The Real Deal!

I try so hard to be the June Cleaver that I feel I should, but the truth of the matter is, more often than not, I'm the real deal as a mother. Have you ever had an off day? Well, here are a few moments in one of my off days.

This morning when Harris was throwing a fit because he didn't want to read his books for his homework, he replied to my request to read with,

"I don't like these books. They're dumb."

I would love to say at this moment that I had a calm, patient, loving, and motivational response as June Cleaver would, but my actual "the real deal" reply was;

"Well, if you don't read them then you'll be dumb!"

Wow, as my sister shared when I told her the story, "You win the 'Mother of the Year' award."

Yeah, I know I shouldn't have said it, but hey, sometimes I'm human too! He's just lucky I didn't say it with even close to as much emotion as he did!

Then after resolving that issue, I sent him out to wait for the bus for afternoon kindergarten only to realize a few minutes later that I sent him out 30 minutes early. As he entered the house after learning of my mistake, I thought to myself I'd compensate for my mistake by offer him something fun to do while he was waiting so I said, "Do you want to play video games while you're waiting?"

He looked at me and then matter of factly said, "How about lunch instead?"

Ummm? Ok, that's a good idea. Again, "Mother of the Year." Seriously, did I forget to screw my head on when I got dressed this morning. I'm so glad my 5 year old is on top of things enough to help me do my job!

So there, this is my life and it's the real deal!

Treasuring My Wedding Ring!

I found my wedding ring today! I lost it almost 3 years ago when we went camping with friends in Idaho. It's the craziest story. I had put it in a bag that was meant to stay in the car during our entire camping trip. (Yes, stupid move in the first place, but if you know me, then you know that I do stupid things quite often actually!) The bag did stay in the car the entire time, but when we got home I scoured the entire bag and could not find it anywhere. I searched everywhere high and low more than 3 times. I prayed, I fasted, I prayed, over and over! I've been so frustrated the last few years and every time I would see someone's ring, I would be sad again.

Well, the other day I was filling my pill container and I saw Dave's and thought I should fill his while I'm at it. I grabbed it and in the process found I needed more garlic pills. So I headed to the pill storage drawer to find another bottle of garlic pills. I opened the drawer, looked in, and right next to a sample pill box was something round. I looked closer and thought, "No!" "Could it be?" I picked it up and froze momentarily and then I screamed, realizing what I was holding in my hands! My wedding ring! My wedding ring! I screamed so loud Halen started crying covering her ears, begging me to stop. She kept saying I was scaring her, and I kept screaming, saying, "But, I found my wedding ring!" She didn't get it and I just couldn't stop screaming. I had to, of course, do major damage control a few minutes later in consoling her.

The crazy thing about it was that it was right next to a sample prenatal pill booklet that I had been given by the gynecologist. I think what had happened is the pill booklet had open ends and was in the same bag as the wedding ring. With the movement of the bag, the ring had gotten stuck between the bubbles of the pill booklet and then when I took the pills out and put them away in the storage drawer, the ring went with it. Well, there it sat for almost 3 years, until finally enough movement shook the ring out of the pill booklet. It’s a good thing I never threw away the pill booklet! What a horrible thought! Actually that is the thought I’ve been living with for the last almost 3 years. That I accidentally somehow vacuumed it up while searching for it in the truck after our trip and it was now at a landfill somewhere! So I know exactly how it would have felt to have that feeling the rest of my life!

I've been wearing it ever since beaming like a newly engaged bride to be. I just keep thinking, I'm married again! I had a boyfriend for almost three years and now I'm married again! I love to look at it and I am so happy that I have it again. What a blessing. I really needed this little pick me up blessing and what a wonderful thing to have for it, my wedding ring. Just crazy!

When I called Dave and told him, he was in shock and his reply was, "Don't ever take it off again!" I said, "Ok!"

Craziness! What a blessing! I'll take it!