I wish I could write something profound in honor of the upcoming Mother’s Day weekend. But, the May madness continues, and I realize I’m more frazzled than profound today {and most every other day} anyway.
One of my favorite writers on the topic of motherhood has always been Erma Bombeck. I think she was a brilliant humorist, but her words were inspiring and hopeful, too. One of my favorite quotes from her is this one:
When my kids become wild and unruly, I use a nice, safe playpen.
When they’re finished, I climb out.
I can relate. And, I think I’ll celebrate this weekend by being grateful for the ways my kids remind me not to take things like holidays {or myself} too seriously. One of the best things about motherhood is the humor it adds to our lives. Another one of Erma’s most memorable lines was, “When humor goes, there goes civilization.” So, for the sake of civilization, we’ll focus here on the humor.
The 1st Grader has been studying maps in her class this spring, and yesterday she brought home the map she drew of her classroom. You’ll see all the important furniture and large objects like cabinets, tables, and windows have been drawn in. But, at the top, we have the most important architectural feature of the classroom: the hand sanitizer. Do you know how happy this makes the Spouse? All his work has paid off.
How does the verse go? “Train up a child in the way she should go and… when she is 7 she will know the importance of proper sanitation.” If we fail at everything else, at least there’s this victory.
In other drawings, the 3rd Grader has been studying “Charlotte’s Web” at school and brought home a picture of Wilbur that she’s been working on in art class. She’s not pleased with him for various reasons, but I’m a fan.
She was the character Fern in the play her class put on to celebrate finishing the book, and I think she made a pretty good farm girl. Of course, in real life our crew wouldn’t know the first thing to do with a cow or a pig. {All I have to do is recall our trips to the strawberry patch or the zoo to remember how weak we are in the presence of heat, tall grass, or non-domesticated animals}. But, we can wear some overalls and pigtails with the best of ’em.
We can also wear some face paint, and this was by far the highlight of this past weekend for all three girls.
I’ll end this week’s here-there-and-everywhere post with one more story. The other night we were all outside after dinner, and the Preschooler announced, “I can’t find the hookers.” Then she went on to say, “Daddy has lots of hookers in his car.”
Under normal circumstances, these would be very alarming statements to hear. But, these are the “hookers”:
Yes, the bungee cords. The girls love using these to “hook” their bikes and various things together. You’ll never see a bungee cord again and not think of this misnomer.
I think this story is a good reminder. Never take anything a 4-year-old says at face value. Words can have lots of different meanings. And, my Mother’s Day request has now become that she never use her special word for these cords at church, school, or anywhere else but our garage.
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