Clever Characters

Mother's Day is sooo overrated. Perhaps this has not been the case for you but for several of my friends last Sunday's disappointment produced a flood of tears still trickling days later. I am not sure of all the reasons this day has become such a letdown, but it has for many. I know expectations play a role, then there is the whole confusion of who honors who, and how they should be honored. So I want to help you out with a few observations. Guys do not tell your wife, "But your not my mom." This will be met with a waterfall of tears. Daughters do not say to your mom, "What have YOU planned for Mother's Day? Remember this year I am a mom too?" And in general avoid statements like,"You're JUST a step mom do you celebrate mother's day?" And guys, we really do want to honor your mom but PLEASE do not make us feel like sloppy seconds or an afterthought. It hurts. After a few days to ponder this I think several forces are at play. First are...

Sunday night I put the mix into the bread machine and anticipated a wonderful smelling loaf the next morning. Sadly this was not meant to be. As you can see in the picture something went terribly wrong. Up pops the ugly head of disappointment . I have a difficult time with disappointment. Disappointment in childhood If it is Thursday there is a high probability that Katie Beth will have a meltdown as we drive home from school. She has done this since she was 18 months old. It starts with a whiney voice and is followed by the list of all the things that have gone wrong in her world. It always ends with the phrase “And mom (sob) my heart is (sob) just so broken (SOB, SOB, SOB).” Between you and me this list can be pretty funny because horribly wrong to an eight year old is just nothing compared to horribly wrong to this forty year old. I usually pull over and join her in the back seat. She crawls in my lap and I hold her. Sometimes she is still stuck in her meltdown even after she has ...