The only thing embedded around here is the grime.
O Tivo! my Tivo! our viewing season’s done,
The Lost finale’s come and gone, Survivor has been won,
The summer’s near, the birds I hear, the people outside mowing,
While I lie here cold and drear, grim and faintly cursing;
But O rats! rats! rats!
O I sigh and hang my head,
While on the shelf my Tivo lies,
Silent cold and dead.
A homeschooler from Redmond, WA, has just become the first girl in 17 years to win the National Geography Bee – and only the second ever! Woo-hoo!
After her win, at the center of a swirl of reporters, contestants and parents, Snaring credited her home schooling for giving her the flexibility to prepare for the bee.
“[I] integrated all my subjects with geography,” she said, explaining that she studied 60 hours a week to prepare, using maps and language as her guides.
“I knew I could do it,” she said excitedly. “And I wanted a girl to win this.”
Awesome, awesome, awesome.
Friday night I was flipping around (Well, flipping around the TV, not literally flipping around. Like a fish. Ew.) and happened on 20/20’s “Taboo” show. I don’t usually bother watching, since it is pretty much wide-eyed, gasping, faux journalism. Who needs it? But then they started going on about motherhood.
I am so glad I paused in my surfing. I am so glad these wise, discerning reporters could let poor, doddering me know that - shocking! – mothering is chock full of taboos.
It’s taboo to say that being a mom is boring.
…but freelance journalist Helen Kirwin-Taylor is one mom who isn’t afraid to break those taboos. Kirwin-Taylor, a mother of two young boys, tells Vargas that “day after day after day, I think it gets very boring.” She was so disturbed by the unwritten rule against saying anything negative about child-rearing that she wrote an article for London’s Daily Mail entitled “Sorry, But My Children Bore Me to Death.” Now a stay-at-home mom, Kirwin-Taylor admitted that she was bored stiff when taking her kids to birthday parties, to play dates and to school plays, and her article caused shock waves on both sides of the Atlantic.
Not sure what wolves Ms. Kirwin-Taylor runs with, but pretty much every mom I know will freely admit that this is not a thrill-a-minute career. (The Goodnight Moon game alone makes me want to dig out my eyes with a fork.) And if you don’t commune with women who will be honest about it, there are plenty online who will. Gosh! So much unwritten rule breaking!
A big deal was also made over the fact that many moms can’t truthfully say that they are truly, deeply happy. Another surprise! So, when shall I say I’m feeling personally fulfilled – when I’m scraping poop off the backside of the baby, or when I’m saying no for the 5,273rd time in one afternoon? Can it be that much of a revelation that moms aren’t always happy? Do I have to feel happy about what I’m doing 24/7? I don’t think many moms out in the workforce say they feel 100% jazzed about their lives, either. That’s just reality.
But I would rather be doing what I do, day after day, more than anything else in the world – boring as it is, unhappy though I may be sometimes. Maybe that’s the real taboo.
She grumbled over the beans and corn:
Princess: I can’t do this! I can’t think of a hypothesis! I don’t know what to write. I’m just no good at this sort of thing.
Moi: This isn’t a test. Just give it some thought and write what you think might happen.
Princess: But I have no idea! I can’t do it. I’m not good at it!
Moi: (long pause) You know what? No one is good at anything at first. I’ve got to tell you, when you were Moo’s age, you really stank at reading. I had to read everything to you. Beethoven was not born knowing what middle C was. Some things come easily, some are work, but don’t you ever tell me you’re not good at something. It’s only that you need to do it more.
Princess: Alright.
Aaaaand…. Did she come up with stellar a hypothesis? Well, no. But she did put down something that had some thought put into it. And I didn’t get any more whining. Two birds with one stone!
Want to know what I did all weekend? I rehabilitated a very sick Princess. (But I do have to say Hooray for older kids – they yak on target. She clenched her teeth until I could come running with the trash can.) For days she was pale and weak and feverish, but we had to, HAD TO, get her better in time for Tuesday. And what was Tuesday? The AWANA awards ceremony, and the last one that she would be a Sparkie.
This was three years in the making. She could not miss it. We prayed over her for days, pleading that she could make it…and that the rest of us wouldn’t get it, either.
Tuesday arrived and she was hale and hearty. She got a raging bloody nose during the ceremony and couldn’t sing and shout with the others, but she was fixed up in time to get her awards.
In three years, she has recited:
The funny thing is, none of it was done in a competitive spirit. Yes, she is incredibly proud of her accomplishments. (And she knows she’s one smart cookie.) But not once has she crowed about being better or smarter than others. She genuinely loves learning scripture and has a heart for missions and a love for Christ. She takes my breath away.
Congratulations, Princess!
Some people cringe when they think of their mothers. For some, being around their mother a couple of times a year is just about all they can handle, and they’d do with less if they could get away with it. I am so blessed not to be among their ranks. My mom actually lived with us for 15 months while Dad was selling their house in Colorado, and it was such a huge blessing for us all. I still kind of miss it, actually.
Her steely toughness helped her survive momming at a very young age. I am still amazed that she didn’t throw me to the wolves. Can you imagine raising a teenager in your early 30’s? Or being an empty nester at 35?
She is the kind of person that people want to be around. When someone finds out I am her daughter, they inevitably smile and say, “Oooh! She’s your mom? Wow, she is just so wonderful!” (It can be kind of annoying, really.) She loves to please people and help them, not because she cares what they think of her, but because she wants the best.
She loves to teach, and relishes the age group that no one else can stand – junior high. She will come home from leading youth group with a black eye or wrenched back and crow about knocking heads with some kid who stands head and shoulders taller than her 5′ 1″ self. This weekend at the retreat she found a new love: paintballing. And more than anything, she is passionate about telling them about how much God loves them and how He wants to be in their lives.
She is a hard act to follow. She is my best friend.
Happy Mother’s Day.
Emma
Wayne
Perfectly worthless felines. I love them so.
Today is Military Spouse day. In honor of today, let me thank my sisters and brothers out there who keep things sane at home so your honey can get out there.
Got a loved one on deployment? Then get your kids a Flat Daddy. (or Flat Mommy.) It’s not the same as the real thing, but at least that spot at the table won’t be quite as empty. Think of the possibilities!
And if you don’t have a deployed sweetie, perhaps you can throw a couple of bucks their way – they run on donations.
Oh, Moo.
At five months, you can grab your toes. You smile and giggle. You give big, goobery, slobbery kisses. You chat and sing in your own shrieky language. (You sure think your big brother is hilarious.) And you let me know that you are just about ready for cereal, what with the grabbing my fork and smacking your lips when I eat.
But you will not roll from tummy to back. You can roll onto your tummy without batting an eye. But getting yourself out of that predicament is the problem. I have visions of you being 15 and accidentally ending up on your stomach. Unable to to right yourself, you will remain there forever like some sort of teenage beetle, waiving your arms and legs frantically in an effort to flip over.
I have begun just leaving you on your tummy, no matter how much you holler about the rug burn you are getting on your nose. I tell you, I am not going to help you. So help yourself.
My friend L has a new blog, just in time for her baby’s upcoming first birthday. Keep an eye on it, because she isn’t only funny, she knows her way around a camera, too.