"Why?" you may ask. "Why all of a sudden are you HAPPY that both your girls missed the bus, Snarky? Have you fallen and hit your head again?"
No, I haven't. But thanks for asking.
While I was in the shower, I did some thinking. That's where I do a LOT of my thinking for blog post ideas. I have NO idea why, but that's usually where the light bulb goes off over my head. Kinda dangerous if you ask me, light bulbs in the shower, but whatever. I digress.
Getting the picture?
My girls are healthy. Some kids aren't. Some kids are in the hospital, waiting for an organ transplant. Or going through chemotherapy. Or suffer from anxiety issues. Or a million other things. My girls were just tired and didn't wake up quickly enough to get on the bus. Why? Because they were up talking 'til some ridiculous hour. I was already asleep long before they headed to their own rooms and went to sleep.
They have each other. They rely on each other. When they were younger, they made my life HELL because they did nothing but fight. Now, the fighting has all but disappeared, and has been replaced with late night chats in one of their rooms, behind closed doors. Sometimes I'm invited in. Sometimes I'm not. But they have each other. And they're happy. And they're healthy. And I'm the luckiest mom. Because they could've missed the bus because of drug addiction, alcohol abuse, health issues, abusive boyfriend issues, mental issues or about a thousand other reasons that other parents deal with. No, I'm lucky because my girls missed the bus because they were tired from spending time talking to each other too late into the night.
Don't get me wrong, I'm still annoyed that they missed the bus. But I have to think that it could always be much worse.
Yup. You know I've had a little perspective lately ... sometimes it's good for us, you know. Like yesterday. The Girl didn't unload her part of the dishwasher because she was really tired and not feeling it (because she had another episode at track practice--although not as bad, she didn't pass out completely, but close). And the Boy didn't because he got home from his tennis match at 7:30 and went straight to working on homework--until 10:45. So I unloaded the dishwasher and was in some ways happy to do it.
ReplyDeleteWe've both got good kids. We're lucky. :)
I'm sorry she had another incident at practice. Hope she gets rest this weekend. And you're right, we are truly lucky!!
DeleteShhhh... don't tell my kids but I actually don't mind it when they miss the bus. I pretend to be annoyed but I'm actually not. It gives me a chance to spend some more time with them in the morning before they go to school, and during the drive we can just talk.
ReplyDeleteThis is so beautiful. It was really hard for me to think that way when my teen missed the bus eleventy billion times, but now that he's scared to death of even community college, and transitioning into adulthood, it would be lovely to have him missing the bus be our biggest problem :) Good for you, realizing Life is pretty darn good!
ReplyDelete(p.s. I like when they miss the bus and you write funny songs about it!)
Good for you! Sometimes we need this jolt of reality. Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteVery well put! Of course, now I feel like I should be a lot more philosophical and a lot less yell-y with my kids today. But, I'm trying to get them to spring clean, so we're probably gonna stick with yelling today and hit up philosophical next week. When they miss their carpool. Again.
ReplyDeleteYou're a smart mom to see this... very smart indeed. My boy is a man today and I remember taking pause to just let him be because he was a really good kid. Today his is a really good man. I raised him as a single parent so it's not like we had the perfect family environment but you don't need perfection to raise perfectly fine adults so long as you let them take the lead when they are finding their way and not being a huge disruption to themselves and everyone around them ...kudos mom, here's to a wonderful future!
ReplyDeleteMy daughter used to miss the bus every single day. Then our neighbor started at the middle school and she is very prompt, so she'd walk by our house and pick my daughter up every day and they never missed the bus. Now my husband takes her to the high school, otherwise I think we'd be back to missing the bus every day until the other girl starts. LOL Actually when it's once in a while, I don't mind, because it's a chance to talk. :)
ReplyDeleteBeautiful. And so great that you have this perspective. I had a my life-perspective-changing event two years ago, and I'm grateful for it. My kids are wonderful and healthy, and I will celebrate each day that they are (even if they're being little shits). xoxo
ReplyDeleteI love your way of thinking, and I'm proud to say that it mirrors my own. It's so awesome to be able to see the wonderful things in life, even in the face of what most would think were the annoying things in life. It's a blessing--but one that it takes discipline and practice to continue to do. We've got this! Great post.
ReplyDeleteLove your girls!!! Can I send my 15 over to spend time with them??? She definitely needs a big sister.
ReplyDeleteThis is so beautifully written and certainly puts things into perspective. There are worse things than missing the bus....
ReplyDeleteLovely post!
Aww, that's so nice that they TALK to each other. They actually like each other. I hope the same will happen w/ my two. I also have moments like this where I think if this is the worst that's happened, we're doing pretty good. And, I, too, often get my ideas while I'm in the shower. I think it's b/c it's the only place where I'm alone. Love that the bus stops AT your house & they STILL miss it. Are they the only ones at the stop? Perhaps you can ask the driver to pull into the drive way & ring the doorbell from now on.
ReplyDeleteI am still chuckling and nodding. My kids also catch the bus in front of my house but still find a way to miss it. I was ready to yell the other day because I woke up with an awful backache. Then I stopped myself, realizing it was really a very small problem in the big scheme of things. Glad I'm not alone!
ReplyDelete