My husband, who teaches a fourth/fifth-grade combo class at an elementary school jokingly shared with our son that he used him as an example in class today. Apparently, today is National Imperfection Day, which prompted my husband to assign his students a journal project in which they list one of their imperfections, embrace it, realize we're not perfect, and then also discuss how they can improve.
As an example, he shared that our son Will, a fifth grader, has this really unusual ability to get a "milk-mustache" every single time he takes a sip of something. The crazy thing is, he even gets a milk (or punch) mustache after drinking out of a straw! I honestly don't know how he does it, and we have a running joke between the two of us about "having a lot of work to do before prom."
Got Milk?
I began to realize my son's tendency to get beverages and food all over his face was somewhat unique to him when I volunteered in his class a couple of years ago. It was a class party and all the kids were eating cupcakes that I made. At some point in the party, I notice chocolate frosting all over Will's face. I promptly grabbed the napkins to pass along to the class, thinking all of them would need to tidy up. But it wasn't long before I realized that my child was the ONLY one in the class that had chocolate all over his face.
We laughed about his tendency, and it became funnier when we realized that Will actually knows a few of my husband's students from various athletic teams he's played on and also from his new role as sax player in the Benicia Elementary School Band.
Our dinner discussion continued as my husband shared with us his own greatest imperfection, which he also shared with his class: Procrastination. My husband has very many strengths. Very many. In fact, he's drying our daughter's hair after making dinner and giving her a bath, just so I can work on my blog. I will forever appreciate all of the wonderful characteristics of my husband. Truly, I will.
But sometimes, his procrastination drives me crazy! If you know us well enough, you'll know that my husband has been working on his master's degree ever since our son was three years old. Now our son is 10 years old, has a larger shoe size than me, and will be towering over me likely before he turns 11. And yet we wait, as we have for four years, for my husband to get inspired to finish his thesis. The good news is, he only has until Spring before the classes he took before have to be retaken. It seems to be motivating him, as looming deadlines always do, and for that we are grateful.
So then I asked my husband what my greatest imperfection is. After a short pause, he explained that I have a tendency to let things go and go (like clutter in our bedroom or kitchen), and then all of a sudden I get fed up and frustrated and want to tend to it immediately. He's right about that, but I argued that at least I get things done....eventually. I remember a college roommate of mine commenting how funny it was that I would vaccuum at midnight once in a while, a practice that would occur after I ultimately got fed up with not tending to it earlier.
Actually, I can think of greater faults of mine and told my husband that. He eventually came up with many more as our son chuckled and our three-year-old daughter Piper sucked her thumb. We all agreed that Piper is too young to have an imperfection, but thought perhaps her biggest one was not being able to decide on a Halloween costume. Her latest idea is a toilet.
The truth is, I actually kind of like what I husband calls my biggest imperfection. It's what got me motivated to take my weight loss journey public and start my blog. I'd had it with my escalating weight and decided in an instant one morning last February what I had to do. And shortly after, I had a logo, started a blog, went back to Weight Watchers and began actually making use of my gym membership.
And now, I'm down to only 5.5 pounds away from my weight loss goal of 40 pounds! How's that for a National Imperfection Day celebration?
Here's this week's picture!
Until Next Week,
Jen
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