LJ Idol Exhibit A: "The Ride Of A Lifetime"

[halfshellvenus]

The Ride Of A Lifetime
LJ Idol Exhibit A | week 6 |1370 words
Tilt-a-whirls

x-x-x-x-x

You enter into parenthood knowing that there will be ups and downs over the years, but people don't talk as often about how much of it will simply be weirdYes, there will be diapers and tantrums and that godawful kiddie music that makes you want to blowtorch

Comments

[halfshellvenus]

Aw, that note made me tear up.
I'm glad I'm not the only one-- that's exactly how I feel about it. So sweet, but still... so SAD!

Maybe that's why I partly love being a nanny - I love to play with the kids and remember doing the same myself!
One of the things I didn't expect is that reliving childhood fun and watching someone else enjoy it is a whole different kind of happiness than your experiences as a kid. I feel kind of like a joy vampire saying that or something, but other people's happiness can be so wonderful and sustaining!

I'm so glad you enjoyed this, and I thought about you a lot while writing it because I knew you would understand exactly what I meant. ♥

[medleymisty]

I love the phrase "joy vampire"! I love this entry too. :)

[halfshellvenus]

It's hard to describe feeling fulfilled by other people's happiness without starting to think of happiness as a sustenance, and then it all leads down a very wrong path. :O

Glad you enjoyed this, and thanks for taking a moment to read it!

[digitalwave]

Your kidlets are really amazing, sweetie. Thanks for sharing this with us. :)

[halfshellvenus]

I hope it brought a little silliness/happiness, and thanks so much for taking a moment to read it! :)

[digitalwave]

I enjoyed it so much! I told Lee and Amber the story of the lonely Hedgie over dinner tonight and they loved it, too. :)

[halfshellvenus]

Awww!

I felt so bad about that whole incident. It's one of those times where you're being brutally insensitive and have no idea. I might as well have asked if the backup hedgie would like to go for a ride in a blender. Augh!

But he's living with the hedgie family now, and Christopher thinks that makes up for those seven dark, lonely years. It makes Christopher feel better, and that's what matters!

[tsuki_no_bara]

lauren relocating her little toy rooms is really, really sweet. the note made me sniffle, too. i love reading about your kids, just in general.

[halfshellvenus]

I was so shocked when I opened that middle drawer (which I hadn't looked into for at least a year) and found it packed with all of her creatures. Tons of paper rooms with paper furniture and decorated walls, popsicle-stick houses, etc. And some of the "inhabitants" were things like pencil erasers with faces on them-- whole families of those! For a couple of years, all of our erasers would disappear and become pseudo-people. We could never use them for actual erasing!

That note just hurts with all of the feelings it shows. I can't even really describe why, it's like something visceral. It speaks right to the heart. *sigh*

[digitalwave]

Both of them have such huge hearts. It's actually pretty darned wonderful to see.

[whipchick]

So sweet! I'm trying to remember when I grew out of my toys having feelings - I think I'm more of a packrat than worried about the toys themselves, but I know there's stuff I've hung on to still because it reminds me of being a kid...

[halfshellvenus]

I can't exactly remember the earliest age, but it was way before my kids, obviously! I held onto many of my toys for much longer, because they were part of a simpler, more magical time, but apart from some lingering guilt over having loved them so fiercely and then... not so much... it was all pretty centered in reality.

Though I wonder if one or both of my parents wasn't eager to rush that distinction between real/not-real much like my friend here. You want kids to be independent, but it doesn't have to happen quite so fast, so long as you make sure that they're not planning to live in your basement during their adult years. ;)

[jensi08]

This was so sweet!! I smiled bunches reading it as well as teared up a bit.

[halfshellvenus]

That's wonderful to hear! I'd hoped to give a real sense of both why the weirdness is fun, and why some of the unexpected bumps are so bittersweet that they really get to you and never let go.

Thanks for reading!