{"id":272,"date":"2021-04-06T23:11:46","date_gmt":"2021-04-06T23:11:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mesmarriahmiracle.com\/?p=272"},"modified":"2021-04-06T23:11:46","modified_gmt":"2021-04-06T23:11:46","slug":"19-you-just-need-another-mule-in-the-traces","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mesmarriahmiracle.com\/index.php\/2021\/04\/06\/19-you-just-need-another-mule-in-the-traces\/","title":{"rendered":"19. \u201cYou Just Need Another Mule in the Traces.\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Before you know it, you\u2019ll be quoting the line, \u201cYou just need another mule in the traces with you for a while.\u201d  You just have to understand it to know how and when to whip it out! It just takes listening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve mentioned \u201cmule in the traces with you\u201d a couple of times (Post 2, Post 17). Well, here\u2019s how that lodged in my \u2018pertinent pocket\u2019 and has been pulled out to use time and time again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I always like to give proper credit for any stories I share, so…back in the wayback, Steve was an insurance guy I dated for a while. He knew how to diagnose and\/or fix my car if there were problems, changed the oil, prided himself on being a helper, besides a great insurance salesman. So when I\u2019d complain about my life or get discouraged or disappointed\u2014which, have you noticed, I\u2019m prone to do?–he\u2019d be there with encouragement, oft times with a story. Parables for those in need, I\u2019d say.  A couple of his \u2018stories\u2019 were pertinent-pocket worthy and have been thusly retained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clinch Mountain Mules<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m sure Steve pulled out his little parables when I\u2019d be in one of my \u2018woe-is-me\u2019, my life sucks, gritching mode (Post 17). On this occasion, he asked me if I\u2019d ever heard of the Clinch Mountain mules. I admitted I hadn\u2019t, so Steve explained that Clinch Mountain is over in the Appalachian Mountains in Tennessee and Virginia. The farmers farm the mountain with Clinch Mountain mules, a particular species of mules that have one side of their legs shorter and the other side longer so they could plow around the side of the mountain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Pause.) I fell for it! For a second\u2026and was trying to figure out if they always had to go the same way around!\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Started to…but didn\u2019t. No, I didn\u2019t fall for that. So he got serious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Clinch Mountain mules were special in that they always plowed all by themselves, one single mule in the traces all day long, day after day, week after week, season after season, working solo. But\u2026every now and then they\u2019d get tired and could not (or would not) work any more by themselves. So the wise mountain farmers knew all they had to do was bring another Clinch Mountain mule and hook it into the traces with the first Clinch Mountain mule, and off they\u2019d go, pulling and plowing together for a while. But just for a while. Then the farmers could separate them and they\u2019d plow happily alone for another space of time. I\u2019m sure Steve was thinking of himself as being a Clinch Mountain mule pulling in the traces with me for a while. I sorta doubt he would ever have thought he would provide me with a parable for the ages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We All Need Another Mule in the Traces with Us from Time to Time.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As humans who try to do it all, do it right, many of us \u201cpull\u201d alone for long periods of time until we feel we just can\u2019t \u2018pull\u2019 anymore. And that\u2019s the time, \u201cYou just need another mule in the traces with you for a while.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It works. Just someone to work or think or do<\/em> along side you renews strength and spirit. Short period of time; doesn\u2019t have to be forever. Combine energies long enough til you feel steady and strong to pull some more through life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have pulled this phrase and explanation out of my \u2018pertinent pocket\u2019 many many times as I hear women lament their tiredness. I understand women\u2019s tiredness. (My truism is that you can\u2019t have empathy without first the experience.) I\u2019ve lived women\u2019s tiredness to write:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                                    Prime the Pump<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

            Sometimes I feel like a well<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                        That everyone comes to dip from<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                                    And then go away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                        A comforting drink of cool water<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                                    Pull long from it<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                                    Refresh<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                                    Cleanse<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                        And then leave the well<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                                    Alone<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                                    To find its own way<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 To replenish itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Doesn\u2019t Take Much to Be a Clinch Mountain Mule.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kim M. was one of the clients I had when I was a freelance writer. She did the marketing for a company that sold industrial uniforms. She and I got along really well, worked together great. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was working on a project for her and had called her with an update. She confided she was immobilized at her home. She was overwrought because she and her husband were being \u201cinterviewed and reviewed\u201d the next day to adopt a specific child, one whose need was so personal and prolific, she felt frozen, unable to do anything. The fear of not making the grade and not being approved to adopt the child had her petrified physically and emotionally. She said she just couldn\u2019t move to do anything even though she knew she needed to move, clean her house, prepare\u2014but she was stuck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And out came, \u201cAll you need is another mule in the traces with you. <\/strong>I\u2019m caught up on my writing deadlines\u2026I\u2019m gonna come over and help you clean up the house and get prepped for your interview tomorrow.\u201d And I did. That\u2019s all it took; another human being in the traces to plow along side her for a little while. She got unstuck and could move. She and her husband passed their review and adopted the little girl.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve used that phrase and explained about the Clinch Mountain Mules many times to people who seem temporarily swamped in the boat of life. Grateful to report that there have been people who have gotten in the traces with me when plowing through life had me tried and tired.  Proud to say I\u2019ve been a Clinch Mountain Mule and harnessed myself up for a pull with different people over the years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through the Fire Twice <\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apparently I might<\/em> have complained and whined about my lot in life at the time I knew Steve! One time he pulled out this little parable of the Tempered Sword, \u201cTo temper a sword to make it stainless and strong, it has to be put through the fire twice,\u201d he said. And he assured me that\u2019s just what was happening. I was being put through the fire once again to make me stronger. That little story tweaked the way I was looking at things, gave me the hint that there may be a raison d\u2019etre for what was happening to me. Could I see my situation as an opportunity to learn something from it? Shore up my strength as a result? Be more aware that there may be a reason for my being? That little parable? Yep, I retained that story, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You know, I deeply appreciate Steve and his stories which apparently were comforting and edifying to me at that time. I\u2019m not sure where he learned his parables or how he learned to apply them. But, hey, teachers come in all configs. I\u2019m not gonna look a gift mule in the mouth. I am grateful and thankful to Steve wherever he may be. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(There\u2019s also a saying my grandma used to use…about \u2018working someone like a borrowed mule.\u2019 But that\u2019s a whole different mule moral!)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Before you know it, you\u2019ll be quoting the line, \u201cYou just need another mule in the traces with you for a while.\u201d  You just have to understand it to know how and when to whip it out! It just takes listening. I\u2019ve mentioned \u201cmule in the traces with you\u201d a couple of times (Post 2, … Continue reading “19. \u201cYou Just Need Another Mule in the Traces.\u201d”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":273,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[55,54],"class_list":["post-272","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-life-lessons","tag-gritching","tag-mules"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mesmarriahmiracle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mesmarriahmiracle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mesmarriahmiracle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mesmarriahmiracle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mesmarriahmiracle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=272"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mesmarriahmiracle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":274,"href":"https:\/\/mesmarriahmiracle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272\/revisions\/274"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mesmarriahmiracle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/273"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mesmarriahmiracle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mesmarriahmiracle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mesmarriahmiracle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}