Life and Tampax....

At a recent In-Service meeting, we were encouraged to write down our life's "mission statement".  They gave us two full pages in which to construct this mantra by which to live your life.  My esteemed colleagues were making fun of me, because I already have one and it doesn't require two pages, but one simple line.

To be happy, but not at the expense of others. 

How, you might ask, did I construct such gloriously written words?

Very simply, I thought about it.  And thought about it. And so on....

I am sure, if you are are reading this, you have gathered enough personal information about me to know that I do a lot of thinking about a lot of frivolous stuff.  I am overly emotional, moderately egotistical and search for the meaning of life, often, in Tampax commercials. 

I like to live my life like a dramatic movie montage. One where the boy and girl run through the rain holding hands while the orchestra swells to a dramatic climax. One where the mother dries her daughter's tears after an incredibly trying day at school and says the most perfect words at the most perfect time.  Usually, my life turns out like a comedic horror flick, with two naked anklebiters running around the house waving my tampons like swords.

But I digress...back to my mission statement.  I have one, because I had lost way of my life and wanted to be able to tell Pink and Tink how to appropriately run theirs. To tell them that life isn't a dramatic montage where the boy gets the girl, and even if he does, she usually has her period and he doesn't get her anyway. 

My main goal for Pink and Tink is for them to happy.  Right? Isn't that what we all want for our children? But not the kind of happy where they've been overgifted into it, or overpraised or overcompensated for their parents' shortcomings.  And not a happiness that comes from watching others fail at something we so desperately want to win.  Not "reality t.v." happiness.  But, happiness that didn't come at the expense of others.  Happiness that is generated from within and can only benefit those without. 

How am I going to accomplish this? I have no idea. Not a clue.

But, I will start by encouraging them to sing loudly and often, with their eyes closed and arms flung wide open if that's what makes them happy. I will encourage them to run, even if it's like a girl, and feel the crazy wind messing up their perfect hairdos. I will encourage them to love even if it's not returned and to give kindness, even if it is absent from those around them.  I will encourage them to laugh when life is funny and even when it's not...as long as they are laughing "with" and not "at".

And to use my tampons as swords as long as it means they've got an imagination to live in.