letters

Dear Dad and WSM,

In just a couple of days Puddin Pop and I will be taking up residence at your home for a weekend of fun with my best Girlfriends from Junior High and High School (and a friend I’ve known since Grade School).  We look forward to spending time with you and appreciate you opening your home to the both of us and to Cassandra who will be coming in from Chicago.  I’m looking forward to a fun weekend.

I must warn you.  

I know you both have little tolerance for misbehaved children so I encourage you to take the next few days to put away any valuable items you do not want broken.  While I do not predict that Puddin Pop will do intentional harm to these items, you have a LOT of very pretty things to spark her interest.  She knows “to be careful” and what that means, but a stern “No” once she is already holding said items may result in a response of her throwing it to the floor.  It’s just the way it is.  I’ll do my best to keep her away from any items left out.

She is also just showing signs of entering the 3 year old phase and has the temper and tantrums that go along with that.  Fortunately she is usually pretty good around strangers and since she hasn’t seen you in over a year, I’m hoping she thinks of you as strangers and is on her best behavior.  Don’t make her your friend and it will all be good.  If you show her too much love, she will manipulate the heck out of you and scream until you do exactly as she chooses.  You’ve been warned.

I do not want to hear how I allow her to be the boss.  We went through this with her brother.  I know your feelings and I hope you can appreciate the way I’ve chosen to raise MY kids and keep your opinions to yourself.  Nothing you can say will make me less tolerant of the stages children go through.  It’s my job to raise them into confident adults and while I may give them more choices and chances than you think I should, It’s up to Me and I take my job seriously.

We look forward to visiting.  Hope nothing gets broke. Hope you put the breakables away.

Love,

Your Daughter

Dear Hubster,

Yes, I do appreciate your sudden understanding that I would like some help with the dishes.  What I do not appreciate is the constant fishing for some sort of compliment or pat on the back.  Must you every morning ask me “Wasn’t it nice to wake up and have no dishes in the sink?”  The dishes I awoke to every morning were yours from the night before after I did all the dinner dishes, so yes, it is nice that you are doing your own dishes.  I also do not need to be told every night about you “nighttime dish-washing routine.”  I got it.  You’re making an effort to do the dishes, even if we both know that you have ulterior motives (like giving me some relaxing time before bed so I won’t be “too tired”).

Last weekends comment about leaving the cheesy egg pan for you to clean was unwarranted. I did not make cheesy eggs for the kids just so you would have to clean the pan.  I never imagined you would clean the pan, and by the way, you didn’t.

It’s been a week and a half since you started regularly helping with the dishes, after 15 years of asking.  I’m learning to not be so obsessed with keeping the sink free of dirty dishes and have even left dinner dishes in the sink and gone to bed.  Who am I to mess with your “nighttime routine”? 

Now, when you feel confident that the dishes will remain in you routine, let me know, I’d love to add some laundry to your routine as well.

Love Ya,

S~

Dear Hubby,

While I do not expect you to be able to multi-task like a WAHM (Me), I would like to see you be able to do more than one thing at a time.  Like while your waiting for something to heat up in the microwave. Instead of standing there for 3 minutes, maybe you could wash a couple dishes or put some of the clean ones I washed away?

Yesterday we both went upstairs to take a shower at the same time.  I purposely paid attention to what I did, as you often think I do nothing, and here is what happened.  You went into your bathroom.  I sorted and put away a basket (equivalent to 4 loads) of clothes in all the appropriate drawers in the right rooms.  I took my shower, got dressed, got all the dirty laundry from upstairs and hauled it to the garage, folded the laundry in the dryer, put clothes from washer into dryer and started a new load in washer.  I got both kids dressed and finished getting myself ready (makeup, hair, brushed teeth).  I washed the dishes from breakfast and sat to check some email before you emerged from the bathroom.

What could you possibly have been doing for all that time?  

Love,

Wifey

Dear Mom,

     Can I call you Mom?

It’s been 40 years since we last saw each other and I just wanted to let you know what’s been going on in my life.

