Friday, October 24, 2008

Selective Vision

"Alex, wipe up your spill!"

As I watch Alex wipe all AROUND the spill, I wonder, where does he get this vision, this ability to completely ignore the mess right in front of his eyes.

Sadly, I cannot blame my husband for this one!


It is me, all me.
He gets this flaw from me. I have the incredible ability to walk pass any mess (outside of work) and not see it, especially ones I have created.

I have 2 explanations for this, well 3, if I just want to blame myself and my laziness.
The first one is my mom. Now I know, I shouldn't be blaming my mom for my shortcomings, and those of you that know me, know I usually don't do this. However, growing up, I was allowed to lead a completely chore free life. Once or twice a year I took out the trash, and occasionally I was threatened for having a messy room, but overall, my life was completely carefree. No responsibility except for homework and play. Even my mom acknowledges today she should have given me more work, but considering the childhood she had, where she was responsible for so many chores, she just wanted me to be a kid for a while. Thankfully, I recognize that I had an incredible childhood not encumbered by work, so in reality, I should be thanking her for all the time off. (thanks mom!)

The second "explanation" I have is Starbucks, and the 14 years I put in there, plus the other 8 years of retail experience I possess. When you work in Retail, knowing any moment a "bigwig" can walk into your store with your career hanging in the balance, you learn quickly how to keep things looking good and spotless. My employees called it "the eye", and they immediately knew when I spotted a speck of dust, a tiny droplet of a spill or the smallest fingerprint on a window. (It was this "eye" that led me to quit my job in July, but I digress... perhaps we will tell that story another day).
The consequence of having such a keen eye at work, with all the pressures involved in supervising 15 people that can get you fired if they don't do their job, is that by the time you get home, the LAST thing you want to do is clean a mess. However, since I no longer work at Starbucks, I guess I can't really use that one as an excuse either.
Dang it, all out of excuses!

I guess my task is to help Alex grow beyond my issues, or find him a wife one day that doesn't mind cleaning up after him. He has other strengths, like humor, charm, & compassion that I never thought I would be able to see in a three year old.
Besides, his two year old brother Teddy doesn't mind helping me clean up.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great post! I think I heard contentment therapy in work!!!

Blessings to you!

mary :)

Anonymous said...

Love you blog entry!

Tonight I came home very tired from work and had to cook for a family that is staying with us (with not job or place to go)- Afterwards I wanted to just veg and go watch a mindless movie but they were already watching something on our only tv- the grumbling started but then- how can I be content in this? Thank Jesus I have a house and tv I can share with this family and decided to come upstairs and check on my contentment group of ladies and got blessed!!!

mary:)