Lurching Tummy
It’s a surreal experience to watch your stomach popping and jumping up and down at no voluntary movement of your own. I’m sitting here observing it jerk rapidly left and right, and I’m thinking maybe I should go grab a drink for the popcorn that’s coming. Seriously strange. Embarrassing at times, too, when you’re sitting next to someone at a serious affair, like during prayer in church, or when you’re standing in the checkout line at the grocery store, and you find your tummy lurching in the direction of a total stranger. I find myself folding my arms over my tummy in a vain effort to make my stomach behave. “No, I’m not having digestive issues; I have an alien creature inside of me, kicking me and bouncing around at will!”
Mainly I just find it incredibly humorous because I can’t micromanage this little squirmy worm; I can’t box it up and categorize it in storage; I can’t create a file folder for it, only to pull it out when I’m in the mood; I have no control over it whatsoever, and this, I find absurdly comical.
Seriously, though, it’s very odd not to be able to control what you’re body is doing. The older this baby gets, the more obvious this truth becomes, even as it makes its way out into this world. Before I had kids, I used to be critical of parents who had no control over their children. Why do they let their kids run all over my classroom when I’m trying to conference with them on the progress of their student? How come they don’t make their kids finish their homework? Why don’t they check their backpacks before they go to school to make sure they’re not bringing restricted items, like Pokemon cards, to school? What’s wrong with parents these days?
There’s nothing quite like personal first-hand knowledge, going through the experience of being responsible for another human being yourself, to shut your mouth and add crystal-clear clarity to a situation. You have one of these precious creatures, and you discover why those parents had very little control of their kids or merely why they were tired of trying to fight it; sometimes as a parent you know you probably could reign your kids in, but you weigh the battle that would ensue if you did, and you decide, “What’s the real harm in letting them run wildly across the front lawn of the church?” that is, providing they’re not going to run anyone or anything down.
They’re not so easy to micromanage after all, like everything else seems to be in your little microcosm, and this becomes apparent as early as the womb.
Mainly I just find it incredibly humorous because I can’t micromanage this little squirmy worm; I can’t box it up and categorize it in storage; I can’t create a file folder for it, only to pull it out when I’m in the mood; I have no control over it whatsoever, and this, I find absurdly comical.
Seriously, though, it’s very odd not to be able to control what you’re body is doing. The older this baby gets, the more obvious this truth becomes, even as it makes its way out into this world. Before I had kids, I used to be critical of parents who had no control over their children. Why do they let their kids run all over my classroom when I’m trying to conference with them on the progress of their student? How come they don’t make their kids finish their homework? Why don’t they check their backpacks before they go to school to make sure they’re not bringing restricted items, like Pokemon cards, to school? What’s wrong with parents these days?
There’s nothing quite like personal first-hand knowledge, going through the experience of being responsible for another human being yourself, to shut your mouth and add crystal-clear clarity to a situation. You have one of these precious creatures, and you discover why those parents had very little control of their kids or merely why they were tired of trying to fight it; sometimes as a parent you know you probably could reign your kids in, but you weigh the battle that would ensue if you did, and you decide, “What’s the real harm in letting them run wildly across the front lawn of the church?” that is, providing they’re not going to run anyone or anything down.
They’re not so easy to micromanage after all, like everything else seems to be in your little microcosm, and this becomes apparent as early as the womb.
Comments
:)
cj