I'll admit, I've been terrible this summer. Too busy on Sundays playing and soaking up the sun to head to church to soak up the Son. So it was no big surprise when I pushed the "play" button on the answering machine the other day and heard this:
"Uh...hello...uh...Stephenie? It's me, God. You know, your Heavenly Father. It's been a while since I've heard from you so I thought I'd just give you a quick call to check in. I know that you've been really busy lately. Those two boys that I loaned you sure are a handful aren't they?
I've received your many thank you notes about the blessings that I've given you. Again, you're so very welcome. And I'll tell you, I am ready to send more blessings your way. I don't want to give anything away, but let's just say that I know the desires of your heart and I'm ready to do more than you could imagine, guess, or request, even in your wildest dreams. I just wish you had a little more time for your Dear Ol' Dad up here.
I tried to get your attention the other day, but you didn't notice me. You were looking down, worried about get somewhere in a hurry, and didn't notice the beautiful blue sky that I had sent your way. That's been happening more and more lately; people too busy to notice the little things I do for them.
Well anyway, I really wasn't calling to complain, I only called to say that I love you and to tell you that I've been thinking about you. Call me can when you get a quiet moment. I know that quite time with me hasn't always been your thing, but I think you'd be surprised what good friends we could be if you just invested the time.
I know. Asking a busy mama to give more of something. Guess that's just the Father in me. Always wanting more time from the people I love the most. I sure do hope to hear from you soon. Love you...oh, and all of your family up here wanted me to tell you they miss you and love you too. Gotta run. Miles to go before I sleep.
Bye!
Click.
"Such a little cutie!"
Have I ever told you about Woof Woof? This is him.
He is the Monkey's one true love. Oh sure, he loves the Golfer and I completely, but he loves Woof Woof to pieces. Literally.
I cannot tell you how happy this makes me. I had a Woof Woof when I was little. His name was Fluffy. Fluffy was my first love who eventually went to college with me and now resides on the Monkey's bed.
The Cheese wanted nothing to do with stuffed animals when he was a baby. Still really doesn't have much of an interest in them. After a couple of years I gave up trying when he made an attachment to a pink plastic door from his Elmo's World play set. He called it Door (very original) and carried it everywhere. I was just happy that he had made an attachment to something.
Then the Monkey came around and I tried again. Some family friends had given us this cute puppy that I put in his crib while I was still pregnant and crossed my fingers.
I'm not sure when it happened, but Woof Woof eventually became the Monkey's best friend. Most of the day he runs around, clueless to Woof Woof's whereabouts when suddenly he'll stubble upon him. He'll scoop Woof Woof in his arms and cover his face with kisses, telling him "You are such a cutie." and it melts my heart.
Woof Woof is starting to look bad. His fur isn't as soft and fluffy as it once was, his stuffing is all misshapen, and there's a little hole starting to form on the top of one of his ears.
But it doesn't matter. The Monkey loves him to pieces. And honestly, so do I.
He is the Monkey's one true love. Oh sure, he loves the Golfer and I completely, but he loves Woof Woof to pieces. Literally.
I cannot tell you how happy this makes me. I had a Woof Woof when I was little. His name was Fluffy. Fluffy was my first love who eventually went to college with me and now resides on the Monkey's bed.
The Cheese wanted nothing to do with stuffed animals when he was a baby. Still really doesn't have much of an interest in them. After a couple of years I gave up trying when he made an attachment to a pink plastic door from his Elmo's World play set. He called it Door (very original) and carried it everywhere. I was just happy that he had made an attachment to something.
Then the Monkey came around and I tried again. Some family friends had given us this cute puppy that I put in his crib while I was still pregnant and crossed my fingers.
I'm not sure when it happened, but Woof Woof eventually became the Monkey's best friend. Most of the day he runs around, clueless to Woof Woof's whereabouts when suddenly he'll stubble upon him. He'll scoop Woof Woof in his arms and cover his face with kisses, telling him "You are such a cutie." and it melts my heart.
