Today's rant is brought to you by the word "Dismayed".

I have a lot of friends on facebook, not in real life. In reality, I’m just not that social, and a large portion of my friends are completely unlike me – in example, whereas I practiced extended breastfeeding with child-led weaning, the majority of my friends did not breastfeed at all, or only very briefly. One thing I have noticed in the few years I’ve been on facebook, is that so many people simply cannot wait until the start of school in September. They complain while their children are home and make references about needing to drink adult beverages. They count down to the days until school begins again, and the same thing occurs during the school holidays, such as the winter break or spring. I do not understand this mentality. I love being around my children – I adore their company – they make me think, laugh, and fill my days with smiles and love.

Am I in possession of superhuman patience, some people might ask? Certainly not – but I don’t see how being with my children requires patience in the first place. I learn from them, at least as much, if not more, than they learn from me. We homeschool, and so many people have said “I could never do that; I don’t have the patience” – I don’t have a never ending supply of patience, I lose my patience just like other people, but when I do, I take a five minute breather – I sit down for me-time amidst the chaos, and read, or eat a bit of dark chocolate, or think about an old man I met once at the bank when my two young children were babies. My husband and I were at the bank and I was sitting with an infant and my year old daughter when I noticed an elderly man sitting across from us, smiling wistfully. He saw that I had noticed him and asked how old the children were. I answered and asked him how many children he had. I don’t remember the number of children, or how many grandchildren and great grandchildren he had, but he told me something that I try to keep in close view. He told me how quickly the time passes, and how I should try to hold onto it since, in retrospect, it passes in the blink of an eye. I have noticed this in action – some days drag, but the years fly.

My babies are now six and seven, and I do my best to appreciate each moment – because I don’t want the years to fly by and for my children to remember me as being impatient, annoyed, hurried and aggravated. I want them to remember me as happy to be with them, supportive and encouraging. Not running off to the kitchen to grab a wineglass and complain about their very presence to people on facebook who don’t care about me anywhere near as much as my children do.

About these ads