My preschool boys stood still in the twilight tonight, stunned by the evening’s beauty into momentary silence. Or stunned by the fact that their mama kept them up WAY TOO LATE. One or the other.
The sky was the very same royal blue as my 1989 satin, dropped-waist, sequined Homecoming dress… minus the sequins and the scent of fear.
Nighttime wasn’t quite convinced of its welcome – not quite yet- and so it waited on the horizon while only the moon and two brave, bright lights shone between clouds in the sky.
“Look!” shouted Cai, pointed to the most stunning light. “It’s the star from the Jesus barn!”
“It IS very bright, isn’t it, Cai?” I asked. “But it’s not the Star of Bethlehem. It’s actually not a star at all. It’s a planet. Venus is its name. And, believe it or not, it’s not glowing with its own light. Instead, the sunlight bounces off the planet, as though it’s a giant mirror reflecting light to Earth.”
I love these moments with my boys. Each one is a gift, and I try – oh, how I try – to make sure I’m not taking for granted the opportunities to savor our time together… and to teach little lessons during this age while they’re still so open to listening… and to learn, of course, always to learn from them.
Like tonight. Just like tonight. When they had something to teach me, too.
“But mostly, Mom, the most important part is that Venus rhymes with penis,” Cai replied, nodding sagely. “That’s right. Right, Mom? It goes like this. Venus penis. Venus penis. Venus penis.” He practiced and then, when he had the rhythm just right, he shouted his battle cry to the sky,
“VEE-NUS! PEE-NUS!”
Sometimes when I’m trying to be quiet, my kids are LOUD, you guys. And sometimes when I’m trying to give them a serious talkin’ to, they make me laugh. And sometimes when I’m trying to be poignant, they let one rip.
Part of my tension lately is this question of who I am. Particularly who I am out loud and in public. And whether I’m doing a disservice to you, dear reader, when I give you a bad case of whiplash by being an utterly ridiculous goofball one minute and then diving deep toward my alternately wounded and healing soul the next. There’s a lot of advice out there in the blogosphere, you know. Advice on how to blog well. Advice to define my market and to do only one thing. To be only one person. Advice I generally peruse and discard the way I chuck parenting manuals with wild disdain. Sometimes I feel badly about that – about not listening to the “shoulds” as well as I, well, should.
But I am a woman. And we women – we’re not just one thing.
The more I pursue authentic living, and the deeper I get into writing, and the more you allow me into your lives as an honest to goodness friend, the more I realize that being a Both/And person is the most sincere person I can be.
Friends, can I tell you something? I am zero kinds of interested in maintaining a facade by trying to be someone I am not. (I can hardly maintain my toilets – a facade is right out!) Or, worse, by trying to be only a part of who I am. I’m trying to be more whole, after all, not less.
And so I am Both/And. Both shallow and deep. Both wildly irreverent and intensely interested in an involved God. Both smart-mouthed and soft-hearted. Both capricious and utterly steadfast. Both enamored with my children and in desperate need of a wall on which to regularly beat my head.
I didn’t really mean to end up writing to this place tonight. And I have no doubt I’ll say more on this in the days and weeks to come, because living out loud is as scary as it is wonderful, and talking about it helps me live life more completely, more present, more truthfully.
I’m grateful we’re on the ride together, learning our very best lessons from the littlest among us… which is, for me, to laugh loudly. And to love with abandon. And to wrestle with the hard questions. And to be myself. And to always, always wring the joy out of life while I slowly, achingly, one step at a time, make my way home.
And with that little bit of preschool wisdom, I bid you good night.
Sweet dreams, friends.
And also, VEE-NUS! PEE-NUS! (Hehe.)
Love,
Beth
……….
Starry Night image credit nuttakit via freedigitalimages.net
43 responses to “Thoughts on Venus and on Being a Both/And Woman”
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Beth, from those of us who have kids and who love your blog, please always be yourself! Don’t worry about us getting whiplash, we have kids who give us more whiplash then you do remember. Part of what makes your writing so appealing is your ability to say things that we think to ourselves all the time. Your worries about your kids, or how someone thinks of you, your thoughts on god and all that entails, your questions and your ability to put them down in words are a talent that you share with all of us! Thank you for opening your arms of friendship and letting us all in! (and I love how your boys are so….boys!)
It’s late, I should go to bed, but then I see your post and think, yes, I have time for this. It will be good. It will be cathartic. I may laugh until I cry or pee or both. And yes, it was worth it. This one, and the Mother’s Day one from which it came. Thank you for a great late night laugh/cry/pee. Keep up the great dualities!
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I read this post at work, and I almost choked trying not to laugh out loud. “VEE-NUS PEE-NUS!” Wonderful kids.
Some other posts (been reading through the archives while I’m supposed to be working) moved me to tears. I want to thank you for both the laughter and the tears!
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We love you just the way you are! I’m so glad that you’re not interested in trying to maintain a facade. What you do is 10,000 times better. You share the real you with us. It would be too boring to read your blog if you were just one way OR the other. (Okay, I would probably still read because you are awesome and I love your writing style.) You balance everything out very nicely with the silly things and the more deep and thought provoking things and it makes it easy to relate to you. Thank you for sharing your REAL life with us.
Stay true to yourself. I am not interested in reading a facade’s blog. The whiplash makes it all the more authentic which speaks to me and most other mommas out there too I suspect.
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I’m glad you are Both/And. We need real out here!
Thanks for putting it out there- your blog is a highlight I look forward to!
Thanks, Erica.
I agree with you.
We DO need real out here. Like the anti-pinterest. 😉
Have I ever mentioned that you rock all time and space? Because you totally do.
This made me smile. Thanks, Kristen.
I love all your deep posts and all your goofball posts. I’m not sure which I like more and they all seem to come in perfect timing with my mood. 🙂
I had a similar moment yesterday morning with my kindergarten son while driving our carpool to school. I was asking him about his field trip to the zoo and what he learned about animals in regards to their science lesson they’re working on. Graham said, “Mom, I gotta tell you something. You know those Apes?…. They poop in their hands and they throw it! Mom, they throw their poop!” He had the whole car load laughing.
And that was how my Wednesday started. 🙂 I figure it had to go up from there, right?!
Love it, Suzanne! Graham’s my kind of kid for SURE.
This is both gorgeous and hilarious. As are you.
VEE-NUS! PEE-NUS! 😀 *snigger*
xoxo
PS Joshua announced “Mummy, this is my willy!” in the bath yesterday, as if he were introducing me to a friend. It’s only a matter of time before this occurs in a very public place, like during the prayers at church.
PS In response to your Facebook status, this is definitely one of the best things I’ve read all week xo
Ah, yes, Fiona! I have equal faith that Joshua will take his willy announcements to the next (public) level. Boys are so very, very good at that.
And thanks, friend, for your persistent encouragement.
As a mother of a 4 year old boy, I so get this.
Troy was screaming “Weiner Smacks!” in the grocery store yesterday.
Love this, Zakary! (I’ve often thought this is why they have paper bags at grocery stores… so we can put them over our heads when we’re particularly embarrassed. ;))
I like both of you…all 76 of you….or whatever. Roller coasters are supposed to be fun, right? And now they are advertising dresses on your blog. Considering the contents, it could be worse. 🙂
HA! Excellent point, Janelle. I’ve seen many a vampire ad on here, so dresses? We’re moving on up. 😉
Seriously – thank you for liking all 76 of me. We’re a strange bunch.
xo.