| Melissa's profileFold My Laundry PleasePhotosBlogLists |  Tools  Help |
|
August 29 Unbidden Tears and Irrational AngerToday was a day of electronic peace for me and my kids. I made them turn off the television, Xbox, and computer. There was massive weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth by the suffering masses. I told them that they had tons of toys and lots of imagination so I knew they could keep themselves occupied. What I failed to realize is just how addicted to the computer I am! I kept telling myself that there was plenty of housework around to keep me occupied and it wouldn't hurt me one single bit to wait until after the kids' bedtime to check my comments and check in with my favorite people, but I kept finding myself sort of circling around my desk and reaching out towards my mouse. If I hadn't actually turned the thing off (I normally turn it on in the morning and leave it on all day), I would have broken down and found something pointless to occupy my time with. Then I would complain that I never have enough time to keep up with the housework or to spend quality time with my children. So now I've decided that unless I have some work to do on the announcements or newsletter for Relief Society (my new calling...yay me!) my computer is going to remain off until after the children go to sleep at night. I know that I will wake up every morning with it already going and the TV on (the boys are very good at occupying themselves quietly until I get up), but I will make sure that I turn it all off as soon as breakfast is ready. I'll try to do this until I no longer hover over my desk willing my computer to just show me today's PVP Comic!
That said, by about 6:45 pm, I finally got tired of chasing my boys away from the entertainment center and put on "An Extremely Goofy Movie" for them to watch while I finished up dinner (homemade pizza...yummy!). I don't know if any of you have ever seen the movie. I've only seen the beginning of it myself. I usually get busy doing something else and just kind of walk away from it. The part I have seen shows Goofy and his now college age son, Max, getting Max packed up to go to college for the very first time. Goofy tries to hand him his old teddy bear to pack and Max throws it back at him. The next morning, Goofy makes a huge farewell breakfast for Max only to have Max swoop into the room, gulp some milk out of the jug, grab a piece of toast, and then jump into a van with his friends and leave for college with nary a hug goodbye. Goofy then goes back to Max's bedroom and sits down on the stripped mattress and sadly looks about him at the now bare walls and empty dresser. On the bed sits the teddy bear he had attempted to pack in Max's things. I burst into tears!
Then came another scene that apparently I've never seen before. Goofy goes to work that morning looking very sad. He opens his locker to reveal several pictures of Max as he grew up. One picture was of Max as a baby, another of him toddling around, finally the camera focuses on one of Max holding a baseball and wearing a mitt. Suddenly Goofy remembers that day and you see Max smiling and saying, "Come on Dad! Let's play ball!" Suddenly, I. was. ANGRY!! Very angry! How could Max behave that way? Couldn't he see how much his father loved him? He was being so self absorbed and totally ignoring any emotions his dad might be feeling! Didn't he realize how hard it must have been for Goofy to raise him without Max's mother around to help? It's not easy being a single parent! His father put every last ounce of himself into his son, and for what? That ungrateful little wretch can't even take the time to sit down and enjoy one last breakfast with his dad and maybe tell him he loves and appreciates him! Can't I see that this...
is...
just a cartoon. I have to admit that I felt just a little bit silly as this realization dawned on me. I'm going to chalk it up to the fact that Aurora had to get 5 shots at the doctor's this afternoon and watching my baby cry as the nurses repeatedly stick her with needles while I actually help to hold her down always shakes me up a little bit emotionally. So I got a tissue, dried my tears, and tried to pretend that I hadn't just gone entirely to pieces based on a show called "An Extremely Goofy Movie". The movie was turned off and we all sat down to an enjoyable dinner where we discussed the intricacies of shaking the perfect amount of pizza spices out of the little leftover packets from the birthday pizza we had bought Saturday. By the way, dumping the entire packet into a single square inch of pizza is a tad much. Just thought you'd like to know. Comments (2)
TrackbacksThe trackback URL for this entry is: http://foldmylaundryplease.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!FD9AD75120A088E4!758.trak Weblogs that reference this entry
|
|
|
