2/20/14 UPDATE...
I wrote this a long, long time ago. When exactly and what was happening exactly, I have no idea now. Which just goes to show you how many shenanigans my 3 kids can get into in any set or unset period of time. I'm quite sure whatever the doozy was that prompted the unposted blog, has been followed up by both bigger and smaller shenanigans. But since it sat unpublished for at least a year, I can assume it was a world tilter. Or not. Hard to know actually because nobody went to prison and nobody died. In other words, the lunatics are, indeed, still running this asylum.
But the pertinent thing is that good advice remains constant. And the good advice I received from a friend back then has been tested time and again here in The Household, repeatedly proving itself to be a true sanity saver in a FUBAR type situation...
Hello, Hey There, Hi All, What's Up?, Boo!
I have come to appreciate the fact that, living in the moment, does truly mean relishing the easy, joyful, pleasantly fabulous, good times. Because while there used to be a time when occasionally the other proverbial foot would drop (and frankly, it was often a doozy), that with kids, the other foot is generally in step with its partner. It's not if, it's when and what size. And I would Flip Out.
A friend of mine shared a pearl of wisdom with me a few weeks back. And really I need to thank her husband who, done thunk it up, as they say.
One fine day my friends received one of those killer phone calls, and the jig was up for one of her children. A teenager. Of course. It was a Big Deal. No joking matter. While she was hyperventilating, her husband calmly dealt with the phone call, the next step, and the one after that.
HOW do you do that? My friend really wanted to know, so she asked her man. This is what he said...
I pretend it's not my kid and do what I would advise my friend to do if it were HIS kid.
Oh.
It's like following the advice you just gave someone right after you said...of course it's easier to say/do/believe that because it's not my kid but what if you just...fill in the blank. That's it. Just that simple.
And it's what I'm doing today.
~Sherri
