hello foot, meet my mouth

I have learned a few things in my 31 years of life. I've learned not to speed, not to talk bad about people, not to lie to your friends and family. I've learned to consult God before making decisions and to serve others before yourself. I've learned that the older I get, the less I know. I've learned not to drink wine and email your mother in law after a disagreement and I've learned to sleep on disagreements my husband, because I always wake up rested and less of a drama queen. I know...that is the opposite of what we are told, but it's my world, right? But of all the things I have learned in 31 years of this crazy place......one of the most valuable things that I have learned is not to judge people. And unfortunately...I had to learn the hard way.

So far, and this may be just my wonderful luck, but I have almost inevitably been faced with my own judgement in a big way. There was a precious girl that I went to high school with that got pregnant at 18 years old, and I remember saying "awe....that stinks...she will always been known as that girl who got pregnant in high school. How dumb do you have to be to get pregnant?" Um....hello foot, meet my lovely mouth. And then there were the 100,000 judgemental and downright naive comments I made about working mothers in my stay at home days. Yep....I use to judge women who put there kids in daycare. I use to call them bad things and say that they weren't really raising their kids. And yes, I came to eat those words for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Oh...and dessert. Not so yummy either. And not that I have changed my mind. I'm an advocate for stay athome moms....but I work....so I'm a hypocrite I guess.

Oh I could go down the list of judgements that I have made on others in my earlier years....many that I am too embarrassed to name here. But one of these judgements gave me such a hard laugh today that I felt the need to record it permanately.

Hello clothes. Hello couch. Hello foot.....meet my mouth.

When Eric and I first started dating in 97', I spent A LOT of time at his house. It was warm and clean and cozy and always smelled of fresh food...still does. Still is possibly my favorite place on earth. It was a much better alternative to my teen-aged house. The one I moved into when I was 16. The one that reaked of cat urine. But something that always made me wonder about this wonderful place was the clothes, clean ones, folded and layed out on the back of his couch in his LIVING ROOM. And there they stayed. Oh the judgement. Oh can you imagine??? Let's face it...I was born a neat freak. OCD 100%. I have been a slightly younger version of the super tan- caffeine-induced granny on There's Something About Mary....vacuuming at rapid speed and NEVER sitting down, well, since I could walk. So this was strange to me. Eric seemed to think it was perfectly logical. After all...once the clothes were folded and placed on the couch...why move them to another location? He felt it was perfectly legit to take a shower and locate whatever he needed in the living room. Uh....okay.

So here I am 15 years later...doing laundry....folding the massive amounts of clothes that I wash weekly....and putting them on the couch, chairs, and coffee table upstairs in the upstairs den. The one that is never used....the room I just don't know what to do with. As I cringed at the thought of having to put all of these clothes away, the thought occured to me of "why?" Why ever put them away? Why not just fold them and leave them in this very room and find what I need when I need it? I've already accidentally, thru a lack of time, been doing this for 3 years.....so why not make it offical? Why not admit that this is what I do? So that's what I have decided to do....on purpose. Me. The ex-OCD freak who got a job and had 2 kids and can't keep up with anyting anymore. I now see the logic. Why spend so much time cleaning and making everything look perfect when, inevitably, it will only turn back into a massive mess in less than 24 hours? Why do it????? So I don't.

So here I am. I'm 31. I am a working mom who puts her child in ASP 2 days a week so I can work ( Yes...I have judged others for doing this very same thing....until I realized how much more fun playing b-ball in ASP is than sitting in my classroom all afternoon). My house is always a mess, complete with laundry folded all over it that never gets put away. I can't remember anything because I am too busy to let anything sink into my post pardom pea-sized brain. And I do things as a mother that a swore I would NEVER do...on a regular basis. Like give my child candy in a store to make them quiet so I can get what I need to get.....being fully aware of the after effects that the sugar will have on him in 20 minutes...... and let him watch two hours worth of cartoons so I can just.get.one.thing.done!

And the best part of it all? My foot has made a nice, cozy home......in my mouth, where is needs to stay. Lesson learned. Leave judgment to God, and live my life....instead of cleaning, and judging...live it. Oh I love aging. I will take the wrinkles for the wisdom any day. I crave wisdom.

I have learned to leave my house a mess. I have learned to leave my laundry folded on my couch and spend time with my family at night. (Thank you God for teaching me what is important. My mother in law and mom tried but I didn't listen....I was too busy running the vacuum and ignoring my kids). And most importantly.........I have learned not to judge people....because maybe I could learn from those whom I judge.

Now....if I could just learn how to win the lottery....I'd have it all figured out, right? :) hehe