In light of my last post regarding parenting, this hits hard. Thanks to moms like Lydia Angyiou of Ivujivik, Quebec, I am doomed to feel inadequate...pretty much forever now. My list of parenting triumphs can never come near hers. Let's just compare briefly, shall we?
NANCE'S LIST OF PARENTING TRIUMPHS
1. NATURAL CHILDBIRTH WITH A LABOR OF 15.5 HOURS--for both children who each weighed over 8 lbs. Really, I feel this has to be mentioned, and it has to be first.
2. All homemade Halloween costumes, including a skeleton for which I consulted my college anatomy textbook and made the stick-on felt bones individually--no lie. Also, all costumes were of the children's request, not my convenience, and no, I do not sew and I work outside the home.
3. For both children's first 5 years, the decor of my living room included an adjustable-height basketball hoop and a kid's pool/air hockey table. Our house has no "family room" or "rec room" and those of you who have a house know how much of a sacrifice this is, and in how many ways.
4. I allowed my children to quit Little League when they said it sucked and they hated it and I realized that the only way I could stand watching them be miserable through it was pouring beer into my insulated water bottles and drinking it while sitting in right field.
5. I decorated my kids' birthday cakes to order, even the dreaded WWF Wrestling cake.
6. I used to let them write all over each other (& me) with washable markers when they were bored.
7. I got them out of the house and called the fire department when our doorbell wiring caught fire inside the wall. (My husband got home in time to see a fireman wielding an axe menacingly toward the wall; everything turned out fine and the wall was saved.)
Okay, okay. Enough of mine, and I'm sure that's a partial list (although it took me so long to come up with those that my self-esteem reached a new low). No sense in wandering off into self-aggrandizement. Now, let's take a look at Lydia Angyiou's list. Admittedly, it will be small, because I don't know her at all, except what I've read recently.
LYDIA ANGYIOU'S LIST OF PARENTING TRIUMPHS
1. Fighting off a 700-pound polar bear that was threatening her son.
I am so screwed here.
Welcome to the Dept., Roxanna! And don't be so hard on yourself! My kids are 18 & 21, and you're just getting started. Lydia can wipe the floor with both of us after pummeling that polar bear, damn her. The bar is set so high now that we can both have a martini, order in, pop a few DVDs in the electronic babysitter, and give up with impunity. Thanks for stopping by, and come back again and again! I'll return the visit.
ReplyDeleteHey there,
ReplyDeleteCan't help to smile. Lydia is such a shy and humble woman. It's good what happened to her, she got praised after the polar bear incident, but also another neighbour who watched the scene and killed the bear, also saving lives. Life up North is full of hardships (Lydia was my neighbour for 4 years). I don't think we should be jealous...