Saturday, February 7, 2009

Sum It Up Saturday - AHA Moments

In No Particular Order, The Week in Review:

The Path Less Traveled


I had to make a delivery this week to a place I have been countless times. I always take 1 of 2 routes. As I was coming up to the section of road where I needed to decide which way to turn, I suddenly took a slightly different approach; a path I had never taken before. This "new" route actually made much more sense. I had an "Aha Moment".

So many times we get stuck in a routine and don't look for other, potentially better options. With child-like optimism, I made a promise to myself to start taking the "Road Less Traveled".


PT Oh!:

I went to another PTO meeting. I had a few Ah Ha realizations:

  1. It is far easier (and interesting) to sit through a monthly hour-long PTO meeting than to try to keep up with the flood of paper from school that hits our kitchen table daily. I learned information that I would have other-wise missed. There's also the layer of subtext that is not found in a newsletter!
  2. Arrive early, and sit where you can see everyone in the room. Keep a smile frozen on your face and try not to make eye-contact unless absolutely necessary with the "Alpha-Moms". Remember, like wild animals, they are more afraid of you than you are of them.
  3. Make at least one friend so you have someone to sit & chat with.
  4. Count the number of parents in the room and divide by the number of families in your school. By my calculations, between 1-2% of the parent population is represented. I thought back to one of my favorite movies, Napoleon Dynamite, and realized that alienated and "outsider" parents like myself are really in the majority. I don't know about you, but I'm gonna vote for Pedro! I'm also going to keep attending these meetings for the rest of the year. It'll help build my character and give me the appearance of an involved, caring parent!

Cheap vs Values


I learned from my post on the SuperBowl / GoDaddy Ads that men like things that are "Cheap" (including "cheap" ads) and women are more value(s) oriented.


Fallen Hero

Speaking of values, I've been asked by a few people who know my boys are swimmers about my views on the Michael Phelp's scandal. It hasn't come up yet and I am hoping this blows over soon. My older two boys who have been through DARE would think this was stupid because drugs harm your body as well as being illegal.

These days, heros are hard to come by and we all make stupid mistakes. My AHA here is that I am grateful my boys are happy, healthy and quite average. We don't need Gold Medals. We prefer to celebrate small victories such as shaving a few seconds off our time or winning a heat. (like Alex did today!). I have no desire for fame or great wealth for there is 'baggage" that comes with this.

I hope this scandal has been a wake-up call for Mr. Phelps and he has learned his lesson.

8 comments:

terri said...

The alpha parents are one reason to look forward to my kids being done with school.

The whole Michael Phelps thing has been way over-hyped, I think. He's human. He's going to make mistakes. Hopefully he learned from it. I can see him down the road using this situation as his story and a way to speak out against making poor decisions.

WeaselMomma said...

I always enjoy your take on life and love how your sense of humor shines through.

Tara R. said...

I love the PTO revelations. So true!

I'm with Terri... hopefully Phelps can use this lapse in judgement to teach younger kids about the problems using drugs can cause.

My Three Sons said...

Tell your son congrats on his ribbon for swimming. Our school district has a very small swim team and its just not very big. Surprising becuase we are one of the larger school districts in MO.

Michael Phelps, just like every other role model.....they all make mistakes but I do agree with Kelloggs taking his endorsement away.

Hope you have a great weekend and I'm glad you found a better route!

KandeeInNY said...

Thank you for the PTO insight as I am attending my first one tomorrow night for my middle schooler. I used to belong to the PTA in NY before we moved and have decided to join the current one here in Cali.
In NY, I knew all the kids from preschool on but once we moved, I realized I have alot of "catching up" to do in the new school.
Gossip travels much faster in the PTO meetings.

Putting the FUN in DysFUNctional said...

I am LMAO about the alpha moms being more afraid of you than you are of them. So true!

Cheffie-Mom said...

Woo hoo!! Congratulations Alex!! Awesome ribbon!!

Mike said...

I've seen Michael Phellps apologize over and over again. His image unfortunately is damaged.

Could never do the PTO stuff. Too much back stabbing and good old girls networking...