Thursday, August 04, 2005
THESE KIDS ARE DRIVING ME NUTS!!!!!!
What is it about the last few days of summer that makes the kids go insane? Is it the heat? Is it the fact that school is beginning soon, and they are nervous? Is it that they know they are getting ready to lose some freedom? Or is it something in the atmosphere that just makes them go temporarily bonkers for a week?
My kids have spent the last week of their summer fighting... and I mean really fighting with each other. They have yelled, they have hit, they have called each other "idiot." Maybe it's just too much together time. One thing's for sure... Mom's had enough!
This weekend, I should be running around, getting things ready for school, but I'm not. I'm done with that. Supplies are bought & ready, backpacks are packed, alarm clock is set. Friday afternoon, I am setting out on the road... the road to Philadelphia, Mississippi. There is a casino there. A casino with a nice pool (one with no kids in it) and a spa. I will be making one pit stop on the way though, in Birmingham... to drop these hellions off with Grandma & Grandpa! I will then spend my last weekend of summer, not refereeing fights, but R-E-L-A-X-I-N-G.... I will hit the spa for a manicure, pedicure and massage, I will sit by the pool and read a book, I will lay in bed and watch movies on pay-per-view... with no interruptions!
Am I a bad mom because I'd like to relax on this last weekend of summer? Nah, no way. Relaxing this weekend and being AWAY from my kids every now & then is what makes me a better mom... and them better kids. More moms should do this. I used to be that "never-leave-your-kids-and-do-everything-for-them" kind of mom, but no more. If Todd has shown me one thing, it's that the kids really do have to come after the relationship between husband and wife. This is my 3rd marriage, and the other one (2nd one) just didn't work out because I was too wrapped up in my kids. I never gave my husband a second thought. Love your kids, but don't be "in love" with your kids. Stay "in love" with your spouse. I can't honestly say who I would choose if it came down to choosing between husband & kids... that's not a choice I hope I ever have to make, and right this moment, I can't say who I'd choose... Who knows what I would do. My brain simply can't wrap around it.
Which reminds me of a story; A couple of weeks ago, I got drunk with my father-in-law. His drunk, rambling mind wanted to know, "if all 5 of your kids were in the ocean, drowning, and you only had enough life preservers for 4 of them, who would you choose to die?" Well, my "mama mind" kept coming up with different scenarios like, "well, I'd put the youngest one with the oldest one, and save them all" or "I'd give one of them my life preserver, and I would drown, saving them all" or "the weakest swimmers would get them, and the strongest swimmers could 'hold on' when they needed to, but they all swim pretty well anyway."Those simply were not options in his drunken mind.... I had to choose. I couldn't do it. The drunker we got, the more he pressed, but I just couldn't fathom it... Finally, after hours of pressing, I told him that if I absolutely had to choose, no other scenarios would do, and I absolutely HAD to choose, I would choose Morgan, because #1, she's not biologically mine, and #2, I am the least close to her - we really don't have that great of a relationship. He seemed pleased with that answer... his point being that no matter what the circumstances, a mother will always choose. But, his research was flawed, because like I said, she's not biologically my child.... Anyway, enough rambling for this morning... I've got to go referee another fight....
My kids have spent the last week of their summer fighting... and I mean really fighting with each other. They have yelled, they have hit, they have called each other "idiot." Maybe it's just too much together time. One thing's for sure... Mom's had enough!
This weekend, I should be running around, getting things ready for school, but I'm not. I'm done with that. Supplies are bought & ready, backpacks are packed, alarm clock is set. Friday afternoon, I am setting out on the road... the road to Philadelphia, Mississippi. There is a casino there. A casino with a nice pool (one with no kids in it) and a spa. I will be making one pit stop on the way though, in Birmingham... to drop these hellions off with Grandma & Grandpa! I will then spend my last weekend of summer, not refereeing fights, but R-E-L-A-X-I-N-G.... I will hit the spa for a manicure, pedicure and massage, I will sit by the pool and read a book, I will lay in bed and watch movies on pay-per-view... with no interruptions!
Am I a bad mom because I'd like to relax on this last weekend of summer? Nah, no way. Relaxing this weekend and being AWAY from my kids every now & then is what makes me a better mom... and them better kids. More moms should do this. I used to be that "never-leave-your-kids-and-do-everything-for-them" kind of mom, but no more. If Todd has shown me one thing, it's that the kids really do have to come after the relationship between husband and wife. This is my 3rd marriage, and the other one (2nd one) just didn't work out because I was too wrapped up in my kids. I never gave my husband a second thought. Love your kids, but don't be "in love" with your kids. Stay "in love" with your spouse. I can't honestly say who I would choose if it came down to choosing between husband & kids... that's not a choice I hope I ever have to make, and right this moment, I can't say who I'd choose... Who knows what I would do. My brain simply can't wrap around it.
Which reminds me of a story; A couple of weeks ago, I got drunk with my father-in-law. His drunk, rambling mind wanted to know, "if all 5 of your kids were in the ocean, drowning, and you only had enough life preservers for 4 of them, who would you choose to die?" Well, my "mama mind" kept coming up with different scenarios like, "well, I'd put the youngest one with the oldest one, and save them all" or "I'd give one of them my life preserver, and I would drown, saving them all" or "the weakest swimmers would get them, and the strongest swimmers could 'hold on' when they needed to, but they all swim pretty well anyway."Those simply were not options in his drunken mind.... I had to choose. I couldn't do it. The drunker we got, the more he pressed, but I just couldn't fathom it... Finally, after hours of pressing, I told him that if I absolutely had to choose, no other scenarios would do, and I absolutely HAD to choose, I would choose Morgan, because #1, she's not biologically mine, and #2, I am the least close to her - we really don't have that great of a relationship. He seemed pleased with that answer... his point being that no matter what the circumstances, a mother will always choose. But, his research was flawed, because like I said, she's not biologically my child.... Anyway, enough rambling for this morning... I've got to go referee another fight....
