Who knew that all the nurturing and kind things that I used to do for my kids would come back and bite me in the ass? When they were younger I used to do nice things for them, like making sure they had a napkin with their meals. I would see to it that those bothersome tags in their clothes were cut out. I got them the pj's they were most comfortable in..."Feeties for you? Ok, sure" "Oh? You like nightgowns? You got it." I made sure their booster seats in the car were elevated enough so they could see out the window instead of looking at the inside of the car door. Oh the list goes on. I did these things with love, I did. I wanted my kid to realize just how much I really loved them. By me performing these acts of love they would really feel it.
I never realized that by doing this they would come to expect me to perform these "acts of love" on demand. In a 24 hour span my 14 year old, the child I considered to be the most thoughtful and understanding of my brood rattled off a list of MUST HAVES for tomorrow. She needed her physical form to play field hockey in tomorrows game notarized (I don't know a notary.)Needed a new face mask to replace the one she lost LAST week (I paid $32.00 for that one and another $32.00 for today's replacement.) Needed help printing the report(s) she had all summer to do. "Geez, I didn't realize we had no printing paper." As usual Mom pulls thru for the child.
Come supper time she says to me "Why are you ordering pizza tonight? Yesterday you told me you were cooking sausage and potatoes on the grill." As I snorted "What more do you want of me?" I saw her take a breath so she could begin a sentence...I cut that child of mine off at the knees. "Say a word and I will rip out your tonsils." She said "I wasn't going to ask you for anything else. I just wanted to know if you were working tomorrow?" There is my sweet girl. Smart too. "No" I said "I'm not working tomorrow because it's you guys first day of school and I want to be there to see you all off." (Ya know one of those "acts of love" I was talking about) She couldn't quit while she was ahead, she had to have the last word by saying "Good, because I need my shin pads washed for my game after school."
I quit for the day. Done. Without washing the shin pads. I don't think I will wash them tomorrow either. I think I might just let her smell.
