Seeking Imperfection

I wanted to post this last week, but last week was crazy. I suppose a Mother post is ok for Mother's Day though, huh?

Last Friday when I got home from work, I got out of the car and looked around. There were dandylions everywhere. My first thought? "Look at all the dandies! Paige will be so excited to pick them!"





Paige spends most Friday nights at Grandma's, and then Grandma takes her to dance class Saturday morning. So Paige didn't see all the dandies that afternoon.

The next day, Saturday, was a "watch day" at Paige's dance school. After watching Paige's class, we were getting ready to leave when the next class was lining up to go in. One of the girls in the line for the next class had a dandylion, and I thought, "that's so cute, she brought that in for the teacher." The teacher oohed and aahed and told the little girl how beautiful it was. Her mother then looked at the teacher and told her, "She tried to give it to me. I told her it was a weed and to throw it away. So she said she was going to give it to you."

Maybe I was experiencing some PMS, but I started to feel very sad about this. Didn't everyone know that when little kids pick dandylions for you, you take them, say how beautiful they are, and when the kids aren't looking, then you toss them? Isn't that just what you do?? Somehow this lady didn't get what I thought was one of the unwritten rules of parenthood.

Later, as Roland and I were out running errands, I asked him, "what does this say about me as a mother?" and told him the story. In response he produced a couple of wilted dandylions from his side of the car and told me Paige had given them to him. To which I said, "that's right! When your child gives them to you, you keep them, and then throw them away later. That's just what you do!"

I find it sad that the mother of that little girl didn't appreciate the thought behind the "weed." But maybe that's just me.