Communication----Keeping the Good Stuff

Texting   
 The commercial comes on and says "the average kid texts 20 words per minute".  Yeah right.  I'm pretty sure most octogenarians can text faster than that.  Since first being given a cell phone, my kids have been able to text without misspelling a word while studying for a test, watching tv and playing video games all at the same time but never even looking at their phones!  If they ever got as slow as 20 words per minute I would think something was wrong. 
     Ever notice how fast you can text when you're mad?  Seems those words just fly from your fingers.  And then it happens.  The person who texted you doesn't understand what's going on and stops texting all together.   Maybe there was a text that you interpreted one way but the texter meant another way.  Or maybe you misread it.  Then it escalates and you both are mad.
     What would be different if real communication had happened?  If things were clarified.  If, instead of flipping out, the texter and the textee stopped to weigh what was actually being said and why.   Or if a phone call was made so the inflection in the words could actually be heard and not just assumed because the assumption was most likely wrong.  Let's face it.  Texting is NOT the best form of communication.

Mom's Losing It
     Recently my kids had a talk with my husband without me knowing it.  Because I seem to ask them the same questions over and over lately, they think I'm having memory issues and felt their dad needed to step in.   I had to laugh when they told me.  While I've heard from them several times that they are going to put me in a home as soon as I'm of age, I don't think I'm quite there yet!   The reason I ask them repeatedly their school and work schedules......well there are 6 of them and one of me!  Unless they write it down for me, keeping up with even two other schedules is tough.  But 5 or 6, please!   It's called being a mom.  We care if there is a family meal during the week.  We care if there is family time during the week.  We try to keep things together.   And since all but one of these people is male, I don't think they will ever understand.
     Speaking of being a mom, how many of you have saved things your kids made?  Pretty much part of the whole mom thing is keeping cards made by kids, awards they've won and papers they've gotten really good grades on.  But do we keep those papers covered in red marks or negative teacher comments?  Of course not!  Besides our kids thinking mom was losing it because she asked schedules over and over, they also decided mom was losing it because I seemed to not think about the bad stuff but remember the good stuff.   "Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable---if anything is excellent or praiseworthy---think about such things."  Philippians 4:8.  This is the reason I smile and don't dwell on the bad stuff!  And that's what I told my family when they finally told me their concerns.
      Communication.  It takes time.  It takes patience.  It takes givers.  It takes receivers.  And it takes forgivers.  Haha....and sometimes forgetters!