Saturday, December 03, 2011

Learn

The day was sticky and we were both tired.  Our plans to meet a friend had fallen through, but we still needed to get some lunch before the long trek home on the train and bus with our vegetable share.  Little G and I sat at a lunch counter and looked out at the passing traffic.  Our conversation was a combination of him requesting various forbidden things - chips, cookies, to get down and run among the customers waiting in line, to be all done with his hot dog, to go visit the fire truck that just passed by - and him pointing out as many things as he could recognize and insisting that I repeat his words.  By the end of lunch we were both tired of each other.

As I packed up our lunch things and tidied our crumbs, a woman about my own mother's age caught my eye and said, "you have so much patience".  My dreary eyes welled with tears.  Patience is not my gift; I've had to learn it.

It is a lesson learned every day as I mother a spirited child.  Sometimes I think I've got it down; many times I fail miserably.  Always, it is one of the most important things I can give my child.

--
I am participating in WEverb11 this year (to the best of my abilities, what with a newborn in the house).  The prompt for December 3 was:

Learn

What lesson did you learn in 2011 from “The School of Life” rather than a classroom?






Learn more about WEverb11 and sign up to receive the prompts
Dreamed up by Coasting Anon at 2:53 PM
Why we gotta label everything?:

7 comments:

  1. NodakademicSat Dec 03, 04:58:00 PM

    Patience is such a hard lesson to learn. I know I need more of it too.

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  2. Julie Jordan ScottSat Dec 03, 05:32:00 PM

    You are obviously an awesome mother and then some. Patience is such a gift - once you get there.... you never lose it completely. My brother had Down's Syndrome. He was 14 months younger than me so much of my preschool years were spent protecting him and being patient with him as I protected him. Everything took longer... rather than with your little one who sounds to make everything go FASTER! (Reminds me of my middle child!) I am so grateful you wrote to this #WEVerb prompt today. You made my day.

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  3. auntiekimSat Dec 03, 09:47:00 PM

    You're a beautiful writer.  Wow.  I just clicked over to your first post about 'being banned' and my heart hurt for you.  That must have been really hard.  Hope things have worked out in the end.  I'll definitely be back to read more of your blog tomorrow.  Congrats on the new baby in the house!

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  4. CoastinganonSun Dec 04, 04:00:00 PM

    Thanks...those days were hard, but things have been and continue to be much better.  I still wish it never had happened, but it no longer gives me nightmares.

    Thanks for stopping by :)

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  5. CoastinganonSun Dec 04, 04:02:00 PM

    I like how you put that. : "everything took longer...rather than with your little one who sounds to make everything go FASTER!"

    That's exactly how intense it is.  Thanks for the beautiful description.

    ReplyDelete
  6. StaciIntriligatorSun Dec 04, 05:53:00 PM

    i LOVE this.  seriously.  patience is something i'm still figuring out, too.  my husband always joked that we would name E "patience" to remind me of my need for it.  funnily enough, as a former educator, my patience for my students never ran out.  still trying to figure out how to transfer that to the world of motherhood.  thank you for writing this!

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  7. KiraTue Dec 06, 02:45:00 AM

    You are a great storyteller, I loved reading this!

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