I occurred to me this morning as I strolled through Rasmussen woods, toting child and dog, that I spend lots of my day comparing, contrasting and competing.  As I tend to label myself as a non-competitive person, why am I always trying to measure up?

The history of keeping up with the Jones' goes back a ways I'm sure. Why is it that the Jones' always have always had the better lawn, salary, dog, car, child-rearing techniques, clothes, friends and life?  Not to mention they are more involved in the community, volunteer to help blind-deaf-wheelchair-bound people, they know everyone, have fabulous luck, go on great vacations and still hold hands in public.  The Jones' appear to have NO dirty "laundry" (literally and metaphorically).

It seems like I personally have spent my life trying to be the funny friend, the one who pays, the girl who volunteers for the dreaded "personal attendant" job in weddings, the family member who sees the sun through the clouds, the neighbor who's courteous and pleasant...it's like I'm always trying to prove something!

When in life do we get to BE the Jones'?  Is it necessary to be someone you're not to have ultimate happiness?  I'm starting to think the Jones' are full of crap and behind their closet doors, skeletons reside.

Luckily for Axel and I, we spend plenty of time in the woods and there is nothing to envy about OCD squirrels who bury and re-bury their nuts, I'm definitely not jealous of the animals hunted in the state of Minnesota.  I could find nothing worse than being a minnow in a dried up creek, or the bugs that get fogged because the are "misunderstood".  Perhaps in our own little world called Rasmussen woods, the residents idolize Axel and I?  That thought alone could inflate my ego.

Whether you live next door to the Jones', are related to them, or see them weekly in your sad sorority named "Mom's Club" I challenge you to give them something to envy for once...time with a book, walks with no time limit, wearing your pj's in public because you want to or maybe just being yourself!


Happy August.