Reacting

I can remember when I was in my teens, I had a bit of a temper.
It didn't flare until I had tolerated all I could handle and then I would
let it fly.  Usually it would be a hairbrush that would go airborne or
a good old door slamming.  As I've gotten older, my tolerance level
has grown and so has my expression of my frustration or anger; and
I try to make a conscious decision to respond rather than react to a
situation.

Today, I stopped by our new house construction site and as I walked around
the house, (it was only 105 degrees) my temper grew with each step. There
was trash everywhere, Gatorade bottles, water bottles, pop cans, soft drink cups,
McDonald cups, and candy bar wrappers. Then the final thing that caused me
to lose it; cigarette wrappers and cigarette butts. I don't judge people for smoking.
But, I choose not to smoke and I certainly don't want it in my new house.

So, what did I do to release my anger? I picked up all of that trash thrown all over the 3,000+
sq feet of unfinished house. All of the Gatorade bottles, water bottles, pop cans, soft drink cups, etc.  And yes, I even picked up the cigarette packages. No, I didn't pick up the cigarette butts. By the time
I was done, there was 3 boxes full of their trash. One box on each level; main floor, basement and
garage. I left them there in the middle of each floor as a message; this is our home and I've had
it with all of your trash being thrown all over the place. Clean up after yourselves for goodness
sake!

Oh, and I did one more thing. I wrote an email to the builder and the realtor
and told them I do not want any smoking in our home. Maybe I would have felt better to just come home and throw a brush or slam a door.  :o)