Counting My Blessings

Fact of life: By the time you realize, what your parents said was right. You will have a kid who begins to think, you are wrong.

2010-01-02T03:25:00.001-05:00

Just something I wrote a couple of weeks ago after a particularly difficult day, when I realized just how differently parents and children see things. I know that this dynamic is just the nature of the beast, but I can't help wishing my children sometimes saw how inaccurate their perception of our motives really are. Given the fact that I have very recently given birth, I may be able to chalk this up to hormones, but I still can't read what I wrote without tearing up, remembering how my older kids used to be eachother's best friend...Oh how things change when children grow up...and apart.

I see you get mad that you are having cold cereal and juice or instant oatmeal for the third breakfast this week.
I don't think you see that I was awake until 5:20am with your sister...and I've gotten exactly 40 minutes of sleep...again.

I see you get mad I made peas instead of corn at dinner...and that's your brothers favorite, not yours.
I don't think you see how I still haven't slept, but cooked my ass off tonight so that we could have a hot, hearty, family dinner together...and to make up for the cold cereal this morning.

I see you get aggravated that I chose a family movie instead of that comedy you wanted for movie night.
I don't think you see what I see on movie night...all 7 of you huddled up watching together, eating popcorn and laughing at the stupidest movie ever.

I see you getting angry that someone else's ornament is too close to yours on the Christmas tree.
I don't think you see my memories of your sister picking you up, so you can hang your favorite ornament high enough that the cat doesn't knock it down and break it.

I see you lose your patience with me for asking you to get into the shower and get ready for bed AGAIN!
I don't think you see not that long ago when you would put on your footie jammas and bring me the comb, asking me to comb your hair...and how much I miss smelling Johnson's No More Tears in your hair.

I see you have already gone to bed...
I don't think you see there was a time you couldn't go to sleep without "one more kiss and a story, mama".
(IS your mama a llama?)

I see you shove your sister across the room and make her cry because she took something from your room...or said something negative about your friend.
I don't think you see the memory in my heart of you shoving that little boy at the playground because he took her toy and made your sister cry. Or how you put your arm around her and walked with her, talking about how many different color birds there are in the world until she stopped crying.

I see you get frustrated that I said "no" to that trip to the mall...the walk you and your friends want to take to a questionable area...the sleepover at the friends house that I don't know.
I don't think you see how lost I would be without you, if I made the "wrong" choice every time you ask permission.

I see you feel let down that I said "No" to that 200 dollar coat..100 dollar pair of sneakers...300 dollar cell phone...50 dollar pair of jeans.
I don't think you see how panicked I feel when I need to choose which bill to pay this month, and which ones I need to postpone.

I see you roll your eyes that my sneakers...coat....jeans...aren't "cool" enough.
I don't think you see how much I deny myself so that I don't have to say no to your jeans...sneakers...coat, next time.( You still don't need a cell phone)

I see you feel mistreated, unloved and that your life isn't fair because I am yelling at you to stop fighting with your sister.
I don't think you see that it's tearing me apart to watch you and your sister each hurting someone I love SO much.

I see that you wish I would stop telling you to be nicer, help out and just generally treat your sister or brother with more respect.
I don't think you see that when it all comes down to the wire, no one is ever going to love and appreciate you as much as your family.

I see you get bored with game night, and head up to your room to read instead.
I don't think you see how much your smile, your laugh and your presence is missed when you're gone.

I see you can't wait to "get out of this house and live by your own rules!"
I don't think you see I just don't know what I'll do when I no longer see you everyday, no longer know where you lay your head every night and can't protect you from the big bad world by giving you rules to live by.

I see you decline to come with us on a trip to the store or a walk down the road in favor of being by yourself.
I don't think you see how you used to jump at the chance to walk through the old old cemetery, picking up colorful leaves, and leaving peanuts for the squirrels.

I see you get angry with some decision I've made without consulting you.
I don't think you see how many things I've decided against, just to avoid hurting, upsetting or unsettling your life somehow.

I don't think you understand that I do things for your friends when they are in need, not only because of how much I love THEM,
It's because of how much I love YOU.

I see that it was easy for you to lie to me about where you were, what you were doing or who you were with, just this once.
I don't think you see the little girl in my memory that would be reduced to tears at the thought of disappointing me, even once...even just a little.

I see you don't know how much I do for, give up for, want to give and worry about losing....YOU.
I don't think I'll ever know how much I didn't see, when I was your age.

Most of all, I wish you realized that the minute I had you I stopped thinking only of myself, and fully understood what it was to want to give someone else the entire world. And that I'm deeply ashamed that it's taken almost 40 years for me to realize all my mom did and continues to do for me.

New year - New goals

2010-01-02T02:10:00.001-05:00

Ahhh yes, it's time again to make those annoying little resolutions. You know...those pesky little things that the vast majority of people are determined to abide by, and inevitably fail to accomplish. It really may just be me failing to reach the unreachable each year ( and beating myself up for it), but I don't think so. I firmly believe this "failure" happens because of the simple fact that people fail to keep goal setting reasonable, keep it simple. We fail to reach our goals because we failed to be reasonable to begin with.

For example....

