My Mom, Invertebrates, Maggots and a Book

So I’ve cheated the last couple of times and haven’t actually written anything important. Not that I ever write anything important, but I at least try. Well, no, that’s a lie…I don’t really try. I just sit down and type whatever comes to mind. The only time I tried to really write was when I entered the Write-Away contest.

So, okay, I’m writing…I have a blog and need to post to keep it interesting…hmmmm… Yeah…well, it’s not happening. It probably won’t happen for a couple of days since my mom is coming to visit. This is a good thing. (My mom visiting not my not posting). I would pull up some random favorite posts except…I’m new and everything is new. So, I will have to make do and warn you that I may not be posting for a couple of days.

I’m excited to see my mom except I’m also nervous. I am a very routine-oriented person and this visit will totally throw off my routine. It’s only for a short time, but I sometimes have trouble adjusting. (Look at previous post about my personality to see what I mean).

I haven’t seen my mom for two years so any change in routine is welcome even if I am witchy woman to hubby until she gets here. I think I have calmed down some…the wine helped…mostly the support and prayers of friends helped, but the wine is a close second. Actually, it’s not so much the wine…it’s the fact that I slowed down enough to try to relax. Relaxing is good.

I don’t know why I’m so stressed. It’s not like I cleaned my house top to bottom. I’m fairly good at keeping things in order (overlook the kiddos school papers). The main thing was washing the kiddos sheets and cleaning their bathroom since that is where mom is staying.

This visit should be a breeze yet I am nervous. Why? She’s my mom. I shouldn’t be nervous. Yet, I am. I’m a little girl still seeking mom’s approval. That’s silly since I know I have her approval. I know this.

On a different note, Hubby caught a cottonwood beetle this evening. We were at friends house this evening when we saw it crawling on the window. I had never seen one before and thought the kiddos would enjoy it. One of our kiddos is studying invertebrates in class and has been collecting bugs. Some of the bugs kiddo takes to school and some of the bugs kiddo keeps at home. All of the bugs are dead (except the cottonwood beetle). Some of the bugs have maggots in them. The maggots are pretty cool (as long as they are in the glass container and can’t get out). I never thought I would be excited to see maggots until the other day. When the maggots were discovered I had to save them to show hubby and kiddos. Now that the maggots have been properly seen I can throw away the jar. Forever. Although it was a good object lesson to why we always wash our hands after catching bugs and other things.

There, now that I have properly bored and grossed out all of my readers I think I shall say goodnight. I want to read some more in Demon: A Memoir by Tosca Lee before I retire for the evening. Be thinking of me this week as I am enjoying my visit with my mom.

Learning

I am constantly learning. It is my goal to find something in my day that I can learn from. It can be keeping a good attitude when my day doesn’t go as planned or it can be through something I have read.

I learn from life. Mostly, I learn from it’s tedious interruptions. I have observed that my attitude and how I look at situations is what makes a learning moment. For example, I can yell at the guy who just pulled out in front of me in traffic causing me to hit the brakes so that I don’t hit him. Or, I can also quietly be upset and realize I too have pulled out in front of someone thinking I had more time than I did or I didn’t see the other car. It’s not about me. I don’t own the roads and I can’t control what others are doing.

I learn from my children. They make me slow down. I have to enjoy them and their eccentrics or otherwise life is too difficult. I have fun through them. They make me be social. They make me come out of myself. Again, it’s not about me.

I learn from books. Aaaahhh, books. My passion is books. I have always loved reading. What I love about reading is what I can learn. I can go anywhere in books and learn about anything from books. I have to make myself learn from life and my children…with books, I can learn anything at any time.

Books are my life. Books are a part of me. I have always learned from books. It’s how I learn about other cultures, history, people’s lives, character traits, and so much more. From the reading of books, I am then able to pass what I have learned to my children. And pray that in turn, they are also picking up a love of learning from reading.

I want to pass a love of learning on to my children. I want them to see that if for a moment we pull out of our shells of selfishness, there are many opportunities for learning. There is so much we can learn if we will just take the moment to look for it.

Is it always easy? No, sometimes our most opportune learning comes through our mistakes or the mistakes of others. That’s one of the reasons I love reading so much. It allows me to observe others and their reactions without having to live it myself.

This post was written for Scribbit’s September Write-Away Contest.