It's About Life / De-friend THIS!

And how sweet is this picture?  Grampa recently rototilled a garden for our son and

daughter in law and had extra help as 23 month old Solomon helped drive the tractor.

All Things Brittany... is all about life, and sharing that life with our family, friends, and of course our bouncing, amazing, funloving, beautiful, happy awesome BRITTANYS.   The use of referring to ourselves as "All Things Brittany", was adopted from the beloved series of books written by James Harriot including "All Creatures Great and Small" "All Things Wise and Wonderful" and "The Lord God Made Them All."   For over 30 years, readers have enjoyed the stories of perhaps the worlds most beloved veterinarean as Dr. Herriot wrote about his deep love of live and for all animals. If you've never picked up one of these books, I suggest you add it to your summer reading list.  Additionally, the use of  "All Things Brittany" also reflects the words found in a beautiful Christian hymm penned for children in 1848 by Cecil Alexander, a hymm that I grew up singing in church and in Sunday School.  (As a side note - J & A's Brittanys is simply a shorter way of saying "John and Ann's" Brittanys!)

Our first blog was in the fall of 2007 and created as a way to share the experiences of waiting for a litter of pups. Slowly but surely we attracted a following of readers, something which took me time to realize.  And so how did I know the blog was being followed?  Well... through the personal emails hinting that I hadn't posted anything for awhile or letting me know a bad day of work often changed direction by reading this blog or even those who check it first thing in the morning. And the owner of the best Brittany in the world also checks the blog when he is on the road traveling I have been told.  I'm really humbled because I never started blogging with the intent to create a following and I surely never thought what I write could really matter or make a difference.  My most recent post about my mum generated a lot of private email.  I have to tell you I'm thankful that God uses this blog in the way he does.  

All Things Brittany - the blog - is indeed all about life.  Sometimes there are brags to share about our dogs and other times I just want to write about our family.  There's been a couple of times that I have used this blog to spout off when I've experienced the reality of difficult people in my life or felt I was treated unfairly.  (Coming up again in the next paragraph!) Often the posts are about our canine crew.  Sadness and joy have equally been shared here at the All Things Brittany Blog and you've got to know I just love feedback, comments and also seeing people "I LIKE" us on Facebook. I hope you'll keep coming back.

Speaking of the "I LIKE" button and of Facebook.  I have to share this.  I really do.  It's funny but it's not funny but I totally 'get it'.  There is a term used in Facebook, Twitter, MySpace etc.  It is called "de-friend".  I commmented to someone at a dog show how I had discovered a Facebook 'friend' had 'de-friended' me.  She told me I should look up the meaning and we laughed about it. The 'de-friend' incident happened a couple of months ago but today is the first time I thought anything about looking up the meaning.  The urban dictionary defines it as this: To remove someone from your Livejournal, MySpace, Facebook, or other social networking site. Doing this is often seen as a passive-aggressive move, telling the person without telling them that you no longer want to be friends. It's also commonly a response to drama. Defriending someone often causes more drama...

Well interesting enough I had the opportunity to ask this "de-friender' face to face recently if we could be friends, as in real life. True to the defriending definition above, indeed the response was full of drama, providing an opportunity for a scene to be played out which I could have done without.  But I fell for it all, and when I did I was actually left in tears! Damn!(Yup you heard me right.)  You see, I simply wanted to know what it was I had done but the response was that I already knew, yes I did know, and I knew that I knew.  So are you wondering what it was I did?  Me too!

Here's another definition:  "be-friend".   It means to behave as a friend to someone.  So you see, I befriended this person who then defriended me.  Short-lived?  I'll say.  Shaking my head.  

Here's a good lesson from a very Good Book: "We should not share our wisdom with those who are militant, ready to fight, or an unbeliever lest they turn on us and insult us or do us harm. They might turn upon us and might distort what we are saying and might even attack us. " Yup. Stuff I've said and done sure has been distorted and even more things have been made up.  A meaning that is accepted by many Christians is that when the Bible refers to Paul having a 'thorn in his flesh' it meant there was a person in his life that annoyed him, perhaps bringing out the worst in Paul, maybe even causing him to act out or speak in anger.  Well - that would show that Paul was human, still in need of Christ.  It probably kept him from getting a big head. I think I know what Paul dealt with if that was the case. I hate that someone brought out the worst in me but maybe it needed to happen.  Sharing 'pearls' of wisdom, knowledge, offering guidance and advice, even criticism when needed often is found in friendship. These 'pearls' are based upon the reality of a multitude of experiences, good or bad. I believe we go through 'stuff' to be able to help someone else with a similar situation at another point in time.  Being defriended by the person I befriended shows me that's not always the case.  Sometimes, it's simply because we need to remember that the fruit of the Spirit of Christ is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.  DE-FRIEND THAT!

It's about life! Take care and God bless you always, John, Ann, and All Things Brittany