Rain Rain Go Away

Rain rain go away, Come again another day. Mommy and her kids want to play. That’s what I was thinking last Saturday as I stood by the window checking the sky. A cluster of dark clouds rolled by. Thunder storms? Or just a passing shower? It was hard to tell.

“What are you doing?” Eric (7) asked.

“I’m trying to decide whether we should go to the pool.” I said.

“The pool?” Eric’s eyes got wider and he smiled. He reminded me of a beagle who had just heard someone say the word “walk.” If he had a tail, it would have been wagging.

“We should definitely go to the pool.” He said.

I shook my head.  I wasn’t convinced. “Well, there's a 60 percent chance it might rain.” I said.

Eric grabbed my hand and jumped up and down. “But Mom." He said. "There's a 40 percent chance it might NOT rain.”

That tipped it. I packed up our swim gear, loaded the kids in the minivan and off to the pool we went. As it turns out, Eric was right. Less than an hour later the gray skies cleared and we spent the afternoon splashing and playing.

My conversation with Eric about weather forecasting was brief. Yet it stuck with me.

Eric, I have discovered, is an optimist. He believes that people are good and that the world is conspiring to do him good.

Eric is convinced that if he puts a quarter in the crane game, he will win a prize. He expects that if he enters the sweepstakes advertised on the back of the cereal box he will be a winner. He doesn’t see the glass as half full, he sees it as overflowing with root beer or apple juice.

Maybe it’s easy to have a sunny disposition when you're seven. After all, Eric doesn’t have to go to work. He doesn’t have any student loans hanging over his head. And he isn’t worried about the economy.

On the other hand, it’s not like his life is a bed of roses. Yesterday his sister, Emily (4) hit him in the eye. Emily said it was an accident.  She was actually trying to hit him on the arm and missed.

While I don’t think Emily can pack much of a punch, the whack prompted Eric to cry and stew for about thirty minutes. Still, he got over it before the day was out.  I can’t recall the last time someone hit me in the eye but I’m pretty sure if it happened I’d still be holding a grudge today.

Then there was the time Beth (2) stepped on Eric’s toy car and damaged it. She broke off one of the wheels. Eric pitched a fit. But after I helped him glue the wheel back and Beth gave him a hug, he felt better.

Last time someone broke my car, I didn’t react nearly as well as Eric. It took more than a bit of glue and a hug to get me out of my funk.

On the surface, it may look like there is a big difference between mom problems and seven-year old problems. But when you scale them to fit, can I really claim my problems are so much different than his? Yet there he is handling himself with much greater poise than I do.

Being a mom has been a great learning experience for me. I’ve learned patience. I’ve learned diplomacy. I’ve learned to laugh.

One of my the most important things I’ve learned from my kids is that life is all about attitude. Its about laughing at silly knock knock jokes.  Its about enjoying the sight of a firefly on a hot summer night.

Its about realizing that you can either spend your time fretting that your plans will be ruined by a chance of rain or choosing instead to say "Yea, but there’s also a chance it might NOT rain.”