Tag Archives: Decisions

We Have a Sink

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Source: Southern Living

 

BigSIS and I had lunch together today while theBOY worked and lilBRO napped.

 

I’m really going to miss lunching with her when I return to work next week. Some of our best conversations happen at lunch.

 

Take today’s, for example.

 

I finished before her (as usual), and turned to check out our kitchen set-up.

“What you doing, Mom?” she asked.

“I’m thinking, honey.”

 

We usually forget that our 26-month old is 26 months old, so I continued.

 

“I”m trying to figure out how to make a dishwasher fit in here.”

The next question reminded me that she is, in fact, two years old.

“What’s a dishwasher?”

 

Then the conversation went something like this…

It’s the thing at your grandma’s house that washes the dishes. You know, you get to push the button to start it. Everyone else we know (except one other poor soul and friend of mine) has one. Yada. Yada. Yada.

 

I turned from her again.

 

“What you thinkin’ about now, Mom?”

(Yes, she recently started calling me “mom” instead of mommy. I’m not worried about it, though, because this comes after a stint of calling me “mama” for days on end.)

This time I didn’t turn back to answer.

“I’m still thinking about the dishwasher,” I replied. “And if we should get one.”

 

“We have a sink.”

 

We have a sink, she said.

Yes, we do, don’t we?

 

We have a sink.

She’s watched me wash dishes in our sink for months. She’s even helped me wash dishes in that sink. And? She loves it.

 

In that moment, her two-year-old mind pointed out what my 30 {something} year old mind often forgets.

 

We have a sink. And not just a sink.

We have a home, two cars, warm beds, enough food, puh-lenty of toys.

See, I get wrapped up in what we DON’T have. But bigSIS doesn’t know what we don’t have (yet). 

She doesn’t know there’s a whole world of stuff we don’t have.

Stuff we don’t need.

 

Today, I wished I didn’t know the stuff we don’t have. Because we obviously don’t need it. We’re doing just fine.

 

Yes, we have a sink.

And, for today, that’s enough.

 

What is it that you don’t have and, just maybe, don’t need today?

 

~theGIRL

Are You Sleepwalking Through Life?

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I remember the day it hit me that I have two options for how I live my life – I can live passively (sleepwalking through life) or live actively (pursuing what really matters in a way that proves that it really matters).

I’d been thinking about it for some time. That day, I remember turning to my then boss, now friend and saying something like “so many people just let life happen to them.”

I don’t think it’s in my nature to live like that.

I’ve found others who agree.

The theme of Chris Guillebeau’s website, The Art of Non-Conformity,  is:

You don’t have to live your life the way other people expect you to.

I knew it! Now I’ve found someone else who is shouting it from the rooftops (actually, from all sorts of airports and countries around the world.)  

Here’s what else Chris has to say about ”achieving significant, personal goals while helping others at the same time”

If you don’t decide for yourself what you want to get out of life, someone else will probably end up deciding for you.

There is usually more than one way to accomplish something.

You can do good things for yourself and help other people at the same time.

So now I have to do something about all this.

My significant, personal goals? I gotta figure those out. And I have a pretty good idea where to start my research.

In the meantime, I’m encouraged, inspired and motivated by the reminder that my life doesn’t have to meet anyone else’s expectations. Instead, I can actively pursue what really matters in a way that proves that it really matters.

Have you considered your life goals? Have you put a plan in place to reach them? Whose expectations are you trying to meet? How do you live actively? 

One Tough Decision

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I’m not a flu shot kind of person. I’ve never had one before this year, and I haven’t had the flu since I was in high school. Maybe even middle school. I can’t really remember.

But this year, with a little over a month to go before my little girl was due to make her entrance into this world, theBoy and I faced one of the hardest decisions we’ve ever had to make. In fact, as a couple, it was the hardest decision we’ve ever made.

After months of hearing how dangerous the H1N1 Flu is for pregnant women (especially those in the 3rd trimester like myself), the vaccine became available to me. It was mine for the taking. If I wanted it.

Because of all the unknowns associated with the new H1N1 vaccine, I soon realized it was going to be totally up to me whether I got one or not.

My OB told me he’s not a fan of flu shots either (I knew I liked him). He doesn’t get them and hasn’t had the flu in over a decade. I was hard pressed to find anyone to give me straight forward medical advice when it came to this new vaccine. I tried to do my own research and came up with a complete mix of opinions and ended up more confused than when I started.

TheBOY and I went back and forth a hundred times. Finally, with 32 days of my pregancy left to go, the day of the flu clinic arrived. The night before, after lots of prayer and discussion, we decided to go for it. What a grueling decision.

Would our baby girl be affected by the vaccine?

How likely would it be that I would even get the dreaded Swine Flu if I didn’t get vaccinated?

After the nurse jabbed my arm and sent the vaccine swirling into my bloodstream, I walked away as quickly as I could blinking back tears.

What had I done?

Then I noticed I’d missed a call from theBOY, and I just knew he had called to tell me to turn back. Don’t do it. Run!

He hadn’t. He called to give me a pep talk because he knew how freaked I was. I was an emotional wreck for the next 10 mintues or so, but theBOY helped calm me down over the phone.

So, did we make the right decision? Who knows. Only time will tell. I’m praying for a healthy winter for our entire family. In the meantime, I know we have one tough parental decision down….only a million (or so) more to go.

Growing up can be tough, and I’m learning that being a mom is going to be even tougher.

What’s a tough decision you’ve had to make as a mom recently? What resources did you use to help you make the decision?