Esther, age 2, sat patiently on the bathroom counter while I, Grandma Nan, attempted to rekindle whatever skills I had once possessed in the combing of a little girl’s hair. With her mommy at work and her daddy being even less talented than I, the task fell to me. My mind was drawn back to all the hair wars I had participated in as a mother of three daughters.
We did OK together at first. I pulled a section of little blond curls to the side and secured them with a rubber band. I was preparing to top off my work with a bow or a ribbon or barrette when suddenly and unexpectedly we came to an impasse.
“I want purple bows, Grandma!” she said emphatically.
Not wanting to ignite any kind of tantrum, I replied with sensitive sensibility, “Well Esther, your dress is red.”
This was apparently not a problem in Esther’s mind. “Well” she said, “Probably we should paint my dress purple!”
Esther’s creative solution to dressing for success in the Primary nursery seemed to go a bit too far, when a simple change of the mind would do. Sometimes I’m like Esther. I choose the most difficult option to fix a simple problem. Figuratively speaking of course (as I have outgrown wearing decorations in my hair), instead of changing my mind about the color of my ribbons, I opt to paint my dress to match my bows! Today as I work away at the problems that arise and complexity threatens my serenity, I want to remember that there are options, and that sometimes I can keep it simple by simply changing my mind.
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