This Year I Resolve To ...
Tomorrow is Abby's birthday, and I'm not sure I have ever known anyone as excited about an impending birthday as Abby. She's been counting down for months. She tells anyone who will listen that she is about to be 7. She has planned and re-planned her party, her invitations and her wish list. She wanted to send out invitations before we'd even picked a day or place to celebrate. But, that's the funny thing about birthdays, even if you don't plan for them, they come around, and now I find myself woefully unprepared for the celebration she expects tomorrow.
The only thing I am certain will happen is that Bryon will pick her up early from school so they can celebrate together. It's his tradition with all the kids; on their birthdays he picks them up early from school for a movie or dinner or, in Abby's case, shopping. The kids look forward to it, partly because they love one-on-one time, but also because it seems slightly sneaky. On one of Sam's birthdays, he and Bryon were at the mall about to see a movie when they ran into Sam's band director and his school's band about to perform a holiday concert. Sam said he was mortified (and terrified) but I think he was secretly thrilled.
The kids love the birthday date with their dad. I am secretly (not so secretly now) resentful and envious.
Bryon does his share around here but it is me who packs the school lunches, takes the kids to and from school, cleans their rooms, reads to them, watches Disney TV, takes them to lessons, double checks their homework, maintains their reading logs, volunteers at their schools, writes the school newsletter, serves on the PTA board, coordinates holiday parties, prunes the community garden, refurbishes the teacher's lounge, teaches their Sunday school class, chaperones field trips and choir rehearsals. Not to mention paints toenails, schedules the dentist and doctor and allergist and orthodontist appointments, brushes hair, nurses scrapes, cleans up vomit, feeds the fish, cleans up after Odis, Guthrie, Folsom, Tag the Dog and Chuck Norris the Guinea Pig.
But I think if, years from now, you ask them one of their favorite things of childhood, they'll say the birthday date with dad.
Which leads to me to one of my new year's resolutions .... I'm going to say no. No to volunteer opportunities, no to cookie sales. No to things that stretch me thin and make me bitter and worrisome. No to worrying about disorganized closets and pantries. No to waking up at 3 a.m. to fret over that day's to-do list.
If Bryon's birthday date proves anything it's that when it comes to time with your kids, quality matters so much more than quantity. So that's my resolution, to live this year qualitatively.
The only thing I am certain will happen is that Bryon will pick her up early from school so they can celebrate together. It's his tradition with all the kids; on their birthdays he picks them up early from school for a movie or dinner or, in Abby's case, shopping. The kids look forward to it, partly because they love one-on-one time, but also because it seems slightly sneaky. On one of Sam's birthdays, he and Bryon were at the mall about to see a movie when they ran into Sam's band director and his school's band about to perform a holiday concert. Sam said he was mortified (and terrified) but I think he was secretly thrilled.
The kids love the birthday date with their dad. I am secretly (not so secretly now) resentful and envious.
Bryon does his share around here but it is me who packs the school lunches, takes the kids to and from school, cleans their rooms, reads to them, watches Disney TV, takes them to lessons, double checks their homework, maintains their reading logs, volunteers at their schools, writes the school newsletter, serves on the PTA board, coordinates holiday parties, prunes the community garden, refurbishes the teacher's lounge, teaches their Sunday school class, chaperones field trips and choir rehearsals. Not to mention paints toenails, schedules the dentist and doctor and allergist and orthodontist appointments, brushes hair, nurses scrapes, cleans up vomit, feeds the fish, cleans up after Odis, Guthrie, Folsom, Tag the Dog and Chuck Norris the Guinea Pig.
But I think if, years from now, you ask them one of their favorite things of childhood, they'll say the birthday date with dad.
Which leads to me to one of my new year's resolutions .... I'm going to say no. No to volunteer opportunities, no to cookie sales. No to things that stretch me thin and make me bitter and worrisome. No to worrying about disorganized closets and pantries. No to waking up at 3 a.m. to fret over that day's to-do list.
If Bryon's birthday date proves anything it's that when it comes to time with your kids, quality matters so much more than quantity. So that's my resolution, to live this year qualitatively.
posted by Romine Family at 9:33 AM
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