Heaps of Hot Lava

I saw a sight I hope never to see again. A lady in the grocery store parking lot was screaming at her kids.

I only drove up on the scene while I was parking, and there was a hushed-up male adult in the car while she blew up at her kids. He looked as if he were saving his own hide from her wrath.

When she drove off like a mad hornet, I just sat in the car and prayed for her family. I have no idea what was going on or what triggered her, but to a stranger looking on, it seemed totally unacceptable.

Then...

I started realizing I've been that woman to my kids at times. Not in the parking lot or the grocery store, but sometimes at home or when we're trapped in the car somewhere.

Seeing a different perspective of the tirade, oh, is that ever eye-opening! What a horrid bunch of garbage to heap on them and into their heads.

I know I'll get frustrated and angry at times. Emotions are something that are just there, often caused by circumstances. What we do with those emotions is important.

• Stuff them?

• Ignore them?

• Unload them onto our family like hot lava?

Or deal with the issue that's causing the anger or frustration.

Easy to say; harder to do. I get hot-headed in the moment of frustration, and trying to solve a problem while I'm angry is just fuel on the fire. Often, I just have to walk away for awhile to cool my jets, if I can even get away. If not, the tight-lipped "Zip it!" is all I can manage until I can think clearly.

While the angry person may have every reason in the world to be so, to anybody looking on at a tirade, it's ugly and hateful. Anger just destroys the people in its path when it's let loose in a such a way.

May I never, ever, EVER spew hot lava again! My family doesn't deserve that.