I received the best email that I have received in a very long time.  I had to share with my teatime girlfriends! I wish I could give credit to the genius who wrote this!  I wish I could take credit for this one!

Here goes….

Six married men will be dropped on an island with one car and 3 kids each for six weeks.

Each kid will play two sports and take either music or dance classes.

There is no fast food.

Each man must take care of his 3 kids; keep his assigned house clean, correct all homework, complete science projects, cook, do laundry, and pay a list of “pretend” bills with not enough money.

In addition, each man will have to budget in money for groceries each week.

Each man must remember the birthdays of all their friends and relatives, and send cards out on time–no emailing.

Each man must also take each child to a doctor’s appointment, a dentist appointment, and a haircut appointment.

He must make one unscheduled and inconvenient visit per child to the Urgent Care.

He must also make cookies or cupcakes for a social function.

Each man will be responsible for decorating his own assigned house, planting flowers outside, and keeping it presentable at all times.

The men will only have access to television when the kids are asleep and all chores are done.

The men must shave their legs, wear makeup daily, adorn themselves with jewelry, wear uncomfortable yet stylish shoes, keep fingernails polished, and eyebrows groomed.

During one of the six weeks, the men will have to endure severe abdominal cramps, back aches, head aches, have extreme, unexplained mood swings but never once complain or slow down from other duties.

They must attend weekly school meetings and church, and find time at least once to spend the afternoon at the park or a similar setting.

They will need to read a book to the kids each night and in the morning, feed them, dress them, brush their teeth and comb their hair..all by 7:00 a.m.

A test will be given at the end of the six weeks, and each father will be required to know all of the following information: each child’s birthday, height, weight, shoe size, clothes size, doctor’s name, the child’s weight at birth, length, time of birth, and length of labor, each child’s favorite color, middle name, favorite snack, favorite song, favorite drink, favorite toy, biggest fear, and what they want to be when they grow up.  The kids vote them off the island based on performance.

The last man wins only if …he still has enough energy to be intimate with his spouse at a moment’s notice.

If the last man does win, he can play the game over and over and over again for the next 18-25 years, eventually earning the right to be called MOTHER!

While attending a hypnotise show I watched in amazement the control the hypnotise had over his volunteers.  While normally skeptical of the claims of hypnotizing, this performance certainly looked real.

I thought about the advantages it would have.  Hmmmm, wouldn’t it be incredible to make others ACT the way you would like them to?  To be able to control other drivers NOT to cut in front of you, or people NOT to talk while in a movie theatre, library, or play you are watching?!

I then thought about the advantages of  hypnotizing our children and spouses!  We could have them clean their rooms, do their homework, or have our spouses do more housework!  WOW!  I really need to learn this technique!  After all, I believe our children (since the day they were born) have hypnotized US as parents.  Since the moment we’ve held them in our arms, their wrinkly little flesh….we fell in love and BAM! We were automatically hypnotized to love our children unconditionally for the rest of our lives!  No matter what they do or say, we are brain-washed to love them completely and whole-heartedly. 

Then again, maybe WE, as parents, HAVE hypnotized our children.  Maybe everytime we have given them encouragement, or loved them, hugged them, and kissed their sweet face, that we too, have brainwashed them to love us forever!

This morning my 12 year old “reached into my heart” while I arrived at work. It was when I went to get a pen out of my purse when I saw an envelope handwritten with a purple marker, the word, “Babe.” (A name she has called me since she was little)
I opened the envelope that she carefully tucked inside my purse. It read, “I luv you and I wanted you to have it! I know it’s Babci’s but we have stuff of Babci’s that we can think of her with! Use 4 your lunch! Love, Jeanie. P.S. Loved you Last! P.S.S. See you later.
Tears filled my eyes as I put the envelope back and shook my head. It was beyond words what she did for me. Inside the note she put a $5.00 bill that she received from her late great-grandmother (that we called “Babci.”) The $5.00 was in a birthday card from her great grandmother she received. She must have taken it out last night and put it in my purse when she heard the conversation I had with my husband. I was mentioning to him that the girls from work were ordering out lunch on Thursday and I wanted to order with them but didn’t get paid until Friday. He said he wished he could help me, but he didn’t have cash on him.
My daughter gave me $5.00 out of her birthday card to give to me so I had money to get lunch with the girls from my work!
It touched my heart and my very soul! Sometimes my girls can drive me absolutely insane and yet other times they can melt my heart!
Sometimes as parents there are times we feel that everything we do goes unappreciated. We start to feel that we are only maids, nannies, cooks, and taxi-drivers to our children and that we don’t get recognized or “rewarded” for ALL our countless selfless acts.
Then, one day we get a note in our purse and realize that ALL the love we give our children…..it comes back to us two-fold!

This past weekend was the Highlands County Fair in Sebring, Florida.  Normally, I’m excited to go with my girls.  I love to watch them riding rides, eating cotton candy and just enjoying in the thrill of watching them win at a game.   However, this year was different.  We all planned on going to the fair, however, not with each other.  I was asked this year not  to “be with them!”  They were  set on going with their friends and not their mom!  Of course, at 12 and 14  I wasn’t comfortable just dropping them off.  I went to the fair with them (for their safety) however, I promised to stay behind them….(way, way, behind them).I knew the day would come ….the day when they would rather be with their friends than hang with their mom.  I guess I was just hoping it would happen much much later. 

Although it’s crushing for a parent to have their children starting to have friends and preferring their company rather than yours…..it is normal when they reach the “teens.”  Even though mine are teens, the selfish part of me was just hoping that maybe they would be those “abnormal” teenagers and WANT to hang with me rather than their friends. 

I’ll just look forward to the years when they’ll WANT  to be with mom again.  Like the years I preferred my mother over my friends (ie. when I was getting married and when I had my children)  And while a part of me may be thinking to myself.., “It’s not fair for them to grow up!”  I need to remember, I need to let them go….to let them grow.

And to also remind myself that although they may be growing older, they will NEVER grow apart from me……not forever anyways.  Just until they finish their teen years!

Parents of toddlers…..ENJOY them!  It doesn’t last long.  Enjoy them wanting you to hold them, to love them, and WANT to be on your lap…because the day will come…they will be teens!

While working with the elementary children, two of them handed me pictures that they colored for me.  At times, they can be a handful, yet other times they do something so sweet that it touches my heart.

Our own children are the same way.  Just when they are driving you absolutely insane they say or do something that absolutely melts your heart. 

Which makes me realize that children don’t have to be picture perfect in order for us to love them.  And thankfully, we as parents, don’t have to be picture perfect for them to love us back!