“Good thing my dad’s amazing at computers”, says son #1 when I ask him about his school project at bedtime the other night. “I need to do a power point presentation so I’m really lucky”.
Power point?!?! Pfft. I can do power point, but since his dad makes a living dealing with computer systems and networks, I let this go.
“And your sister’s a really good artist……………….and our uncle is REALLY amazing at eating A LOT of food”, he says and starts giggling. I agree with him, and tell him that my brother can make an olympic sport out of eating but secretly, I’m now starting to wonder where this conversation is going.
“So mata (their pet name for me)”, he intently stares at me and fires: “what are YOU good at?”
Pause. Slow inhale.
“What am I good at?”, I repeat, hoping he’ll answer his own question.
Meanwhile, Son #2 is walking by the bedroom on his way to brush his teeth.
“She’s good at nothing”, he contributes to the conversation. “She can’t even do her job properly because it’s so hard and she can’t finish it during the day. She really needs an easier job and then maybe she won’t have it like homework.”
“Oh, so you’re not really good at anything then, huh?”, continues my eldest.
“I guess not”, I say, still silently hoping they’ll remember that I just finished building them a hockey net.
“Doesn’t that make you useless?” he summarized, and plunged the dagger deeper into my soul.
“I guess so buddy”, I said, half smiling. “There isn’t one specific thing that I’m AMAZING at but I seem to get by ok on most things”.
“Yeah, she’s useless”, concluded the little one walking back, agreeing with his brother.
I then tucked them into bed and headed to basement to disassemble the hockey net. 😉
The Single Mom Chronicles 