Time to get a Bigger Blanket

Do you ever hear an expression so much that you want to scream? "Just want to be sure we're all on the same page." is my personal favorite. When I was teaching, a know-it-all teacher or administrator used that phrase all the time. Are we so lacking in creativity that we must repeat it a zillion times? And what does it mean anyway? Well...as I studied the particular people who used this phrase (sneaky huh?), I came to a conclusion. They used it to manipulate those of us who were not on "their page." In other words, does anyone ever challenge a statement like that?



"I just want to be sure we're all on the same page." Says person #1



"Why?" Says person #2. "What makes you think I want to be on your page." Says person #2 "Maybe your page stinks. Maybe your page should be ripped from the book and burned. Maybe you need to open to a new page in my book.



No. I've never heard anyone say that. So needless to say, I hate that expression. Here's another one. "We need to think outside the box." Yeah right. Whose box are we talking about? Who decides what is ok to suggest outside said box? I wanna know.



And my dog agrees with me.



Every morning I make my bed and then spread out her special blanket on one corner. She's always just stayed on her little corner of the bed. I mean it's not so small-it's a good 1/4 of the bed. She should be happy with that, right. Well, recently she's been testing her limits. At first it was just a paw over on my cream-colored quilt. Then two paws. When she leaned way off her blanket, I scolded her and told her to go back to her blanket. She obliged...until I left the room. Then she stretched out again. No matter how many times I made her move, she only ended up back on my quilt. What to do...what to do?



This morning, after once again making her move back to her blanket, I stood there to watch. She eyed me. I eyed her. She curled up into a neat ball on the blanket. I watched some more. She still eye-balled me. When she fell (apparently) asleep, I tiptoed out of the room. I watched from the other room, where I could see her paws but she couldn't see me. Sure enough, in one swoop, she stretched out nearly all the way across the bed. And then it came to me.



She was thinking "outside the blanket." And she'd discovered that she quite liked it. She was comfortable on the blanket before. But now that she'd experienced something more, she didn't want to go back.



Is it time to expand your blanket?



Photo: Togo livin' life beyond the blanket.



Write Now,



Karen