Thursday, September 1, 2011

To bra or not to bra...

Take a good look at this photo collage and tell me what lesson you learn from it...


Anything yet?

Well, I guess I'll tell you what lesson I learned today! 

Today was my first day back at work after being out sick for two days. I was all hopped up on Dayquil and determined to get through the day with a positive attitude when I a job posting appeared in my e-mail. 

It was a job for an entry-level "Computer Assistant" position that paid more than the job I had been currently working hard at for more than three years!  The same job that couldn't even guarantee me a position in 5 weeks. Boo...now I was just determined to get through the day. Screw the smile!

Skip ahead to 1600 and I'm outta there, smile half-intact. I'm off to drive 15 miles (in the opposite direction from where I live) to pick up Logey from daycare. This is 15 miles of Yo Gabba Gabba-free driving. There's construction, I take a detour...so did everyone else. 

I get to daycare and after a round of hugs and high-fives, we're off...or so I thought. The on-ramp to the highway is closed! No joke!

So, we're off on a detour...so is everyone else. I decide to stop at Target to let the traffic simmer down a bit. 

Target is an amazing time-zapper, but Logey's patience and bag of Goldfish are wearing thin. We're off again...'Tummy, tummy, party, party, yeah.' --> That's a Yo Gabba Gabba reference for all of you that have never had their charming voices grace your ear.

One mini-concert later and we're home! I unload the car (child, diaper bag, purse, laptop, four bags of groceries, blankie and sippy cups) and I'm now onto making dinner.

The dog is whining and barking because her ball is 'stuck' underneath the bed. Nevermind the ball that I trip over, as I'm walking into the room to free her long, lost ball. 

Logan wants to watch 'Coorus George' and I just want to cook. Luckily, my brother, Mason, steps in and helps and I'm back to my goal of making BLT's.

I'm trying to remind myself that women fought for me to have this 'equality'. Less than a week ago, I was writing a story about 'Women's Equality Day' for work. How could I complain about my FREEDOM to work, be a single housewife and all that jazz? Is this what they were envisioning when they were burning their bras?

Soon, I'm bellied-up to the stove, flipping turkey bacon with one hand and reading one of my favorite magazines (a horrible gossip mag, I'm embarassed to admit). I get two pages in and the smoke-detector starts going off. Disable alarm, check! Round 2 with the bacon, check!

With eyes-a-burnin', I begin to slice tomatoes, fresh from Mike's garden...five minutes later, dinner's ready. All of the forks are in the dishwasher...sigh, before I set my intentions to cleaning forks, I decide to pull a wisdom card (a great investment) before I serve dinner up.


You'll never believe it, but it says, "I rejoice in my employment." REALLY!?! I almost spit out my burnt bacon.

What I realized was that 'this' (my current situation) may not have been why women were burning their bras, but they were burning them so that I may have an option. We, ultimately, have to be responsible for our decisions and have gratitude for what we're blessed to have. 

After cleaning up the kitchen, I just wanted to kick up my feet and finish reading page two of my magazine...maybe, even a full article!

But, that would not have served as evidence of this great lesson that I just learned! So, I broke out the fingerpaints and we made paintings for Grandparent's Day! It only took Logey 30 seconds to blend four colors into a beautiful, chocolate brown hue and he thought that making handprints was the most outstanding thing ever!

After bathtime and the 'we brush our teeth' song, Logey selects the book 'Oh, the Places You'll Go!' by Dr. Suess. We climbed into his car bed and I read the first page (this first page is a little different than the first page of my magazine, thankfully)...

"Congratulations!
Today is your day.
You’re off to Great Places!
You’re off and away!"

I couldn't agree more!