Nothing to See Here…

Daughter #2 (she’s 21, second on from the left on my masthead) just got a summer job at a steak house.

Daughter #1 (she’s nearly 23, second from the right up there) also works at a steak house but not the same one and not in the same city.

It’s in their blood - my ex-husband worked in a steak house when I was first dating him.

Us folks here in the Midwest, we come from hardy pioneer stock.  We is meat and potatoes (butter and sour cream, please) kinds of people.

Still, it’s shocking really because Amber came this close to deciding to be a veterinarian when she was a kid.  Well, she was only 9 and she meant vegetarian, but once we corrected her on that score, she came awfully close to being one.

There were really only a few problems with the plan.  First, there was her hatred of all vegetables.  Second, there was her love for steak.  So she had decided she would be a steak-eating vegetarian that didn’t like vegetables.  I think she had settled on breakfast cereals as her daily food staple. 

Yeah, Fruity Pebbles and steak.  I think that was her plan.

But somehow she’s matured and now she eats all sorts of things, salads and broccoli and probably lots of beer (I’m guessing).  And she works at a steak house.

My babies are gettin’ all growed up!  Makes a muther dern proud.

I still have these other three that yap at me every day though.  Mama, feed me.  Mama, change my diaper.  Mama, play with me.  Mama, mama, mama.  Whine whine whine, I want, I need, give me give me give me.  Damn kids - where do they get off expecting me to do all this, this… parenting???

But seriously… when I look at my two eldest, I think, wow, they turned out pretty good.  Even though one of them talked non-stop for 4 years straight without ever taking a breath.  Even though one of them stole all the sodas out of the school cafeteria soda machine when it was accidentally left unlocked.  Even though one of them wouldn’t eat her vegetables ever.  Even though one of them missed her senior trip because her grades were awful.  Even though one of them got fired from a job because she partook in an after-work party that included beer.  Even though one of them shop-lifted eye-shadow from K-Mart when I was THERE with her shopping.  Even though, well, you get the idea.  They weren’t perfect.  We had our issues.

I look at these three little girls… I look at them and I get hyper-focused on the issues… on the one who flies off the handle so easily and the one who refuses to eat anything but cheese and yogurt (hey, at least she’ll have strong bones, huh?) and the one who is filling this house with her buckets and buckets of drool.  I look at them and think… they’re going to grow up and be FINE.  Better than fine - they’ll be smart and beautiful and good and kind.  These little bitty issues we have now?  Either they’ll be gone or they’ll become part of who my daughter is as a person.  But I shouldn’t sweat those issues now.  They are really insignificant in the grand scheme of things. 

And?  Maybe?  They’ll all work in steak houses and we’ll live happily ever after, with butter and sour cream.  Free steak for everyone!  Especially all you veterinarian’s out there!