Thoughtful Thursday – Invitations

 We have so many invitations in our lives.  As children, we are invited to parties.  We invite our friends to our own parties, but the guest list is usually parent-controlled or dictated by a class list.

As we get older, I’m talking the grand old age of about ten, we begin to question why we should invite everyone ‘just because’ and become more selective in our choices of people we share momentous occasions with.

Though adolescence, invitations become a status symbol….who is or is not invited becomes a crucial element in social standing and ‘coolness’.  Adults poo-poo this as childish; part of the angst-ridden journey teenager takes on the path of self-discovery and self-invention.

Then, as an adult we justify our own decisions to invite a person or group to certain functions. We consider, with great care, the event, the mix of people, the space, and the benefit each guest will bestow on us, the hosts.  This, of course, is far more mature than the adolescent ‘clique’ invitations that can hurt and crush individuals beyond recognition!  The invitation to a friend’s Bar Mitzvah, the wedding of distant cousins, or a children’s birthday party (you know, when you are relying on your child to point out the birthday boy as you have no clue who they are), are just part of the society we have created.  Go along and have fun!  Enjoy being the one who gets the invitation and hope your BFF doesn’t find out she wasn’t invited!

But there are also the most amazing types of invitations….the ones that often do not appear on paper or an Evite.  These invitations are more personal, more connected to the individuals involved.  We are complex creatures driven by primal instincts.  Therefore the invitations from the heart and soul are the ones that really count.   They can be invitations between a man and a woman to begin a discussion that may lead somewhere…or maybe not….but the invitation is implied in body language and signals.  Invitations to ‘come to bed early, darling’ can be exciting and out of the ordinary.

Precious invitations between a parent and a child to have a snuggle or read a book together….bliss!

Look out for the invitations we receive everyday from our fellow human beings; invitations to engage in a conversation, help a friend, an invitation to notice a moment that is precious to someone else.  Invitations that need no RSVP!

Children

Welcome to Company Coffee Girl Blog Hop.  I am getting to meet some wonderful bloggers through this blog and this is a great way to meet more.  Posts have been about all sorts of things so I decided to spend a moment (the time it takes to have a nice cup of coffee) to think about children.

Children are the greatest people on Earth. They speak from the heart, make no judgment about a person based on physical features, and have a knack of making me smile even at my darkest times.

Children don’t come with a handbook, which can lead to a number of issues with their upbringing and dealings in general. Despite every attempt at reading the Mommy Handbook, Parents Guide to Babies, How to Raise Kids who Love Themselves, etc…you could never find one book that actually gave you an answer to the particular question you had at the time….and there have been many questions!

Children grow and change.  Again…no handbook for this!  Children have their own point of view and you have NO idea where it came from….surely you made YOUR point of view very clear about respecting others and their differing opinions?  Why isn’t the message getting across like YOU want it to?  Why does your child insist on thinking and doing the opposite of what you want?  Oh yes, because you are trying to raise them  to think for themselves!  Now, where is that handbook?

Children are exhausting!  They can run faster and longer and with a much higher pitched squeal than you ever did.  They can function on minimal intake of nutritious food and need less sleep than those books we now store in the garage say they MUST have in order to be human!

Children also love to REALLY need to have the latest and greatest gadgety thingy that has just been advertised, just like all the others that now lay broken in the garage along with the handbooks!

But what children REALLY are cannot be put into words.  The first smile, gummy and drool filled.  The hand that fits so snuggly into yours as you walk along the beach collecting shells.  The excitement of Christmas, the Tooth Fairy, the night before their birthday.  The scraped knee and the knowledge that only YOU can really make it better.  The kiss goodnight, sleep tight, mind the bedbugs don’t bite!  The words that come from the person who loves you most in the world…”I love you Mommy.”  And the knowledge that this little person means more to you than anything in the world as you utter, “I love you too!”

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