I love Laurie Berkner. She's spunky and wacky and she sings catchy kids' tunes. Plus, she has amazing red curly hair AND plays the guitar. What's not to love? Here are the lyrics to one of my favorite LB songs:
I'm not perfect
No I'm not
I'm not perfect
But I've got what I've got.
I do my very best,
I do my very best
I do my very best each day
But I'm not
perfect
and I hope you like me
that way
What a great little song. I'd encourage you to look it up and listen to it online if you don't know it already. Or call me (really!) and I'll sing it to you. :)
Last night I was reminded that I don't have to be perfect to have a perfectly good time. I invited 5 people to join me at our home for an informal meeting to discuss the concept of 'community'. Here's what the day looked like:
SCURRY and try to clean EVERYTHING, and make the boys work in the yard (even in the rain) and and get groceries and make my famous dark chocolate torte.
The downside is that:
1) water from the waterbath slopped into the torte .. guess what .. from that moment on, I knew it would not be PERFECT
2) there is no way to make my house look like 3 kids, 3 dogs and a cat live here .. there was dog hair, clothes on the floor, dirty dishes here and there ... the more i cleaned, the more messes I found.
3) I didn't have serving plates. Or enough coffee cups. (Thank GOD the forks were all clean!)
4) I ran out of toilet bowl cleaner. seriously.
5) Most of these people had never been to my house before. I wanted it to be 'just right' ... I wanted them to be comfortable ...
6) I battle with several forms of social anxiety. I was worried that it would attack me ...
7) When it was time for everyone to arrive, I realized that there was a pile of dirty dishes in the sink!
Guess what happened NEXT: My children worked so hard all day .. cheerfully (94% of the time) and helped me get SO MUCH done. My mother loaned me 8 gorgeous china dessert plates. The house was tidy ... the porch was swept, the weather wonderful, the coffee amazing (thanks to Troy for that!). Everyone arrived on time, cheerful and eager to try 'the torte'. . which was, I must say, delicious. We had a productive, civilized, amazing conversation. My husband was so impressive ... he had so many great ideas and good points to contribute .. I was really proud of him!
Items 1-7 on the list were completely irrelevant to the whole point of the gathering as soon as the first guest arrived. Everyone had a great time. And the house was NOT perfect, but that... my friends ... was PERFECTLY FINE.
My father always says that he doesn't do perfect! If someone says that something he made or did was perfect...he says he will have to try again because "I don't do perfect!" LOL I like his way of thinking! :-)
ReplyDeleteDawn, You keep mining those deep waters, you're gonna get washed clean and shiny by the Love you find there!
ReplyDeletePerfect, smerfect! In my book, Purty Good is right UP THERE with Perfectly Fine. PG ways are defined as able to share kindness, sensitivity, tenderness or compassion, creativity and intelligence with others. You are Purty Good now, girl. Getting MORE so everyday...
Love you.
(I like your dad, Jeanine!)
Dawn it was an amazing evening - your husband DID have some awesomely down-to-earth yet earth-shattering points…the torte was out of this world! And NO ONE noticed the dishes, dust, dogs etc. But I am right there with ya on knowing that there may be ginormous dust bunnies of dog hair under the couch waiting for the first guest to arrive before they pounce :)
ReplyDelete