Thursday, November 3, 2011

Day 3

I'm afraid I'm going to forget to blog on the weekends, when I have a different routine. Remind me, will you?

***

Okay, so Day 3 of this blogging juggernaut. Thanks to Tracy for her succinct definition of the word "druthers"--it is essentially a very contract contraction of "would rather," as in "what would you rather have, applesauce or chocolate cake?" (Cake, please).

I've received disappointing news from Angela: It is illegal for her to send me sausages from the UK. Apparently, they comprise a terrorist threat. She did ever so kindly send me pictures of what real sausages--"bangers" I believe is the proper term--look like, and that is helpful. Okay, they sort of look like hot dogs, but that can't be right, can it? My friend Kathryn, who is from Belfast, made me real sausages once, and they were nothing like hot dogs. They were like heaven. They were my druthers.

***

I'm reading a marvelous book called Food & Faith: A Theology of Eating by Norman Wirzba. The chapter I'm now is entitled "Life Through Death: Sacrificial Eating." There's a lot in this chapter about living sacrificially, that is making your life a gift to others. I'm very bad at sacrificial living. I'm self-absorbed and self-centered and like to do what I want to do, not what other people want to do. Motherhood tends to balance these tendencies out somewhat, but nevertheless, most days I come up short.

So I've been looking for ways to live more sacrificially, and yesterday I decided to do this by playing checkers with Will. I didn't want to play checkers. I wanted to work on the quilt I'm making for my editor (pictures soon). But Will was downstairs at loose ends, so I thought I'd give of myself, give of the very inner core of my being, and ask if he was up for a game. Of course he was, as Will is always up for a game of checkers.

I could have told you before I even sat down it would be a terrible game. First of all, that's always the way when I try any sort of abnormal sacrificial giving for my kids. Folding their laundry, cooking their dinners, making their beds--never any problems there. But whenever I think "I'm going to do something nice for my children, something special," it almost always backfires.

And this was true with my checkers game with Will, because Will is coming off a long birthday weekend, in which he went to a big football game and had a sleepover and collected tons of candy on Halloween (which is his official birthday, by the way), and he's cranky and out of sorts. So our game ended in tears (his, not mine) and vows to never play checkers again and stomping off up the stairs (Will, not me).

So much for sacrificial giving via the checkerboard. I will have to find another way to give sacrificially. Maybe make chocolate chip cookies? Because that would be an awfully big sacrifice on my part. Really mammoth sacrifice. One for the ages. Hmmm ...

12 comments:

Danielle said...

Over here the genetic combination of genes has resulted in the worst gaming traits in our children. DH and I recently put on our armor and poured wine(both a prerequisite) to teach the kids a complicated, real board game. Frustration, tears, smack talk, eye rolling, we've got it all.

I'll tell you sister, it makes me see the value in single player video games.

Danielle said...

I have decided if you can blog daily, I will comment daily as I will get much enjoyment from LHHW daily post.

I wonder what your lovely fellow bloggers who regularly comment say about the weekend? I feel like that doesn't count. Daily blogs M-F. What say the rest of you?

Angela said...

OK - confession time - some of us who are Ever So Busy At Weekends actually type up the Sunday blogpost beforehand and that means there's still a weekend post.

For obvious reasons, I like my Sunday post to have a sort of 'faith' theme - so if something 'deeply spiritual' occurs to me midweek, then I type it up as I think of it, but readers don't see it till later.

Still unable to find a way round this terrorist banger issue!!

BLESSINGS X

Leslie said...

Oh man. Checkers. I have purposely NOT learned how to play.

GretchenJoanna said...

Bangers can be found stateside, at some specialty shops or online. They might be a bit pricey, but I think they are worth it: so different from our sausages and usually quite yummy. When I was in the UK, though, the quality did vary a bit within the genre.

Susan said...

I think you're missing the connections between one day's post and the next. The most sensible thing to do after the checkers game fell apart would be to go rip Will's new quilt off his bed and hide under it until DH came home. No one would have found you. You made the quilt. It's only right that you get to use it to hide from kids in the midst of a temper tantrum.

Mark my words, this daily blog thing will have it's advantages yet!

magsmcc said...

Well, I'm with Danielle on the technology, but am struggling with the five day week. What about one weekend post on either Saturday or Sunday? Can't even begin to get my head round Ang's suggestion! I'm obviously not Ever So Busy enough! Personally I find that sacrificial love reaches my zenith if I choose to be in the same room at the same time while they do something of theirs and I do something of mine; though I did find myself in a particularly long Scrabble game the other day...

Pom Pom said...

You really should buy your family the rip roaring game called Pass the Pigs. Nobody gets mad and the rounds are short.

magsmcc said...

I've only gone and lost your email address, and I have a lengthening list of Most Important Matters that I would discuss with you- email me fast, before the wretched thing gets any longer....

Gumbo Lily said...

Do you know the song -- "If I had my druthers, I'd ruther have my druthers, than anything else I know.....?" I sang it once in a school musical "Lil Abner."

Jody

Tracy said...

I'm a very "take it at face value" kind of person. I wouldn't have even thought about whether blogging on weekends counted because every day for a month is....every day. For a month. Like I said though, I often don't dig too deep.

Ahhhh children and games. I think they should be forbidden in close proximity to one another. Every time my kids get a game out it ends in massive arguments. And they don't really need any help to get there.

The dB family said...

Poor Will! I think it's a little bit the age. My Jill (Squirt) will be nine on Dec 12 and she can be sooo very dramatic. I do very much hear you on the sacrificing part. I do think making cookies is always the better sacrificial option. At least if they don't appreciate my efforts, I can enjoy them ;o).

Blessings!
Deborah