it offers and what i keeps her FROM.  I will ask her to say her words to me again in the next couple days…in the moment i was listening to her,  i knew they rang True…but i didn't retain them, exactly.  I want to.

Default

1.  failure to act

4. a preset value that a system assumes or an action it takes unless otherwise instructed.

Default.  What is my default?

and somehow this is tied to all that is in motion with women and men.  Women being 

victimized by men.  Abuse.  Use.  Used.  Women being used.  girls,  used.  abused.   I am drawn to the word Used,  more than abused,  because to me abused indicates some connection whereas,  used means more what i think it really is…being used.  For no particular reason.  Just used.

How does this apply to today?   well….i know that there is so much that i dont know.  And i know that other people,  in these cases,  men,  say they Know.  and i am unsure.  i need a result of some kind.  They Know about that result.  So….i have a choice.  Say no.  Walk away.  or…..Risk.  Hoping against Hope that it will work out ok.  That the trust that i have given will have meaning.

for me today,  it's not the same.  But in a certain way,  it must be,  because i so strongly tie it to me.

and WHAT MIGHT BE the resolution of this?   ahhhhh.   To find out things for YOURSELF.  To learn.  To LEARN the same things that any boy, man, might learn.  to not want to fall back into a default….of relying on.  Stop relying on.  Educate self.

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nothing here,  above is sure.  it's all in the maybe.

 

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these are the kinds of things i Like to Know.  Maybe it's not enough.

 

 

 

 

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19 responses to “default”

  1. joanne Avatar
    joanne

    Is it too late to ask them to leave the truck.
    My husband and I had an experience like this with a truck, a car and a hauling trailer from U-haul. We got as far as breakfast on the highway and I just looked across the table and said–let’s turn back. We drove to the U-haul place and unhooked–unloaded the car we were hauling and took it all back to my father’s house–where he had died just a few days before. We were trying to get his car (now my car) home with us. We couldn’t do it safely. So we drove home without the car–went back for it 6 months later-my son and I drove 13 hours straight talking the entire way. Best ride of my life and I might have missed it if we had gone along–the U-haul gal said we’d have crashed if lucky but most likely died with the car on the hauler.
    Too much weight.
    We didn’t know.
    Some times giving up is the best choice.

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  2. Mo Crow Avatar

    (((Grace))) they are good strong capable young men, Sunny is a good strong reliable old truck, they are going with blessings from around the world, the going is going

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  3. Michelle in NYC Avatar

    I’ve just woken from a sound sleep thinking of you. I have no idea what’s the right choice especially since the immediate issue seems to have gotten entangled with and older, deeper issue, but these Pema C. clips come to mind regarding default settings:
    1. Freedom to Choose something different
    https://youtu.be/eGGDoKJZli8
    and
    2. Shenpa https://youtu.be/2rql2mA5HoA

    Like

  4. Liz A Avatar

    Grace … I have recently been reading a book on emotional health for women and in it is the direction to “quit overfunctioning” … which is to say trying to run everything, to have all the answers, to be right all the time, and to feel responsible for every outcome even when the ultimate choices are made by someone else.
    For me, letting go of overfunctioning (or trying to, at least) has been a relief.
    I don’t know if that fits here. But I think it’s okay to rely on someone else’s judgment sometimes … to let go and let them assume responsibility for the outcome. Hopefully the outcome is a good one.

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  5. Tina Avatar
    Tina

    I am praying that Sunny makes it to the Hill and that this story has a good ending. You are so strong and independent.. you have had to be. But …. things are shifting and perhaps this is a good time to let go and just go!

    Like

  6. Marti Avatar
    Marti

    Liz, who is the author and what is the title of the book you are reading; I want to read this because I do know about overfunctioning and the toll it can take. Mind you, I am far from a handy sort of do it yourself woman but I am highly organized, sometimes, to a fault… grace, you are one of the most self-sufficient women that I have ever known; think of how you fixed your swamp cooler, how you taught yourself everything that you possibly could when the goats came; how you turned a barren patch of gritty land into a New Mexican oasis…it is more than ok to accept that there are somethings that you just have to take a leap of faith on and trust others to come through…

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  7. Tina Avatar
    Tina

    Travis and Everett may the light and brightness of the harvest moon keep you and guide without hardships or sorrows to the Hill that is waiting for you and Sunny with wide open arms.
    Amen

