There is a lovely Catholic mom who is named Elizabeth Foss. She has a blog that I love; and she always does these Monday Morning Almanac things. So, I thought I would try it, too. But, I am a little different than her -- so, my post will be different, too... Hope you enjoy!
I FIND MYSELF:
*Noticing God's Glory: There is algae growing in my doughboy pool and in my birdbath. There is a gigantic orange spider living in its intricate web on the sliding door which leads from my kitchen to my back yard. And there is a 15-foot ant trail going from the outside of the house, through the garage, under the wall that is between the garage and the inside of the house, and into the downstairs bathroom. Once inside the bathroom, the ants circle around its perimeter and go back out the way they came in. Now, if you really study these things, instead of just trying to kill them off -- you cannot possibly freaking tell me that their is no God. No offense, or anything...
*Listening To: Van Halen. There is no better way to keep the passion alive in your marriage than by listening to Van Halen, either by yourself or with your spouse. People could save a lot of money on marriage counseling if they realized this simple fact. Rock on, Eddie...
*Clothing Myself In: Tennis shoes that have holes in them. Jeans that, though they may not be perfectly sexy, fit. A yellow cotton LL Bean t-shirt. And a pink hoodie with navy blue stripes around the cuffs, waistband, and the inside of the hood. I look like an Easter egg on top. But, after I shower, I will put on one of my Harley shirts...
*Talking With My Daughters About: How dudes sometimes suck, but that there are also plenty of nice ones. My advice to them is to find one of the nice ones -- one of the nice ones who is also hot. I mean, why sell yourself short?
*Talking With My Son About: Army ROTC and how cool the whole military thing is. I refuse to be one of those nervous nelly moms, as that attitude would not be in conformity with my Van Halen-listening, Harley-t-shirt wearing persona.
*Thinking And Thinking: About sex. Yeah. I'm Italian.
*Pondering Prayerfully: Three of the nicest people I have known in my life have worked for -- or been volunteers for -- Planned Parenthood. Go figure. The Lord loves to challenge us, doesn't he?
*Carefully Cultivating Rhythm: Zumba. Have you ever heard of it? A mix of aerobics and Latin-type
dance moves. I try to do it at least four times a week.
*Creating By Hand: Sorry. I just don't do this.
*Learning Lessons In: How to let my house be a little bit messy. I am kind of a neatnik. Well...I am a total neatnik. But, this makes everyone else in the family sort of frustrated. So, I am learning to happily appreciate messes that are happily made by people who are baking, quilting, scrap-booking, putting together fashion outfits, and working on music.
*Encouraging Learning: One of the drawbacks of homeschooling and sending my kids to good Catholic Colleges? They have not had a lot of exposure to people of different "stripes." I am trying to rectify this. After all, people of different "stripes" can be a hell of a lot of fun.
*Begging Prayers: One of my daughters is experiencing significant health challenges. Pretty tough when you're a fun-loving 22-year-old. If you're a praying type of person, please say a little one for her. If you're not a praying type of person, please hold her in your thoughts.
*Keeping House: Trying to do less of this. See "Learning Lessons In" above.
*Crafting In The Kitchen: Thank goodness for Trader Joe's. That's all I can say. Chopping and measuring and sifting and I just don't see eye-to-eye.
*Loving The Moments: When my husband gets a little smile and a little twinkle in his eye that make him look just like he did when I met him 27 years ago. This happens a lot when he listens to Van Halen. Long live Eddie...
*Giving Thanks: That I get to be a wife and mother. Couldn't want anything more.
*Living The Liturgy: Advent is coming. I'm not sure exactly when, but I know there will be an announcement in the church bulletin. If I miss it in the church bulletin, I will know it when I see the purple stuff in the church. Then I will make sure to go to Confession. Maybe I will even get an Advent wreath for my house. I say this every year, but it has not happened yet. Well -- maybe it happened once or twice. A domestic decorating goddess, I am not.
*Planning For The Week Ahead: This is basically pointless, as life has taught me many times. But, I absolutely have to get the oil changed in the minivan.
Showing posts with label wife. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wife. Show all posts
Monday, October 22, 2012
Sunday, September 2, 2012
I Should Have Just Shut Up And Eaten The Damn Chocolate Chips
Sometimes, I really do not know when to keep my mouth shut. A real failing on my part. Although, this failing can lead to some interesting interpersonal exchanges.
The other night, many people were tweeting about the Republican Convention. I was really not paying that much attention; but, there is a lovely, rather conservative lady who retweeted a remark by another lovely, rather conservative lady. And the remark was this: "angry, shouting progressive women make me so sad. Such utter discontentment with life. Thankful for my call as a wife and mother."
Upon reading this remark, my eyes kind of crossed and my brow kind of furrowed and I kind of choked on my chocolate chips. (Yeah. I love to eat chocolate chips straight out of the bag. Who needs the damn cookie, anyway?) This is where I should have continued eating chocolate chips and kept my big mouth shut, but I didn't. So I replied, "I am a Republican. I am a wife and mom. And this statement seems very unfair and unhelpful." I then proceeded to put the whole thing out of my mind, while watching "Bones" with my daughter. Don't you just LOVE "Bones"?
At bedtime, though, I looked again at my twitter feed, and I saw that the contented wife and mother graced me with a reply. Two replies, actually. "are you shouting and angry? That's what I'm getting at. Tired of angry women spouting off about everything being 'fair'." -and- "Honestly I don't care if you're a republican. Are you happy with the call on your life or are you angry about it? That's my beef."
