What do those three words mean to you?
My kitchen table is in an area off the kitchen that can't be called a dining room. It is more like a section of the living room (or maybe we could call it the Great Room but it isn' t that great or grand...in fact, it was pretty hard to find us all a place to sit last night while we watched The Voice together as a family).
And our kitchen table is an old church table -- you know, one of those ugly brown tables that are really long with metal legs, a fake wood top and is extremely heavy --
Guessing you and your family sit at your table to eat or talk or something....you aren't under the impression that what you say there stays there, are you?
Because what happens at the table NEVER stays at the table (or whatever is said, etc).
Let me give you few examples:
Now, if I took better care of my boots -- as you see they need some polish -- it probably would have wiped off easily.
Instead, this pancake residue is still on my boots and it is almost noon.
Something else this picture doesn't tell you is that it was a picture of both my legs, but my vanity reared its nonsensical head and told me to cut out most of my legs because they looked kind of big....oh, yes, even I have an awful vanity voice. I usually don't listen to her but I did today.
Which sounds pretty laughable since I voted today wearing these jeans and my pancake-residue cowboy boots that have needed a good polish for about two years now.
What is great about this picture is she ate two pancakes with syrup. She is still just about 50 pounds at age 11 1/2, but we're working on the weight.
Last night she wondered how tall she'd be when she got to junior high and high school.
My teenage daughter is 5'9". My teenage son is 6 ft + and my two stepsons are both 6'2" and 6'3" (hubby is 6'2"). I tell her, "You'll probably be my height."
She looks disappointed.
I say, "Honey, I'm not short no matter what the others say. 5'4" is a good height. I've never minded it."
My husband yells out from the living room, "I've always thought your mother's height was absolutely perfect."
So, she's content for now....problem is is that she really hopes to be very curvy like her teenage sister (my 15 year old), but really don't think that's going to happen. She'll have a boyish figure like her mother! This thought sends my teenager into giggles and guffaws. One of her favorite little ditties is a knock -off of Maroon 5's "Got the Moves Like Jagger." She sings about me, "You've got no boobs like Jagger."
No worries -- she never reads my blog (neither does my husband...he'd get me for writing out that "b" word).
Pete sees himself as the character of his own real-life movie that he stars in.
He loves Greg from the Wimpy Kid movies though Greg isn't very nice. Greg always a lot of striped shirts.
So does Pete.
If she hadn't been here today the kids would have had a banana and some
hot chocolate rather than pancakes.
I've found that I might just do a bit extra if there is a visitor around.
Am I the only one who does this?
I'll maybe cook a bit more, clean a bit more. I've read that people get more cleaning done the day before guests arrive than they do any other time of year. That is definitely true for me.
I didn't really mean to focus on actual physical stuff leaving the table like pancake spills and crumbs. I was talking about table-talk.
Wherever you gather as a family -- that gathering place makes a lot of memories for your children and their friends. Are they good memories?
Some people are just born like that. It is a strength and a weakness. It is a weakness when it isn't used rightly -- same for all of us. When we use our strengths wrongly they become our weaknesses.
Nothing will stop my Megan when she learns to harness her strengths and uses them creatively and humbly....that too applies to us all.
Is it a strength to be content with dried pancake batter on my jeans and boots? Or is it a sign of a slob???? Maybe both.....
I have a confession: yesterday I stayed all day in what I had worn to bed. It was a pair of brown sweatpants and a brown sweater (my favorite color to wear). At the breakfast table I said to Maggie, "I'm going to wear this all day (I most always change into jeans no matter what)."
"Did you wear that to bed?" she asked.
"Yes."
"Welcome to my world," she replied.
"But there is nothing covered up that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known."
Luke 12:2