And sometimes it's followed by a few others. Best not print them here. If I'm in the presence of my children, which is usually the case when my patience has purchased a one way ticket south, I mumble these ill-founded words to myself. I shudder to think of the image I'll be casting when my hair turns gray. Just a couple of weeks short of 40, I have to remember that's really not that far away.
Patience is a strange thing, really.
You can generally tell when you have it, but it's hard to note when it's slipping away. Often by the time you realize you've lost what you had, it's far too late and the release of one's temper takes place like the swing of a spring-loaded hinge slamming home an old screen door. Flat and sharp, the hard word of anger involuntarily flies. We all have our tolerance levels for different things, but as far as I can tell women are especially gifted in the patience department. Make no mistake about it.