My first reaction was to have hurt feelings that she didn't care about our common bond as fellow members of the GOP. So mean and insensitive of her, right? It reminded me of when my son, a rather conservative young fellow, told me that he generally found liberal people to be kinder and more sensitive to him in his times of need than conservative people. But, then I said to myself, "Get over yourself. This is not about you." I then replied in approximately the following words: "I am happy. And I have many progressive women friends who are happy, too." And I went to bed. After a few minutes, though, I decided that this was a rather fruitless exchange and I wanted to end it. So, I got up and deleted my reply. A chicken or a peacemaker? You decide.
Anyway, I spent the next couple of days feeling a sort of soul pain over this little exchange. But, I couldn't quite put my finger on the exact reason for that soul pain.
In comes Peggy Noonan. I really like Peggy Noonan. She is a Catholic, a conservative (but, a reasonable one), a woman, a mom, and she has a CAREER. I think she is divorced, too. Really breaking down those stereotypes and crossing those ideological lines. And she says this in her column in Saturday's edition of the WSJ: "A convention is supposed to be full of humans and hustle and bustle, and PROTESTERS, TOO [emphasis mine], because this is America and protesters are part of the crazy zest of a great party convening."
Note: In my opinion, both parties have their own kind of greatness. Because, as Peggy said, "This is America."
Upon reading Peggy's words, I had one of those "Ah-Hah" moments. It is not the place of one woman to tell another woman how to feel. It is not the place of one woman to tell another woman to just shut up and stop complaining and be content. Human psyches and human hearts and human souls do not work that way. Our government recognizes this. It is called Free Speech. It is in the Constitution. If you wish, you get to be angry and you get to protest about your anger publicly. Yes, there are reasonable rules to follow when protesting, so that everybody stays safe and so that everybody's civil rights are safeguarded. But, we should be happy when we see protesters, whether we agree with them or not. We should be grateful that they are out there and not having their asses hauled off to prison by the authorities of a repressive regime (as we so often see in certain other countries). And, when people are angry, maybe it's also a good idea to try to understand that anger and have some compassion for it. Understanding and compassion may lead to fruitful dialogue, and perhaps even to some actual solutions to some of the problems in our society.
So, let's hear it for those protesters -- on whichever side of the fence they may be.
The other night, many people were tweeting about the Republican Convention. I was really not paying that much attention; but, there is a lovely, rather conservative lady who retweeted a remark by another lovely, rather conservative lady. And the remark was this: "angry, shouting progressive women make me so sad. Such utter discontentment with life. Thankful for my call as a wife and mother."
Upon reading this remark, my eyes kind of crossed and my brow kind of furrowed and I kind of choked on my chocolate chips. (Yeah. I love to eat chocolate chips straight out of the bag. Who needs the damn cookie, anyway?) This is where I should have continued eating chocolate chips and kept my big mouth shut, but I didn't. So I replied, "I am a Republican. I am a wife and mom. And this statement seems very unfair and unhelpful." I then proceeded to put the whole thing out of my mind, while watching "Bones" with my daughter. Don't you just LOVE "Bones"?
At bedtime, though, I looked again at my twitter feed, and I saw that the contented wife and mother graced me with a reply. Two replies, actually. "are you shouting and angry? That's what I'm getting at. Tired of angry women spouting off about everything being 'fair'." -and- "Honestly I don't care if you're a republican. Are you happy with the call on your life or are you angry about it? That's my beef."
My first reaction was to have hurt feelings that she didn't care about our common bond as fellow members of the GOP. So mean and insensitive of her, right? It reminded me of when my son, a rather conservative young fellow, told me that he generally found liberal people to be kinder and more sensitive to him in his times of need than conservative people. But, then I said to myself, "Get over yourself. This is not about you." I then replied in approximately the following words: "I am happy. And I have many progressive women friends who are happy, too." And I went to bed. After a few minutes, though, I decided that this was a rather fruitless exchange and I wanted to end it. So, I got up and deleted my reply. A chicken or a peacemaker? You decide.
Anyway, I spent the next couple of days feeling a sort of soul pain over this little exchange. But, I couldn't quite put my finger on the exact reason for that soul pain.
In comes Peggy Noonan. I really like Peggy Noonan. She is a Catholic, a conservative (but, a reasonable one), a woman, a mom, and she has a CAREER. I think she is divorced, too. Really breaking down those stereotypes and crossing those ideological lines. And she says this in her column in Saturday's edition of the WSJ: "A convention is supposed to be full of humans and hustle and bustle, and PROTESTERS, TOO [emphasis mine], because this is America and protesters are part of the crazy zest of a great party convening."
Note: In my opinion, both parties have their own kind of greatness. Because, as Peggy said, "This is America."
Upon reading Peggy's words, I had one of those "Ah-Hah" moments. It is not the place of one woman to tell another woman how to feel. It is not the place of one woman to tell another woman to just shut up and stop complaining and be content. Human psyches and human hearts and human souls do not work that way. Our government recognizes this. It is called Free Speech. It is in the Constitution. If you wish, you get to be angry and you get to protest about your anger publicly. Yes, there are reasonable rules to follow when protesting, so that everybody stays safe and so that everybody's civil rights are safeguarded. But, we should be happy when we see protesters, whether we agree with them or not. We should be grateful that they are out there and not having their asses hauled off to prison by the authorities of a repressive regime (as we so often see in certain other countries). And, when people are angry, maybe it's also a good idea to try to understand that anger and have some compassion for it. Understanding and compassion may lead to fruitful dialogue, and perhaps even to some actual solutions to some of the problems in our society.
So, let's hear it for those protesters -- on whichever side of the fence they may be.
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