Years ago, her 5 yr. old daughter plugged in the iron and then hid it under the bed, lying flat on the carpet. Thank God my friend was home and smelled the burning before there was a fire! That same year, this child took a hose, pushed it through the cracked open window in their VACATIONING neighbors’ basement, turned it on, and went home! It wasn’t discovered until nearly a week later, by which time an incredible amount of damage had been done. I’m sure their insurance rates skyrocketed after that!

We’re still trying to figure out what that “formula” is for keeping our home nice looking with respect to carpeting, furniture and painting, vs. when they’ll move down the curve on the destruction level. We had new carpets installed and painted everything a few years ago and we already have stains in several spots and tons of dings in our walls. We have 2 boys and a girl and there’s definitely a much higher correlation between damage and boys, at least in our house.

Well, it’s all worth it in the end (that’s what we keep telling ourselves :)

How about instead of pretending to be a Buddhist Monk, we use those feelings to push ourselves for improvement and change?

While it may not be constructive to only wish for things that you don’t have in your life, it is constructive to use those wishes to pursue your goals.

I understand that it could be argued that once you get what you wish for, there will be something else that you want, and the cycle continues. But is that really reason enough to just ignore your aspirations?

I don’t know. I’ve just become so tired of the same old “appreciate the moment” articles that have become a pandemic on blogs lately. And, honestly, I have my doubts that most of the people writing them actually feel that way…