Woof Woof is starting to look bad. His fur isn't as soft and fluffy as it once was, his stuffing is all misshapen, and there's a little hole starting to form on the top of one of his ears.
But it doesn't matter. The Monkey loves him to pieces. And honestly, so do I.
Weekly Column: Therapy
©Stephenie Freeman
My computer keeps telling me that I have “unresolved security issues.” How my computer knows me so well is beyond me.
Even though it might not look like it, my computer has me pegged. From the outside you simply see a 36-year-old woman with children, but on the inside I carry around the insecurities of a 13-year-old teenager with braces.
On the inside, deep in the crevices that I don’t like to clean, you’ll find a nervous mother who is worried that I am somehow screwing up my children without my knowledge. If you get really close you’ll see the grey hairs that even the most expensive trips to the salon don’t seem to cure and notice the weird line that has suddenly shown up around my neck. In truth I am what some refer to as a “hot mess.”
Along with my motherly anxiety and worry, I am carrying around a teenage-sized dose of insecurity and doubt. Will I be good enough? Will I succeed? Will he still love me? Will she want to be my friend? It’s the sort of drama that Judy Blume young adult novels are made of.
Are you there God? It’s me, Stephenie.
It baffles me that I have these insecurities about making new friends. I have lots of friends so it has been proven that people enjoy my company, and I certainly have bigger worries to focus on that have more lasting meaning in my life, but it’s the silly things that tend to dominate my worry-wart tendencies.
Take the PTA for example. Last year I attended what meetings I could, but kept a safe distance from the gaggle of moms that were running the school. Like most cliques—and let’s face it, cliques are just a part of life I don’t care how old you are or what setting you are in—these moms seemed to be part of the “In Crowd.”
I just wasn’t sure if I was cool enough to be one of them. I was in junior high all over again.
But I was a mom with young children and time on my hands, and before the year was over I was elected to the PTA executive board, handed a notebook, and given a title. Without even realizing what was happening, I was suddenly part of the “In Crowd.”
Like soccer practice and Gymboree class and ballet lessons, the PTA is a great place for mamas to make new friends. But developing new friendships requires time and effort, two things that most mamas don’t have a lot of. Making friends just doesn’t come as easily as it used to.
I often marvel on how easily my boys make new friends. We’ll be at the park and within ten minutes they have made emotional attachments to half of the kids there. If my boys have insecurities about making new friends, they are nowhere to be seen.
So I’ve decided to follow my kids’ lead when it comes to making friends with these PTA super moms in the “In Crowd.” Just like my boys, I am going to run up and smile and offer to share my snack. I’m going to be eager to make playdates and jump up and down when I run into them at the mall. I most of all I am going to put in the time and the effort that’s required when developing long-lasting friendships.
Because like our newly-elected U.S. Senator Al Franken has taught us all to say: I am good enough, I am smart enough and doggone it, people like me.
My computer keeps telling me that I have “unresolved security issues.” How my computer knows me so well is beyond me.
Even though it might not look like it, my computer has me pegged. From the outside you simply see a 36-year-old woman with children, but on the inside I carry around the insecurities of a 13-year-old teenager with braces.
On the inside, deep in the crevices that I don’t like to clean, you’ll find a nervous mother who is worried that I am somehow screwing up my children without my knowledge. If you get really close you’ll see the grey hairs that even the most expensive trips to the salon don’t seem to cure and notice the weird line that has suddenly shown up around my neck. In truth I am what some refer to as a “hot mess.”
Along with my motherly anxiety and worry, I am carrying around a teenage-sized dose of insecurity and doubt. Will I be good enough? Will I succeed? Will he still love me? Will she want to be my friend? It’s the sort of drama that Judy Blume young adult novels are made of.
Are you there God? It’s me, Stephenie.
It baffles me that I have these insecurities about making new friends. I have lots of friends so it has been proven that people enjoy my company, and I certainly have bigger worries to focus on that have more lasting meaning in my life, but it’s the silly things that tend to dominate my worry-wart tendencies.