    Like

  8. Kristin Avatar
    Kristin

    Grace, it is often so challenging to allow the voice of other’s make decisions. How many times I stepped back and allowed my daughter and son-in-law to do just that as I moved from the Trinity River to live near them in Montana when I retired. Their voices were speaking from a different perspective than my view, but they were doing the work so I allowed myself to listen (not easy for a hard-head like me)and everything a bout the move went smoothly ..and I learned how to be grateful for the learning how to let go.
    Travis and Everett are making a fine journey now and soon Sunny will be on the land waiting for the tasks you have, once again, in store for him.
    Many blessings as the pieces of the shift in location move ahead with that synchronicity of joy that has been the overriding story of this planned new adventure.

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  9. jaime Avatar
    jaime

    Grace, I too HATE that feeling of being backed into a corner! The last minute rush job that takes what is important to ME and turns it into not important to them. And then it becomes HATE ME. Change me. I’m the problem. NO, NO, NO.
    I’ve learned that when I start saying to myself “I Hate” it is an indicator that I am losing my balance. I am giving away my power. I am not able to think things out fast enough. And then I dig my heels in. Another ineffective coping strategy.
    WE cannot know everything in the world. My energy is better spent…so many other ways.
    Like I said, I really don’t like that feeling either. I am as important. So are you.

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  10. ali Avatar
    ali

    Oh Grace, I am utterly inadequate to give advice. Massive decisions. I guess your intuition knows what is right, but fears get in the way of hearing that voice. Can you sleep on it and maybe in the morning you will have your answer.

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  11. grace Avatar

    it IS!, the best choice. and sometimes there is that choice.
    and sometimes we can make that choice. All these things.
    What i am looking at here is the feeling that my NEED to
    entertain CHOICES is not ok. That’s something that i don’t
    like. Entertaining choices is good and fair and doesn’t
    indicate weakness, or….what….uhhh, i don’t know.
    It was NOT a good idea, really, to haul my truck that way. It was not good that the “great tires”, one…being flat? No spare.
    People can choose to take Risks. That’s great. But when the risk involves a truck that is central to my own on going well being, that will have little meaning to them soon, that’s MY
    decision. I guess it was that things changed radically and i was just supposed to say Okay in a cheery voice tho it was as possible as not that there could be difficulty.
    and mostly, really, it’s not about Them…Travis and Everett…but about ME. that word…agency…appears. and i am so glad, Agency. It’s about ME. Me choosing. ME BEING RESPONSIBLE FOR MY OWN WELL BEING.
    this is a big deal and will be ongoing.
    Love and Love to you, joanne….
    THANK YOU for your story of how it went for you. I so much
    appreciate that, that you had what it took to say NO. This i love. This is wind beneath my wings.

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  12. grace Avatar

    yes. all that.

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  13. grace Avatar

    will take this in

    Like

  14. grace Avatar

    i think we need to weigh all things. But i think that
    the experiences i have had, weighing all things, is
    my most reliable Point. Having had others, men, in
    my life that i have handed over responsibility to with
    varied outcome…i am most interested in Learning. What do
    I need to understand about this.

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  15. grace Avatar

    I LOVE your prayer. I loved the peace that that word, Amen
    gave
    Thank You, Tina
    I love you

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  16. grace Avatar

    Others can decide a lot of things. And i am so ready to
    let them. Have no interest, let them.
    But some…
    they belong to me.

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  17. grace Avatar

    it’s a STRONG feeling…being backed into a corner.
    and again….this is how it ties to the post of Hazel…of
    her Me Too post
    being backed into a corner. Giving away our power.
    this is something I NEED TO UNDERSTAND. No one is going to
    do it for me. It’s MY work.

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  18. grace Avatar

    no. it’s done. It was done yesterday at dusk. They were going forward.
    I could have said NO! but…the intuition did say….did say…Maybe. Maybe it can be ok? as much as not ok? and there was no real way to know, so….to take that risk. Which i did. but i would like to be more clear in myself about why i did that and what it means to me. I’m “old” now. i need to understand these things. It’s time to FACE things.

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  19. saskia Avatar

    am I relieved i only read this once it had all happened, even if that is very selfish of me; other than praying and hoping, there is so little i can actually DO

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