Lose 341 pounds....in 2 weeks. Eating nothing but chocolate and baked goods.
Win the lottery....twice.Without playing once.
Climb Mount Everest
Learn Ancient Greek...from a Greek God-like man.
Give 30 percent of all earnings to charitable causes.Earning a wing at the local hospital built in my name.
Spend every free moment doing good. Wearing a figure flattering costume for crusading and fighting crime.Look into getting a sidekick.

Convert to living 100% Green. Instantly.

Okay...yes, you got me. Im being dramatic. But you know where I'm coming from, yes? The end of the current year and impending beginning of the next just inspires such...such...HOPE! We see the new year coming, and are feeling this sense of potential...where we can renew and enrich our lives through planning and promise. Witness: the birth of RESOLUTIONS! So why not plan big? Why not set lofty and admirable goals for ourselves in the process...we are amazing people, we can do it!

Why not? Um...because we are going to be just as busy, just as overwhelmed just as caught up in LIFE tomorrow as we were all last year. Thats why.

So. I've decided to take my potential and excitement up a different path this year. I'm actually going to tone things down...and expect something attainable from myself. Finally. I don't know what anyone else has planned, but what I've got planned is listed below. Good luck to you all in the coming year and I wish you health and the happiness you all deserve.

My Reality...v.2010

( reasonable resolutions!)

Spend my time with my children more wisely individually and as a group. I am being honest when I tell you I am truly happiest when my kids make the choice to spend time with me voluntarily, and enjoy themselves in the process. I'd like to remember to choose more evenings of boardgames and interaction over movie nights and being together without interacting.

Become more phsyically fit ( carry and use my water bottle constantly...put more natural color into my diet, take out most of the things that have been baked to a golden brown...get up and move ) Keep in mind, I'm coming from a place that was most recently shaped like this:

so honestly my goal is to feel more comfortable in my own skin...not attain a particular number of pound loss. My "ideal" weight is 51 pounds less than my current weight. If, through changing my food choices and working some movement into my life I can lose 20-25 pounds, go me. If not, at least im making better choices and I will simply have to be satisfied that my significantly younger significant other still finds my roly poly bod sexy. Go me.

Make more responsible financial transactions. Stop buying stupid stuff. Period. I mean it.

Read 12 amazing books. One every month. Be picky...make it time well spent!

Go out of my way to be nice to at least one person daily...even to people who don't deserve it. They are probably the people who need it most. Its not too much trouble to tell someone to have a good day.

Get unpacked and organized. We moved here when I was 3 weeks post partum, and had most recently been on bedrest...and then rolled into chest pain and shortness of breath...then my granddaughter was born and came home...then the holidays. It's been a really busy month and a half. I have yet to unpack everything. Its annoying.

Learn a new skill or hobby. Take a class...learn from a friend...look up stuff online, who cares! Just learn something!

Welcome!

2009-12-23T01:37:00.000-05:00

"Those were the salad days, the halcyon years! The sleepless nights, the wailing babies; the days the interior of the house looked like it had been hit by a hurricane; the times I had 5 kids,a chimpanzee and a wife in bed with fever. Even when the fourth glass of milk got spilled in a single night, or the shrill screeching threatened to split my skull, or when I was bailing out some son or other- or, in one memorable instance, Bobo the chimp- from a minor predicament at the police station, they were good years, grand years" Sara Gruen, from Water For Elephants

Welcome to what promises to shape up into a rollercoaster ride in the form of a peek inside the inner workings not only of my huge family...but also my tiny little mind. I'd like to be able to tell you what to expect, but I really have no idea. I can tell you what I envision as some of the content of this little page of mine. I would really, really, REALLY like to share some stories about my family, most likely some editorials covering any number of things I find along the way on this journey of life, discussions of books I have read, music I've listened to, gardens I've tended, random thoughts that have turned into stories, maybe some recipes that make my family fat and happy...recipes for food, which seems to be an incredibly important part of my family's social workings, or maybe "recipes" and formulas for things that simply make my family happy. I can confidently make the guarantee to you right this minute that I honestly don't know what to tell you will be on the page on any given day.

Today, I've started with a quote from a book I enjoyed a great deal.
Water for Elephants, Sara Gruen

I really loved the main character. I loved the story. I'm not ruining it for anyone, so don't expect a review beyond that. My point is, I really liked the book. Liked it not only because I could identify with it in some way, which is why I really like most books. I like being able to pick out parts of the story or character that I can just identify with. Being able to say to myself "I completely understand or identify with what the character did/said/felt" is just so satisfying to me. Almost a reassurance to myself that someone - even someone fictional - just "gets' me. Liking this particular book, without identifying with the character or story in anyway was enough. Then I came to the very end of the story...and the quote I chose to include above. That one paragraph, while I've never experienced certain...ummm...unconventional...situations mentioned, completely summed up how I feel about my family.
While Bobo the chimp being arrested and in need of bail will probably never be one of the crazy goings on of my household...I can't guarantee there wont be something equally bizarre, that my family accepts as completely normal...and eventually looks back oh-so-fondly upon.

No matter how insane or difficult things are, these truly are the good years, grand years.