We carved pumpkins last night. Y’all. This is one of those holiday activities that is just not my favorite. Like not even on my list of Top 100 Favorite Things To Do. Cleaning house ranks above carving pumpkins. So after surveying all the stencils that my amazing husband bought, I drew, what he called, a Mrs. Pac-Man face and cut it out. This is the level I am at.
However, we are working really hard with our 17 year old to learn how to do hard things. He is a typical teenager who takes the easiest route possible and then tries to make THAT route even easier. So he was super proud of himself that he picked the most difficult stencil in the book. Y’all. This is where, as a mom who hates this activity anyway, I wanted to be like “dude…why??? Here is a spider”. But before I could open my mouth, my husband (who actually loves this activity…obviously) said “Good job. You are learning to do hard things. That was a good choice”. Every part of my inner self died in that moment because I knew that I was not getting any sleep tonight. This was going to take FOREVER. But he was right, and I had to keep my mouth shut and let him learn how to do the hard thing.
Then…after 2 hours of poking and tracing and prepping…he cut a wrong line and gave up. OH NO SIR. I am not missing sleep so you can give up after one wrong line cut. Nope. Take a breath, walk around, go get some fresh air…but I did not just spend 2 hours watching you poke and trace to watch you give up. So he went outside and his dad followed him, because, let’s face it…I’m better at calling you on your crap and he is better at encouraging along. This is why we make a great team (most of the time)!
Who knows what happened out there…I do not pretend to know the ways of men…but the 17 year old came back in ready to give it another shot…and accidentally cut THE ENTIRE HAUNTED HOUSE SCENE OUT OF HIS PUMPKIN. Y’all. Bless it.
Dad…and lots of wood skewers…came to the rescue and we ended up with SOMETHING. It was not at all the original plan or design, and lots of pieces were lost along the way, but you know what? Our kid didn’t give up. He learned that he could push through and come up with solutions. He also learned that just because something doesn’t work, it doesn’t mean it can’t be saved or reworked.
Our journey as parents, especially with teens, is rarely easy. Sometimes it is downright hard and we just wing it and hope we are making a difference because we have no idea how to handle what we (or they) are facing. But sometimes, by some miracle, you happen to get it right. And you better relish in that moment, because it might not happen again until the next harvest moon!
Our Blended Chaos 