(a) assure me that it will get worse before it gets better, and
(b) remind me that I, too, suffered from a similar fate.
This got me to thinking...maybe, I continue to suffer from teenage brain damage verse early-onset senility?
I joke that I am practicing senility now so that when I have alzheimer's I will be "practiced" at it...and, it won't be as bad. One of the things that I have learned in my short 36 years on the planet is that you have to laugh at your own shortcomings...or the real life crisises and failures of life may just ruin you. I believe that being able to laugh at life is what got me through my own teen years, and I pray that I can pass that gift along to my children. Partly so that I won't be the only one laughing at their brain damaged actions, partly so that they can keep life in healthy perspective.
This past month has been a continual reminder of my own brain damage and the need to laugh at myself. Some key examples:
- I washed the checks from last week's 1st Bible class. Yup. I did not clean out the pockets in my pants and discovered the freshly laundered checks in the dryer. The good news is that the bank has experience with mangled checks. I am curious if mine had the best smell, though.
- If it isn't written down, it won't happen. Hannah barely made it to Girl Scouts with her donations this week. Fortunatly, I was reminded that Hannah needed to take donations by a friend or she would have gone without. I must have read the e-mail from her troop leader. However, I have absolutely NO memory of it.
- Caffeine-free Thursday...by accident. Those of you who know (and love me) can appreciate that I have a "constant-drip" approach to my caffeine intake. I start the day with a pot of coffee that I start at 5:15 and finish up before leaving the house at 8:05am. For reasons that I couldn't explain, I was exhausted Thursday morning. My entire morning in the office was fairly unproductive because my brain was just mush. There was a marked "up-turn" in my productivity about 11:30am when I started my diet coke with lunch. It wasn't until I arrived home and found my first mug of coffee untouched that the morning mush began to make a bit more sense.
I take comfort in knowing that I am not alone. Brian came home last Tuesday at 5:30pm. Not completely unusual, I guess. However, we had decided that he was going to work late that day so that he could be home on Wednesday in time to teach confirmation at church. Imagine his surprise to find us home and not waiting for him at church...especially, because in Brian's mind, it was Wednesday already. Talk about wishing your week away...
So, my kids really don't stand a chance. Both of their parents are still suffering brain damage from their teens (or early practice of senility)....and, we are their role models, guides and anchors to this world. No wonder they are suffering symptoms of their own!
Maybe a more real explanation of all this "brain damage" is that we are all human. We make mistakes. We take on more than we should and our brains simply are on overload. There is more to do than time to do it...whether you are 9 1/2 or 36 1/2. And, it is because of this human-ness (my own and my kids') that I need to practice grace and laughter.
Two good quotes to remember (if my brain will cooperate):
- If you don't laugh, you weaken. - Ron Mohr (my dad)
- Keep the small stuff the small stuff...and, it is all small stuff. - My own translation of someone famous...if only I could remember who that is...
