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Hindsight is . . .

As I was vacuuming this morning, my mind began to wander to times past - some considered less than funny at the time. Not true this morning as I laughed out loud. And I thought, "hindsight might be twenty-twenty, but it can also be funny-funny".

I know I'm not alone in this thought - we often hear at those less than funny moments that one day we will laugh at 'this' (whatever the 'this' is). Especially when we're parenting young children and they do something incredibly irritating to their parent. In public. In the afternoon. On a hot, humid day spent at the beach. When the child and parent haven't had a nap. And the child can't stop saying something totally inappropriate for a three-year old that he just heard his parent say in frustration at the d*** driver that just cut her off on her way to the grocery store to get the milk her d*** hubby forgot to get the night before. So this adorable preschooler, sitting in the grocery cart starts to say d*** loudly and frequently because he got a big reaction initially from his mom. The store is full of seniors for senior day. Many smile at this cute little darling and then frown when he smiles back and says the new word that he discovered just minutes ago and likes to say because he gets lots of reactions. The parent initially gently corrects the errant preschooler and by the time they finally get to the milk (why does the d*** store put it all the way at the back?) her corrections are gradually more and more stern. By the time they get to the d*** checkout, the parent is beyond frazzled and the child smiles sweetly now chanting his new word. A woman standing in line, likely one of the seniors there that day to save big money, smiles at the child even though he continues to chant d*** and then puts her hand on the parent's shoulder and says in a soft, kind, been-there-done-this voice, "Some day you will look back on this and smile".

And this morning vacuuming, I did. I didn't just smile - I laughed at loud with only the dog to look on in confusion. Funny, funny stuff - great fodder for a "Modern Family" episode if they could ever get the child that plays Lily to talk!

As a parent, we have had lots of fodder for funny, funny hindsight. Every time I get together with my BFF's and we get on the topic of our children, there are funny stories. Perhaps, it's not so funny at the time it is happening- but once it's shared with the BFF's or pondered years later while vacuuming, it is funny. It's more than funny - it's funny, funny. Those moments of hindsight, away from the madness of the moment, can be funny, funny.

As I sit here, parenting three teens (and one is nearly 20) I have plenty of time to look back on those moments. And the three-not-so-little Piggins were generous in their gifts of those moments! I resolve at this moment to spend vast amounts of my alone time to recall these gems. Who knows, I might even, much to their chagrin, blog about them!!

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