Nicest Thing

Today my husband said one of the nicest things to me. It's that time of year when we have those wonderful parent / teacher conferences. This morning we met with our daughters third grade teacher and our sons second grade teacher. My kids are great. They have their quirks, like every human on the planet. They are disobedient at times, have a hard time listening, and are plain frustrating at times but I love them. And I think they are the best kids every! The first meeting we went to was with our daughter's teacher. It lasted 10 minutes. She basically told us Bean (obviously not her real name, but a favorite nickname since birth) is a great kid. She's smart. She has no difficulty understanding material. She works well by herself. She works well with others. She is kind and considerate and helps others. What more could be said? We asked some basic parental questions and we left with great big smiles on our faces. Then we went to our sons class, four doors down the hallway. This meeting lasted a tad longer. It seems Obi (after the great Jedi) is struggling just a bit with math. He's an awesome reader. But unfortunately he didn't come from a great gene pool of mathematicians. She also told us he is friendly. He works well with others. He works well by himself. He is not afraid to share his opinion in class. He helps others and has a great smile. So we left that meeting with a resolve to work at home with him some more, recognized he'll probably never excel in math, and left with great big smiles on our faces. So what does this have to do with my great compliment. Well a few hours later my husband, nomad, (do I need to state this isn't his real name?) and I were in the office. I am his assistant. Really. I am paid to be his assistant. Anyway, Nomad says to me "You know it is a great compliment to you that our kids have turned out the way they are. All those nice things those teachers said it is a credit to you" ....... WOW!! ........ For a brief moment I realized that I have made a difference in the world. All the endless, sometimes nonsensical crap I do all day, every day has made a difference. Thank you honey! Thank you for giving me the greatest compliment I have received in a long time. Thank you for noticing that I have worked really, really hard over the past 8 years for the purpose of trying to raise healthy, independent functional children in this sometimes big, cruel world. And above all else thank you for taking the time to tell me.