Alternative Title: The Almost Splash Park
Sadly, the results were not much better. Both boys lingered off to the side for much of our time there, only later wandering closer because of some Panera cups (for catching water) we brought from lunch. Woe to a mother's expectations!!
While I know it was a simple outing with simple hopes, I had expectations nonetheless. And I was disappointed. Just chalk it up to another lesson learned in motherhood: sometimes my kids are not going to act/behave/enjoy things the way I hope they will. Take, for instance, last summer's trip to the beach and M's sheer terror of the merry-go-round (and any other ride at the boardwalk carnival.) I was shocked and so disappointed with the outcome. How could my child be the scaredy-cat? I jumped off the high dive in kindergarten and rode the Demon Drop later that summer!! How could the offspring of such a whirling dirvish mother end up so timid? Expectations, expectations...
And yet I am forced to swallow my pride, love my precious boys in all their eccentricities and individualities, and move on-- the true essence of motherhood. By unconditionally loving my children, I am called upon to do just that--love them in every and any condition and essentially, without condition. They are my boys and they are perfect as is.
No doubt these expectations, hopes, disappointments, and failures will surface again. School performance, college acceptances, life choices...
Yes, they are all waiting to be celebrated...
No matter what the outcome.
4 comments:
like you, i was fearless when i was a kid, but the one thing i never conquered was the demon drop!
i love this post...
happy feast day to your little guy too!
It is so hard to keep your own expectations out of how you raise your children. I sometimes attach certain traits I think the boys will have to them and then they do something that doesn't match up with the trait. Then I think, but wait, that's not what you're supposed to do! I'm working on not having any expectations, but it's hard.
I'm sure that must have been a little disappointing...esp because you were a swimmer and loved the water. B and I are both water lovers too, so if/when Grady doesn't want to go near it...it will be tough for us as well. BUT, I bet there will come a day when you won't be able to get them out of the water?! (I know your post is more about expectations than water per se, but this was just what came to my mind as I read).
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