The ONE Thing

It's easy to say: "Be good at ONE thing, and let go of the rest." But quite another task to implement that philosophy. As household coordinators, moms especially suffer this plight. Allow me to elaborate:

"Ah - Wendy. The checkbook is overdrawn!" 

"Mom! I need pit stick - can you find the 

green Twist-Up kind?" 

"Lip balm! Mine are sore and cracked!" 

"Game in Hackensack Saturday. Just scheduled." 

"You put my sweatshirt in the dryer, didn't you? It shrunk. Can you get me a new one?"

Yes! Those "Oh, crap!" moments to which this mom rides the wave and replies: 

"I've done the research and found the bank is still taking out $227.47 each month for a car loan that's been paid off since July. Now do you see why I was hesitant about an automatic with-drawl loan? I'll handle it..."

"Sure, I'll spend 10 minutes in the hygiene aisle ruling out the new Twist-Up body spray, gel and roll-on (all in deodorant form) until I finally locate the solid antiperspirant!"

"Ah, you lost the three lip balms I bought you last winter? Well... the local market carries a beeswax kind with the school logo on it for $2. What? You don't have two bucks? Well... I'll see what I can do when I run in to mail the seven bills I have to send out."

"Flag football THIS Saturday morning in a town an hour away?! That's NOT happenin'! Dad signed up the WHOLE family to work at the church Scandinavian supper all day!"

"Sweatshirt? Yes... I suppose I did put it in the dryer. Sorry. I only do five laundry loads a day, and with five people, it's hard to remember who's what gets dried and who's gets hung up. You'll have to hang on with the replacement, I just spent $30 getting you non-fishing-logo T-shirts last week to stop your friends' teasing."

Sigh... One might say: I've suffered plenty when it comes to being good at ONE thing. In fact, those T-shirts I mentioned are ones I - just now - pulled out of the DRYER. I can hardly wait until Aaron gets home so I can say, "Sorry, honey. I shrunk your clothes again!"


If there's ONE Thing these lessons are teaching me, it's FORGIVENESS - of myself, my family and others!


Today I fully forgive my own mother for an "oops" moment that until this very moment I never understood. She washed, dried and shrunk the off-white virgin-wool v-neck sweater which I'd chosen after winning a gift certificate from a clothing store that offered the prize to the county 4-H member with the best conservation records. I wore the $30 sweater - maybe twice - before it became felted to toddler size. 

I got over the loss but couldn't fathom why someone would stick a wool sweater in the dryer. Today,
I GET IT! (I'm constantly shrinking my kids' clothes.) We are all human and make mistakes.

My own mother suffered from multi-tasking for a family with four active children. Well...
Dan and I have just three! 

I am hopeful. 


Today I understand The ONE Thing I can work to be good at is FORGIVENESS, something that - by its very nature -
requires LETTING GO!