This Too, Shall Pass
I do not want to scare you by the title. All is going well here, at least as well as can be expected. Summer has been short and long, and we are getting ready to spend the last half doing some travel and other fun things. I say last half because in one month, we have Meet the Teacher night. Yikes. One month. Of course, that means we need to get school supplies, do some clothes shopping, and make sure that all lunchbox components are in working order. Double yikes.
Anyway, all the things that need to get done is not the subject of the post for today. You know I am busy; I know you are busy; we don't need to have another tedious post on all the things going on around here. And, even if I told you again about these things, and how the swamp of items to do makes me feel, there might be at least one of you that says, This too, shall pass.
And then, I'd get furious. That phrase is on my list of things never to utter. I black-listed it long ago, shoved it into the corner, and made sure to keep it there. There is a reason for this. When the girls were little, the conversation would go like this:
It is difficult to articulate why exactly this phrase bothers me. On one hand, I think it is a cop-out. A phrase that someone says when that someone doesn't really feel like listening. On the other hand, I can see that someone might be trying to say, I've been there. But if you have been there, and you feel for that person, then say it, and show some real empathy! On the third hand, if I had a third hand (and if I did, then having twins would have been so much easier), I think sometimes people say it to a person that whines a lot. A brush-off, of sorts. And that right there might be why I despise This too, shall pass so much. I have done my fair share of whining in my life, but when it came to having twins, in grad school, when we made next to nothing, and lived in a small apartment, with most family far away, we did not whine. We took what life gave us and went with it. And survived.
I haven't talked about the ridiculousness of the whole phrase, anyway. Of course this will pass. Life goes on, right? I can't get started on that right now. Maybe another time.
Anyway, all the things that need to get done is not the subject of the post for today. You know I am busy; I know you are busy; we don't need to have another tedious post on all the things going on around here. And, even if I told you again about these things, and how the swamp of items to do makes me feel, there might be at least one of you that says, This too, shall pass.
And then, I'd get furious. That phrase is on my list of things never to utter. I black-listed it long ago, shoved it into the corner, and made sure to keep it there. There is a reason for this. When the girls were little, the conversation would go like this:
Them: How are you guys?And then, in my head, I would yell obscenities at the person who dared murmur that phrase.
Me: We are okay. Tired, but okay.
Them: This too, shall pass.
It is difficult to articulate why exactly this phrase bothers me. On one hand, I think it is a cop-out. A phrase that someone says when that someone doesn't really feel like listening. On the other hand, I can see that someone might be trying to say, I've been there. But if you have been there, and you feel for that person, then say it, and show some real empathy! On the third hand, if I had a third hand (and if I did, then having twins would have been so much easier), I think sometimes people say it to a person that whines a lot. A brush-off, of sorts. And that right there might be why I despise This too, shall pass so much. I have done my fair share of whining in my life, but when it came to having twins, in grad school, when we made next to nothing, and lived in a small apartment, with most family far away, we did not whine. We took what life gave us and went with it. And survived.
I haven't talked about the ridiculousness of the whole phrase, anyway. Of course this will pass. Life goes on, right? I can't get started on that right now. Maybe another time.
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