Today, I am wearing my patience hat. It’s flaming red in color and steaming hot to the touch. It is constantly on the verge of boiling over and it probably would if it weren’t for the two straps that keep it on - prayer and forgiveness. As well as, and most importantly, the clasp known as The Love of God that keeps everything fitting perfectly and keeps patience on the top of my head and not spilled and splattered all over the place!
It’s day three of Spring Break and the kids and I are having a great time. Today we all decided that we would go to the bike trail (did you hear that – “…we ALL decided…”?). We have a very cool bike trail that is within a few driving miles of our house. We park at the library and take the trail from there. It’s three miles long and if you don’t have someone to pick you up at the end of the trail, and you have to ride it back, then it’s six miles! Don’t be jealous of my mad math skills!! Afterwards, we always go to the library. It’s a great day all around and the kids love it.
Today, as the wind is blowing through my hair and my beautiful children are complaining that their legs are starting to hurt, I’m thinking that I’m going to go home and put on my Mother-Of-The-Year Hat!! Well, you know what they say about Best Laid Plans?? I don’t either but I’m thinking that it goes something like, “…always end in failure if there is a twelve-year-old girl involved!”
Why does her attitude come out when I’m trying to do something nice? Why can’t she save her attitude for her father or her friends?? Why do I ALWAYS get the brunt of that girl’s hissy-fits??? Ugh! She is riding a thousand feet in front of us. She’s not waiting for us at the stop signs or cross-walks AND every time she stops she’s texting someone! REALLY?! Come on! This is family time!
I have no idea what crawled up that girls britches but she wanted everyone, especially me, to know that she was not happy! So, with my patience hat securely intact, I reassured her that she would NOT be going to the library afterwards and she most certainly WOULD NOT be going to Rita’s after that (do you like how I sweetened the deal by adding Rita’s to the mix?). Well, after that, it was like she just took a whole bottle of Midol – she was great!!
So, we went to the library and Rita’s (I couldn’t say “No” at that point!) and now we are home planning what movie we are going to see. Hmmmmm!! Maybe I’ll go dig for my Mother-Of-The-Year Hat after all!
you are a great mom faith! and you do exactly what you say you will do and that is why your children respect you so much! Bravo! You deserve to wear your mother of the year hat year round!
ReplyDeleteI love your blog! I've been teaching over 20 years and for many of those years I taught 8th grade. Many days they had that wonderful "attitude". This year, I teach 6th grade and the "attitude" is seen less often. Secure that patience hat since the teen years are just around the corner for you, you'll probably be wearing it often....and then you can wear the Mother of the Century hat!
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