Guilty Of Not Following Her Heart
|
|
Karen, a single never-married thirty-year old attorney has a four-year old daughter, whom she just picked up from her parents' home after another all-day affair in court.
Like every Thursday, Karen took her daughter, Anna, to McDonald's for dinner, which was a very special mother-daughter bonding time. Karen ordered a salad for her and a kid's meal for Anna. To Anna's delight, the kid's meal came with some crayons. While they were eating, Anna turned over the paper trayliner and began to draw a circle with some numbers just inside the perimeter of the circle. Instead of staring out the window like she usually did, Karen looked at what Anna was drawing.
"Whatcha drawin' sweetie?" Karen asked."A clock," Anna said."Are you sure it's a clock? It's got more than twelve numbers in the circle.""I know, Mommy. It's a clock for you. You said there's not enough time in the day."
Tears formed in Karen's eyes.
"Why are you crying, Mommy?" asked Anna."There isn't enough time in the day, sweetheart. You and I have to make some more time ? time for each other," said Karen. "I didn't know that you liked to draw so much.""Oh I do, Mommy. Gramma lets me draw anytime I want to," said Anna."She does?""Yep. We went to the bookstore today and she bought me a coloring book.""So that's what was in that bag. You've got a good grandma, honey.""I know. She told me that YOU used to like to draw, too. When you were a little girl.""That's right," Karen said softly and was not sure if Anna heard her. "I DID used to draw a lot and do a lot of sketches," she spoke in normal tone."Sketches?" asked Anna"Oh, sketches. Sketches are drawings with pencils.""Can we do some sketches at home?""Why of course. Tell you what. When we get home, I'm gonna look for some sketches that I used to do and show you.""Okay," said Anna excitedly.
When they finished dinner and got home, Anna showed her mother the coloring book that her grandmother had bought her. While Karen was looking for her sketches, Anna showed came to Karen's room every time she finished with coloring a page. Karen gave her daughter kisses, praise and encouragement every time Anna showed her another page of her work.
Karen finally found her old sketches and went into the kitchen where Anna was drawing. To Karen's surprise, there were drawings on the doors of the white cabinets. Anna had drawn on two kitchen cabinet doors.
"Isn't it pretty, Mommy?" asked Anna.Karen's jaw dropped. She was stunned and could not move for several seconds.
Anna finally broke the silence, "Gramma's kitchen is colorful. I want our kitchen to be colorful. Do you like it, Mommy?"
Karen backed into one of the kitchen walls and lowered her body to the ground until she was sitting on the floor. She cried profusely. Anna was confused why her mother was crying. When she showed her mother some of her work in her coloring book, her mother was happy and excited. Now, her mother is crying.
"You don't like it, Mommy?" Anna finally asked. Karen was finally able to talk, "No, sweetheart. I like your drawings. It's just that when I was a little girl, I did the same thing on gramma's walls.""Did she like it?" asked Anna. Karen was breathing deeply, almost hyper-ventilating and said, "She screamed at me." Karen was now breathing more normal. "She screamed at me," she said softly."Why?" asked Anna."Because I was supposed to color on the paper. I was supposed to follow the rules. I had messed up gramma's cabinets.""Did I mess up your cabinets?""No, sweetheart," Karen said quickly. "Those cabinets needed some color. I want you to keep on drawing, okay? But I will get you some bigger drawing paper for you so you can make me some bigger pictures.""Wow! I will make the bigger pictures even prettier!" Anna said with anticipation. "How come you stopped drawing, Mommy?" Anna asked her Karen innocently.Karen took a deep breath and said. "Because I got shut down by what happened to me when I was about your age?""Huh?" Anna asked confusingly."I will explain it to you when you are older, sweetheart. Keep on drawing in the meantime."
North Notes is a writing and researching company, which primarily helps writers gain focus, motivation, remove mental blocks that help to unblock the writing process. EVERYONE who writes has been stuck at some point in his or her career. You do not have to accept these mind-boggling roadblocks!
(586) 216-7516
|
|
|
Parents/teens And Money ? 5 Ideas For Keeping The Peace
Children and teenagers are relentlessly bombarded with merchandise that entices. It can be difficult to find contentment when a newer, better, faster gizmo of the moment hits the market every day. What's a parent to do?<...(related: Parenting)
7 Ways Busy Families Can Volunteer
Volunteering together is a fantastic way to spend time as a family. Volunteering--teaches kindness, compassion and respect.--deepens family relationships. --gives kids a sense of empowerment.--promotes learning about areas of interest, such as hunger, homelessness or human rights.--doesn't require a lot of time.--is fun.--changes lives.An excellent resource for finding volunteer opportunities is "The Busy Family's Guide to Volunteering" by Jenny Friedman (Robins Lane Press). Visiting www.volunteermatch.org can help you locat volunteer opporunities in your area.Here are my favorite family volunteering opportunities:1. PREPARE A MEAL FOR A HOMELESS SHELTER OR SOUP KITCHEN. Even young children can help with shopping, washi...(related: Parenting)
Raising A Self-sufficient Teen
Teens don't learn responsibility overnight. If you haven't been working with your teen on gradually giving them a sense of independence and ownership of their lives, then you're going to have your work cut out for you. Don't wait until it's too late.By the time your children are in high school, they should be doing for themselves a lot of the things you've been doing for them all of...(related: Parenting)
Your Kids Career - Whose Choice?
A strange thing happened to me today. Or more precisely, astrange thought occurred. You see, my eldest sonhelped me install a new kitchen. He was the expert handyman.Me? Well, I was the 'gofor'. "Dad, could you go forthis?" "Dad, will you go for that . . ."And you know, it took me back to my childhood. I used tostand by MY dad's side, helping ...(related: Parenting)
Natural Disasters: Help Your Child Cope With The Anxiety
How on earth can you help your family cope with the anxietyand fear that natural disasters strike into the heart ofeveryone?In early 2005, for example, the world was rocked by thetsunami in South East Asia that killed thousands and leftmany homeless and orphaned.Yet, at the Edinburgh International Festival yest...(related: Parenting)
How To Teach Children Loyalty And Dependability
Individualism is a common thing in today's modern society. Many people care more about themselves than others and do what they like with little consideration for people whom may be affected by their action. It is quite a sad thing. You can see that there are is a general lack of loyalty and commitment to people own belongings. For example,increasing number of adultery cases (a lack of loyalty to family and spouse)vandalism...(related: Parenting)
Picky Eater - Fighting The Good Fight
Often, the struggle at dinnertime with your picky eater is notso much about food as it is about control. As children becomemore independent, conflicts can arise as they carefullyscrutinize wh...(related: Parenting)
Marriage, Divorce, And Kids
Are men to blame for the divorce problem in this country?It's been said that one of the reasons for the high rate of divorce in this country is the manner in which men choose their wives. Specifically, they choose their wives i...(related: Parenting)
site-map - Copyright © 2006 | Contact Webmaster | Baby Care Info | All Rights Reserved. | Parenting