Personal Growth

One morning, after arriving late to work, I was telling my co-worker about all I had been through since waking up. I can’t remember the specifics of what went on that morning, but I’m pretty certain it contained a refusal to get dressed, a refusal to brush teeth, screaming, crying and a last minute pit stop at the potty.  Some mornings I’m so frazzled that walking through the doors at work is like taking a break.  Work is much less stressful than those bad mornings any day.  So as I was recalling my tribulations to my co-worker, and trying to look on the bright side, I called my misadventures personal growth.  The more I thought about it, the more I felt I coined it perfectly.  Every episode of trying times with my boys is really a lesson in personal growth – I learn to be more patient and not to lose my cool. I learn that sometimes you make more headway when you hug than when you yell and that things will not always go as I plan.

So this evening I decided to receive my daily personal growth lesson at Publix.  For some reason I thought that Friday at 6pm was a fine time to get in a little grocery shopping – well, so did everyone else in town!  So somewhere between the long line at the deli counter and the long line at the checkout lane, the wheels came off.  So if you didn’t know, Beckett is a screamer. Not just an I scream when I’m mad kind of screamer, but an I scream if I’m really happy, really excited, mildly aggravated, extremely aggravated, have my feelings hurt, in pain, kinda mad, very mad and/or tired.  Or an easier way to say it is that unless he is perfectly content, he screams. His scream is one of the most high-pitched noises I have ever heard.  It is almost instantly headache inducing.  Do you see where this is going? Both boys hanging out in one of those racecar carts, Brogan’s taking Beckett’s toy (he screams), Beckett’s trying to stand up and get out of his seatbelt (he screams).  It is crowded, they are tired, I’m taking forever because I keep getting distracted every time I shush them (and he screams again).  Personal growth.  I kept trying to remind myself of how much better of a person I will be once I have raised my kids!  But two balloons and two stickers later, we made it out of there – and I was in one piece, having grown as a person.