When I was single, occasionally I
would see a mother at the grocery store with a child with a dirty face,
uncombed hair, one shoe missing, and eating a candy bar. I would smugly say to myself, “I will NEVER
go out in public with MY child looking like that.” Now I’m impressed that mother was able to
keep at least one of her child’s shoes on.
After giving birth to my fourth
child in 4 years, I declared the baby factory closed. I announced to anyone who would listen that I
was DONE! I will NEVER have any more
children. I gave away all my baby
clothes and toys. Little did I know that
at the exact same time I was handing out baby clothes, I was 3 months pregnant
with my fifth.
As we drove south on Interstate 15
in our big U-Haul headed for Texas, I declared that I would NEVER move back to
Utah. After five years of living in the
Southwest, we found ourselves heading north on the same highway in an even
bigger U-Haul taking the Salt Lake City exit.
Many years ago my husband and I
drove to a quaint small town in Utah to attend a family reunion. At first it seemed like a great place to
live. But when we tried to grab a bite
to eat and couldn’t find a restaurant we recognized, I again stated, “I will
NEVER live in a small town with only one grocery store.” We eventually bought our first home in a town
with less than 30,000 people.
Most at this point would give up and
say, “I NEVER will say ‘never’ again.”
But not me. Never will always be
part of my vocabulary, but with a twist.
Here are a few of my new declarations:
“I will NEVER go on a romantic
cruise with my husband.”
“My kids will NEVER graduate from
college.”
“I will NEVER receive my Master’s
degree.”
“My husband and I will NEVER live a
long and happy life together.”
“I will NEVER fit into my wedding
dress again.”
“I will NEVER visit Scotland or
Italy.”
“My grandchildren will NEVER think
I’m the “fun” grandma and come to my house to eat ice cream.”
I’ll let you know if my new plan
works, but right now I need to run down to the only grocery store in this small
town in Utah with my 5th child whose face is dirty and missing one shoe.
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