This weekend was the annual invasion of about 12 of my son’s friends to watch the Ohio State vs. Michigan game. They watch the game, get all critical of the plays, players and coaches, eat non-stop, and then go outside and play, proving to all with eyes to see, that they should NOT be criticizing anyone.
What they do is mostly make a big mess and if I find the person who put his wet drink on my wooden hutch that now sports a new waterstain, I might get a better tackle in than I saw outside. This has also been a time for me to deal with two of my kids who are going through a breakup with girl or boyfriends.
I’ve done a lot of counseling in these tough times and I have decided that counseling would not have been a good career choice for me. While supportive and understanding, I can’t take the drama. I would rather eat chocolate. Maybe that’s why I have gained about 5 pounds since summer’s end?
While I have made this vocational observation, my son decided he would like to be a counselor and wants to go to college for that. Well, this week that’s the story anyway. Good thing too because as of the end of this week, he had still not applied for any colleges and other kids were starting to get their acceptance letters. This gave him a clue that he should get his applications started (before I smacked something over his head) and he did all six online in one night. I found out the next day reading a note from the Guidance Dept., the deadlines for them were Nov. 24 and Dec. 1. Nothing like cutting it close.
He was oblivious to any dates or any deadlines. I hope that sometime between now, if and when he’s counseling professionally, he learns how to keep an appointment book.
But back to breakups. This has been a time for me to learn to shut my mouth – and become a listener. After so many years, I am finally getting that down. But I have discovered that it’s exhausting staying quiet. Especially when I want to say, “I told you so.”
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“A woman knows how to keep quiet when she is in the right, whereas a man, when he is in the right, will keep on talking.“ ~ Malcom De Chazal
