Tuesday, July 11, 2006

WHY DO WE DO IT?

It's 1am, and I just finished unraveling about 50 feet of tape that my two-year-old son thought would be fun to pull out of my 5-year-old daughter's favorite cassette.

He did it this morning as I was rushing out the door. I set the tape aside to deal with later.

MUCH later -- after the kids were fast asleep -- I saw the tape on my nightstand. I really didn't have the energy to deal with it. I'd had a busy evening: a hospital visit, dinner, a bedtime story. I helped my cousin write a grant proposal then I stayed up late to watch a really corny movie that my 17-year-old had been dying to see with me. (I'd already put it off once.)

Finally, around midnight, I headed to bed. On the way I ran across dishes (not quite done)... laundry (I added a new load)... and the kids' work desk christened in Elmer's glue (I cleaned it.)

After tidying the den... putting away schoolwork... reorganizing the kids' shoes thrown in the closet... and replacing missing pieces to the play mat on the deck (I finally found them!).... I was ready to get some shut-eye.

That's when I saw the cassette lying by my bed. I almost left it there. Then I remembered: it's my daughter's favorite.

So here I am, at 1am, unraveling the twists and turns in the tape. It reminded me of all the twists and turns in my day: the low points (I left my wallet at home) and the high points (my daughter called VERY excited about her first day in college). As I worked out all the kinks and things slowly started to fall into place, the tape reminded me of my day -- a lot of twists and turns that ended up stored neatly in one little package.

Still at 1am, I sat there, winding and winding, wondering "WHY am I doing this?"

Then the answer came to me:

Tomorrow night, when my daughter falls asleep with that little half-smile on her face as she listens to her favorite story, the extra 15 minutes I stayed up will have been forgotten --

but the memory of her sweet, sleeping face will stay with me forever.

Goodnight. :)

"T"

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

"T" you are really missing some great opportunities for TRAINING. First, lay the tape aside for a time when YOU can patiently and persistantly sit your two-year-old down (in seclusion) and TRAIN him to re-wind the tape that he had no business pulling apart because IT DID NOT BELONG TO HIM.
An explanation--to your daughter-- of punishment for mischievous behavior should suffice until the tape is workable again.
<"K">

Tracie Potts said...

"K" you are so right. I was so focused on my daughter being hurt that I didn't take time to teach my son a valuable lesson: you can't destroy other people's property.

I DID deal with him immediately when it happened... but making him rewind the tape would've been a much better lesson, making him think twice before he ripped it out next time.

Of course, sitting with a 2-year-old teaching him to rewind a whole cassette tape would be punishment for ME as well!

So --

Lesson #1: You've never too young to learn to respect others.
Lesson #2 (for Mommy): 86 the cassettes and get CDs!!! :)

"T"