an open letter to the monkey
dear monkey,
you behaved like a rabid banshee today at our local “paint your own pottery” establishment. you wanted to hold my cell phone in your glazy orange hands. then you didn’t want to wash your hands. then you had to tee tee but didn’t like the type of potty they had there. then you writhed around on a floor that apparently hasn’t been mopped since 1969.
there were Smug Old Women there (SOWs). i could taste their judgement. when i tried to elicit their sympathy by making a joke, they just shook their heads and kept painting football mascots on chip-and-dip platters. perhaps they were thinking that i shouldn’t have spanked you, or that i should have spanked you sooner. perhaps they looked disdainfully upon a far off world where four-year-olds think they are entitled to use smart phones. i don’t know exactly what they were thinking but i do know this: no matter how much they loathed me, i loathed me more.
you spilled green glaze on the floor, on your shoe, and in your hair. to my credit, your green apparel didn’t bother me. i cleaned it up, as well as the floor. i’m cool like that. the bird painted a yellow mustache on his face. again, no worries. i dig guys with facial hair.
in the car, on the way home, you tried to hit me with a red plastic guitar. and that’s when it occurred to me that if motherhood were a regular job, i’d be an idiot to keep reporting to work everyday.
but i’m your mom, and i love you, and i will report to work every single day.
there are going to be a few changes in the term “work,” however. we are never going to leave the house again. the floors here are clean, and there are no SOWs here painting colonal reb images on platters. there are places here, completely devoid of ceramics, where i can deposit the bird while i help you carry out the tasks of daily life. there is a time-out facility, otherwise known as YOUR ROOM, conveniently located on the second floor. and perhaps most importantly, there is a bottle of wine in our fridge.
love,
mom
Tags: banshee, fit, judgement, paint your own pottery, rabid, smart phone, smug old women, SOWs, spank
January 21st, 2011 at 4:17 pm
Haha. This post was so funny! The last line of wine in the fridge made me laugh out loud. God bless you, poor momma!
January 21st, 2011 at 5:44 pm
dear mom of the monkey:
oh, how i love you. i wish for a porch soon to tell tales and sip wine.
xoxo.
January 21st, 2011 at 8:18 pm
If it’s any consolation, I am teary eyed now. It is so funny to read, but I can taste those SOWs clucking around all the same.
Let’s raise a glass!
January 21st, 2011 at 8:46 pm
Oh, dear. Oh, my.
I’m laughing, but also seriously feeling for you!!
January 21st, 2011 at 9:22 pm
Oh, MA, so sorry for your day! Hope the wine was delicious and the monkey repentant.
January 22nd, 2011 at 8:38 am
Have I ever been there with my own particular monkey! Substitute “hair salon” for “paint your own pottery establishment,” and I could have pretty much written this. I continue to love your blog for its honesty and humor! Thanks for being real, and for being brave enough to share it with us.
January 22nd, 2011 at 8:57 am
All of your blogs are better that all of your other blogs! This one is delicious.
January 22nd, 2011 at 11:42 am
you nailed it…love the SOWs
January 22nd, 2011 at 2:10 pm
Oh man, I am so sorry about this no-fun experience. I’m getting old, but I hope I never never never become a SOW. At least I know I’d never paint a colonel reb on ANYTHING at ANY TIME.
January 23rd, 2011 at 9:02 pm
I’m using this as a form letter to Eli. Only the names, dates, and locations will change.
January 26th, 2011 at 6:37 pm
I would just like to say Salut!