Make the peace be with you.

One of the wonderful things Noah does is periodically give me letters/cards that he has written himself. They let me know that he really does think I'm the "pridyest mom in histery." Or that he loves me "so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so" much. It's some of the stuff that keeps me going.

This is what he gave me for Valentines Day this year.

I never doubt how much he loves me and how important I am to him. I save them all and often have at least one in my purse with me and one hanging in my office at work. I can't read them without feeling myself softening inside.

Today is my birthday, and Noah wrote me this "letter."

Do you know how much he loves me? He loves me infinity percent much!

He also drew me a picture. The picture is drawn over five pages that are liberally stapled together. He is a knight rescuing me (the princess) from a very tall tower.

There is so much I love about this picture. I love that he is rescuing me, but in doing so has armed me with my own swords because he knows I am badass. I also love his attention to detail by giving me purple hair. 

What I love the most however, is what he has written at the bottom. "Make the peace be with you Mom." I'd love to think he has written an incredibly profound statement, but in all truth I think he's just confused the message of peace I've been trying to share with him this week with the well known line from Star Wars.

What a gift he has given me!

Make the peace be with you Mom.

How much better as a person, a mother, a wife, could I be if I "make the peace be with me?"

I wonder where we would be as a nation, as a world, if we all followed this.

Make the peace be with You!

 

 

The stories I get to listen to at baseball

I sat at Kiel's baseball game the other night listening to the conversations of the other moms around me. Rich had just arrived and dropped a mini bomb about Noah's behavior at his psych appointment that day and that the pdoc was asking again if we had found someone else to see. Because of that my stomach was in a bit of a knot, and I wasn't feeling all that social, so I just sat back and listened.

The conversations took the usual turn to gossip and criticism. I zoned out for a while until I heard one of the women (a teacher) start telling stories about the kids in her class and how she wishes she could take some of them home with her because the parents are so awful. Then she talked about the families that are homeless and two of the moms audibly gasped with surprise. Homeless? Here? In Bucks county?

She started talking about a mom with five kids that lives in a two bedroom house. The kids have subsidized (free) lunch and they complain that they don't get enough food. This teacher has the only girl of the five kids. She said the family couldn't afford to send her on a field trip.

Then the other moms all gasp and say how horrible that is. How could they not pay the $50 for the bus. It's not like it was that much.

So then she starts talking again about how the girl always seems hungry, and she said that her older brothers, who she shares a room with, eat all the food in the house so her mom doesn't buy snack food. And that she doesn't sleep well at night because her brothers sneak out of the house at night and wake her up when they come home.

Again, more gasping and sighing, and horror that the mother allows this. That she doesn't buy them more food. That she isn't home enough to parent her children.

Now, I don't know a damn thing about this family, and perhaps this mom is truly the worst mom ever. But all I could think was what the fuck ladies, is it possible this mom is doing the absolute best she can with what she has? Perhaps we (in which I mean those moms) should get off our fancy camp chairs, tie back our bleached and highlighted blond hair, and consider how we can help these families as we walk to our SUV's and our Escalades and our Beemers.

I kept my mouth shut for once. It's been bothering me since though. No wonder I don't feel comfortable with these sports moms.



 

A red marker, a white napkin, and a brown paper sack

Noah's class went on a field trip Friday. He has been excited about it for months!

On field trip days the kids take a packed lunch. Every other school day Noah buys his lunch.

Rich packs Noah's lunch, but I always slip in a note, usually written on a napkin or paper towel.

Have an awesome day. 

I love you! 

Mom

Red marker on a white napkin. Thirty seconds to write and slide in the brown paper sack between an apple and a bag of chips.

.........................

Noah jumped off the bus steps when he came home and ran into the house. Full of  stories about the day.

Nate threw up when he got off the bus this morning.

They only let us go through the tunnel once this time, but it was still cool.

We didn't get to go to the gift shop, but I bought a snack from the vending machine.

Oh, I didn't want to throw this away (pulling a white napkin with red writing on it out of his pocket), so I kept it in my pocket.

Do you like it when I put notes in your lunch?

Yes. Because I know you are thinking about me and want me to have an awesome day. But I already know you always love me.  

.........................

Maybe, just maybe, I'm doing something right after all.