May you live in interesting times.
Have you ever heard that phrase before?
I have.
I don't remember where- there are some notations to it- I probably heard it from my parents
there were things written about it or similar to it in the late 30's to mid 40's.
What got me on this thought was the other evening. The cute one and I were standing in line at the pharmacy to get some stuff for the boy. He had a minor skin thing that needed dealt with and we were waiting for the pharmacist.
The cute one said (jokingly), "How could anyone ever think we are interesting?"
He is right. We are at the pharmacy after working all day and coming home and cleaning up mess and then working on a bunch of other stuff....not including major litter box clean out and the fact that we have all been sick.
We then decided that we would count how many times we can go to Target in a week. Right now we are up to about 4...including last night when we were there 2x to get bandages and some stuff we forgot.
Yup you betcha we are right here with interesting. We are so blinking exciting that we get happy when the cashier at Target (pronounced "Tar-jet") remembers that we have been there before.
What we have is our sense of humor. I would estimate the last two weeks have really sucked. The boy was sick, then the cuter one got it, then I got it. Then a major disappointment. My hair color (in a box) was discontinued....that was enough to set me back for at least 10 minutes....which is about all the free time I have these days.
Then a call that the boy had a skin thingy from the sport he was in and he is now done with sports for the rest of the season. then the doctor (last 2 weeks we have been there- we are now regulars) and wait- we have to clean down the entire house, major bleach then wash then bleach some more......missed a spot? go back and spray that sucker again.....bandages and tape 2 x a day and then maybe if I am not junked up on coffee (when I don't have caffeine right after dinner I am ready for bed around 7PM)
Who the heck ever said I wanted to be interesting? I used to pray for wisdom. I didn't want interesting. Interesting means I have to work harder than I already do.
Interesting means I have to be able to function for the boy and keep my head above water or the ground depending on how you look at it.....I am not much at interesting. I prefer to be wise; girls I knew used to pray for pretty or popular....I wanted wisdom....to know what would work for me. That doesn't mean I listened to what was the best thing....I just knew what I should do and there are times I should have cut and run and didn't.
Anyhow, The boy keeps telling me that i am boring. I don't have an interesting bone in my body....and well, he thinks I am mean and a pain too because I MAKE him do stuff. I make him work out, I make him do sports I make him eat right and I make him do his homework. Then I have the audacity to force him to study for his upcoming finals.
Who the heck do I think I am anyway?
Cause like one of my favorite movie characters, Birdie, as she said to her daughter, "You know, I always thought I was gonna be, I don't know, special. But I'm not. I'm just... I'm just an ordinary person. And that's OK."
Because being just ordinary may be boring but it is just OK.
We don't need excessive amounts of cash, or tons of things or lots of people. When one family is picked over others to do what we do....it makes us special.
Maybe to others it makes us interesting too.
There are days I would trade you the interesting for a hot bath and a lovely facial....and then I know I would get bored and have to go find what makes life interesting and be back where I was before.
I have.
I don't remember where- there are some notations to it- I probably heard it from my parents
there were things written about it or similar to it in the late 30's to mid 40's.
What got me on this thought was the other evening. The cute one and I were standing in line at the pharmacy to get some stuff for the boy. He had a minor skin thing that needed dealt with and we were waiting for the pharmacist.
The cute one said (jokingly), "How could anyone ever think we are interesting?"
He is right. We are at the pharmacy after working all day and coming home and cleaning up mess and then working on a bunch of other stuff....not including major litter box clean out and the fact that we have all been sick.
We then decided that we would count how many times we can go to Target in a week. Right now we are up to about 4...including last night when we were there 2x to get bandages and some stuff we forgot.
Yup you betcha we are right here with interesting. We are so blinking exciting that we get happy when the cashier at Target (pronounced "Tar-jet") remembers that we have been there before.
What we have is our sense of humor. I would estimate the last two weeks have really sucked. The boy was sick, then the cuter one got it, then I got it. Then a major disappointment. My hair color (in a box) was discontinued....that was enough to set me back for at least 10 minutes....which is about all the free time I have these days.
Then a call that the boy had a skin thingy from the sport he was in and he is now done with sports for the rest of the season. then the doctor (last 2 weeks we have been there- we are now regulars) and wait- we have to clean down the entire house, major bleach then wash then bleach some more......missed a spot? go back and spray that sucker again.....bandages and tape 2 x a day and then maybe if I am not junked up on coffee (when I don't have caffeine right after dinner I am ready for bed around 7PM)
Who the heck ever said I wanted to be interesting? I used to pray for wisdom. I didn't want interesting. Interesting means I have to work harder than I already do.
Interesting means I have to be able to function for the boy and keep my head above water or the ground depending on how you look at it.....I am not much at interesting. I prefer to be wise; girls I knew used to pray for pretty or popular....I wanted wisdom....to know what would work for me. That doesn't mean I listened to what was the best thing....I just knew what I should do and there are times I should have cut and run and didn't.
Anyhow, The boy keeps telling me that i am boring. I don't have an interesting bone in my body....and well, he thinks I am mean and a pain too because I MAKE him do stuff. I make him work out, I make him do sports I make him eat right and I make him do his homework. Then I have the audacity to force him to study for his upcoming finals.
Who the heck do I think I am anyway?
Cause like one of my favorite movie characters, Birdie, as she said to her daughter, "You know, I always thought I was gonna be, I don't know, special. But I'm not. I'm just... I'm just an ordinary person. And that's OK."
Because being just ordinary may be boring but it is just OK.
We don't need excessive amounts of cash, or tons of things or lots of people. When one family is picked over others to do what we do....it makes us special.
Maybe to others it makes us interesting too.
There are days I would trade you the interesting for a hot bath and a lovely facial....and then I know I would get bored and have to go find what makes life interesting and be back where I was before.
| Before I left England for China in 1936 a friend told me that there exists a Chinese curse — "May you live in interesting times". If so, our generation has certainly witnessed that curse's fulfilment. |
— Hughe Knatchbull-Hugessen, Diplomat in Peace and War, 1949
|
| Some years ago, in 1936, I had to write to a very dear and honored friend of mine, who has since died, Sir Austen Chamberlain, brother of the present Prime Minister, and I concluded my letter with a rather banal remark, "that we were living in an interesting age." Evidently he read the whole letter, because by return mail he wrote to me and concluded as follows: "Many years ago, I learned from one of our diplomats in China that one of the principal Chinese curses heaped upon an enemy is, 'May you live in an interesting age.'" "Surely", he said, "no age has been more fraught with insecurity than our own present time." That was three years ago. |
— Frederic R. Coudert, Proceedings of the Academy of Political Science, 1939
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