Getting Hot and Bothered

Nope, this isn't another post about weight loss (but it's going GREAT, thanks for asking!!).  :)

It's also not a post about s-e-x so those of you visiting from google or some other such search engine, Welcome but ... sorry?

This one is about temper.

When I was a wee little girl, my mom used to roll her eyes at my dad for "doing the monkey."  (Hey that does sound kinda bad!)

"The Monkey" is a series of moves one makes with body language and blatantly obvious footsteps when annoyed.  For example, if you're at the grocery store looking at a birthday card for grandma, and some stranger comes in and pushes her shopping cart at you to scoot you away from those cards so that SHE can look for a birthday card for HER grandma, one might make big "monkey" moves as they scoot out of her holy high precious way.

I was able to witness "the monkey" a lot as a kid - I guess my dad got annoyed a lot.  Sometimes, the monkey moves would even come out in our own kitchen. I didn't realize as a young kid that there was only allowed one person in the kitchen at a time.

That makes my dad sound awful.  He's not.  He never has been awful.  He just appreciates his personal space and believes it to be a common courtesy for other people to recognize that. No harm, no foul.  

However, having that example in my life has caused me to re-learn a few things as an adult.

The monkey is not an attractive dance.  My husband hates it when I break out the monkey.  As it turns out, I think he's right in that someone can indeed pour himself a bowl of cereal while another person is making her oatmeal. Two people can indeed live harmoniously in the kitchen together at the very same time.
 ....I can't help but wonder if dad does the monkey at his home with his new'ish wife.  I might have to call her later on to ask her - it would buy us some easy giggles if nothing else. :)

As an adult, I decided to choose weather or not I was going to get outwardly annoyed with others.  I taught myself to remember that everybody else's "Normal" is not my normal. That I may do things that thoroughly annoy other people in public and not even know it.  And, when I started to realize this, I began to recognize the monkey moves as ... childish. (Sorry dad!)

How do you react when someone cuts you off in traffic?  Do you get hot and bothered? Do you throw your hands up and maybe even shout out loud? Do you, in your head, think "what am I? Invisible?!"

How do you handle it when someone beats you to a parking space you were obviously about to park in? Do you take it out on the poor steering wheel? The gear shift?

What do you do when you're looking at your grocery list in the store and someone asks you to move, when you're clearly not in their way anyway? Do you stuff your list away and scoot your cart to another aisle in a matter that is sure to make your point?

Maybe it's just me and my family. Maybe you don't get hot and bothered like this at all.. in public or at home.

But if you do, or if you have before - what is it that sets you off to dance the monkey?