Thankful Thursday- Full hands

Oh, Thursday. What am I supposed to do with you when I wish you were just over and done with?

Today I am thankful that I know who I am and what my intentions are. There's this phrase I hear pretty much every time I'm out with the boys. If you have children, you've probably heard it to.

"You've got your hands full."

I can usually tell what the feelings behind the statement are.

There's the, "Oh my. You sure do have your hands full!"s that clearly say, "Makes me tired just looking at ya. Good luck with that."

There's the, "Ooooooooo! Look at the twins! They're so cuuuuute! You've got your hands full"s. The last part seems to be just some filler words to acknowledge my presence. If these people have any inkling of twindom beyond cuteness factor, I'll eat my hat...at least I'll be very surprised.

There's the, "*gasp* Are they yours?! They are so sweet and look how good they're being. I bet you have your hands full"s. I like these people. In less than five seconds they compliment me, acknowledge the hard work that goes into raising children, and lift my spirits.

Then there's the, "Oh. Wow. You've got your hands full, don't you?" Which, as we all know, means, "Do you even know where babies come from you Earth killing, tax wasting, overpopulating jerk?" *Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh* Yes, I do. Do you even know me well enough to have grounds for such assumptions? Nooooo.

I was in Walmart the other day, on my way to Customer service. I noticed quite the troop coming from the opposite direction. A young mother pulling a heavily loaded cart, very pregnant, small child on hip, slightly bigger child behind her, and a young boy holding onto the other side of the cart. I didn't see her face before she went by, but I remember thinking, "I bet she's tired." Then I noticed a Walmart employee staring past me with quite the disdainful look on her face. I stopped at the line to Customer service as this employee hailed a co-worker and both walked past me. As they went I heard the first woman say, "Did you see that? Some woman was just here who had FIVE little kids AND she's pregnant. *tsk*...And we're paying for them."

I turned and said, "Oh for pity's sake." But neither of them heard me and kept walking. Why do so many people judge on sight alone? For all we know this woman was pregnant with her first child and was caring for someone else's three-not-five. If they were all her children, I doubt that family is any drain on the government or wasting honest people's tax dollars. What's so wrong with having multiple children?? Especially when you can care for them??

After finishing with customer service, I took the boys into the store and grabbed a few things. We later found ourselves in the check-out line manned by, you guessed it, Miss Goodwill. Having heard her opinion on "too many" children before, I hoped she would be a fun social observation and when we arrived at the head of the line, she did not disappoint. She laughed jovially with the woman in front of us, and her smile fell visibly when she turned to greet me and saw one-two-three! boys sitting in the cart. She said, "Huh. You've got your hands full." I spoke with a bit too much enthusiasm just to spice things up. I remarked that yes, indeed my hands were full and three boys is oodles of fun. I think she then tried to smile, but was so put off by my obvious ignorance of overpopulation that she couldn't. The effect was fairly comical. I give her props for at least remembering to try to be polite to the customer in the face of such atrocity. She kept glancing at my cart full of boys and as I signed the receipt she said, "You got a set of twins in there?" To which I replied, "I sure do!" She lightened a bit and said, "well...you have a nice day."

I shouldn't let it, but it bothers me when people are obviously upset that I have "so many" children then they soften toward me when they find out two of the three are twins.

Long story short, I'm so thankful that I have purpose and (usually) perspective in life. I am grateful that such knowledge gives me confidence in the face of negative strangers in the world. Sometimes, those zingers still bite. But most of the time, it's merely disappointing.

Yes, my hands are full. I'm so grateful they are.

What are you thankful for today??

P.S. I'm grateful for starfall.com today, too. With the little ones napping and Jonz playing reading games on the computer, I can lay down and try to snooze off this annoying migraine hangover. Yay:)