I'll start with some recent scenes I've encountered that struck me as slightly nutty and wonderful at the same time. Each happens to involve a mother and her children...don't know.


-This afternoon, as I was walking through my neighborhood, I saw a mom trying to keep track of a gaggle of kids. I noticed that one of the tiny girl-children was lagging behind, trying to look inside a bag that was slightly too large for her to carry. Her mom and the other kids were impatiently waiting for her and shouting "Don't drop that! Don't you dare drop that! Now hurry up!" The little girl looked up, wide-eyed and asked what would happen if she dropped it. I almost lost it when I heard the mother calmly respond "It will blow up. Now come on." Classic.



*From this situation, I was again reminded that I'm not ready to be a mother, herding a tribe of children around the city. God bless the patience of some people- and their quick wit under the pressure of a changing traffic light.





-Yesterday, I was riding the subway and it became PACKED at one stop with an enormous group of city school kids (about 14-16 years old). *I must note that these kids scare the bejeezus out of me- they are so grown up already and seem so hardened by the city and in control of everything (deep, I know)* Anyway, these kids filled up the car and were yelling and jostling everyone and being incredibly obnoxious. When they got off a couple stops later, a beautiful young African American mother with 3 daughters (2 elementary school aged, 1 infant) began screaming at them: "I will CUT you! I will freakin' SLICE you fools up!! You have NO manners..." etc. I was so taken aback. Her oldest daughter was staring at her, and the mom then calmly proceeded to explain that you have to stand up for yourself. Those kids had no manners and were not respecting anybody, and she explained that she was right to tell them that she would give them an ass-whooping...because you got to ACT right.



*I mean, I like this. I am NOT assertive enough...never have been. I can literally count the times I have stood up for myself in the exact moment it was necessary. Now, I don't mean that yelling about slicing people is always right or awesome...and to be honest, I couldn't pull it off (unless I was wearing my sweet new bomber jacket). But, I really need to work on at least gathering my thoughts and relaying them back in real conversation time during arguments/uncomfortable discussions. Because I have the thoughts...I do. I just need to ACT right and step up.