One of the characteristics of living things is that they grow. (According to Sesame Street, anyway.) This is a good thing, since the labor & delivery process is already difficult enough with small babies. I love watching how things grow and change over time. Some of our grass was actually knee-length; good thing the HOA gestapo didn't see!However, with all growth, comes some drawbacks: maintenance work. Eating, sleeping, cutting your hair, trimming your nails, and making sure you aren't growing in the wrong way -out- are all part of being an adult. In addition to those needs, children grow out of shoes, clothes, and beds. They need to learn new skills and appropriate behaviors as they get older. The M's are currently exploring the skill of identifying negative things and keeping it to oneself, as hard as that is at times.
Even as we grow, some things are hard to give up. Katrina's blanky is still the thing she wants when she's sad or sleepy, even though she has (thankfully) mostly dropped the habit of sucking on the corner. Favorite clothes, even to the point where they are unwearable... like the cutoff jeans that Katrina is wearing below-
I must admit, I have a hard time relinquishing things as I outgrow them or they outgrow me, by wearing out. They represent good memories or being comfortable. It seems the best solution is to replace them, but it never seems quite as good as the original. Like my blue and white striped cotton shirt that I wore in high school and college- I have forever been on a quest for a shirt like it since. Trouble is, I no longer like the way I look in horizontal stripes. Have I outgrown them?
9 comments:
After your whole speech about how old your contacts and alarm clock/lamp are, I realized that I actually have a ton of things that are ancient which I still use today on a regular basis:
1. Curling Iron: Probably 11 years old
2. Tennis Shoes: Stopped using them just last December, but they are 13 years old.
3. Pretties Box: Around 15 years old
4. Several items of clothing are about 10 years old
I'm sure there are others, but I can't think of them right now.
Great post! I wish I still fit in a shirt I wore in high school. I do have my seventh grade PE shorts, maybe I'll go try them on. YIKES!
you're funny, joellen! i agree-- some things never are as good as the original, but every now and then you find something that's not AS good... it's BETTER!
Oh dear, that song is now stuck in my head.
Ugh. Boring philosophical post. You need to write about sports more. Like Kent.
There's a bunch of stuff I've been noticing I probably need to replace. My car's getting old. My laptop's getting old. My watch is getting old. My glasses are getting old. Heck, I'm getting old. All these things just need to be replaced, and I'm afraid it's going to cost more than a pretty penny to do so.
So that's what that lower bar on the handle of the mower is for!
I definitely hold onto things for a while, but not quite like Kent. He has T-shirts from junior high (that he still insists on wearing) and underwear from his mission that is NOT wearable, but he insists on keeping in his drawer...
Didn't I already blog about this?
Post a Comment