Skip to main content

(Burned) Toast With Buttah

Several years ago, I was in the teacher's break room at the School We No Longer Discuss. Several teachers were in there, having lunch. I overheard one teacher (a lady who I really didn't like socially, or even as a human being because she was a stuck up B who still wore embroidered sweaters and not even ironically) discussing how she couldn't wait until her kids would "leave the nest."

Like...Ugh, I'm so sick of my kids, she said. I won't cry when they leave. (We're not even talking about adult children; these kids were still legally minors.)

(Warning: This post goes nowhere. Even I know this.)

I'm a bit burned out on life today. Not by my kids, but just everything. Even my therapist is annoying me right now.  Might I point out how ridiculously entitled it is to say those words about therapy? Yes, I know and it kills me but we're keeping it real, folks.

Me: I don't want to spend $400 in gas a month to go across town to some activity for one hour.
Her: But you said you have the money! Isn't your well-being worth it?

For $400 and the privilege to drive our pothole-ridden streets at 40 miles per hour 40 minutes each way? NO. I'd rather be miserable. Either way, I'm NOT miserable. I'm just tired of trying.

Today is just one of those days where I'm awake and still asleep. Any sibling squabbles about whose day it is to (fill in the blank) first is lost on me. Dad made up those rules and I can barely keep them straight when my brain is firing on all cylinders (or whatever car analogy fits in here).

My brain isn't a Corvette today. It's a 1973 Ford Pinto with a missing tire and a smell radiating from the backseat.

I'm not one of those Moms who always wishes the grass was greener. I like my life. I love my family. I am at a point now where I seriously enjoy cooking meals and planning things and being involved in their lives. I can plan a teacher luncheon, send sympathy flowers and schedule physicals with the tenacity of The Terminator. I like it that I'm about to use my writing skills to help different philanthropic organizations in town. I like it that we've stayed in one place long enough to plant trees, watch them grow and actually look good.

People tend to misunderstand frustrations as unhappiness. That really annoys the hell out of me. Sometimes I need to remember the saying, "Never complain, never explain" and follow it. I have the "never explain" down pat. I take my licks, thank you very much. I don't try to talk my way out of them.

But...never complain? I need to work on that. Sure, the toast is burned, but we can scrape off (just enough of) the carcinogens to make it edible. If the toast isn't good? Just throw it in the back seat of the Ford Pinto; perhaps it'll help ward off the smell.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Royal Wedding

Once upon a time (okay, several times upon a time), we were invited to a wedding. I threw on my trusty dress I wore for anything that required even somewhat nice clothing and hopped in the car. I have no idea if I did my hair or makeup. I do remember, however, having to stop at the store on the way to the wedding so I could frantically shop for a pair of shoes to wear. This wasn't a last-minute gig; why did I wait so long? I don't know, but running up and down the aisles of Marshall's, looking for something that 1. I could afford 2. that matched and 3. fit really put a damper on the whole afternoon. Let's not forget the wedding we went to where I was newly postpartum with my second child. I wore a pair of ill-fitting pants and a sweater that did not do me any favors. Or the other wedding where I was still nursing but wore a dress that had to be zipped down to get to the goods. The last wedding I attended was 6 or 7 years ago (I believe). I wore a frumpy green dr...

Mountain, meet molehill

Back when I was pregnant with my daughter (14 years ago), I had this huge fear of needles. Who am I kidding; I still do. I am (and was) deathly afraid of needles. Now I put on my Big Lady Pants and go to the doctor, dutifully hold out my arm and wish them "good luck." Of course, every single person-whose-job-it-is-to-draw-blood swears she is "good" and will get it "first try." And, of course, there's three or four tries, muttering, conferring with other nurses and rolled veins before they tell me to head over to the drop-by blood lab to let those ladies (who never seem to have a sense of humor) jab me with a needle. I'll tell you this: Those no-humor ladies surely can jab. It might take one or two tries of dealing with my rolling veins, but they get it. Anyway, I used to build up blood drawing in my head so much that my husband would take off work to escort me to the doctor to calm me down. I always made it worse by panicking and having swe...

Just Like Dexter, But With More Pictures of Kittens

Earlier this school year (as a parent, I no longer think in "calendar" years; I think of a year as August-May.), one of my children needed a shark tooth removed. Shark teeth are basically when the adult tooth grows up next to the baby tooth and the baby tooth does not fall out. They are extremely common in this household. Some people deal with earaches and colds; we have shark teeth. (Fun fact: I hardly ever have had to help with the removal of loose teeth. Dentists have to remove them for us all the time.) Our children's dentist has odd hours for shark tooth removal: school hours. There's a hierarchy of pain + suffering that I consider when it involves missing school. I am not a "sure you can miss today" Mom. We do NOT leave to go on vacation. Therefore, being of the mean parent variety, I insisted my child not miss half a day of school to remove a tooth. So, I brought the child to my dentist. I really like my dentist's office. My kids are now...