Authenticity--In a rush

I am at school, and in about 8 minutes students will come in all excited and happy to see each other.  Others will come in dragging and tired.  Some will come, coffee in hand (Jr High and older only) claiming they are still asleep, and some will proudly claim they have been up since 4am playing games on their X-Box.

For a while, kids can't help but be authentic.  I always know where I stand with my (almost) one year old daughter.  Her 11 months of life are enough for her to know EXACTLY how she wants things to go.  If she is well-rested and her tummy is full, for the most part she can roll with it if things don't go her way.  However, when she is tired, or hungry, or her gums ache, she WILL let me know.

There is a sort of refreshing peace that comes when you don't have to guess how the people around you are taking what you are saying or doing.  (Although I feel anything but peaceful when she is wailing...).  When the people around you are authentic and tell you how the REALLY feel...hopefully kindly, then you are free to take people at their word and not second guess them.

I decided early in my marriage that I could either worry myself to death trying to figure out what my husband meant when he said he was "fine" with going to Shari's, or  I could take him at his word, and that "fine" means ok, and that he really meant it.  Sometimes I still get hung up on what "fine" means (does that mean you want to go, or that you would rather go somewhere else but you are "fine" with going if that is what I want to do...) but that sort of thinking DOES drive me crazy.

Maybe, during my week of Authenticity, I should assume authenticity in others.  If I take people at their word, and not worry myself to death trying to figure out what they are REALLY trying to say, then maybe I will find some small measure of peace...

I wonder if that could be dangerous though.  Should I always be authentic, but question the motives of those around me?  That way I am not surprised or taken unawares when something goes bad...

Hmm... It is 8:03 now, and kids are piling in....I'm out of time...

But what do you think?