All of
the following requests were made to me by my kids during this past week (as a
reminder, a week is only 7 short days).
No, I
didn’t make up a single one of these.
Emma (3rd grade): Mom, I need to make a bumble bee for extra
credit in Social Studies. I’m getting 100%
already but I still want to make one. Plueeeeeeeeeeeze?
Me (thinking it would be easy): Why don’t you go online and find a picture,
then maybe you could draw a super cool bee.
Emma: It has
to be kinda big and 3D and hang from the ceiling.
Caleb (kindergarten): Mom! I
need to bring things to sell at our garage sale at school today.
Me: Like what?
Caleb: Toys and stuff. I’ll go find some.
Rob (8th grade) – I need three dollars to buy
hot dogs and water and ice cream during my field trip today.
Kirsten (10th grade, text): Mom, I
need Borax 20 Mule Team All Natural Laundry Booster and some pipe cleaners for
Chemistry. Could you buy them while I’m
at school so I can start working on the project when I get home? It takes a while
& it’s due tomorrow.
Me (text):
I’ll see what I can do. (deciding not to write what I was really thinking
– stuff like planning ahead and being responsible -- some things don’t go over
well via text)
Seth (5th grade): Mom, I need a bag, a pot, a shirt, a hammer
and some candy tomorrow.
Me: Um, why?
Seth: I’m
Spiros (I can’t pronounce his last name), a 45-year-old man from Greece who is
moving to the United States and coming through Ellis Island.
Me: Why
candy?
Seth: He
might get hungry on his journey.
Me: You
mean you might get hungry at school?
Seth:
(smile)
Rob (upon hearing that I was going to Party
City): Mom, can you pick me up some
wings?
Me: You
mean you want me to drive by Wing Stop?
Rob: No, I
need wings. Like, the kind you fly with.
Me: What
for?
Rob: We’re
doing skits and I’m a flying Egyptian god.
Rob: (upon
hearing that they only have butterfly, bumblebee and angel wings at Party
City): Never mind, I’ll go without the
wings. Egyptian gods probably didn’t
need wings to fly.
Kirsten:
I need a white t-shirt, two dollars and a wire coat hanger. We’re making tie dye shirts in Chemistry
tomorrow.
Caleb: Remember I need a kite. We’re flying them today at the park.
Emma: I need one dollar for endangered animals so
I can wear pajamas to school today.
Some
might argue that I brought this on myself by choosing to bring five children into
this world. They would have a maddening yet valid point.
But
still.
I have
always been intrigued by my mother’s and grandmother’s tendencies to save
stuff. Junk, mainly. In boxes, in cupboards, under beds. Come to think of it, most grandmothers I know
have those same tendencies.
I
finally understand why.
In the
event that a neighbor kid should knock on the door early one morning asking for an empty
2-liter bottle because he needs it for a volcano that he has to bring today or
he’ll flunk his class, they simply want to be prepared to help out.
They’ve
lived it.
2 comments:
I love the bumblebee. I know how you feel. I always love getting the 6:20 am phone call right after we have fallen back to sleep from dropping a child off at seminary and 20 minutes before I am getting up that is a request for something forgotten at home. I am with you on the kids trying to learn how to do most things on their own. They learn great resourcefulness. Great post, as always.
that is the cutest bumblebee... i hope she saved it and that you hand it somewhere like your powder bath or kitchen or laundry room or somewhere it will make you smile.
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