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I'm always hesitant to sing the praises of my girls too loudly on this here blog, for fear that tomorrow one of them will hold up a liquor store with a shotgun, or I'll find they're growing weed in the back of our walk-in closet, or they'll start getting creepy plastic surgery and decide they want to get pregnant with 8 babies at the same time. But what the hell. I'm always living on the edge anyway...And falling off and climbing back up, only to fall off again. At least I know my way around it.
When my girls were first born, I had such high hopes for their lives. I was going to do everything in my power to make their childhoods so much better than mine. I would learn from my parents and my aunt and uncle's mistakes in hopes that they wouldn't have to go through half the shit that I did growing up. Of course, I couldn't have imagined the accident, the illness, the divorce, the tornado and them living in two different houses where the rules weren't the same. I also couldn't have imagined how well they would adjust to it all.
It's not at all that we haven't had our run-ins or disagreements, but they both have turned out surprisingly well-adjusted. They're in sports, they don't skip classes, they both do community service, they are respectful, and neither one of them has even once asked for plastic surgery or the chance to have 8 babies at once. I know. Shhhh! All of that could change tomorrow.
One of my Churlita'isms that I beat my daughters over the head with way too often is, "You can't help what happens to you in your life, but you can help how you deal with it and what you learn from it." I'm happy to say that so far, my girls seem to have dealt well with everything that has been thrown at them. Of course, if you see their mug shots in the paper at any point, feel free to snicker at me behind my back. I was just asking for it by writing this.
8 comments:
Churlita,
I think they are following the example set by their mother.
Your mug isn't on any wanted posters is it? ;>)
You have wonderful girls! I love hearing about them... and hearing how much you love them in your writer's voice.
I used to be terrified that Max would die of some bizarre thing. It was completely irrational...and very maternal. We're just built for worry. Mothers.
I think that you are great, thus they are great. And you are tough, so they are tough. A little luck helps too.
I think it is every mother's right to brag on their kids and I love hearing about the relationship you have with your girls.
Strange, but whenever you've talked about the upheavals in your life, it's been almost entirely without drama or theatrics or histrionics or whatever those things are called. So maybe your brain knows they were significant episodes, but your MIND is clearly all about living with whatever shows up. It's a frickin' gift you gave those girls and I don't know why you WOULDN'T expect them to cherish it. Your high hopes are being met before our little blog reading eyes. Yay and all that.
Rel,
Not that I know of...But there's always tomorrow.
Ananda,
Thanks. You're right. All parents worry about weird crap. In the end our kids seem to be pretty damn resilient.
Pamela,
Thank you. That's so nice. We've definitely had all kinds of luck - both good and bad.
LauraB.,
Yeah. We can't help it, so we might as well exercise our rights.
Booda Baby,
That was so nice. I just hope they're able to keep dealing throughout their lives.
I hardly EVER reply to replies (?) but this one made me want to pipe up and say - for the record and future reference and to be super duper clear about it - that wasn't nice at all. It was a real observation.
(Actually, it kind of startled me, how true it was. Is.)
You have done a good job with your girls. You love them and raise them to be the way they are. You should be a proud parent.
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