Thursday, March 13, 2008

Guilt and Reconciliation

Yesterday I was puttering in the kitchen and thought, o I feel awful because the place is a mess and I should be cleaning things up--

And then I came to my senses: it's spring break so my SweetBabyGirl has been home (and desiring entertainment) all week. And I have a nasty cough. And I had already baked whole wheat bread and made homemade yogurt that morning. So I thought Jeez, woman, what more could you demand of yourself, anyway?

But I come by it honestly, because my mother does the same thing. One time we were talking and Mom was berating herself out loud for not keeping the house neater and I said, offhandedly, you know, Mom, as virtues go, neatness is overrated. Mom laughed and laughed, relief clearly evident on her face. And I thought, yeah, she did teach me to feel guilty about stupid crap like how messy the house is, but she does suffer much more than I ever did.

Note to self: work on modeling sanity for my kid. Cleaning house isn't as important.

By the way, when I had the page linked to in the title on my screen, SBG looked over and said I don't like her! Yeah, me neither...