Today I am celebrating a paycheck. When I was teaching (for peanuts) and I would tell my parents about a success with a student or a compliment from a parent my dad would smile and say, "That's a paycheck, isn't it?"
The life of a mother is not full of paychecks every moment. Putting a pullup on my son at night because he's suddenly wetting the bed and dealing with his rabid "I want it off" fit is not a paycheck. Having a daughter snap at me and roll her eyes is not a paycheck. Pulling mushed-in play dough out of the carpet, again, is not a paycheck. Just so we're all clear on that.
But they do happen every now and again. Like last night when we were working on Logan's "All about Me" poster for kindergarten. It had all the regular questions: How old are you? Six. What is your favorite color? Yellow. What is your favorite food. Bacon. Then we came to __________ is my favorite place.
"Mukutu's Island, of course," she quickly replied.
"Wow...I thought it was the beach," her dad said.
"Or the zoo?" I added.
"Hmmm...That's a hard one. Let me think about it. We'll come back to that."
"Okay. The next one is 'When I grow up I want to be..."
"A mom."
"Really? That's great."
"Well, maybe I ought to say something else because I AM going to be a mom no matter what."
"Then why don't you put a mom and something else?"
"Okay!"
"The other night you said you wanted to write stories. You could put an author."
"Uh, no..."
"Well you used to want to be a rock star, or a teacher--"
"Or an animal doctor," her dad added.
"Okay, I know. A mom and a zookeeper." (I didn't tell her that it's kind of the same thing.)
"Yeah, that's a good one. Okay, so what is your favorite place to be?"
And without another thought she lit on the perfect answer, "Home."
"That's a paycheck, isn't it?" my dad's voice rings in my head. He's right. Those are the moments I'm living for. Those are the moments that matter. Maybe all that eye rolling doesn't mean a thing, after all.
13 comments:
That is so sweet:) James has taken up this new stand that she will not be a mom. I was taking it personally until I found out it is because she doesn't want to have needles (from going to the hospital to have a baby). The ironic thing is she wants to be a nurse!
That just made me choke up.
We ALL need a paycheck, that's right.
Sweet story! When my kids say stuff like that I just think "I guess I am doing SOMETHING right!" Good thing kids say nice stuff sometimes...keeps us going :)
Thats cool... when Keigan was in 1st grade, he wanted to be a scientist. He wanted to cure the common cold.His friend wanted to be a Taco Bell worker. We still laught to this day. I love projects like that. Your story is precious.
Ka-ching, Ka-ching!!
But I hate to tell you, the eye rolling will only get worse and even more meaningful! (I have a 15 yo!)
I love those tender and not so often moments. When they come along, I write them in a book so I can go back to them and remember that once in my childs' life they admitted that I was wonderful. Unlike today or yesterday or even tomorrow when I am the devil!!!
(insert Cat hiss)
Oh yes...those moments are so sweet. Especially right now with adjusting to the new baby. I seem to lose my patience a lot quicker with my 2 1/2 year old...but today (a particularly bad day) he just out of the blue said, "I love you mommy" and then I had to kick myself for ever saying a mean word to him!
That certainly is worth a lot! Good job!
PS Enjoyed your last post!
Good to record that for when she is 16 and would rather be anywhere but home. You can show her this!
Those moments are so important to document for both parent and child.
Are you shocked. ... 2 comments in a row. ..I'll re-visit in a couple months and post some more too :)
Love this story. You are such a talented writer. You look JUST LIKE Kelly Pickler in that photo. ..compliment.
xoxo
love the sweet story...but LOVE that the favorite food is bacon!
Yea for paydays!
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