"I
remember a particularly frustrating few months with my beautiful,
stubborn, bull-headed daughter number 1. She was probably about 4 or
5. I was fit to be tied. She said "no" no matter what you asked her,
she defied me at every possible opportunity. I was certain she would
have to be removed from my care because I was going to KILL her. She had
to do everything her way. I was way out of my league. And I thought
step-children, who probably didn't really even like me, were hard. She
was impossible. So, one evening I was enlisting the advice of my dear
husband, "What am I supposed to do with her? She won't do this, she
won't do that. I can't make her listen . . ." You get the picture. I
will never forget what he said -- it was the most profound thing anyone
had ever said to me up to that point in my life. It also made me angrier than I had been in a coon's age. (If you don't know, don't ask) He said, and I quote, "You can't control her." He was so calm, so matter of fact, I wanted to kill HIM then HER. Yes, I can! I am her mother!!! Can you hear it?"
Darn right you can't control me....
I digress...HAPPY ANNIVERSARY MAMA AND PAPA. No one else coulda raised me...I'm kinda a....how do I put this lightly....kind of a dolt, blockhead, fool, twit, etc. (don't even ask what I put into the online thesaurus to generate those words). Props to the mother for letting me do my own thing...usually I find the right thing.
Thanks parents for setting such a great example for us chilluns. Because of my parents I know what a good marriage (and consequently a good family) looks like:
- 9 kids (give or take)
- Motorcycles
- A house that is never clean (sorry mom)
- Endless laundry
- Walking
- Family Home Evening
- Seeing every movie that has ever come out
- A husband who works hard
- A wife who works hard
- Kids who....learn to....work hard
- Charity
- Illegal Fireworks
- Leftovers
- Kicking the kids out when 24 is on
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