Love, blue stars and little white lies

By Mike on the Bottom

Sometimes practicality isn’t the best thing in life.
 
Our youngest, 2-year-old Jay, ran to me today when I came home from work for lunch. He had a tiny blue star in his hand. He took the sticky little star placed it on my pants leg, just below my knee.
Then he ran to get another. And another. And another.

Finally, he stuck one on my shirt, near my heart, like a badge of honor.

And he said, “I love you, Daddy.”

Twenty minutes later, as I headed back to work, my wife Lisa said, “Did you know you have stars on your clothes?”

“Jay put them there,” I said.

She quickly picked them off, saying “These could ruin your clothes. They have glue on the back.”

When I got home tonight, Jay looked disappointed and said, “Where are your stars, Daddy?”

“Mommy took them off,” I said.

“Couldn’t you have said the wind blew them off?” Lisa said with a horrified chuckle.

“If I knew how, I would have sewn them on permanently,” I said.

Michael Zitz Beckham, aka Mike on the Bottom,  is a journalist, father of two boys, and a FOVG (Friend of V-Grrrl).     He’s a sensitive guy but doesn’t mind being treated as a sex object.  Lisa, his wife, is a jewelry designer. Check out her work at www.daisybright.com.

©2006 Michael Zitz Beckham.

Comments

[Brooke's m-i-l]

Two sentences:
"These could ruin your clothes."
"Where are your stars, Daddy?"
One word: Priorities.

This blog breaks my heart :*-(

[Lisa]

It breaks my heart too and I am the offending starplucker. Priorities? I agree they're important. That's why I left my rather lucrative career four years ago to be a stay-at-home mom to two beautiful boys. My uniform is jeans - usually coated in smeared banana and peanut butter. Our living room windows are decorated with Thomas the Tank Engine stickers. The boys are allowed to ride their scooters from Santa on our hardwood floors in the house since it's too cold to use them outside. Our dining room table isn't for eating - it's for building Play-Doh mountains for little tractors to climb. So what a shock it was to read my beloved's blog and find me - the sticker wearing queen - a star-plucker. So I guess this will be my sad little reminder that even the most well-intentioned and loving mom occassionally and inadventently plucks a star now and then.

[Mike]

Ha ha ha!
Methinks she doth protest too much.
Lisa beat me severely with a fruing pan when she saw Brooke's comment. I just got back from the emergency room.
No, really. Lisa's a caring mother, a great wife and a wonderful human being.
I'm contractually obligated to say that...

[Lisa]

Hey V-Grrrl - Mike's currently looking for a new place to live. I'm thinking Belgium. He'll need lots of help with his laundry too.

[V-Grrrl]

Does he do bathrooms and dust? Maybe we can work out something with the laundry--provided I don't have to get glue spots off his pants. : )

We could start a Star Chart for Mike on the refrigerator....

[Mike]

Define 'do.'

[V-Grrrl]

Ah, so the hair isn't where the resemblance to Bill Clinton ends...

You're in deep doo, Mike. And Lisa's not going to do your laundry. You better do her right.

It's tough being a sensitive guy and a sex object--just ask Bill.

[Brooke's m-i-l]

I hope my comment didn't sound too critical! I was thinking of the times I've got MY prioroties wrong, as well! :-( We all need to think about other people's - particularly small people's - sensibilities. Thanks for posting and reminding us, Mike.