Month: May 2023

Life: An Everlasting Scavenger Hunt

Jeanna G2 Comments

As I checked my credit card statement, and retraced my steps to finally find my credit card in the pocket of my pants, a week after misplacing it, I couldn’t help but be reminded of the many scavenger and treasure hunts I went on as a child.

I went on hunts at birthday parties, on Easter morning, as an event with my youth group and extracurricular clubs. One required us to take a Polaroid picture at each new location to prove we had been there. One was a service-themed hunt, in which we had to collect different types of trash from around town. Some gave us prizes at each stop along the way, and some only had one prize at the end, whether we got there first or last. But all of them had us traveling all over the place, unsure if we were looking for the right thing or going in the right direction. Along the way, we’d pick up random, worthless items to cling to as prizes to prove we could follow directions and solve riddles. Oftentimes we just walked in circles, feeling a little lost, hoping to get a clue.

Now that I think about it, those hunts sound like my daily adult life.

Maybe that’s the whole point of those scavenger hunts: to prepare us for a life of finding what we are looking for.

Mother’s Day

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I hope you have a great day! You deserve it. You should relax. You should be celebrated! Put your feet up. Go to brunch! Get pampered! Oh, and try not to think about all the crap you have to do.

Know what I did today for Mother’s Day? I cleaned my house. And it made me so happy.

When I was a kid, on Mother’s Day, I decided to “do my mom a favor” and make her breakfast in bed. I put Cheerios and milk in a bowl, set it on a tray, and carried it upstairs to her bedroom. The door was shut, so I had to set the tray down in order to open the door. But little did I know that one leg of the tray was not locked open, so when I set it down, the bowl of Cheerios promptly spilled all over the hallway rug. Don’t cry over spilled milk? I guarantee you a mom is not who coined that phrase. I cried…a lot. But I cried because I was a kid and I had limited options when it came to gift-giving, and my one gift was ruined. Thinking back on it, I still cry, but now I cry for my mom. My poor mom. I mean, it’s not like I cleaned up the Cheerios. Cook, clean, repeat.

Now that I’m a mom, the greatest gift I could ask for on Mother’s Day (or any day) is a clean house. I wish for every to-do list to be checked off. I wish for no one to ask me to do anything or go anywhere. Just let me clean, so that tomorrow, when it’s ‘not’ Mother’s Day, I have one less thing to do.

*Clang* *Splash*

“What was that?”

“Mommmm. I just spilled my juice all over the table and now it’s dripping on the floor.”

Stuffies

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Adults seriously underrate the benefits of stuffed animals. (I’m writing this with my Pound Puppy, whom I named Cinnamon, resting in my lap.)

My whole life, I’ve felt more comfortable with pillows. Vegging out on the couch, taking long road trips, or sleeping, I’d always be hugging a pillow.

Study abstracts I’ve read declare that looking at cute animals lowers blood pressure, heart rate, and overall anxiety levels, while improving focus and performance on assignments and tasks.

Children surround themselves with stuffed animals, and are so happy. Adults are like, “No, stuffed animals are childish, so I will not have them, and I will be miserable instead.”

Here’s my advice: Adults need to toss their throw pillows and their egos out the window, and adopt a new comfort system: stuffed animals.