Ok, I definitely need you, faithful reader, to level with me
right now. I may or may not be suffering from some form of insanity. I'm
definitely not mentally ill or anything like that (and I don't want to make
light of people who are). Extreme foolishness or irrationality? That's possible
from me at times. Although if I'm being truthful, I think that's the case for
all of us. I should probably also confirm that I'm not suffering from insanity
as a result of doing the 'Insanity' workout (it's the hardest workout ever put
on DVD). No, I'm talking about insanity as defined by Albert Einstein, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and
over again, but expecting different results." Perhaps I should clarify.
 |
| Yes Shawn T. I likely can do it. But do I actually want to? |
I'll start with this; our house is a mess. Not because of
neglect or anything like that. It's more the result of having a very cute, but
very mobile child around. Ellie likes to begin her day the exact same way each
morning. She wakes up, eats from her mom, and plays a bit while Bethany gets
dressed for the day. Once I get back home from the gym, I take over and as of
this week, feed Ellie her breakfast mixture of applesauce and a Nutri-Grain
bar. Don't worry, it's not cinnamon since I learned babies can't have cinnamon.
After Ellie finishes her breakfast, I set her loose for some
pre-nap playtime. This pretty much consists of her immediately tearing through
our living room, flinging every toy out of her toy box along the way. Once
that's done, Ellie will contentedly sit down in the middle of the carnage she
has wrought, proudly taking it all in. Then, she will find the apple of her
eye, sitting underneath a chair patiently waiting for Ellie to find it.
Ellie swiftly flies across the carpet, extricating her prize
from its resting a place. At first glance it's just a simple white gift box
until Ellie removes the lid and all chaos breaks loose. An explosion of used
wrapping paper, ribbons, and junk mail spring forth with my daughter screaming
in delight. Her little hands work overtime flinging the contents from the box
until it's finally empty. Then, Ellie looks around at the remnants of paper
surrounding her, sighs happily, and grins mightily as I look on.
Not long after, I'll put Ellie down for her morning nap and
begin my daily ritual of cleaning up after her. I realize that the idea of
doing so is somewhat pointless. However, my reasons for doing so are twofold.
Number one, I just like the idea of a clean and straight house. Obviously
that's somewhat difficult with a ten-month-old but I can dream.
Number two is more about Ellie. I deeply enjoy watching her
have fun. Mostly because it means she's not crying and screaming. For some
reason, a simple box filled with recyclables brings her more joy than a lot of
things in the world. Therefore, I'm going to cram the wrapping paper, the
ribbons, and the junk mail back into that box three or four times a day. Just so
I can see her have the enjoyment of tearing it open again and strewing the
contents all over creation.
Now you understand why I'm identifying with Einstein's
quote? It's not that I'm expecting a different outcome necessarily. More so
that I find myself doing the same thing over and over and over again. If
nothing else, I'll be an expert in redundancy by the time it's all said
and done. Just like corporate America taught me. #DaddyWrite
No comments:
Post a Comment