Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Can I find the good??

When Andy was little, everyone knew him as “Dammit-Andy” because that all I ever said –

(which now I am extremely sorry for- after all, I have seen Dr. Phil & Oprah and I know I have probably damaged him forever........yadda yadda yadda…)

But, he turned out great…well..good……sort of OK ...I guess…


JUST KIDDING!

He’s a great kid- uh, man – even with all those tattoos that cover the arms I tried soo hard to protect…(bygones)



(yes, that is a cast on his arm - crashed his Harley...dammit Andy!)

Anyway, when he was little, it seemed to me, at the time, that he did nothing right.

April, on the other hand, seemed perfect. If I asked her to take the mail out- she took it right to the box.

Andy would take it and walk around with it for, oh, probably hours if I let him. Happy as a camper. Not a care in the world.

Andy was always happy at breakfast though. A “good” morning little guy – and a “Good morning!!!” little guy.

Not so April. She'd practically growl at him. Grumpy Gus-ette, soooo, maybe not SO perfect after all!

Frustrated, I went to the pediatrician and told him my tale of whoa (wo? Oh, woe!!) and he said something that I’ll never forget:

“You MUST find something a child does well – no matter how hard it may seem.

FIND SOMETHING - then let them know how proud you are.

He made me try to find the good- so the next day, Andy made his bed- if you could call it that.

But try as I might, I (at first) couldn’t find anything “good” about it. But I looked harder. And harder..and harder..and it wasn't easy...

...Finally I spotted it….

...the PERFECT pillow placement!

Yeppers, it was at the top of the bed..it had the opening of the pillow case to the outside.

Even the print (I think it may have been Smurfs) was facing the right direction! Yeah Andy!

OK, so that was probably IT for a few years…but like I said, he turned out OK after all.

But it made me think, one must always look for the good – even if it’s hard to immediately spot …..

…like yesterday morning… on a cold and snowy TUESDAY (it's only TUESDAY??)...


I was getting ready for work and reached in the medicine cabinet for the toothpaste and toothbrush.


I grabbed the correct one, but I was quickly reminded that I need to be grateful that Ben Gay doesn’t have full-sized tubes, or I might NOT have been so lucky! ICK!

GOOD was found in my bathroom!

Then there was the time my sister Gerri, who swears she doesn’t need glasses, was at my house, sprayed her entire head with the glass & window cleaner which is, as you can see, very similar to the hairspray.




She might have been upset, but she said her hair was clean & smudge-free for the entire day and she knew then where I kept my window cleaner!

See, more good. In my bathroom, no less!

Sometimes it takes a little creativity and looking to find the good – but there usually is something…even if all you can find is that you are great at …......

....pillow placement!
Have a fun day

-me

4 comments:

Senior Bowler-Carolyn said...

You can see in his eyes he enjoys life .....bet he is just like you..uh minus the tatoos....

Anonymous said...

Very cute blog...and yed sometimes it is hard to focus on the good.

the tattered nest said...

what a beautiful picture of the two of you! thanks for reminding me to focus on the good...sometimes we all need a little nudge!

Barb said...

When my cousin Tammy was little, she thought her name was actually "Tammy Dammit" because that's what her mom used to always say to her. I saw her recently after many years, and she's turned out just fine, too. :-)

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