Thursday 29 May 2008

The air up there.

So… Here I am… It is me… I am the one… The horrible, neglectful and shameful Working Mother. I have been her for about 9 years now. The one who chose to go to college, have a career, and then actually have the audacity to see it through after I gave birth to my children… That is me, I am her… Go on, get your judgments all lined up, ready to fire out and pass on at the first available opportunity… Go ahead look down your nose at me, and pity my children… Keep seeing me as you perceive me to be.

Today… I knelt on the floor in my ‘work finest’ alongside your daughter and helped her decorate her bike. She was shy at first, but do you know that all it took to win her over was a reassuring smile. She was a little unsure of where to put the pink streamer, but do you know that with one little word of encouragement she did it all by herself. Did you see the look in her eyes when her masterpiece was complete? Did you see her heart soar when she peddled her bike so fast that the deliberately placed pin wheel spun like crazy? Did you see her face beam when I applauded her accomplishment and gave her a huge, enthusiastic “Good Job Sweetie… It looks Amazing!” ?

Well, no… I guess you didn’t see it… You were sitting up really high on that horse looking down from your place of superiority completely enthralled in chit chat with a fellow high horseman, and enjoying a cup of Tim Horton’s finest. Silly me! Oh … and I completely understand it was kinda hard to hear much with your other child running back and forth in front of you screaming for your attension… So it’s no wonder you missed it.

Well, I can tell you, I … the Shameful one … am here sitting at my desk, in my office, with my heart completely full of love from the several beaming looks of gratitude, heart felt “I am so pleased with myself” little smiles… and my dusty pants as souvenirs.

I am just hoping that the air way up there… in that place you believe you are… that place of superiority that place you believe gives you the right to judge and point fingers… isn’t so thin that it prevents you from seeing the big picture. While you sat there … chatting, judging, and drinking your coffee… I, the shameful one, was making your child’s day.

I hope that was a REALLY GOOD cup of coffee.

PS. The other day, when I was in the classroom… It was my poor neglected child that asked, to your amazement, if she could ‘please be excused from the table’ after snack… And it was my poor neglected child that readily and easily gave up one of three Thomas the Train cars she was playing with when a new comer came to the group to play, after your child refused to give up one of the nine she had in her possession...

Perhaps you can find another place to point that finger.