[email protected]

In a message dated 7/1/2003 11:15:05 PM Eastern Standard Time,
[email protected] writes:

> If I had said "no, I'm taking a nap," Holly wouldn't have been as happy.
> If
> I had not asked the boys if they wanted anything, they would not have been
> as
> happy. It was easy to think of each person on the way by.
>

It matters to me, greatly, that my family is happy, and it matters to them
that I am. We all do little things for one another along with the big things. If
someone gets up for a drink when we're all watching tv, they ask if the
others want something. When Beth orders groceries, she buys tubes of cookie dough
we can have fresh baked cookies whenever we want. (I said we're thoughtful, not
that we aren't lazy.) If I'm working at my desk, Julian will come behind me
and give me a shoulder massage.

Someone noticed once when Juls and I were in a store and I asked him if there
was anything he wanted or needed before we left. They said, "Oh, are you in
for it!" Juls said, "She always asks me." The thing is, he knows that if I
can reasonably afford it (and if I can't, he can usually have it eventually,
just not now), he can have whatever he wants.

He almost always says no. I have seen kids in museum gift shops clamoring for
things. Julian never does. He can have what he wants or needs, so he doesn't
need the validation of something just because. Far from being "spoiled" (and
don't you HATE that term!), Julian is not greedy.

Yeah, it's really important that my family be happy as much as it can. Makes
me happy too.

Kathryn


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