Mom Came In Like A Wrecking Ball

Sometimes I recall it in slow motion: Those moments when my kids are laughing, bantering back and forth about this and that, volume rising. A friendly debate ensues, and this mom sees it’s fixin’ to get nowhere fast, maybe even ugly. Then BAM, something inside me snaps, and I just want it to end. I don’t want the conflict, the arguing, the drama. There goes the wrecking ball, aka my tongue lashing, swooshing in to destroy the pettiness and pride. But whose going to destroy mine? “There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of …

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Of Tempers and Toothpaste

We are running late. She’s still in the bathroom. Door closed. Dawdling, I’m sure. I knock gently and turn the knob. Not. I barge in just in time to catch tongue against tip of toothpaste tube. I smile sweetly. “What are you doing?” Not! I yell. “WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?” I take the tube from her hands and toss it into the wastebasket. Not. I snatch it and hurl it into the bathtub. I later retrieve it and toss it into the wastebasket. “What are you doing?” I ask again. Softer. Sort of. “Getting toothpaste to brush …

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