i am my mother's daughter

Last night as Ender was pulling the lamp off the end table for the third time, causing it to be forever crooked, I exclaimed, "I can't have anything!!" This was the third lamp to meet its demise at the hands of my child. As the words slipped past my lips, I thought to myself, How many times have I heard my own mother exclaim those exact same words?

I don't think anybody really appreciates the things they spend their hard-earned money on until they have kids to ruin it. As I looked at this third victim lamp, restored to its place on the end table pointing towards the corner of the room instead up towards the ceiling as it had before it hit the floor, my mother's possessions passed through my mind; the glass-topped coffee table I stood on and broke, the La-Z-Boy recliner I actually managed to break in half, the lamp shade I spattered with purple marker. When I was on the giving end of the destruction, watching my mother stomp away screeching, "I can't have anything!" I would pout, thinking, "Sheesh...it's just crappy, cheap stuff." But it was her crappy, cheap stuff. I get that now.

So Mom, on this Mother's Day weekend please accept my sincere appology. At least find solace in the fact that Karma has come to get me, and now I can't have anything either.