Being the teesy bit Mexican that we are meant at least one obligatory year of Spanish in High School.
Hi friends.
Shout out to the sweet Mom-friend who greeted me at my daughter's graduation the other day telling me that she enjoyed my blog. I wish I had been in a better frame of mind and not wanting to simultaneously cry a river AND devour every cream puff I could possibly find in creation. Sorry about looking strange and possibly just mumbling and nodding to you. I really am thankful you hop on here.
Anyhow, my sister Dawn and I had this strange way of connecting over Spanish phrases.
Phrases made with words you need to know yet know you will never use.
So we used them on each other.
It was nothing to pass each other and with a smile blurt out, "Leche narize," "milk nose" or our personal favorite, "Facil queso."
"Easy cheesy."
We were just two quarter Mexican crazy kids in the 90's.
We even loved Speedy Gonzales and looked at Disney's "The Three Caballeros," as part of our familial history.
It was Dawn who may have been forced to switch from writing left-handed to right-handed in school, but who also made a way for us kids to use a lower case "d" separating our name in two as it should be.
I mean, you can only push a girl so far after all.
She made our name "cool." "de Leon."
My little oldest sister paved the way for the rest of the clan with her unique, cute studious ways.
Thanks for that Dawn.
She is so cute in fact that when my oldest girl needed a middle name there was no flinching.
And there she was, "Abigail Dawn." Just as determined to pave a new way as her cute little aunt.
I knew graduation was coming and decided to be an amazing Mom and do some shopping
weeks before our trip to get our girl from college turned into the only family vacation we could squeeze in this Summer.
There I was at Aldi getting this and that when I noticed that the artisanal cheeses were greatly reduced.
We like to try crazy new cheese conglomerations like Rose basil and the like. They're usually a mite expensive but it makes a great side for game nights or after church munchies.
But here they were marked down to 99 cents a block.
I literally turned to the right and the left wondering why the masses weren't swarming the dairy case.
I stood there thinking about our family vacation on the horizon and in some weird way I had this idea that we could not, should not, would not have a good time together if we did not get all the cheese.
And when I say all the cheese I mean ALL the artisanal cheeses.
As in the whole box.
I grabbed chunks of "Coffee lavender," smoked cheddar with chilies, and even a honey sea-salt concoction.
I snatched those hunks of cheese like I was slowly morphing into "The Mother of the Year," or at the very least "The Mother of Vacation."
I am embarrassed to tell you how much that little cardboard box rung-up to.
One was 99 cents it's true, but a heap of 99 cents is still a good chunk of change.
(See what I did there?)
Here's the kicker,
I DON'T EVEN LIKE CHEESE.
Give me a grilled cheese with ONE slice of processed cheese product here and there sure, but cheese doesn't even make the top 100 things I would even WANT to take with me to a deserted island.
I know, I know, "So why all the cheese?!"
This whole scenario can only be truly explained by one Mom's attempt to cash-in on a good deal and buy into the falsehood that "more is better."
Now I've not been around the sun as many times as others I greatly admire, but I think I can, with all the confidence that a 45 year old can have, say that more isn't better.
More is just MORE.
We literally just stopped for a restroom break on this vacation trip and my oldest commented, "So where did all the cheese come from?!" and I just ironically told him that he would have to read my blog to find out.
That was a fun moment.
Here's the deal.
Cheese on sale is just cheaper cheese.
It's not a window to happiness or even a guarantee of a great family time away.
I know, you're laughing. Deena leaves for a month and comes back with a post about everything we already know about cheese for Pete's sake.
I get it, but let's replace cheese with, say, a homeschool co-op, music lessons, a new kitchen gadget finally on sale or even a weekly play date with friends.
We Mom's can swap out cheese for anything we feel the need to grab while it's hot and fill the schedule and budget with.
Promises of more well-rounded kids, more productive homes, more successful schooling or even just to have MORE ways to describe our kids to others keeps us buying boxes of things we already don't have time or energy for.
I myself bought a whole calligraphy curriculum because I thought in twenty easy lessons my girls would finally have pleasant penmanship.
In a month the pens were lost and the idea- just as silly as "coffee rubbed"cheese.
It was just more for the sake of having more, expecting more.
More of myself, more of my girls who write just fine, more for the sake of more.
What are we adding to our homes, our minds, our emotional energy that's already filled-to-the-brim?
More news because we need to be informed, don't we?
More salads because someone told us that we cannot look like so and so without them.
More shoes to hide unsightly veins from having the kids you just want more for.
More is just more.
More activities means more time away from the dinner table where you could be feasting on hoards of cheeses.
More instagram worthy meals means more time between dates because the budget is maxed out.
More running from this appointment to that shopping afternoon means more time away from the laundry pile that will still be waiting for your attention.
More is just more.
And it goes without saying that if more is more, then less is less.
Less money spent means less to fret over.
Less time away from home means less stress over clutter.
Less time online means less anxiety over who has just cooked, baked, crocheted, knit, sewed, written the latest amazing thing you think you should have been doing as well.
Less words spoken means less to apologize for.
Less is just less to deal with.
John 3:30 says, "He must increase, but I must decrease."
The only "more" I want to fill my heart, my mind and this vacation with is the Lord Jesus himself.
This is my goal though I often fall so short of it.
Less me, less busy, less things, less words to take back, less fleshly appetites.
Just less and more of Him.
And just in case you get a hankering for cheese, you're welcome at our place.
