{"id":9291,"date":"2008-09-08T11:10:43","date_gmt":"2008-09-08T11:10:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/momservations.wordpress.com\/2008\/09\/08\/missing-reward-offered-patience"},"modified":"2008-09-08T11:10:43","modified_gmt":"2008-09-08T11:10:43","slug":"missing-reward-offered-patience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/momservations.com\/index.php\/2008\/09\/08\/missing-reward-offered-patience\/","title":{"rendered":"Missing, Reward Offered: Patience"},"content":{"rendered":"

If patience is a virtue, my general moral excellence has a big blemish on it.<\/font><\/p>\n

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At least I’m consistent. I’ve always been this way.<\/font><\/p>\n

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When I was little, I wanted to hurry up and grow up. I was told I was four going on thirty. <\/font><\/p>\n

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In second grade I finished three math books before the rest of the class finished one.<\/font><\/p>\n

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In junior high I got detention when I left class before the teacher excused us because I was done waiting for the rest of the class to be quiet.<\/font><\/p>\n

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I was the first in line at high school graduation and my last name started with an “S”.<\/font><\/p>\n

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The first semester of college I called my dad to cry about four years being too long to get a degree. I wanted to already have it and go start making big money already.<\/font><\/p>\n

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I felt I was very patient waiting for my husband to propose to me, but I did have a tendency to point out jewelry sales in the Sunday paper.<\/font><\/p>\n

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My husband believes the reason our son rolled over, crawled, walked, talked, and did everything early was because I put him through baby boot camp.<\/font><\/p>\n

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Unfortunately, if there is any patience to be found in my body, my daughter snatches it and smothers it, foreshadowing the teenager she will become if I don’t hurry up and learn how to do this patience thing.<\/font><\/p>\n

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But the worst was when I tried to commiserate with my friend, Maria Shriver, about the frustrations of becoming a published author and she admonished me like a naughty school girl with, “You have no choice but to be patient.”<\/font><\/p>\n

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Well, shoot. Why didn’t someone tell me this sooner? Maybe that’s been my problem all along! I thought patience was a choice and I just chose to stand in the line that was moving quicker. The one where you got on with life already. <\/font><\/p>\n

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I guess I already knew it, but Maria was just reminding me the journey in life is not to a final destination. The journey is the destination. So I just need to settle down and enjoy the journey. <\/font><\/p>\n

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(Exaggerated pause) Are we having fun yet?<\/font><\/p>\n

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?        <\/span>?        <\/span>?<\/font><\/p>\n

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Many times I’ve caught myself being in a rush for my kids to grow up. <\/font><\/p>\n

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And I’m talking more philosophical than just not wanting to have to change diapers anymore. Although no one can be faulted for wanting a kid to hurry up and learn how to wipe their own butt.<\/font><\/p>\n

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More like, I thought toddler years would be easier than the demands of infancy. I thought grade school years would be easier than chasing around a toddler. Now I’m finding the grade school years aren’t any easier, they just present a different set of challenges.<\/font><\/p>\n

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Sometimes I’m anxious for my kids to mature so they’ll understand things with a wisdom that buffers them from frustrations of inexperience.<\/font><\/p>\n

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Or I see the seed of their potential and I become anxious to see them blossom into who they will one day become. <\/font><\/p>\n

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I find myself impatiently excited for them to experience all those wonderful firsts in life.<\/font><\/p>\n

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But when I see that my eight year old son can almost fit into my shoes and we’re shopping in the young men’s section; or my seven year old daughter is writing songs about heartbreak and first kisses; and their step stool for the sink shows the dust and cobwebs of decommission, I feel like I’m being penalized for my impatience.<\/font><\/p>\n

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A lesson in careful what you wish for.<\/font><\/p>\n

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It makes me say desperate prayers of penance that I’m in no rush for my kids to be the next Michael Phelps and first woman president. <\/font><\/p>\n

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But thank you Lord, for whizzing me through those days of sitting in the Target bathroom waiting for the tinkle in the toilet and poopie in the potty.<\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If patience is a virtue, my general moral excellence has a big blemish on it.   At least I’m consistent. I’ve always been this way.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9291","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nMissing, Reward Offered: Patience - Kelli M. Wheeler<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/momservations.com\/index.php\/2008\/09\/08\/missing-reward-offered-patience\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Missing, Reward Offered: Patience - Kelli M. 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