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Kamloops News

MANN: What would you do with a million dollars?

Image Credit: SUBMITTED
April 25, 2019 - 12:08 PM

This week hasn’t been the greatest week as far as parenting.

I made a lot of mistakes trying to keep things running smoothly, but at least I didn’t have  the time to throw my hands up and give up because — well — there just wasn’t time.

I couldn’t seem to do anything right in the eyes of my daughter.

I went first when I should have gone second, I dressed her in the wrong order (socks first, then pants), and I shouldn’t have threatened to throw Koala in the other room if she didn’t stop bugging her brother with him.

(Don’t worry, Koala is a stuffed toy and is safely sleeping in bed.)

Good thing my son was there for some comic relief — talking into anything he could find like he was chatting on the phone with an old friend — a banana, toy truck, and a cup.

Don’t worry, he’s only one so it’s not weird yet.

I kept telling myself, it is just fine to be a mediocre mom today. You can’t be the best mom every day.

In fact, you probably can’t be the best most days --- leave that for someone else.

But, it’s easy to lay in bed at night and ruminate on the day’s events, picking out what went wrong, and why you made the choices you did — or why you didn’t make the choices you should have.

Sometimes in order to counter those self-deprecating thoughts, I like to think about how my life would be different if I won the lottery (or if I was living in the land of Game of Thrones).

It happens.

We know it happens because we see the smiling faces in the news, and those giant cheques that I like to imagine people trying to deposit into a bank machine.

But I rarely hear the second half of the story. The part where the big cheque turns into cold-hard cash, and those winners follow through with some of the things they mention in their stories...new cars, college tuition payments, paying off loans, donating to charity, etc.

Did their lives truly change for the better? Or did they find themselves in such a different and unfamiliar space, that when the money ran out, they simply slipped back into normal-hood?

Or are we just not sure what happened because they are hiding away on a beautiful remote island, dipping their toes in the hot sand and surf, and marveling at what life has blessed them with,

Do they try to look back and find some kind of a sign — a reason why they were chosen — or was it truly just luck of the draw.

Many of us sit here grumpily and wonder, ‘Why them.’

And then I start to imagine what I would do with a million dollars.

Would it make me a better parent? Maybe, maybe not.

I’m not saying I wouldn’t be willing to give it a go.

A chef would certainly help my short-comings in the kitchen, and maybe a little bit of financial wiggle room would give me a chance to perfect my mom skills.

April showers bring May flowers, and the end of the week brings the weekend.

I haven’t scored a million dollars yet, but just like parenting, you can’t be a winner every day, but you have to keep trying because you are the prize to the little people in your life.

— Becky is a 30-something, red haired, mother of two, trying to navigate this life as best she can. She enjoys talking to people and discovering their stories. Still trying to balance her personal and professional life, she juggles work and play. In her spare time Becky can be found visiting with friends, spending time with her family and saving time by reading while walking.

News from © iNFOnews, 2019
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