• /
    • Archives /
  • November 30, 1999

Archives For November 30, 1999

Don’t speak

September 29, 2012

I am a female in my mid-30s. I don’t know if other women my age had the same grand scheme in their minds as I did of how life should unfold.

I knew I wanted to be a mom. Because it’s sweet to be a mom! And playing mommy was always fun, right?!

One of my babies…walking her babies.

You know what else moms are? Bat-sh+t crazy.

After spending all day listening to my three arguing over who’s right, screaming out in delight over the dumbest things, questioning everything I said, ignoring my pleas to hurry up, and tormenting each other because the only thing that’s worse than being together with your siblings is having to spend time apart with (gasp!) no imagination or ability to entertain yourself, I reached my boiling point.

I looked them straight in the eye and said:

“Look at me. Look at me. LOOK AT ME!!”

“I don’t care what you do when we get home, but I don’t want to see or hear you. So find something to do and don’t bother each other.”

They looked up at me and their eyes said what their mouths didn’t. “Ok, mom. You’re mean. Whatever.”

And you know what? Mean mom didn’t feel a tinge of guilt. Because while mean mom was shopping for a new shower curtain earlier in the day, she witnessed the little angel pictured above actually lick the floor of Target because her oldest brother told her to. (No I didn’t! Yes you did. So shut it.)

Off to the second store. Mean mom then visited Nobbies with the same brother in the hopes of finding a scary costume that not only fits his coolness standards, but also isn’t inappropriate for school. Because THAT’S possible.

Did I mention this impossible-to-please-mini-version-of-my-husband expects to walk into a store and have a costume magically appear in front of him within minutes without exerting any effort? So after I made him ask the store clerk (eye roll…followed by exasperated sigh) about whether or not a particular overpriced costume he liked was in stock, we learned it was not. Forty five minutes later, we walked out empty handed and defeated.

That got us through lunch time.

Following our refueling, I thought it would be a grand idea to get them out of my face take them all to the park for some exercise. No less then 20 minutes later, one kid had to poop. Return home. Head out to park number two. New scenery, different kid, same scenario.

(I didn’t HAVE to poop when we got home the first time. Yes you did. So shut it.)

It was during the final trip home when I gave them direct orders to stay far, far away from me if they knew what was good for them.

They obliged, I grabbed a bottled sangria, and plopped myself down to blog it out – spilling my thoughts to you, my online therapists.

No matter how ready you feel you are, no woman is ever adequately prepared to calmly raise children. And that’s ok. Because unlike every other scenario we face in our adult lives, we get a chance to begin anew everyday.

And those floor-licking, eye-rolling, constantly-pooping beings are ready to forgive and forget their mean mom.

In Brain dump, Crazy, Family, Kids, Love, Memories, Stress release , , , , , , ,
permalink

Pssstttt…I’m leaving an impression on you boys

August 11, 2012

I don’t have a good memory. I couldn’t tell you the names of half the people I attended college with or even what my last course was.

My recollections of early childhood are scattered at best. I’m sure my parents sacrificed much to take me and my sister on family vacations and I honestly don’t remember where we went or what we saw.

But here is what I do remember…

I remember my dad pulling our car into a parking lot when I was quite young because he witnessed a man getting aggressive with a woman. He told me to stay put, proceeded to get out of the car, and intervened in a situation that many would ignore.

I remember my mom always being more concerned about others’ happiness over her own. She cleaned countless houses to earn enough money to pay for the prom dress of my dreams. Same for my wedding dress. Yet I cannot recall her ever buying something pricey for herself.

Now that I’m a mom, I often wonder if I’m concentrating on the right areas of emphasis when it comes to parenting…especially when it comes to my two boys.

(My daughter is a whole different ball-o-wax and I’m simply trying to survive her overly dramatic phase. And, yes, I realize the chances are pretty strong that she will NEVER grow out of it.)

Last week, I took my boys with me to help stuff school supplies for a backpack giveaway event. They didn’t know what to expect in terms of time commitment. And I was anxious to see how they would respond to a grown-up volunteer opportunity. I knew what my expectations were in terms of their behavior and, fortunately, they met them.

I had a woman pull me aside at one point and tell me, “You have some very nice boys.”

How do I articulate to them the pride I felt upon hearing this feedback? They know I love it when they excel in the classroom and on the athletic field. But the act of being a compassionate individual trumps all.

May they always remember how it feels to help others and never lose sight of what’s important.

We also used some quiet time in the car to talk about goal setting. I personally got a late start when it comes to documenting and working on goals, but I believe this practice is one of the best lessons I can instill in my boys.

I may ask their permission to share a few of their goals in a future post and I will do the same. Stay tuned.

In Family, Kids, Love, Memories , , , , ,
permalink

Simple isn’t stupid

August 1, 2012

Many people assume that my home state of Nebraska is nothing but cows and cornfields. They are surprised to learn that its biggest city, Omaha, boasts events like the Olympic Swim Trials, the NCAA College World Series, and one of the nation’s most popular zoos.

I’ve never lived on a farm. I’ve never gone to the state fair (but I will attend for the first time later this month…can’t wait to blog about THAT). I’ve never wrestled a pig. I don’t travel on horseback. I don’t consider steak a food staple. What other Nebraskan myths can I debunk?

The point of this post is not to sell you on Cornhusker football. Please don’t falsely assume we all have season tickets because college football is the only thing happening around here. I’m also not trying to convince you we are as fast-paced and exciting as major metropolises across the country.

The point is that we don’t have oceans or mountains or great public transportation, and I’m ok with it.

After college, I chose to remain close to family because, frankly, I couldn’t survive without their support. Plus, my husband never wanted to move either so once we had kids, our desire to relocate diminished even more.

However, I like to travel and see how other people live their lives.

I recently backpacked across Europe, fished in Iceland, danced in Spain, drove to western Nebraska. Yep, I was THAT adventurous. It was a work trip and I got to ride along as a coworker navigated. I learned to appreciate the vastness, the emptiness, and solitude of what I saw out my passenger side window.

What intrigued me the most was how every community we visited was gracious with their time and attention. It’s not that they’re not busy. I’d bet that the vast majority of people I met put in more hours than city slickers half their age. They are simply too polite to not shake your hand and hear you out.

They don’t spend hours a day on the latest social media outlets updating people on their interests and whereabouts. They prefer to sit down to dinner together and share how their day went. They don’t waste away hours at the water cooler gossiping with coworkers about reality television. They’d rather live in reality…from sunrise to sunset.

Yes, we Nebraskans may be slower. And you could learn a few things from us.

In Belonging, Dining, Family, Home, Honor, Inspiration, Memories, Reflection, Stress release , , , , , , , , ,
permalink