Good and Bad Things
We have a ritual at dinner time where everyone says 3 good things and one bad thing that happened that day. It allows the kids to realize that there are more good things in our day than bad, and allows for family conversation. I thought I would throw out a couple of mine for today.
Good thing 1: Maverick was in a 24 Game tournament. For those not familiar with the game, it's a card with 4 numbers of single digits. You need to use a combination of addition/subtraction/multiplication/division to manipulate the numbers to get 24. See the link for details. Maverick placed in the top 6 in his grade at school so he got to participate in the district wide tournament. And placed SECOND!!!! We're very proud of him. We seriously thought he could win it cause he's so freaking fast at these things. You barely have time to look at the numbers before he's got the answer. Mind like a steel trap or something. He was very pleased with himself and rightly so. Also, he was not at all dissappointed that he didn't win. He even felt bad for his buddies that didn't do as well. Now there's a good kid.
Good thing 2: The grass I planted over the weekend (and killed my butt muscles hauling dirt for) is starting to sprout! I've seen a few little blades of grass poking their heads out of the dirt. I just need to keep watering now. Nice that I actually managed to get something to grow, as I have a black thumb instead of a green thumb. I usually end up killing plants.
Good thing 3: The Wife and I are going out for dinner and a movie tomorrow night to celebrate our anniversary. We'll be married 17 years. Our anniversary is actually Saturday, but she's taking Maverick to a baseball game and I'm taking Grasshopper to a soccer game, so there'll be no time for us. No sweat going out a day early. We got a sitter for the boys and it's off we go. Perhaps I can persuade the Wife to wear her hot new red dress, at least during dinner and the movie ;).
This leads me to my bad thing (Wife, please do not read this rant until Saturday): Have I ever mentioned how much I HATE looking for greeting cards? I mean, of course I'm going to get a nice card for her. For birthdays and anniversaries I don't go for the stupid funny little card. Those are special days and I want to find something that expresses my sincere emotions to her. The majority of the cards out there are so fucking sappy! Oh my God, I can't believe the tripe that these guys write. Have the cards are overly sentimental, to the point sounding like bullshit, the other half look like they're written for the guy that only says I Love You once a year through a card. And I swear, if I read another card that says "You're my soul mate" or "You're my best friend" I'm going to start breaking shit.
I find this idea of the "soul mate" to be hyped up Hollywood dime store romance kind of stuff. I mean, who really SAYS to their spouse "you're my soul mate". It's so freaking cliche. And I HATE being that cliche. To call The Wife my best friend cheapens the relationship for me. My best friend is the person I go hang with so we can talk about music, women, and sports while drinking cider on tap at the pub. I would leave my best friend IN A SECOND to be with The Wife. My best friend is the person who calls me to come hang and I turn him down to be WITH THE WIFE. She's so much more that a best friend that the only real words that can express it are to say she's MY WIFE. Being able to say that means more to me than words can express.
Anyway, I did manage to find something (shhhhh, don't tell her) that came close to the correct sentiment. I think next year I'm going to suck it up and create my own card. At least it will say what I really mean.
Good thing 1: Maverick was in a 24 Game tournament. For those not familiar with the game, it's a card with 4 numbers of single digits. You need to use a combination of addition/subtraction/multiplication/division to manipulate the numbers to get 24. See the link for details. Maverick placed in the top 6 in his grade at school so he got to participate in the district wide tournament. And placed SECOND!!!! We're very proud of him. We seriously thought he could win it cause he's so freaking fast at these things. You barely have time to look at the numbers before he's got the answer. Mind like a steel trap or something. He was very pleased with himself and rightly so. Also, he was not at all dissappointed that he didn't win. He even felt bad for his buddies that didn't do as well. Now there's a good kid.
Good thing 2: The grass I planted over the weekend (and killed my butt muscles hauling dirt for) is starting to sprout! I've seen a few little blades of grass poking their heads out of the dirt. I just need to keep watering now. Nice that I actually managed to get something to grow, as I have a black thumb instead of a green thumb. I usually end up killing plants.
Good thing 3: The Wife and I are going out for dinner and a movie tomorrow night to celebrate our anniversary. We'll be married 17 years. Our anniversary is actually Saturday, but she's taking Maverick to a baseball game and I'm taking Grasshopper to a soccer game, so there'll be no time for us. No sweat going out a day early. We got a sitter for the boys and it's off we go. Perhaps I can persuade the Wife to wear her hot new red dress, at least during dinner and the movie ;).
This leads me to my bad thing (Wife, please do not read this rant until Saturday): Have I ever mentioned how much I HATE looking for greeting cards? I mean, of course I'm going to get a nice card for her. For birthdays and anniversaries I don't go for the stupid funny little card. Those are special days and I want to find something that expresses my sincere emotions to her. The majority of the cards out there are so fucking sappy! Oh my God, I can't believe the tripe that these guys write. Have the cards are overly sentimental, to the point sounding like bullshit, the other half look like they're written for the guy that only says I Love You once a year through a card. And I swear, if I read another card that says "You're my soul mate" or "You're my best friend" I'm going to start breaking shit.
I find this idea of the "soul mate" to be hyped up Hollywood dime store romance kind of stuff. I mean, who really SAYS to their spouse "you're my soul mate". It's so freaking cliche. And I HATE being that cliche. To call The Wife my best friend cheapens the relationship for me. My best friend is the person I go hang with so we can talk about music, women, and sports while drinking cider on tap at the pub. I would leave my best friend IN A SECOND to be with The Wife. My best friend is the person who calls me to come hang and I turn him down to be WITH THE WIFE. She's so much more that a best friend that the only real words that can express it are to say she's MY WIFE. Being able to say that means more to me than words can express.
Anyway, I did manage to find something (shhhhh, don't tell her) that came close to the correct sentiment. I think next year I'm going to suck it up and create my own card. At least it will say what I really mean.
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