I
am hereby officially tendering my resignation as an adult.
I have
decided I would like to accept the responsibilities of an 8 year-old
again. I want to go to McDonald’s and think that it’s
a four star restaurant. I want to sail sticks across a fresh
mud puddle and make a sidewalk with rocks.
I want
to think M&Ms are better than money because you can eat them.
I want to lie under a big oak tree and run a lemonade stand with
my friends on a hot summer’s day.
I want
to return to a time when life was simple. When all you knew were
colors, multiplication tables, and nursery rhymes, but that didn’t
bother you, because you didn’t know what you didn’t know and you
didn’t care. All you knew was to be happy because you were blissfully
unaware of all the things that should make you worried or upset.
I want
to think the world is fair. That everyone is honest and good.
I want to believe that anything is possible. I want to be oblivious
to the complexities of life and be overly excited by the little
things again.
I want
to live simple again. I don’t want my day to consist of
computer crashes, mountains of paperwork, depressing news,how
to survive more days in the month than there is money in the bank,doctor
bills, gossip, illness, and loss of loved ones.
I want
to believe in the power of smiles, hugs, a kind word, truth, justice,
peace, dreams, the imagination, mankind, and making angels in
the snow.
So .
. . here’s my checkbook and my car-keys, my credit
card bills and my 401K statements. I am officially resigning from
adulthood.
Gardening
God`s Way
Plant three rows of peas:
Peace of mind
Peace of heart
Peace of soul
Plant four
rows of squash:
Squash gossip
Squash indifference
Squash grumbling
Squash selfishness
Plant four
rows of lettuce:
Lettuce be faithful
Lettuce be kind
Lettuce be obedient
Lettuce really love one another
No garden
without turnips:
Turnip for meetings
Turnip for service
Turnip to help one another
To conclude
our garden we must have thyme:
Thyme for God
Thyme for study
Thyme for prayer
Thyme for family
Water freely
with patience and cultivate with love. There is much fruit in
this garden because you reap what you sow.
I
dreamed I had an interview with God.
"Come
in," God said. "So, you would like to interview
Me?"
"If you have the time," I said. God smiled and said:
"My time is eternity and is enough to do everything;
what questions do you have in mind to ask me?"
"What surprises you most about mankind?" God answered:
"That they get bored of being children, are in a rush
to grow up, and then long to be children again.
That they lose their health to make money and then lose their
money to restore their health. That by thinking anxiously
about the future, they forget the present, such that they
live neither for the present nor the future.
That they live as if they will never die, and they die as
if they had never lived..." God's hands took mine and
we were silent for awhile and then I asked... "As a
parent, what are some of life's lessons you want your
children to learn?"
God replied with a smile: "To learn that they cannot
make anyone love them. What they can do is to let themselves
be loved. To learn that what is most valuable is not
what they have in their lives, but who they have in their
lives.
To learn that it is not good to compare themselves to others.
All will be judged individually on their own merits, not
as a group on a comparison basis!
To learn that a rich person is not the one who has the most,
but is one who needs the least. To learn that it only takes
a few seconds to open profound wounds in persons we love,
and that it takes many years to heal them.
To learn to forgive by practicing forgiveness. To learn that
there are persons that love them dearly, but simply do not
know how to express or show their feelings. To learn
that money can buy everything but happiness. To learn that
two people can look at the same thing and see it totally
different.
To learn that a true friend in someone who knows everything
about them...and likes them anyway. To learn that it is not
always enough that they be forgiven by others, but that they
have to forgive themselves." I sat there for awhile enjoying
the moment. I thanked Him for his time and for all that
He has done for me and my family, and He replied, "Anytime.
I'm here 24 hours a day. All you have to do is ask for me,
and I'll answer." People will forget what you said.
People will forget what you did, but people will never forget
how you made them feel.
Parenthood
changes everything.
But parenthood
also changes with each baby. Here, some of the ways having a second
and third child differs from having your first:
Your Clothes
-
1st baby: You begin wearing maternity clothes as soon as
your OB/GYN confirms your pregnancy.
2nd baby: You wear your regular clothes for as long as possible.
3rd baby: Your maternity clothes *are* your regular clothes.
The Baby's
Name -
1st baby: You pore over baby-name books and practice pronouncing
and writing combinations of all your favorites.
2nd baby: Someone has to name their kid after your great-aunt
Mavis, right? It might as well be you.
3rd baby: You open a name book, close your eyes, and see
where your finger falls. Bimaldo? Perfect!
Preparing
for the Birth -
1st baby: You practice your breathing religiously.
2nd baby: You don't bother practicing because you remember
that last time, breathing didn't do a thing.
3rd baby: You ask for an epidural in your 8th month.
The Layette
-
1st baby: You prewash your newborn's clothes, color-coordinate
them, and fold them neatly in the baby's little bureau.
2nd baby: You check to make sure that the clothes are clean
and discard only the ones with the darkest stains.
3rd baby: Boys can wear pink, can't they?
Worries
-
1st baby: At the first sign of distress - a whimper, a frown
- you pick up the baby.
2nd baby: You pick the baby up when her wails threaten to
wake your firstborn.
3rd baby: You teach your 3-year-old how to rewind the mechanical
swing.
Activities
-
1st baby: You take your infant to Baby Gymnastics, Baby
Swing, and Baby Story Hour.
2nd baby: You take your infant to Baby Gymnastics.
3rd baby: You take your infant to the supermarket and the
dry cleaner.
Going Out
-
1st baby: The first time you leave your baby with a sitter,
you call home 5 times.
2nd baby: Just before you walk out the door, you remember
to leave a number where you can be reached.
3rd baby: You leave instructions for the sitter to call
only if she sees blood.
At Home -
1st baby: You spend a good bit of every day just gazing
at the baby.
2nd baby: You spend a bit of every day watching to be sure
your older child isn't squeezing, poking, or hitting the
baby.
3rd baby: You spend a little bit of every day hiding from
the children.
