{"id":420,"date":"2008-12-18T13:53:00","date_gmt":"2008-12-18T18:53:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/livinglovingbreathingboys.com\/?p=420"},"modified":"2008-12-18T13:53:00","modified_gmt":"2008-12-18T18:53:00","slug":"my-sympathies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/livinglovingbreathingboys.com\/?p=420","title":{"rendered":"My Sympathies"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a onblur=\"try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}\" href=\"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/_ESvCH9ghcAI\/SUqiQ4L42_I\/AAAAAAAABDc\/Ii61SykG_Bk\/s1600-h\/DSC_0167.JPG\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 268px;\" src=\"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/_ESvCH9ghcAI\/SUqiQ4L42_I\/AAAAAAAABDc\/Ii61SykG_Bk\/s400\/DSC_0167.JPG\" border=\"0\" alt=\"\"id=\"BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5281211923889183730\" \/><\/a><br \/>Today Josh and I went to meet Sanj for lunch.  He was chatting with a patient.  As usual he looks at Josh and says &#8220;this is my 6th son&#8230;&#8221;  and then introduced me to the folks.  As the lady was leaving, she nodded and said, &#8220;My sympathies.&#8221; Obviously this had to do with having 6 sons.<\/p>\n<p>Let me tell you about my life with six sons&#8230; <\/p>\n<p>I never thought of myself as a boy&#8217;s mom.  I am not a girlie girl&#8230; but because I suck at all things athletic I figured boys would hate a mom like me.  But as I had the boys&#8230; I figured that being a boys mom is not about playing the sports &#8230; but rather being willing to drive them, watch them, cheer for them&#8230; (which I do complain about doing many a time)&#8230; is the requirement. And in those moments when I do try a sport&#8230; they are full of advice, criticism and amusement!<\/p>\n<p>I begin my day with a few climbing into bed with me (Sanj is off at the gym)&#8230; they will reach over and hold my hand and snuggle to sleep.  Then the usual fighting over who gets a spot on our bed begins&#8230; the fighting and shoving &#8230; and then it is time to get up.<\/p>\n<p>It is the usual ( I am assuming) battle to get everyone out the door.  &#8220;Bye Mom&#8230;. Love you..&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Then it is Josh and I for the next 7 or so hours.<\/p>\n<p>They come into the car&#8230; &#8220;How was your day&#8230; I&#8217;m hungry&#8230; Can we get a snacK?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>It is the after school running around and if we are lucky &#8230; we just go home.<\/p>\n<p>At home they are off&#8230; some may watch TV to relax, others are outside in the snow&#8230; someone else is on the guitar.<\/p>\n<p>I am discombobulated trying to get supper going &#8230; refereeing arguments&#8230; who is changing whose show&#8230; someone got a snowball inside their coat&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>Supper&#8230; dishes, homework&#8230;  showers &#8230; bed.<\/p>\n<p>Somewhere in the chaos of my life&#8230; I am showered with &#8220;Mommy I love you!  Mommy, I am sorry! Mommy, what do you what for Christmas?  Mommy, what can I do to help you?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Somewhere in this crazy day I hear stories of their adventures that made or broke their day.  I hear from a parent or teacher the special thing one of my boys did.  I feel the pride of being their mom 6xs over.  Not too mention&#8230; there are MANY times in a day as they are doing the mean, annoying things that siblings do&#8230; Do I wonder&#8230; Am I doing it right?  And really, I am not sure.<\/p>\n<p>But when there are those bits of moments when I see that &#8220;Yah, it is alright&#8221; moment&#8230; I feel ok.. even if just for a few seconds.<\/p>\n<p>So&#8230;offering your sympathies to me&#8230; that just burns me.  You are insulting my precious gifts.  You are insulting my ability to love them and mold them and though questionable at time&#8230; cherish every moment I am blessed with them.  You insult my choice to have 6 wonderful children&#8230; that are cared for, feed, clothed, and loved.<\/p>\n<p>How must your child feel &#8230; if they heard you?  <\/p>\n<p>There is nothing more precious to me then when one of my sons reaches for my hand and holds on.  Just because&#8230; at that moment&#8230; they have reached INTO me and grabbed my heart.<\/p>\n<p>So while you are passing on your sympathies&#8230; I am grateful for my overflowing cup of dirty hands, boogers, farts while the seat heater is on&#8230;the laundry (did I say that?) the muddy floors, the vehicles that are never-endingly  dirty and full of toys and mitts and hats and yes socks&#8230;  I am grateful for the 6 hearts that feed mine daily.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Today Josh and I went to meet Sanj for lunch. He was chatting with a patient. As usual he looks at Josh and says &#8220;this is my 6th son&#8230;&#8221; and then introduced me to the folks. As the lady was &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/livinglovingbreathingboys.com\/?p=420\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/livinglovingbreathingboys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/420"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/livinglovingbreathingboys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/livinglovingbreathingboys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/livinglovingbreathingboys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/livinglovingbreathingboys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=420"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/livinglovingbreathingboys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/420\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/livinglovingbreathingboys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=420"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/livinglovingbreathingboys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=420"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/livinglovingbreathingboys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=420"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}