Perspective-Gained the Hard Way
10/20/2012 06:16:00 PM Posted by mommy2twincesses
Wednesday morning was the worst I can recall in history,
since waking up at 14 years old to find that my father had passed away during
the night. Sounds dramatic right?! It was…….for a while, but thankfully, I’ve
gained a new perspective-a reality check of sorts.
Before I’d even had time to fix breakfast, K comes
rushing up to me with a handful of hair, eyes wide with fear and tears, and
voice shaky and on the verge of a major melt down. “M’s cut her hair off!” she
wailed, “Come see!”
I sprang up and followed her into the playroom where I
was utterly stunned by what filled my eyes. There were piles upon piles of hair………..this
was one of several.
My knees went weak and I think I may have blacked out,
because I don’t recall exactly what I said or did immediately.
By the time I had at least some of my wits about me, I
gathered a Ziplock baggie full of hair and realized that all 3 of us were
crying-hysterically. (Among many other irrational fears and aversions of mine,
bad haircuts rank REALLY close to number one-I blame it on scarring as a child!)
When I found the guilty party, she was hiding and bawling
her little eyes out. I don’t think I was much help as I nearly hyperventilated over
the sight of her self-inflicted mullet :o(
I called DH, but he couldn’t understand what was going on
between the sobs, so MIL was promptly called and came to the rescue.
She kept K, while I rushed M to the beauty shop!
As my friend tried the best she could to salvage what
hair was left, M sat, much calmer than before, but with her lip poked WAY out
in disgust. When questioned about her frustrations, she said, “Well, my hair
didn’t even turn pink! Or at LEAST blonde!”
I was puzzled, but too curious not to push further. I
tried explaining, “Well honey, our hair doesn’t change color just because we
cut it.”
“But Rapunzel’s does!” was her very serious reply.
*head slap* On the ride home we had a long discussion
about real and fantasy (which I honestly thought we had down by now), and with
a broken hearted mama and sissy, the world turned on.
M was quite proud of herself, while K and I were
pitifully stunned and not pleased. (Not one of my proudest parenting moments to
say the least.)
2 other major family dramas occurred over Wednesday and Thursday,
so by the time it was Friday, I could hardly wait to get out the door to attend
the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure!
Friday morning my “team mates” bailed on me. (Losers!
LOL, I kid) That was pretty much the straw that broke this camel’s back.
DH and MIL insisted I go anyway, just to unwind and try
to put myself back together. It was a heavenly appointment, of that I’m now
sure!
I cried most of the 2 ½ hour drive, over just everything
that was seemingly going wrong. Sometimes, a long cry is just soul cleansing
for me. *shrugs* I don’t cry often, so when I DO, I usually go overboard!
After my night alone in a posh hotel, complete with room
service, and a way too long steamy hot shower, I finally felt some peace.
Then, this morning, I woke up before my alarm and got
myself ready for the race.
Almost as suddenly as the cool morning air hit my face,
so did the conviction and the voice of the Lord reminding me to not sweat the
small stuff.
Everywhere I looked, for as far as I could
see-literally-were women gathering together, rallying around, in honor of, and
in memory of loved ones, friends, and family that were and/or are battling
breast cancer! There were women, of all ages, proudly displaying their BALD
heads, and I felt like pond scum.
Here I was, crying like a crazy person over an untimely
hair CUT, and they were fighting for their lives and not even phased by the
beautiful baldness! *hangs head*
Perspective. Loud and clear!
Jogging those 3 miles were better than good church to me!
I fought tears, and lost to a few, during my run, but my soul was revived. My
eyes were opened. And I am thankful!
Kids will be kids! Things will happen, and just because they
don’t “go our way” or “fit our schedule” doesn’t mean it’s the end of our
world. That’s the perfect time to look around and instead of focusing on what’s
going wrong-we should look around to see what’s going right!
My family is healthy and happy and I’m regretful for
spending so much time stressing about the “little stuff”! After all, is this
NOT precious?!
Although I’m honestly still mourning the hair cut deep
down, this has taught me a valuable lesson!
What
lesson(s) have your little ones taught you lately?
The Twin Quizzing Continues
9/25/2012 01:38:00 PM Posted by mommy2twincesses
At 3 years old we STILL get the typical “twin” questions when we’re out and about, but the girls pretty much handle this on their own now. Just a week or so ago we were shopping and a lady kept staring and one of them piped up and said, directly toward her, “YES, we’re twins!” I almost died of embarrassment, but she seemed completely relieved and then followed with the same song and dance everyone else does. It went something like this:
The lady: (laughs) “I sure thought so, but was afraid to ask. So how old are you?”
The girls: (holding up 3 fingers) “We’re 3 and our birthday is February 2nd.”
Lady: “REALLY?! Well who is the oldest?”
M: (raises her hand) “I am, by one minute.”
Lady: (looks at me like “what the what”) “They sure do look alike! Are they identical?”
K: “Yes, but I have a freckle on my nose, and my sister has one on her cheek.”
Me: (highly amused by the look of wonder on the lady’s face) “I guess you can tell that we get this all the time?”
The conversation is wrapped up with me trying to politely excuse us to finish our shopping.
This is so commonplace that we rarely even check up and I suppose the girls don’t really think anything about it because it happens so often. But every now and then something goes awry (or someone says something totally off color and asinine) and the latest went like this-I’m SO relieved not to have to handle idiots alone now, the girls get them before I have a chance! Here’s a great example:
Again, we’re shopping and a lady starts with all the usual questions. The girls spit the answers back to her just like before, but as she’s walking off she says, “I don’t know how you do it! If I’d have had twins I would’ve shot myself!”
I cringed inside and hoped with every fiber of my being my children wouldn’t hear this, but of course they did. Before I had a chance to explain that like the scarecrow on the Wizard of Oz says, “some people without brains do an awful lot of talking”, one of them quipped, “What?! What would you have shot yourself WITH?!”
My knees went weak but my subconscious was fist pumping! I struggled to keep a straight face as the woman turned to glance back at us in disbelief over her shoulder and I found great joy in watching the color drain from her face. She was flabbergasted! I don’t know if she was truly embarrassed by her own stupidity or by the fact that she was outwitted by a 3 year old, but whatever it was made me immensely happy!
Do you get “quizzed”?! How old are your twins? Does this EVER get better? How do you handle it? Tell me your stories!
