Thursday, May 15, 2008

Just a Little Patience.....

I am not a virtuous woman. Why do I say such things about myself, you ask? Here's how I figured it out.

Patience is a virtue.
I have no patience.
Ergo, I am not virtuous.

Seriously, patience is not one of my strong suits, as they say. As a teenager, my mother regularly informed me that she "felt sorry for my children!" I don't know if it was just general teenage angst or if my impatience with everything was just my stellar character shining through.

Mir's comment in her post yesterday about how Chickie gets so frustrated when she can't get her homework correct RIGHT THIS MINUTE reminded me so much of me. I can clearly remember getting so frustrated as a child that I would wad my homework into a ball, blindly not understanding that that meant I had to start over.

When I was very small I would actually bite myself in frustration if something didn't go my way. Yeah, that's right. I BIT myself.

Patient, I am not.

But I have gotten better. I actually believe that something happens to you when you have children. Some kind of hormone is released or something. I know that there are calming hormones released when you're breast feeding and I think they stick around. How else do we moms tune out those repetitive electronic toys? How else can we simultaneously stiff arm one child hanging on your legs in an effort to keep her from burning herself while you cook dinner, sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star for the thousandth time that day, and watch your son practice his "ninja moves", all while slicing an onion for dinner?

Of course we all have days when we snap. I mean, y'all do, don't you? Don't tell me I'm the only one. Today has been one of those days. I woke up sleepy, which is never good. I cut myself shaving. I put product in my hair before combing it out which means that it wasn't distributed evenly. I hit my knee on the drawer. I pulled out my new shirt to wear only to discover that I had a very large back zit that was highlighted by the neckline on my shirt (curse ye, back zits!). I had only 5 minutes until I had to leave the house and had to rush to iron a new shirt, plus clean off the chop sticks Bubba wanted to take to school (don't ask!), get my coffee and my lunch ready, so yeah, my patience was wearing a little thin.

But at least I didn't bite myself. Or anybody else.

12 comments:

AndreAnna said...

My daughter bites or pinches herself when she gets frustrated too! Too funny.

I am not patient either, by far. ANd we all have those "days" like you're having. I hope it gets better for you!

Anonymous said...

I hope the day gets better, dear. I hate it when all you want is to climb back in bed & hit redo.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx said...

Just be glad you're not dropping everything you pick up...

My mom always...ALWAYS...quoted that line about "patience is a virtue" to me! I HATED IT!

Karen said...

Sadly, when I snap I tend to start screaming like a shrew. I'm glad you didn't go there.

Wineplz said...

I snap all the time. I snapped on Mother's Day...started shrieking like a banshee (or an eel) at Gavin because if I had to tell him one.more.time to put on his pajamas I was going to throw someone or something out the window. Highly considered tossing myself out, but I'd only land in the excessively tall grass from all the rain. Well, that and dog poop. I also stomp and slam doors and generally throw a tantrum befitting someone more than half my age.

Fannie said...

Patience? I have NONE. The melt downs? They are numerous.

Anonymous said...

It's weird, some days my patience seems endless and some days not so much. I supposed it just depends on my mood.

Tootsie Farklepants said...

I'm not patient at all. I think it's my control freak nature. I'm a yeller and slammer of doors.

1blueshi1 said...

It must be the cumulative calming effect of all those DEALS, MQ!
yeah we all have those days. in fact I believe my heart rate became elevated and my blood pressure rose dangerously just READING about your stovely (completely a word, spellcheck) travails.
give yourself a break, but don't break the skin! the human bite is very dangerous!
I know, bite Mr. Daddy! tell him you were overcome by his misterliness. hehehe

calicobebop said...

Sounds to me like you have the paitence of a saint! :)

Plus, I think you're right about that calming hormone thing - I can tune just about anything but still be sharp enough to pick out my kid's cry at the playground. Nature is incredible.

Unknown said...

Nope, you're not the only one. I definitely lose it sometimes, especially in the evenings when we're all tired and Birdie and Little Brother dawdle about getting in the bathtub. I didn't think I was an impatient person, though, until I heard Little Brother make a sound like a cross between a heavy sigh and ahhh that I later heard come out of my own mouth!

Birdie said...

ouch *L* Bless your heart! When I was a kid I could have cared less what the paper was like. Yet the School of Patience is a place I'll attend my entire life, I'm certain of it. This morning I pulled out my favorite khaki safari jacket to find that it had a few spots. I ironed anyway, then a button was unraveling. I tried salvaging it by winding it around the button til I could get home and fix it...nothin' doin', it fell right off on the floor, all while I was about three minutes late. I keep trying to tell myself that life is too short to get upset and when I die I wont care about this event but it doesn't always work.