Ah Ha
I had a break down.
Saturday morning I was looking at the family calendar and noticed that The Child missed an orthodontist appointment last week. And I lost it. It was an internal "lost it". I didn't go all medieval on the family. But inside I was crying.
"You missed a damned ortho appointment," says you. "Come on now".
Sometimes in life, it's not the momentous things which teach us. That missed appointment clarified for me a simple fact: the only thing I'm doing well right now is work. At work I do not lose paperwork, miss deadlines or forget appointments. At work I get things done. That is much less true at home.
Aside from providing a necessary swift kick to the hind quarters, it also gave me a topic of conversation with The Child, who likewise did everything required of her for her participation in the play but who has slacked off on everything else.
At one point in our conversation she wailed about how hard it was to come home and not have me there. "I have to learn how to make myself do things without you to tell me". Well, yes. I pointed out that this was going to be more and more the case in her life and that she did have to learn to manage herself. "But more to the point," I told her, "I've been using that 'I'm learning how to have a job and manage the rest of my life' excuse, too. But the fact is, I've been back at work for over a year. It's really time for me to get it together".
Over the weekend I didn't entirely succeed in digging out from under the list of neglected tasks. But I did scrub the bathroom within an inch of its life. That's something.
Saturday morning I was looking at the family calendar and noticed that The Child missed an orthodontist appointment last week. And I lost it. It was an internal "lost it". I didn't go all medieval on the family. But inside I was crying.
"You missed a damned ortho appointment," says you. "Come on now".
Sometimes in life, it's not the momentous things which teach us. That missed appointment clarified for me a simple fact: the only thing I'm doing well right now is work. At work I do not lose paperwork, miss deadlines or forget appointments. At work I get things done. That is much less true at home.
Aside from providing a necessary swift kick to the hind quarters, it also gave me a topic of conversation with The Child, who likewise did everything required of her for her participation in the play but who has slacked off on everything else.
At one point in our conversation she wailed about how hard it was to come home and not have me there. "I have to learn how to make myself do things without you to tell me". Well, yes. I pointed out that this was going to be more and more the case in her life and that she did have to learn to manage herself. "But more to the point," I told her, "I've been using that 'I'm learning how to have a job and manage the rest of my life' excuse, too. But the fact is, I've been back at work for over a year. It's really time for me to get it together".
Over the weekend I didn't entirely succeed in digging out from under the list of neglected tasks. But I did scrub the bathroom within an inch of its life. That's something.
Labels: housewifery, The Child, The Job, things to do
cobbled together by Moi at 6:30 AM
7 Comments:
I missed The Girl's eye dr. appt. recently. I know how that goes.
A clean bathroom is a great accomplishment.
I just use old age as an excuse when I forget things.
I have not and probably will not find a perfectly happy medium.
Goodluck..:)
That brings me immense comfort, Anne.
Mom, I'll start using old age as an excuse when I know in my heart there's no other explanation.
Grish, again, always comforting to know one is not alone!
I've said it before,(August 17th,1987),and I'll say it agian!..Sometimes,no matter what we do,our childen turn out okay anyway.
Ba Ha Ha Ha
Hhhhmmmm. What appointments are Americans most likely to miss?
Oh duh. My dentist always calls me the day before an appointment. I thought everybody's did. Considering all the things in the entire world the last thing we want to do is the dentist appointment.
Don't feel bad at all.
Yell like a crazy person at your dentists office, and champion the next non-perfect human being who misses an appointment. Serious, I just got an ad from one in the mail that says right up 50% of us are literally afraid of them. Time to get mean back.
Oh, and the VA always calls just before an appointment too.
Peace
:+}
I can so totally relate to this--and I don't even have kids yet! :) Still, I need to SLOW MY ROLL and pay attention to what's important in life.
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