Hello spring kittens –
Are you celebrating your life of great ease and no surprises this week? I hope that Day One went well for all of you beauties. I am happy to report that Day One of our National No Surprises Week went off without a hitch pour moi. New Nanny (NN) SHOWED UP and is just wonderful. In fact, she was the cause of a truly biblical moment for me – shall we call it a Momlical Moment. It was pure bliss.
Here’s the scene:
Camera pans to KittyTime, her darling daughter and NN in kitchen yesterday reviewing schedules, mealtime, cleaning, etc. Yours truly asked NN what she likes to eat for lunch because I would just buy it at the grocery store, and NN responded, ever so genuinely, as follows:
“That would just create more work for you and that is not my job.”
Do you hear the angels singing? Do you also see the clouds parting as rays of light came beaming into my kitchen and I felt a sense of peace rush through my body?
C’est vrai! There was someone standing in my kitchen, pointing out that her purpose in life is to NOT create more work for me. Instead, to make my life easier.
As I said, a Momlical Moment. A lenten miracle. I don’t need to breathe out the anger, I just need to revisit that scene in my head and everything feels right in the world. All the pain, anguish and suffering I went through to find this fabulous NN was worth it. The puffiness under my eyes deflated, the new and extra aging lines on my face disappeared with nary a dime spent at the spa, and young spring-chicken KittyTime strode out the front door with a smile on her face and a glimmer in her eye. It’s a true story.
Which brings moi to Day Two of our National Week celebrating ourselves: husbands. As promised during yesterday’s entry, today is the beginning of the celebration where our husbands do as they are told. Immediately after we ask them. There is a reason that there is only a day or two dedicated to this theme each year; we cannot come to expect the impossible in our lives. We must have realistic expectations.
But I got to thinking. Instead of truly believing that our husbands will dutifully fulfill their chores without us even having to remind them, think for a moment what it would feel like to have the words that passed NN’s lips yesterday, instead, pass the lips of your husband.
That’s right.
For a minute, imagine your husband very genuinely saying “Of course, beautiful and brilliant wife, I already completed that task because my job is to make your life easier and to NOT create work for you.”
Yes yes. I hear the uproarious laughter from across the land but just play along for a minute. As I said, this week is like Santa for mom’s. You have to just believe.
So for a minute, allow yourself to believe that your husband would actually say something like that AND mean it.
Now don’t you just feel better even imagining it for one minute? Even one second? Personally, I played that scene out in my mind a few times yesterday, and well, it at least made me giggle, which means I am having fun during National Mom’s Week.
And so, dear readers, tomorrow we will focus on how our beloved children are fulfilling our wishes during this week to celebrate ourselves and no surprises, and with that, in a rare moment of weakness, I will end on a sentimental note and leave you with the words of Kathryn Harrison, that I heard on NPR this morning during the Writer’s Almanac:
“We’re taught to expect unconditional love from our parents, but I think it is more the gift our children give us. It’s they who love us helplessly, no matter what or who we are.”
