Resolution Tuesday:Revisited on a Thursday

Though the utter absence of posts on Resolution Tuesday may have led you to believe otherwise, I have not, actually, forgotten my New Year's Resolution ("Mother less, but no less than necessary").  I would say I think of it on a more regular basis than any of my many previous resolutions. 

About my vow to come here and report about my progress each week...not so much.

Okay, Okay, I have failed miserably.

And even though it is Thursday, the following actually happened on a Tuesday, so I am going to kick start the second - and hopefully better - half of the year's worth of Resolution Tuesdays by telling you about it.

Oldest is not what anyone might be inclined to call a morning person. The boy loves to sleep.  Not only does he love to sleep in in the morning, he generally naps in the afternoon and has been known to take a refresher nap from, say, seven to nine in the evening before going out to hang with his friends.

And yet (thank you, summer job Gods!) he is required to be at his job at 8AM Monday through Friday.  Though this does not suit his natural circadian rhythms, I am proud to announce that he has never once been late.

The other morning, I was at the kitchen counter when he staggered out of his room clad only in his boxers, bleary-eyed, hair askew. He walked over to me, leaned against the counter and, wordlessly, presented his back to me to be scratched.  We have a generations-long tradition in our family of back-scratching, but Oldest is the only one of my boys that I know will absolute certainty will pass it along to his kids.

As I scratched, he moaned, "I hate my joooooooobbbbb."

There were so many things, so many, many thing, I wanted to say. If I were, at that moment, my most "I told you so" self I would have said...

"This is why it is useful to actually make an effort to find a job instead of taking the only one that drifted by."

or if I were my most empathic self...

"Oh, I know how hard it is working with young kids all day."

or if I were my sarcastic self...

"Maybe next year, you will actually plan your summer in advance."

or if I were my mother...

"Well, that's why they call it work."

or if I were my uncle...

"Now you know why a college education is actually a good thing."

I scanned among my many options, opened my mouth to say something, then shut it firmly. 

Instead, I just scratched his back and let life do all the talking.