Men. And their Grills.
We sold a few things on Craigs List in order to buy an outdoor grill. After picking it up from Costco, Matt brought it home to assemble it. Lesson 1: never buy a grill you have to assemble yourself. Turns out the thing had a huge dent on the side of it–a flaw Matt discovered after having spent an hour trying to put it together.
He schlepped it back to the store, stood in the returns line, explained the problem, got his money back and this time, bought a pre-assembled grill. After this estimated one hour project had turned into a half-day marathon, the marinated steak was finally sizzling on the hot grill and Matt was smiling,
"Grilling makes me feel like a man," he sighed contentedly.
Seeing him so happy made me happy, too.
Hoarder v. Purger
It's not that I'm trying to be a pack-rat, it's just that I can foresee all kinds of possible future uses for that battered, old, half-broken infant car-seat. Also, it has sentimental value.
I'm the hoarder, he's the purger. I make piles (and I know exactly what's in each pile!) and he obliterates my piles. I say it's a loose organizational system. He says it's clutter.
Last weekend, Matt decided it was time to clear out the garage again. "It's reached a saturation point," he said. I knew what that meant. PURGE-TIME. I couldn't watch so I went inside and baked cookies.
By the time he was done, most of the baby twin gear was ready to be donated or sold. My uterus started having a panic attack. WHAT HAVE YOU DONE? I WAS GOING TO USE THAT STUFF!
I almost started gnawing on my clenched knuckles.
But a day later, when I went into the garage I was like: Oh, this is nice. I can actually walk through here without risking my life.
I had to admit that a spiffy, tidy garage does make a body feel happy.
So, I text'd him. Garage looks nice. Thanks for cleaning it out.
My Little Humanitarian.
"Mom, I want to give a speech about sponsoring a child through Compassion," Jewel informed me this week. "Can you help me write it?"
I was sorta stunned. And thrilled. As part of the leadership team at her school, Jewel explained that she wanted to inspire other kids by sharing our family's experience with sponsoring a child from El Salvador.
Last November we sponsored a child in El Salvador. We chose a 12 year old boy because we heard that older boys often don't get sponsors. We've received several letters from our boy and all my kids love it.
So, I helped Jewel work out some salient points for her speech. Seeing her excitement and commitment to this endeavor made me so happy.
She wants to make this world a better place and that makes this Mama feel happy. And hopeful.
[reminder: please join me this Saturday for THE SATURDAY EVENING BLOG POST! we'll be featuring our favorite posts from March and April. it's a great way to meet new blog-friends!]
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