Understanding and Forgiveness!

Something happened today that has me very disturbed. I have tried and tried to just let it go....but I have not been successful. Doing what I naturally do, I have analyzed and over analyzed why it bothers me so. In this process, I have come to realize just how much importance I put on things like understanding and forgiveness.

Hubby, Sugar Bear and I decided to take a short trip to the beach today. Hubby wanted to give Surf Perch fishing a try, and I knew how much Sugar would enjoy exploring the beach. When we got there, we were the only people there. Like most days at the beach, it was windy and cold, but the sun shining made it bearable. The Hubby proceeded to fish, and Sugar Bear and I played with Daisy, our black lab, for awhile. Sugar enjoyed throwing rocks at the ocean, and we spent some time digging in the sand.

After about an hour, we left Daisy with the hubby, and Sugar and I head back to the truck. When we reached the parking lot, there was one other vehicle in the parking lot. Two elderly men were chatting. I proceeded to begin changing Sugar Bear out of her sandy clothes. The elderly men started up their diesel truck and started to back out. I heard what sounded like a woman's voice yell something, so I looked up. About 20 yards from me, I saw a woman standing in the middle of the parking area holding up a 3 month oldish lab puppy, and half way between us, was what appeared to be Daisy. The men had stopped, and it sure looked to me like my dog had followed me up to the parking area, and was causing a little bit of trouble. I called to Daisy, and the dog came running to me. I yelled an apology to the men saying, "I am so sorry, I thought she was still with my husband." They waved to me and left. Daisy started running towards the beach again, so I yelled for her to come back, she stopped and looked at me. At this time the lady carrying the pup, was about 10 feet from me, and I swear the first thing out of her mouth was, "That's MY Dog! Jeez lady what is your problem?" I quickly looked at her and then the dog, and I said sort of chuckling, "oh...I'm sorry! She looks just like my dog..." The lady interrupted me angerly saying, "who the hell cares lady!" Again I stammer how sorry I am, and she just throws her hand up at me...and walks towards the beach with her dog and pup.
Okay, so this is where I just stood there with my mouth open. I had never been treated so rudely. I mean, I seriously thought it was my dog, and it looked like the lady was trying to keep her pup away from her. I was trying to do my job as a pet owner. How could this lady NOT understand this? Why was she so rude to me? I thought it was sort of funny. Did she think I was trying to steal her dog or something?????

I have to tell you that this encounter royally messed up my day. I have tried to understand that she must have been flustered. I have tried to understand that maybe she was having a bad day. It hasn't helped.
WHY AM I SO UPSET BY THIS???? I have to ask myself, "am I upset that she was rude to me, or is it more the fact that she was upset with me?" If I am honest, I realize it is the latter. It is really hard for me, that no matter what I said she didn't try to understand or forgive me for my mistake. It lingers in my mind, the look on her face when she said, "jeez lady!" She looked at me like I was the worst person in the world.....ME....Corey....the person who is always trying to be helpful and to think of others. She didn't see who I was...she saw a pain in her hiney....and didn't forgive me. Somewhere tonight, she is telling someone about this crazy lady who tried to steal her dog at the beach. UGH! Try as I might to believe that I don't really care what people think of me....it is painfully obvious that I do.

If you know me well, you will know that I always try to learn something from things like this. Today I learned that no matter what mood I am in, or what might be happening around me, I need to look up, listen, and try to understand. Understand and forgive. That lady has no idea how she affected me....how she sent my day askew. A simple, "oh....I see! No worries. All is fine now!" from her would have instead left me with a funny story to tell my friends about the day I almost stole a lady's dog at the beach!