Take the PTA for example. Last year I attended what meetings I could, but kept a safe distance from the gaggle of moms that were running the school. Like most cliques—and let’s face it, cliques are just a part of life I don’t care how old you are or what setting you are in—these moms seemed to be part of the “In Crowd.”
I just wasn’t sure if I was cool enough to be one of them. I was in junior high all over again.
But I was a mom with young children and time on my hands, and before the year was over I was elected to the PTA executive board, handed a notebook, and given a title. Without even realizing what was happening, I was suddenly part of the “In Crowd.”
Like soccer practice and Gymboree class and ballet lessons, the PTA is a great place for mamas to make new friends. But developing new friendships requires time and effort, two things that most mamas don’t have a lot of. Making friends just doesn’t come as easily as it used to.
I often marvel on how easily my boys make new friends. We’ll be at the park and within ten minutes they have made emotional attachments to half of the kids there. If my boys have insecurities about making new friends, they are nowhere to be seen.
So I’ve decided to follow my kids’ lead when it comes to making friends with these PTA super moms in the “In Crowd.” Just like my boys, I am going to run up and smile and offer to share my snack. I’m going to be eager to make playdates and jump up and down when I run into them at the mall. I most of all I am going to put in the time and the effort that’s required when developing long-lasting friendships.
Because like our newly-elected U.S. Senator Al Franken has taught us all to say: I am good enough, I am smart enough and doggone it, people like me.
Dream a little dream for me
You know when you wake up and you think, "Man! That dream was sooooo real!"
I just had one of those. And oh...my...goodness. This one was worth remembering.
Okay, so, John Mayer and I were on the Ellen Degeneres Show. I don't know why we were on there, but Oprah was there too. John and I were doing one of Ellen's crazy games--something to do with donuts and pretzels sticks (it's not what you're thinking, get you mind out of the gutter)--and we made Ellen laugh and she loved us. So did Oprah.
So after the show was over John and I headed out, together as a couple, to watch the surfing competition at the beach. I had my new camera, trying to take pictures, but John just wouldn't leave me alone. He kept wanting to hug me and a put his arms around me which was really getting in the way of my picture taking.
Then we were in an Italian restaurant and I was walking around in a bikini trying all sorts of pasta from the salad bars and feeling slender looking at all of the old, fat, Italian women standing around. John told me that he liked me exactly like I am.
And then suddenly there was a 4-year-old on the edge of my bed asking if he could play the Wii and even though it was 7 am, I told him that it was fine because I desperately wanted to get back to John. But he's was already gone. Gone, gone, gone.
In case you're wondering, the Golfer's been out of town for the last 4 days. I think it's time for him to come home.
{my heart's not broken, but I thought the whole "dream" thing went well with my story. enjoy. I sure did.}
I just had one of those. And oh...my...goodness. This one was worth remembering.
Okay, so, John Mayer and I were on the Ellen Degeneres Show. I don't know why we were on there, but Oprah was there too. John and I were doing one of Ellen's crazy games--something to do with donuts and pretzels sticks (it's not what you're thinking, get you mind out of the gutter)--and we made Ellen laugh and she loved us. So did Oprah.
So after the show was over John and I headed out, together as a couple, to watch the surfing competition at the beach. I had my new camera, trying to take pictures, but John just wouldn't leave me alone. He kept wanting to hug me and a put his arms around me which was really getting in the way of my picture taking.
Then we were in an Italian restaurant and I was walking around in a bikini trying all sorts of pasta from the salad bars and feeling slender looking at all of the old, fat, Italian women standing around. John told me that he liked me exactly like I am.
And then suddenly there was a 4-year-old on the edge of my bed asking if he could play the Wii and even though it was 7 am, I told him that it was fine because I desperately wanted to get back to John. But he's was already gone. Gone, gone, gone.
In case you're wondering, the Golfer's been out of town for the last 4 days. I think it's time for him to come home.
{my heart's not broken, but I thought the whole "dream" thing went well with my story. enjoy. I sure did.}
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