Stormy Mind

Bubba ordered four slices of bacon at the meat counter yesterday. The butcher picked and packed and wrapped and handed him his parcel. He paid, brought it home, and tucked it in the fridge.

“You feel like bacon?” he asked me this morning.

Today would be a good day: bacon-and-eggs.  Bubba cooks bacon via a slow-bake process that produces perfection.

He was in the kitchen, getting the bacon started.  Minutes later he came out to the living room, where I was reading the paper.

“I ordered four pieces of bacon,” Bubba said, mildly agitated. “But I just opened the package and the butcher put five pieces in!”

I tilted my head, waiting.

“There’s a part of me that claims ‘that’s not right!’ He heard me order four pieces but he didn’t do that.  I can feel myself getting all righteous about it; wanting to go back and call him on it.”

“The thing is,” he continued, “I don’t want that negative energy stomping around in my brain. And yet, there it is.”

So many moments in life where thoughts and feelings come up, whether we want them to or not. The more I pay attention–not just to my own mind but to others–the more I start noticing it everywhere.

Bubba shook his head as he headed back to the kitchen. The negative energy drifted off. Bubba cooked five pieces of bacon. And we ate it all.

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