She’s Sitting In A Tree

 

Several years ago, my telephone rang at 2:00 a.m. Etiquette tells us that it’s not polite to call someone at 2:00 a.m. unless it’s an emergency and never if you are drunk. This call wasn’t an emergency and in fact I didn’t even know the guy and my reaction was not typical for me.

He was calling from Florida and I live in Utah. When I answered the phone he asked for Sandy.

“Who is Sandy?” I asked. He informed me that she was his girlfriend. I was now wide-awake so I decided to have some fun. I politely told him that Sandy was in the backyard. He asked if I would get her to which I responded “no”. Then he asked why I wouldn’t get her.

“Because she’s sitting in the tree,” I responded. He was curious why she was sitting in a tree. In a thoughtful, respectful way I explained that she was teaching the birds to sing.

“Why is she doing that?” he asked.

“Because they are singing off key.”

“Oh! Well, can I talk to her?” he asked again.

“No!” I replied.

“Why not?”

“Because she is sitting in a tree!” and the cycle started all over again.

My little story confused this poor guy but I was awake and couldn’t resist helping him stay awake so I kept this conversation going for 30 minutes. When we said good night I felt I had made a friend and I quickly fell asleep while he kept looking for Sandy.

At the time, this experience was funny (at least I thought so) and I have told it many times. I think it illustrates the importance of maintaining our dignity and self-control both of which are resiliency traits that will be a positive benefit for us in the future. I believe it is never to late to teach our children about self-control and by so doing they (unlike the man in this story) can always maintain their dignity.

Share This Article:[sgmb id=1]