I painted my daughter’s nails the other night. In our house, this is known as an “event.”
Picture eight-year-old Vivian with her hands in a kitchen sink filled with cold water, attempting to set the polish so it might last more than twenty minutes.
“Mom,” Vivian said, “I need to throw out my gum.”
The saliva-coated wad glistened between her teeth.
I paused from my current task, scrubbing fluorescent blue nail polish off the table. “And you want me to throw it out for you?”
She nodded.
“Viv,” I said, “collecting other people’s chewed gum is one of the grossest things ever.”
Vivian started re-chewing her gum. “That’s what being a mom is like,” she said.
“What do you mean?” I asked. I held a tissue under her mouth and she spat out her gum.
I continued, “Are you saying being a mom involves collecting kid’s things that are disgusting?”
She wiggled her fingers in the water.
“No,” she said. “Being a mom means making things seem harder than they are.”
Indeed.
What do you make harder than it is?
Laundry. All three phases of it 🙂
Yes. I’m lucky. My husband does that chore.
Hahaha! Busted!
Worrying makes everything harder. I think I worry soooooooo much more than I need to and just think of how much time I have spent doing it. My kids are about to turn 23 and 21! No wonder I need to dye my hair…
I inherited worrying from my mom and grandma. I can only imagine how much worse it will get when they drive!
And then they go to college… It never ends. I am sure that my mom worries about me even now! Hahaha!
That sums it up quite nicely! Priceless……..
Really Leanne, how hard is it?
Bwahahahahah!
Not hard at all if they’re in bed… 🙂
Apparently I’ve been making getting my kids ready in the morning much harder than it is. Today they wanted to race, so without my countless reminders (yelling and counting to 3) and prodding, they were both in boots and jackets at the door before I even got my makeup on. It was so easy. It will also probably never happen again.
Love when it’s that easy. You’re wise to be suspect!
I’m like Susie. I worry about everything.. But I’m starting to recognize that worrying doesn’t make me a better parent. I’ve been trying to lighten up, and just enjoy my kid.
–Rebecca
Yes, that carpe diem thing is hard to realize as a parent.
Viv sounds like a very funny girl!
wow – reminds me of the day my seventeen-year-old son got into my car after I’d been on a road trip and reaching into a paper bag I had on the seat grabbed a cookie, but had to bug me first about my “collecting baking while driving long distances.” I had to laugh when he disgustingly realized that I was actually done with those old cookies and the one he was chewing on had my chewed up gum on it.
Oh…now there’s a lesson I’d rather not have.
Haha! Yup – that’s the parenting gig. Now … grandparenting … no problems, no worries, everything is a piece of a cake … hang in there for another twenty years or so, Leanne!
Please let it be 20 more years!
What do you make harder than it is?
The marketing aspect of my writing career, hands down!
Yes, I think I’m about to learn just how tough that is…
Fortunately for you, you have an agent to lean on! Not that you weigh much, I mean! I was speaking metaphorically, of course!
I’m going to stop typing now….
What do I make hard? Finding, supporting and directing each childs gifts and talents. I need to trust that God will show us all the direction to go.
Work. I keep thinking it’s planning an assault on the Death Star when it’s really just working in a library.