Mother's Day

Happy mothers day to all of you mom's out there! I developed a new appreciation for mom's when Susan passed last year. I realized a few things that maybe I need some help on that quite frankly I am the not very well suited to so here are a few examples: By the way, this is an attempt at showing my mothers day appreciation for all of the things that moms do that I am still learning to do!

Shopping. I believe in the get in and get out method. I like to know what I want and have a target get it and go. I'm learning its no longer that easy. Having a boy in the house means I have to get him to try things on and make sure he wont be grown out of it in 3 weeks. Everything that fit this week wont fit next week so the shopping thing has become a fairly big deal as of late. Also simple easy and conservative quite frankly is not a trait of kids these days. The Adidas soccer shoes I wore as a kid are not cool, now the shoes are bright colors and a have huge logos and they apparently will make you a superstar if you wear them. Color Coordination, well that's a lost cause!

Tolerance: yes moms tolerate a lot more than dads for the most part. I need to throw dancing in there too, I know some dads dance and I have a few friends that are incredibly good dancers but I think I was born without the rhythm gene. The music now days is quite different and my kid really hates my music, now that I think of it my music is probably out there as I have a pretty eclectic taste in music. I am working on tolerance maybe ill be a little more willing to try to make it through a song by Bastille or whoever is the hot new artist. I noticed that music doesn't stick around as long as it did when I was a kid. It hits the charts and 3 weeks later it is no longer cool! I think "eye of the tiger" by Survivor stayed on the chart for 2 months ( I think it was survivor?). My wife was incredibly patient so I throw patience in the tolerance mix also. On slow mornings before school I usually start yelling when we hit a certain time. Usually Trey gets in the car and says dad, you need to chill! Not good for the tolerance button but it is definitely something I am working on for the future.

Cooking/snacks/preparation, This is not an attempt to say women are better than men at cooking or anything else that honestly could come across as an approach at sexism. I love to cook and always have but for some reason I think Susan (and most all moms) have a knack for knowing what to have that is immediately ready quick and easy. I recently saw T and a few friends hit the refrigerator the other day. The boys looked at it like they were looked over the ledge at the grand canyon. Deep longing stares into the majestic emptiness of my refrigerator. Mom's know instinctively that kids are always hungry. Its been a year and I am now starting to catch on about the whole snack thing and easy quick items to keep them happy.

Planning: I consider myself a typical man. I am not a good planner! Susan kept a calendar that during the summer months had different colors for different activities camps and preplanned events. I couldn't begin to have that kind of organization and planning skills. She kept the calendar about 5 months ahead. I would say hey lets go camping that weekend and she wouldn't even look at the calendar, it would be nope, already have plans. Its a skill I'm working on to be honest like most above but I think it is a genetic thing in a lot of women.

Organization goes with planning but moms seem to have the ability to take a photo on a camera and instantly make it appear in a phone so it can be sent to their friends. As you can tell in my blogs I haven't figured that one out yet but working on it. Same thing goes for knowing where things are without having to do a 20 minute search through the house. "it's in the top right drawer next to the toe clippers and the chip clips!!!" When we move I may need to hire a professional organizer to help me get things in order and color code my house or at least draw a diagram.

I leave with a photo from South Africa. Another one of my favorites. Susan and Trey in the village of St Lucia. We were having lunch at a seafood restaurant that only sold local caught food. The prawns were the size of my hands and incredibly good. The streets had signs that said beware of hippos at night (really a thing down there, the town had 8 deaths in the previous years from hippo attacks, then again it is a beach town with a lot of bars so I think there is a correlation of drinking to hippo attacks).

My trip is 17 days away. I am still getting planning and organization done. The basics are in play just need to get it all wrapped up and complete. I am also working on a few fun surprising ideas for the trip. Details to come in the next week! Happy Mothers day!