{"id":2448344,"date":"2019-09-04T22:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-09-05T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/?p=312337"},"modified":"2019-09-04T22:00:00","modified_gmt":"2019-09-05T04:00:00","slug":"aspen-princess-dont-be-a-jerk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/aspen-princess-dont-be-a-jerk\/","title":{"rendered":"Aspen Princess: Don\u2019t be a jerk"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

A few weeks ago, I was late to yoga and in a big, fat hurry even though they leave the doors open and don\u2019t mind if you\u2019re late.<\/p>\n

I was carrying on with exaggerated gestures, expletives, making a big fuss in a way that it was obvious to the other driver that I was pissed. I mean, the nerve of this person, driving the speed limit! The speed limit! Through a residential neighborhood! Early in the morning on a weekend! No one was around! No one! I had to follow this person the whole way, my irritation growing by the minute. Then they had the nerve to turn into the same parking lot and \u2026 park their car and \u2026 get out with a yoga mat tucked under their arm \u2026 and that\u2019s when I realized I know this person, and like her very much.<\/p>\n

\u201cGood morning!\u201d I hollered good-naturedly, hoping maybe she didn\u2019t notice.<\/p>\n

\u201cRoad rage much?\u201d she asked, with a smirk that said, \u201cBusted!\u201d<\/p>\n

Lately, I\u2019ve been thinking a lot about self-awareness. Have you ever noticed that when someone is being a total jerk that they\u2019re the last ones to realize it? Furthermore, maybe the other half of the time it\u2019s me who\u2019s the jerk and I\u2019m the one who doesn\u2019t realize it.<\/p>\n

Lately, I\u2019ve been thinking about how I often get annoyed by behavior that I myself have displayed habitually. Some of this is just maturity, or maybe a change in perspective.<\/p>\n

Now I\u2019m the mom who is freaking out when someone is making an unsafe pass in the other direction and I have a child in the car. A child! Why risk a head-on collision because you don\u2019t have the patience to safely pass a cyclist? A cyclist! Don\u2019t you know that whatever time you make up by speeding is lost at the next traffic light? For just a moment I wish I had one of those signs on the back windshield that says \u201cBaby on Board\u201d but then again, I don\u2019t want to tarnish my MINI with a cheesy bumper sticker like that.<\/p>\n

This, from the girl who has always had to have cars that are turbo-charged for more \u201cpassing power.\u201d Oh yes, that was me for most of my adult life. Before kids. It\u2019s just how I was raised. You can take the girl out of the East Coast, but you can\u2019t take the East Coast out of the girl. Or something like that.<\/p>\n

I guess it\u2019s easy to judge others when you don\u2019t have the perspective to understand them. Jerks.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve spent the last three years apologizing to all my friends with kids for being such a jerk before I had a child of my own and understood what they were going through. I remember thinking, \u201cI would never let my child speak to me that way,\u201d or even, \u201cI would never let my child out of the house without combing the knots out of their hair first.\u201d Now I get it: You can\u2019t control the misfiring neurons in a toddler brain and you sure as hell aren\u2019t going to have a knock-down-drag-out battle to get that little dreadlock out when it will be so much easier to deal with it properly at bath time, when you can get some conditioner on it and comb it out when they\u2019re playing with their water toys and happily distracted.<\/p>\n

I remember when my friends would make excuses for their kid\u2019s behavior, going, \u201cOh, he\u2019s just tired,\u201d or \u201cHe\u2019s coming down with something so he\u2019s a little cranky.\u201d And I would think, \u201cWhy do you think I care?\u201d Most of the time I didn\u2019t even notice the bad behavior to begin with.<\/p>\n

Just yesterday, our Airbnb guest stopped by to ask me some advice for a day trip they were planning to Redstone when Levi decided he didn\u2019t like the fact that this perfectly lovely woman was taking his attention away from me. He decided to snatch her glasses and run off with them, holding them up above his head as if out of our reach.<\/p>\n

\u201cLevi Aaron,\u201d I scolded. \u201cGive those glasses back right this minute.\u201d<\/p>\n

This only made the game more interesting. He started to run, the glasses now precariously gripped in his little fist, threatening to snap in half. I prayed silently that these were drug store reading glasses and not, say, prescription lenses in designer frames. When I finally caught him (That little stinker is fast!) and pried the glasses from his greasy little paws, he proceeded to knock every single one of our dining room chairs over.<\/p>\n

\u201cGood luck with that one,\u201d the woman said, and left.<\/p>\n

We are a family of jerks who have now officially given birth to a jerk.<\/p>\n

I immediately began composing apology emails to her in my head. \u201cWe had a long day and he didn\u2019t get a nap,\u201d I would write. I soon learned no such apology was necessary. Our guest understood. She was a mother, too. \u201cThree-year-olds are just 2-year-olds with a voice,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The last piece of this little puzzle is when someone is being a jerk, you just never know what\u2019s going on in their lives. Maybe they just got into a huge fight with their spouse. Maybe their dog died. Maybe their 3-year-old accidentally lit the house on fire.<\/p>\n

Have you ever noticed how someone who has a reputation for being a jerk is the last person to realizes what a jerk they are? Doesn\u2019t that make you wonder if people say the same about you and you don\u2019t even have a clue?<\/p>\n

Maybe I\u2019ve spent too much time with my psycho toddler this week, or maybe I\u2019m thinking about a disagreement I\u2019ve had with a friend and trying to be a better person. Hopefully you can all relate. Don\u2019t be a jerk today. And don\u2019t think I\u2019m a jerk for writing this.<\/p>\n

The Princess had a long weekend, and not in a good way. Email your love to alisonmargo@gmail.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A few weeks ago, I was late to yoga and in a big, fat hurry even though they leave the doors open and don\u2019t mind if you\u2019re late. I was carrying on with exaggerated gestures, expletives, making a big fuss in a way that it was obvious to the other driver that I was pissed. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2448344","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-26 05:10:14","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2448344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2448344"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2448344\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2448344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2448344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2448344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}