Wednesday, November 24, 2010

From Dadomatic: If You Can Read This… Be Thankful!

If you awaken to a house full of noisy kids… be thankful.
If you are tired because you spent half the night feeding and rocking an infant to sleep… be thankful.
If you are late for work because you walked your son or daughter to the bus stop and the bus never showed… be thankful.
If you are frustrated because you really don’t know how to do the math to help your kid with the homework… be thankful.
If you had to change your outfit twice in a day because of spittle and spills… be thankful.
If you worry about money because school costs so damn much… be thankful.
If you have no time for yourself (but make time for your kids)… be thankful.
If you can collapse a stroller easily with one hand… be thankful.
If you read more nursery rhymes than novels lately… be thankful.
If you know the smell of a baby’s head… be thankful.
If you cry because your child cries… be thankful.
If you worry your kid will get hurt every time they are not in your sight… be thankful.
If you have ever been grossed out by things you never dreamed could be pooped out of a tiny butt… be thankful.
If you angrily left work early to attend a parent-teacher conference… be thankful.
If you caught yourself cursing or acting badly in front of your kids… be thankful.
If you have ever lost your temper and yelled like a banshee, scaring your child and yourself… be thankful.
If you are uplifted simply by the smile of your son or daughter… be thankful.
If hearing “I love you Daddy” has turned an awful day into the best day ever… be thankful.
If there’s a little person in the world who wants to be just like you when they grow up… be thankful.
If you have been embarrassed in public by your child in the midst of a kicking, screaming irrational tantrum… be thankful.
If you know the joy of watching your kid do anything for the very first time… be thankful.
If you have spent an entire weekend sweating with frustration while assembling a swing set… be thankful.
If you have ever canceled something you were really looking forward to because your little one was sick… be thankful.
If you ache with love for your child in ways that words simply cannot do justice… be thankful.
If you have ever swapped a tooth under the pillow for some money… be thankful.
If you have ever sat, bored out of your mind, through tedious school productions… be thankful.
If you have ever braced yourself in the passenger seat as your teenager gets behind the wheel… be thankful.
If you tell your kid “yes you can!” even when you are not so sure… be thankful.
If you want more for your kids than you ever dreamed of for yourself… be thankful.
If you know how to change a diaper… be thankful.
If “crib” means more to you than a celebrity’s house… be thankful.
If you find yourself bragging shamelessly about your child’s accomplishment… be thankful.

If you are a parent… be thankful.

It is so easy to forget how truly fortunate we are, and how so many of the things that really matter, we already have.

If you can read this… be thankful.

Jeff Sass is the proud dad of ZEO (Zach, 22, Ethan, 20 and Olivia, 19).  He is also a seasoned entertainment and technology exec and active social media enthusiast.  You can see more of Jeff’s writing at Sassholes! and Social Networking Rehab and you can listen to Jeff on the Cast of Dads podcast.

Photo Credit: © 2Dot – Fotolia.com

Related Post: Ten Reasons To Be Thankful For Your Kids At Thanksgiving

My Thanksgiving Post from www.dadomatic.com... I am thankful for you!

Posted via email from Kiss My SASS!

Sunday, November 07, 2010

Perspective, And The Attack of the Giant Spider


OMG, a giant spider is attacking my neighborhood!!!

That's what it looks like, right?  A humongous spider is terrorizing the neighborhood by climbing along the telephone wires, on its way to wreak havoc and destruction. Of course, that is what the perspective of the picture makes it look like.  In fact, the merely average sized spider in question is hanging out in his tangled web just a few inches in front of my phone's camera, and a great distance from the telephone wires above us.

Things Are Rarely As Bad As They Seem

It is easy to draw the worst conclusion and overreact to things if you don't keep them in proper perspective.  The choice is ours to make.  We can be frightened by the things we believe to be giant attacking spiders, or we can recognize that, when put in perspective, the things we fear are not nearly as daunting as we let them become.  The "spiders" that scare us are actually small and relatively harmless.  Put in perspective, we realize it is not that hard, if you're paying attention, to avoid them and not get caught up in a web of anxiety.  Keeping things in perspective helps us avoid unnecessary angst and stress.  

Life's too short to spend it worrying about giant attacking spiders, don't you think?


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