I grew up just fine.  I have two brothers, one is a couple years older and the other is a year and 6 days younger.  We had a ton of fun as kids and grew up in a kid friendly neighborhood with lots of friends to play with on our street.

I did very well inschool, participated in several varsity sports, had several “best” friends and one boyfriend during High School.  I went to Michigan State and then started a career as a restaurant manager in 1998.

I moved to Virginia in 1993 and met my husband 6 months later.  We were married in 1999 and our precious son (your grandson) was born in July of 2003.  We were then blessed with our little angel (your granddaughter) in April 2006.

Overall I am very satisfied with how my life turned out.  It wasn’t perfect, and sometimes far from it, but I believe I am a very resilient and positive person as well as stubborn and independent.  I’m assuming I got those qualities from you, so thanks.

I have thought about you often and have even looked for you (internet searches) on several occasions, with no luck.  I want you to know how brave I feel your decision to give me up was.  I am not upset or disappointed, and only hope that giving me up (at birth) allowed you to live the life you had always dreamed of.  I will always love you for giving me life.

Lovingly,

Your Daughter

A letter from Boogie to his dad (Written by Mommy)

Please know that I know it’s your job to teach me about these things, but sometimes it’s helpful for me to take your lessons and make my own decisions about them.  I like wearing red socks no matter what I’m wearing, it makes me feel good.

p.s. Thaks for letting me where my Spiderman Costume out to breakfast the other morning, that was cool!

Dear Hubby,

Why are you still awake?  The kids are asleep and I’m completely ignoring you over here on my PC.  You asked earlier if we could have sex tonight and I said “we’ll see.” Don’t you know me well enough by now to know that that is a NO?  So, an hour ago, you said you were tired and going to bed.  I asked if you could get up with the kids tomorrow since Puddin’ Pop fell asleep at 5:30 and will probably be up at 5:30 am (for the 3rd time this week, she’s trying to stop taking naps), and I still had some work to do and would be up quite late.  I also reminded you that your excuse of me going to bed before you (therefore I should get up with kids) has NOT been the case for the last 3 weeks or more.  You said you would go to bed so you could get up.  You went up, then came back down, and now I feel as though we are trying to see who can outlast the other.  I’m exhausted and want to go to bed, but I will not give you that satisfaction.  I am sleeping in tomorrow!  You will need to get up with the kids, get them breakfast, get them dressed, and get them outside to play.  I will be sleeping.  I know I say this at least once every 2 months and get up by 8:00 anyway, but tomorrow I will not!  Go to bed!

xoxo

Wifey

Dear Mom,

I really enjoy all the stories you and Dad have told me over the years, and if I look like I’m not enjoying some, I assure you it’s not due to the repetitiveness.  There are a few stories I have issue with and I’ll explain why.

The story of how you could vacuum under Hubby’s crib and not wake him…

While I admire your extreme need for cleanliness, at all costs, I feel this explains why Hubby has NEVER woken up for the kids, in 5 years, even with a kick and a shove.  Okay, maybe with a kick and a shove, but by then, I’m up anyway, so it doesn’t really count.

The story of how you potty trained your son in just one week…

Again, I commend your dedication.  The fact that you would get up first thing in the morning and put him on the potty, where both of you sat until he went, Wow.  Then going back to the potty every 15 minutes for the same wait (extending the time by 10 minutes each day), complete dedication and I am amazed.  I’m sure others have used this very technique and have been quite successful, however, the fact that, at 40, your son must still sit on the “pot” first thing in the morning, “until he goes”, wasting about 45 minutes a day…not so cute.

Thirdly, and I’ll stop complaining after this.  I do love you both and am extremely grateful for your son and both of you BUT…

You always share with me how you taught your son how to do laundry and iron clothes…

In truth, by not having him do these tasks for himself when he was old enough to do so, you only taught him an expectation.  How to expect his clothes to look after someone else washes and irons them.  Bit of bad news, I DON’T IRON!