if they got to know me...

my neighbor...
bless her heart...
she is CRAZY.
(do you like that? in the south if you use a preemptive "bless their/his/her heart", you can say mean things...please note I'm kidding. not about that saying though.....)

Pam: I hate the idea that someone out there hates me. I even hate that Al-Qaeda hates me. I think if they got to know me they wouldn't hate me. But Karen knows me and she still hates me, so.
my neighbor.
she is not a fan of Jared.
which is fine. not everyone has to be a fan of my kid.
but...
a. she's an adult.
and
b. he's a great kid.
and yes I'm completely biased,
but....
you may not know everything your child says and does when they are away from you...
but you know their heart.
and Jared is a nice kid.

So. without going into too much detail suffice it to say of the group of boys here,
(2 other families, with 2 boys each)
one is being left out. or feeling left out.
this is mostly due to the fact he doesn't like playing outside.
and the other 6 do. (please note. the other 6 do. 6 ...not just Jared)
I have talked to my boys about including him.
compromising and letting him choose the game or sport.
they all claim to be trying...
and
I am one to let kids work things out...
I mean honestly...7 or more kids together...there are always a few that don't get along.
sometimes it's my kids that come in crying.
and guess what?
I tell them they can either play together or not.
I don't care who hit who, or who tackled who too hard, or who didn't follow the rules....
play together and get along. or come inside.

she has said she "hates" Jared.
and now, she has said he is a bully.
lovely.
Jared is competitive. but. he. is. not. a. bully.
I'm not sure if I should just continue to ignore her.
or if I confront her?

my sister pointed out.
me in a confrontation would equal
me listening to her tell me what a rotten kid I have..
and then uttering something along the lines of ...
"you are mean, and your kid is weird"...
which would not be helpful.
I'm voting for option c. which is move.
Colin says that is not an option yet.
my husband's advice is "ignore it, the kid is just weird."
which is good advice, and true...
but honestly. I feel bad.
I feel bad that her son is upset.

I like things to be conflict free.
and I like kids to be happy...

I've also decided in the past few days that I need to be more mindful.
because while I'm not overly sensitive in terms of little things bothering me.
I think that lots of woman are.
and I am too laid back sometimes.
I'm trying to take this into account in this situation.
I am also still feeling horribly bad about a completely different situation yesterday,
when I inadvertently sent a friend a tag on facebook.
which was a not a bad or mean thing to do,
until it dawned on my the content of the tag.
and her history.
and realized my huge. ginormous. mistake.
but that's just so me.
not thinking.
not intentionally doing something hurtful,
and yet.
looking back going.
what is wrong with you...
horrible.
I felt and feel horrible.

so maybe I'm over thinking this situation.
in order to not later have to say
why am I such an idiot?!

I am actually contemplating creating greeting cards with that sentiment.
"I'm sorry I'm such an idiot. please forgive me."

so the past few days I've spent listening to Pastor Jason's podcasts.
like 6 of them.
and scrapping.
because cutting out shapes from paper and inking them and piecing them back together is clearly cathartic for me. (ok. and fun)
and Jason is so spot on.
seriously. I would totally drink the kool-aid.
(which was a joke. in case that's not blatantly clear)
my favorite line still...."you are not super Christian!"...
which is good to remind yourself. sometimes multiple times (a day).
and then try harder.
(even though that's not exactly the way it was used...)

ps. that picture in the last post was Coley. age 2-ish...
gorgeous grumpy Coley-O.