It is a regular spring occurrence that a bird hits a window. It startles me at first and then I look outside to make sure there were no casualties. My windows are not as clean as they should be, my house for that matter is not as clean as it should be. My kids are not as reverent, polite or quiet as they should be. But for one brief moment in the THUNDER DOME that is mornings around here, I was thankful that some feathered friend thought my window was so clean it was nonexistent...until I went out a couple of hours later and found it dead in front of my mailbox. RIP friend, you made my day, for a few hours. Goals.
So, it got me to thinking, of course instead of cleaning. There are phrases/clichés in life that just exist. Some are clever ways of ending conversations,"...and that was that." Others are meant to be said to give a verbal nod to not know what to say, "...it is what it is." Some are said out of frustration, some are uttered out of lack of understanding and others said so often at this point they have lost their meaning entirely. At any point, if there is one, when will we as humans stop speaking and start doing.
When a baby cries, it is their way of communicating, because they cannot actually take care of themselves. They get older, become verbal, can drink from a glass, yet you are destined at least once to hear, "...can you come wipe my butt..." What? Why are you asking instead of doing it yourself? The older we get we are still like babies, trying to communicate despite the fact that we can accomplish ourselves more if we just acted instead of speak.
There are a few choice phrases in this house that my husband and I have had to come to terms over. Sadly not one of them is, "...mom, you've worked hard, go take a nap," but I digress. These choice phrases, admittedly, I have let fall on deaf ears over the years, but currently they are at an all-time high. There have been a few discussions of banning them all together in this house. Not ironically they are usually spoken about 2 minutes after said discussion. Now, I would find no fault in the following phrases:
I cleaned the bathroom.
Dinner was good (with a clean plate).
The laundry is finished and put away.
I just flossed my teeth.
But, let us be real here...these will never probably happen. I think I would be frightened if it did. The phrases on the docket for banning in this household are as follows:
That is unfair.
I am bored.
I am hungry.
These cyclical phrases are uttered by all of my children no less than 2 times a day each. The hunger comes about 40 minutes after eating, mainly because did not finish the last meal and they are bored. The boredom comes from not doing what they want to do instead of what they need to do, or at least help out. The unfairness in this house runs rampant as various ages should be allotted different privileges. Over time, I know I have just tuned out some utterances whilst being said. I would scoff it off, and mutter something under my breath and move on. But, after a while, it resembles a powder keg. At any given time, I would like to be about a two on the tension scale. Hearing the afore mentioned phrases, it climbs to a nine more quickly than I would like. With the air of spring, there are changes coming. I am lucky and grateful to have high functioning little humans in my midst...it's time to put that to good use.
"That is not mine," almost up there with "I have no idea how that broke." Well, we enter a dicey intersection with these mantras as I call them, as they seemed to be spoken like prayer in this house. New rules: If you have to step over it to get where you are going, pick it up. If it is broken, fix it. Seems like something that should not have to be actually verbalized, but we are keeping it simple around here.
Laundry encompasses everyone. No nudists in this house, well at least not on a daily basis. If someone is bored I guarantee there is a pile of laundry somewhere in this house that needs cleaned, folded or put away. Fighting boredom and being productive, it is like we are living in Neverland without a wardrobe change. In this house there are more wardrobe changes than at a Beyoncé concert....thus the never ending laundry, never ending FUN.
Yard work can be done by all who are upright and walking. No one needs a detailed list of things to help with outdoors, nor do they need to confer with their union president, I am the union president. As I was explaining this to my dear children I told them merely asking to help is the first step, the rest will fall into place (why else would I have no less than 6 rakes in my garage?). Plus, there is the satisfaction they will learn to appreciate after a couple of hours of hard work, or at least I hope.
Lastly, when the above mentioned are discussed the phrase that can follow incites a slight tinge of rage"...how much are we getting paid?" I count to ten, make a mental cocktail, remember that these precious offspring might one day be shrewd business moguls and say, "...more money than you had before you started the job. Mom is going to take a nap."
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