MOMMY!!!

My entire life all I wanted to be was a mom.  I didn't even really care about what my actual degree was in because I just wanted to stay home and take care of babies.  I loved babies, and toddlers, and any age child.  I would judge people on their parenting because in my mind it was going to be the greatest most perfect time in my life and there would be no downside whatsoever!!  If a parent was being mean to their child or ignoring their child I would glare at them for being selfish heartless beings. 

I just want to go ahead and put this out there....I was wrong. 

Not completely, I want to say because I still judge selfish parenting.  There is most definitely a difference between not listening to a child screaming mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy because they want their 14th treat of the day, and the parent that has their child at Walmart at 12:30 AM and the poor child is just crying because they should be at home in bed!! 

Can someone please explain to me why it is that you have to purchase a license to fish, you have to have license to drive a car, you have to be a certain age to vote, to smoke, to drink but if you want to  create another human being at any age...by all means.  Don't get me wrong I'm not saying I want some sort of communist government or anything I'm just saying that if a person is going to take on parenting I feel they should at least pass a quiz. 

I love my children, but since we are being completely honest sometimes I don't like my children.  Like when I have asked that they hang their towel or put their dirty clothes in the hamper and yet day after day this life mystery seems to elude them.  How about when they get mad at me because I won't allow them to have something sugary when all they have had that day is a festival of carbohydrates and crap.  My personal favorite is when they tell me I am wrong.  Just so we are clear....I'm not wrong.  If I am wrong I admit it, but typically if we are dealing with the knowledge base of a child 13 years or younger or an over 40 year old woman who has held a job and has a mortgage and my money is going to be on the 40 something every single time. (Unless we are talking about pop culture or electronics and lets me honest I don't have a dog in that fight anyway.) 

Parenting is hard. It isn't all coloring and baking.   If you want to color you have to be ready for them to be over it way before you are, and if you want to bake you have to realize that there is going to be a mess.  I am very thankful for my children.  I have loved every stage that we have encountered together.  Funny how I don't have any desire to go back and repeat a stage. Can I just suggest that if you aren't sure if you are ready to be a parent, or if you even want to be a parent that you get a puppy first.  See how that goes for you, if you get annoyed by needing to take them outside to go to the bathroom or by the way they smell or are mad that they chewed your coffee table... parenting just might not be your thing. 

 

Brandon Gourley

A high school friend of mine posted in facebook the other day that she could remember an exercise routine that our gym teacher had taught us to a Lionel Richie song.  I don't remember this.  I barely remembered the name of the teacher and without her saying it I can guarantee you I would not have been able to pull that out of long term memory.  Isn't it funny the stuff you remember?  After reading my friends post I sat there trying to see what I could remember of my middle school/ high school days and it really isn't that much.  A few tidbits here and there but otherwise...nada.  The stuff I do remember is completely random and honestly if someone were to remember me for something positive more than 25 years later I would want to know.


Brandon Gourley.  Handsome. Blonde. Quarterback of the football team.  I knew him but we weren't besties or anything.  Everyone knew Brandon he was very popular.  I was the quirky band girl that was more popular at church than I ever was at school. 

One lovely fall Saturday evening we had a band competition in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.  There was a beautiful girl named Lori French that was a majorette for the band and Brandon liked her, or dated her, or wanted to date her, again...not good with the memory stuff.  Anyway, Brandon came to our band competition with several other football players and watched us perform.  This was huge!  How many friday nights had we sat in the rain and cold and supported our football boys and now here they were supporting us. 

I want to say that the cynical side of me is sitting here thinking their intentions were probably not so valiant but back then it was a beautiful gesture. 

I remember that vividly.  I can remember the news that some of the football team was there to cheer for us going through the band like wildfire.  I am guessing that those football boys were just looking for something to do on a Saturday night and don't even remember that it happened, but I do.  Vividly, and that is saying something because I don't remember much. 

Brandon Gourley didn't know me.  He probably didn't even know I was there that night.  He was there to see Lori and to him that was the end of the story, but my interpretation of him and other members of the football team simply showing up made a lifelong lasting impression on me. 

Go out.  Do kind things.  You never know who is watching.