This is a picture of my laptop. I'd like to invite you into my life.
I painted my nails. I got a very cool blue color and took a moment to paint my nails. In the bathroom. With the door open.
At the same time, littleSmuck found my King Size sharpie. To be clear, I'm not sure why I have a King Size Sharpie, but I do. I also left my laptop open. Complete party foul. The bathroom door is open - but I am very focused on this rad blue nail polish. I mean, who wouldn't be? In a world where I am rarely girly, often unshaven and hair in a pony tail, I saw the opportunity to be mildly cool. And I took it. Cut to Top Gun Quote:
Ok - let's come on back from that awesome memory...
I took my moment. I painted my nails. And they were awesome. And then I saw.
My laptop.
Are you KIDDING ME???????
CHILD!
KING SIZE sharpie.
On my laptop screen.
On my keyboard.
On the hall door.
On the kitchen drawers.
All I wanted in life, in this moment, was to pain my nails blue.
So here we are.
Did you know that you can get sharpie off of a screen by scribbling over it with a dry erase marker and then erasing it? Very cool bit of knowledge for you there.
Also did you know that doesn't really work on walls and drawers? The King Size Black Sharpie marks on the walls and drawers are now purple. But hey - that's lighter, right? Fuhgeddaboudit. We're leaving the purple.
What do you do in situations like this? Times when shit happens that is beyond your control? (Could I have prevented littleSmuck from drawing on my laptop and walls? Of course! But I was otherwise occupied)
You ROLL WITH IT.
There is absolutely nothing I can do about the lighter shade of black sharpie on my walls. (Ok, yes, I could paint the walls, but really? Do you know me?)
So we roll.
I find a way to teach littleSmuck that this is not how you use markers.
I teach myself to HIDE the sharpies.
I look at my laptop and realize how grateful I am to have a great laptop, and how much more grateful I am to have littleSmuck.
What happened to my laptop is not life ending, or even life altering. Yet, for a moment, it was about to be. For no other reason than my choice to respond in anger. But that's just it - we all have a choice on how we respond. Is there a time to respond in anger? ABSOLUTELY. But before you or I respond, we need to step back. Decide how to respond. Not out of feeling, but fact. The fact is, my child scribbled all over my not so cheap laptop. BUT - the fact also is - he wasn't being malicious. The fact is, mercifully, I could clean it. The fact is, my walls aren't beautiful but they are still standing strong.
So based on those facts I will respond in LOVE. Use this a learning experience for both littleSmuck and myself.
There is so much that comes our way in life. So many things that we have to deal with. Learning to sort out the things we can roll with, really takes so much off our plates. I know it does mine.
So today - look at what you're facing. Decide what you need to fight, and what you can roll with. Not everything has to be a battle. And when you realize that, you find more strength to fight the battles that need to be fought.
Because there are plenty of those.
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