Connections are your Cornerstone

 

In the last week I have been working thirteen hour days preparing for two amazing events…The Global Women’s Summit in Vegas and Romcon in Denver. I’ll be presenting more than once in Vegas and let me just say PowerPoint is a Pain in my _______. Turns out my program is messed up. Go figure could have save hours….

I digress. The point is that the weekend before I go away for two conferences in a week with only a 10 hour layover at home midweek I also had some very important family things going on as well.

Uncool Mom or Future Empty Nester?

When did I become this mom?  The one who doesn’t know what’s cool anymore, who misuses “cool” phrases, and turns to her kids for tech support. I remember being pregnant with my oldest and envisioning that we would just kind of “hang” together.  She seemed like she would be something between an accessory and a hobby…. kind of like knitting, but with greater potential later on.  Then…she was born and she was this whole other separate person who made decisions on her own timetable about things like sleeping (or not), eating (or not), and pooping/crying/puking (for these, “not” seemed never to be an option.)  It sunk in quickly that parenting was not at all like knitting, or hanging out with some cool mini-pal…if anything, it was more like trying to knit while running backwards on a treadmill while feeding a moody tiger with a sensitive palate.

Sports Moms

This weekend my daughter who is 10 had her first basketball game.  And it was at this game I found out I'm one of "those" moms.

You know the ones who are louder than the coach...that know more than the coach. Add my smarmy, sarcastic, witty and biting sense of humor if I don't get this under control I could end up in jail.

It really hit when I saw her pat the girl on the back ,she was supposed to be guarding, for sinking a goal.

I was mortified! I want to scream at the top of my lungs. "You should have packed that ball right in her face!" Instead I smiled and waved at the girls parents across the gym. The girls are good friends.

Then there was the first practice in Argyle socks no less. I promptly went out and bought all Nike sports clothing.

Here's the problem this daughter is the sweet one. One of those people who lives to please others. She's so not competitive and that's OK.

I'll either have to read during her games or super glue my lips shut.

And there is always the young one who at 7 has a play ground rep as the "enforcer." She's expressing an interest in mom's fave sport.

So how bout it are you one if "those" moms?

My Moms Gotta Knife In Her Purse

Yes dear readers. Those were the words my little girl bellowed in public.

Out of the mouths of babes.

It's not like I keep it a secret or anything. It's more like a reminder. I've carried the 14inch sliver butterfly knife with the dragon inlay on the hilt since I was a teenager. It was gifted to me by a male friend for safety.

Where I lived it was necessary. I've since found it's a great tool as well for everyday things as a mom.

Such as getting the tags off shoes or sunglasses. Or cutting those wrists bands off you get from an amusement park or pumpkin patch.

Well and there is always the wide eyes I get flipping it open without looking while my daughter holds her hand out all trusting for me to cut off the band.

Yes I am an attention lover.

But really it reminds me of how truly far I've come from the streets and couch hopping as a youth. I feel grateful for the stability my kids have. And how crazy I love my husband.

Nevertheless, if a threat does occur I'm completely capable and willing to use my little reminder. And it's truly the only thing I could reach into my bottomless pit of a purse and find without looking.

What about you? Carry anything sentimental?

Preparing for a Wayward Son Perhaps Even the Prodigcal Son

This post is a more personal one but hey isn't that  the great thing about the Internet? It allows you to see what's going on in someones life while they are still living, working or surviving.
In March of 2010 my son went to a state rehabilitation center. What he did is no one's business and when I am asked I tell people that he needs to have the opportunity to repent in private. We as a society are judgmental and cruel having little or no patience or empathy if people cross a line that we have set in our own minds. I as a parent am judgmental and impatient so I expect nonetheless from other.

My son has spent his 16th and soon to be his 17th birthday in a facility. I don't say lock up or juvy because it wasn't like that. He had freedoms that he had to earn and wasn't nearly as intense as those places are. But he went through some intense therapy. Going through this experience and soon to be probation has taught me a lot about being a parent, especially a step parent. For you see I've been his mother for 11 years now. I'm 29 with a child soon to be graduating high school. I'm grateful to have him go through this now where they could get to the root of a lifetimes reasons for bad choices. And the cruel twisted hand of fate is all the problems stem from the abuse of a biological mother suffered as early as a toddler.

While I would love to be the prodigal son's father and love him without suspicion as he returns it's love for him and the probation rules that dictate that I cannot. In his absence he had learned about the simple joys that freedom and family give a person. He's learned to appreciate an education bringing his pitiful 1.9 GPA to a 3.8. When he's out will he forget those lessons? Maybe a little...he is human nonetheless. But that's where a wicked step mother comes in to help steer him back to the correct course.

What are you thoughts? Have any of you dealt with children \who were less than stellar?