The 3 Foot View

When I was in the corporate world, we would ask for "the 50,000 foot view" to indicate we weren't interested in all the details at that time, just the high level overview.

One of the things that is very different about my current work is that rather than a 50,000 foot view, I often get a 3 foot view (my children's height.) I have to tell you--that perspective is much more entertaining. Here are a handful of examples from the last couple of days.

*Two of my three decided yesterday that although they do not like hamburgers, they DO like sushi. P & K took over my plate of orange rolls--crab, cucumber, avocado, seaweed, rice and orange salmon roe (fish eggs!)

*When playing Wii golf with R today I realized that he is not old enough to be properly motivated. He was plus 6 after two holes and thought he was really beating me. He was aiming for the water hazards and sand traps because they meant he got extra turns and 'more points!'

*Yesterday we saw a firetruck with sirens wailing rushing down the street. "Oh, I hope there is not a house on fire, Mama. That would be so sad because I love all the people in this life and don't want their houses to burn."
"Oh, K! That is so sweet," I responded.
"God tells us to love everyone, right?"
"Yes, He does."
"Ohhh!" Her eyes got really big and twinkly. "Do I even get to love the firefighters?"

*Leaving our church's soup kitchen this week, P pointed to a group of homeless people and shouted, "Look, Mama, it is your hungry people!'
I cringed and rushed him into the car.
"Why are they hungry if they have shopping carts?" he continued.
"Because they don't have any money. It takes a lot of money to pay for a place to live and food."
"Well, why don't we just go give them all some money? You have some in your wallet."

*This morning K was helping me feed the family pets. She wanted to do it herself, so I backed off and let her go. It only took about 30 seconds for chaos to break out. The dog commandeered the kitten's food, the water bowl spilled, the kitty ran through K's legs and into the back of the house. "Oh, Mama!" she exclained, "Everything is upside down! Nobody is doin' what I say!"
I bit my tongue in half to avoid a lecture about how Mommy feels the same way several times a day!

*Getting in and out of the car with three small children is my least favorite thing. It is invariably stressful, especially in parking lots on 90+ degree Summer days. Yesterday, I was exasperated because I had one standing next to the car and the other two were dilly dallying inside. I had to start counting to 3 before anyone would start moving to unload.
"Guys!" I lectured, "Why does Mommy have to count. Wouldn't it be nice if I just asked you to do something once and you obeyed?"
"That would be AMAZING!" P replied.

Oh, little people. Thank heavens for a sense of humor!