5 Things I've Done This Week That Will Make You Feel Like A Better Human Being

I went to dinner the other night with some of The Honey's family that live out of town.   As we chit chatted, they asked me what I had been up to.

Initially, you give the standard answer:  'Not much'.

But then they did the follow up.  So I started listing the stuff I fill my days with.

Cooking

                                       Cleaning 

Educating

                                     Taxing driving

                                                                                           Refereeing

Nursing

                                                         Coordinating calendars

Home maintenance

                                                                                                                                                      Veterinary care

                                                                               

The list goes on.

And you know this already, don't you?  All you other women out there participating in this great juggling act we call motherhood.  Some weeks we have 20 balls up in the air and it appears we are carrying our load with ease and grace.   We make every appointment, supper is on the table, stories have been read.  Other weeks, not so much.  We burn the biscuits, the kids go to bed crying, we run out of chocolate chips.  It's during these weeks we need a little encouragement.  A reminder that we are not alone in this daily circus act we call life.

So, if you are having one of those weeks, if you feel like you just can't get it right, here is a list of things I actually did this week.  It humbles me to say them out loud on my virtual stage.  I hope it encourages you.

Here goes.....


 1.  I might have went ahead and served someone a hot dog bun from a package where mold was obviously present. To my credit, I did choose the one that was furthest away from the moldy ones spot.

Look at these kids.  Don't you want them to make it?

2.  When I walked into the bathroom and saw the toilet paper roll was empty, I was too lazy to change it.  So I just went and used another bathroom.

3.  I caught myself praying for Joel and Julia from Parenthood to work things out in their marriage.  Parenthood.  The TV show.  I prayed for television characters.




4.  When I finally went to bed after a long day of cooking, cleaning, educating, taxi driving, etc.  I was frustrated that I had forgotten to put the clean sheets back on the bed from washing them earlier that day.  So I just slept straight on the mattress.

5. I tried to talk The Honey into just letting us have milkshakes for supper because after 14 years of cooking I am, as they say, 'so over it'.  I was vetoed.  So we went out to eat.


More humbling than all these things:   this was, by far, not my worst week as a wife and mother.  But those stories are for a different blog post.

So the moral of this story, boys and girls trying to make it in the real world, is this:  don't let the moldy hot dog bun or accidentally praying for fictional character kind of days keep you down.  Because one of these days, if we keep persevering, we will be lucky enough to get to have a milkshake for supper.  Solidarity now, girls!  We can do this thing.

The Math Teacher's Beatitudes

Blessed are the teachers of math to 6th grade boys,

for theirs is a dark corner of the pantry and a jar of peanut butter and bag of chocolate chips

Blessed are those who beat their head against the wall after explaining percentages for the 90 kazillionth time, for they shall see a long hot bath at the end of the day.

Blessed are those who mourn low test scores even though they went over these exact same problems the day before,

for they will be comforted by the thought that one day this child will graduate and move out of your house and get a job.  Hopefully in retail.  Where they have to work with percentages.  

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after kids who can do their math homework in less than two hours and without getting distracted by hunting or football or butterflies,

for they will be filled with the knowledge that they hid some chocolate underneath the carrots in the fridge.

And blessed are you, moms and teachers, when you don't strangle someone when they still can't say their 9s multiplication table after years of practice,

for you will be shown mercy later in  life when they start studying calculus and realize how ridiculously clueless you are and you have to call in for reinforcements.   

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To read my other thoughts about teaching math to disinterested and ungrateful children, go here.

This is the expression I get to stare out all during math class most days.  It makes me think of Kanye's poignant and inspiring ballad Golddigger:

He got that ambition, baby, look in his eyes
This week he mopping floors next week it's the fries

Let's keep the hope alive, people.  And Happy Friday to all the teachers!  Let's go do this thing!