I try to keep it to a minimum, but I sure can feel sorry for myself at times. It doesn't help that there is next to no reason to do so and that I am mindful of this irritating tendency - sometimes I think that it is an innate quality that I can do little to damp down. (Sigh.) And to be frank, I did have a spell of irritating things happen all at once - my car was unusable for two weeks, the toilet broke, my sons and I discovered we had lice, and an unsavory relative began lurking around town.

And then my dad had a heart attack and my priorities immediately shifted.