When I was a teenager I thought I had it really rough. I had my own room and always enough to eat - but let's face it: there are way more important things in teenage life, right? It was a real battle until my father agreed to let me use hair spray, make-up was out of the question and I was under no circumstances allowed to sew "my colours" onto my jeans jacket. It was the 80s for crying out loud and adorning a jeans jacket with your favourite teams, artists and whatnot was the shit to do. My father always said that if I was to "advertise" anything on my jacket, it would have to be his business....
My father is not some kind of fundamentalist, just a jerk - and I grew up and moved away eventually.
So when my oldest asked me a week ago whether he was allowed to have his eyebrow pierced, I naturally said "NO" right away. Luckily, he is his mother's son and "no" was not quite enough for him to give up. Once I thought about it, I realized I sounded just like my father and that "no" changed to a "yes" pretty quick. He's 16, has a job and pays for it himself - so what's the big deal, right?
Last Friday, during the Santa Parade and Midnight Madness Sale, piercings were on sale for 50% off; and while I hoped that they didn't cut the hygiene in half, I had to agree that it was the perfect time to get a piercing. So he did.
The swelling has since gone down and his eyebrow has turned all shades of blue, green and yellow - and he's really happy with his piercing. Of course he already ordered four different studs to replace that ring as soon as it's healed - a boy's gotta have options, right?
I'm glad that I said yes - it was a really easy way to make him happy. And that's what it's all about - to bring some joy into others' lives.
Another way I'm hoping to bring joy into my kids' lives is this year's advent calendar. My husband's aunt made the calendars for our kids many years ago and so far I've always filled them with chocolate and little surprises. This year I filled them with handwritten notes - one for each day, telling them what I love about them. Despite my husband's predictions that they would prefer chocolate, they are really looking forward to reading their little note in the morning - and that definitely brings me joy.
What are you doing to spread joy?