Bothered.

Even in the midst of chaos, sometimes things clear up JUST enough that I get a tiny glimpse of peace. It's in those times of quiet and contentment that I get bothered. I may or may not have a point to all this, just fair warning. lol

**FIRST... I want you to watch this and laugh for a minute, so when I say the word 'bothered' ... the voice of Jimmy Fallon pretending to be Robert Pattinson is stuck in your head. lol** 

***also important to note, the people of England/Britain/United Kingdom/etc use the word 'bothered' in the sense of 'I don't care'...... I learned this. But I'm speaking of the American version of bothered, which means something is upsetting you. lol***

Bothered. 1) insignificant complaining. Yeah, yeah.. I'm guilty of it too. Have you READ my blog? lol But I'm talking about the kind of complaining-can't-see-the-forest-for-the-trees kind of complaining. Probably a big deal to the person complaining at the time, but from an outsider's point of view... it doesn't matter. Get over yourself. Just sayin. (Now, don't get all preachy on me and tell me that we're supposed to have compassion for all, even if they're having a bad day and it may not seem like a big deal to us.. etc, etc... I know. But sometimes... enough is enough. Feel me?) - also in this category ... continuous Debbie Downers/Pessimistic Peters. Yeah ... I heard ya. Your life sucks. Moving on.

Bothered. 2) Judgemental people. Does this one even need explaining? Take for example, ALWAYS on the chopping block of being judged - parenting. One of my favorite blog world celebrities, Dan posted recently about a dad he saw in Costco that he wasn't too thrilled with. He talked about how the dad was gritting his teeth and crushed his son's heart because the little boy asked for ice cream.. and the dad time after time threatened his son, etc. Now that post in particular got THOUSANDS of comments from his fans and followers who automatically assumed abuse and that the cops, DSS, employees, the president, and everyone else in the entire store should have been on edge and ready to attack and report him because this dad is more than likely abusing his kid. I'm going to be the lone voice and say I think not. Maybe it's different when it comes to the dads, because the dads don't necessarily spend as much time with the kids as moms do. But let me tell you right now ....... do you know how many times I've been out in public and I'm sweating like a sinner in church, my kids are running all over the dang store, neither one is listening to me, I'm at my wits end and I have HAD.IT.UP.TO.HERE with them? Do you know how many times in those instances I get the fire in my eyes and grit my teeth and fly off the handle because my kids asked something as seemingly insignificant as what we're having for dinner? Do you know how many times I have told my kids if they move one more step, they're going in time out as soon as we get back home? Can you see where I'm going with this? I love my kids more than life itself. I wouldn't have fought so hard to keep them if I didn't love them. Am I stern? You bet I am. I may not be as much fun as the next mom or dad. I may be stressed a lot. But I assure you, I am not abusive to my kids. Do you see how making assumptions about what kind of parent someone is based on 5 seconds to 5 minutes can be detrimental? There's a very fine line to walk between interferring in people's lifes and possibly saving them. The parents who are TRULY abusive can even be the ones who seem sugary sweet to practically everyone they know, not to mention strangers. I've witnessed it enough before to know that there are times of calm, usually called the calm before the storm. It's rarely (if ever) done in public, always at home. Now, I tell you these things because I've been the parent that people thought they needed to glare at or approach and accuse me of being "too hard" on my kids. Very few people really know what it's like to live my life or go through my days or understand the struggles I have to overcome- yet there are thousands (THOUSANDS!!!) of STRANGERS who deem it their public duty to judge me (consider it a collective 'me') if I'm less than overly patient and sugary sweet to my children in their midst. Really, people? Really?

Bothered. 3) Immature drama/people. I have so many examples of this, it's not even funny. But I don't have time to act like a teenager. I've got macaroni to make, dishes to wash, toys to pick up, and children to put in bed. And that's just before 8:15 pm.

Til next time ...

The single mom.
(Krissy)