One of my co-workers gave birth to a beautiful baby girl last week. A pretty pink card was passed around the office so that we could all write words of congratulations to her and her husband on becoming parents. Most of my colleagues signed the card with cute sayings like – “Welcome to the world” and “Can’t wait to meet the little bundle of joy.” I, on the other hand, really wanted to pass along my words of wisdom. (I didn’t – but I wanted to). I’ll never forget what a good friend of mine wrote to me right before I was about to give birth to my daughter: “First the pain, then the pleasure, then the patience.” At the time, I had no idea what she was talking about – but almost 17 years into this parenting gig and I get it. In case I need to spell it out for anyone – The pain is childbirth. The pleasure is all the cuddles and cuteness that babies and toddlers bring. The patience, well that would be the teenage years. In truth, I love this stage of their lives when they really start to grow up and realize the entire world doesn’t revolve around them and they have gifts they can contribute to make the it a better place. But, let’s face it. We need a lot of patience when it comes to raising teenagers. And full disclaimer – patience has never been one of my strengths but I am working hard to keep mine in check. If there was a “What to Expect” book for raising teenagers, I think this is what the table of contents would look like. Chapter 1 – Patience – Get Some. You are Going to Need It. Chapter 2 – The Front Seat – Birds, Bees, Smoking, Drinking, Drugs, Politics – and other conversations you will have with your child when you are driving them somewhere. Chapter 3 – The Passenger Seat – Where you sit, pray and hold on tight while they learn how to drive. Chapter 4 – Clean Your Room – Is this worth the battle? Chapter 5 – Homework – Why it’s worth the battle. Chapter 6 – Grounded! – Discipline beyond timeouts Chapter 7 –
Kitchen Woes
2017-10-05 02:36:17 When we met with our financial planner recently, we went over our situation and discussed important matters such as vacations we still want to take, paying for college and retirement among other things. We sat there for about 20 minutes listening to the different options when I finally blurted out, “But what about the kitchen?!” I was completely serious though. For 15 years, I’ve longed for a kitchen with a place for everything and I’ve lived in a kitchen where nothing is where it should be. Hopefully, this is the year that we finally re-do our kitchen.We have redecorated almost every other room in the house and this is the last one on the list (besides the laundry room – which is a whole different story). I have dreamed about it for so long. I have photos of other people’s newly renovated kitchens in my phone. My one active Pinterest page is dedicated to gorgeous kitchen designs complete with a coffee nook, an island, granite countertops and countless storage possibilities. Over the summer, my frustration with the kitchen reached its highest level when I simply wanted to enjoy my favorite seasonal dish – corn on the cob. It took me 10 minutes to husk the corn, another 15 minutes to grill and 45 minutes to find four pairs of plastic corn holders for every member of my family. The search was on. I found the navy blue pair first followed by the red in the back of the drawer where they live. I went one drawer down to look for the other pairs which proved futile. But, I wasn’t giving up so easily. I found the 3rd pair – the white ones – in the junk drawer on the other side of the kitchen where my binder clips and push pins are stored. Did someone mistake them for office supplies? To this day, I’m still looking for the fourth pair of plastic holders – the yellow ones. Or maybe I’ll just buy new ones to go with my new kitchen. Stay tuned…
I Don’t Know What to Say
It’s day 3 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge and I’m in the middle of two blog posts that aren’t quite ready for prime time. One is about how bad I am at teaching my daughter to drive and the other is about my kitchen renovation which hasn’t even started yet. And, it isn’t because I have writer’s block – although I’m no stranger to it. I’m just not into either of these topics today. Today, they seem so mundane. I think that it is just because I really don’t know what to say. These slice of life topics that have high priority in my own life seem so unimportant when people in Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico are fighting for basic needs – food, water, electricity, medicine, communications. Today, our hot water heater broke and so did our dryer and my family is annoyed and inconvenienced. But, we will still have food on the table tonight and a warm bed to sleep in, And I don’t know what to write when a madman kills 59 people and wounds 500 more in a random and senseless act of violence. And I can’t understand why our leaders pass laws restricting a woman’s right to chose, the right to marry whomever we love and the right to free speech and yet are so carefree about gun control and saving lives. So, do you really want to hear about my kitchen today? I didn’t think so. Maybe tomorrow…