The Day I Answered a Question

Today was SantaLand in town.  The Women's Club in town hosts a little shop where children can come in and shop for little second hand trinkets, meet Santa, color a picture, hear a story, eat a bake-sale treat, and other things.  The lady running the Red Cross blood drive yesterday told me about it and offered me her tickets (she's a member of the club and has to buy 10 tickets - she didn't have 10 people to give them to).

So, I took the boys.  No.2 was not a big Santa fan last year, so I didn't push the issue and we never saw Santa, but they listened to the "Snow Queen" monotonely read The Night Before Christmas and colored some pages.

On our way out I ran into an acquaintance from karate.  She looked at me with a bit of a worried brow and asked how I was doing.  I smiled and said, "I'm terrible.  I'm absolutely terrible."

That is not a typical response.  But I had a purpose in actually answering her question honestly.

This woman works at a chiropractic place in town and I have been having sever burning and shooting pain in my back.  So much so that a couple mornings ago I reached over to my bedside table while lying on my bed and instantly was in tears.  I couldn't even talk.  Luckily, the pain is sporadic and I pretty much know what might set it off (it was pretty scary the other day when I was driving and for about 2 seconds froze up while driving 45mph).  So, I told my friend I was in terrible pain to which she said with a nod, "No wonder you're walking that way."  I asked if she still worked at the office.  She is.  And she suggested I give them a call.

I'm so glad she listened to my answer and helped me out.

I've come to a realization in my life, that if I don't want to or have time to hear the full and honest truth, I just avoid the question.  I've also realized that when I do ask, I need to mean it and be ready to be that listening ear that someone might need.  I want my sons to see that this "How are you - fine" conversation is not, in truth, a conversation.  I want them to learn how to be a good listener, to be helpful, to be a friend.

So, here's to listening.

Here's to answering.

And here's to a Better Mommy Me.