It was an ER doc who once gave me my most valuable tip on child rearing.
He had six kids of his own.
He had it down.
He HAD to know what he was talking about…..
Right?

“Save a piece of your brain,” he told me one night when I showed up for work in daughter-induced tears.

“Save a piece of my brain?”

The ER was quiet, hadn’t started to rumble yet.
The bars were still open.
We had some time.

My doc motioned for me to come sit on the stool near him.

“Close your eyes.”

“Close my eyes? Are you gonna hypnotize me?”

“No, just close your eyes.”

Down went my eyelids.

“Now, go deep into your head and visualize your brain.”

“There it is.
I see it.
It’s all beat to crap.
Am I suppose to hold it?”

“No, just see it.”

“OK, I’m lookin’ at it…..kinda creepy.”

“Now, visualize taking a small piece and separating it from the rest of your brain.”

I did it…..I was holding a teeny part of my brain in my hands.

“Now, find a place deep in your heart or any hiding spot you can visualize within your body and carefully tuck that small piece of your brain away there.
Leave it.
Forget about it…..FOR NOW.”

Not my heart.
I wasn’t hiding a piece of my brain in my heart.
My heart was full of bumps and bruises, it had even been trampled on a few times.
I wanted a nice place to hide my brain piece.

I found the spot, tucked between a couple ribs so I could see it, otherwise I’d forget where it was.
And I didn’t want to lose a piece of my brain that I hid myself in my body, for crap sake!

“One day, after your kids are grown and gone and they’ve totally destroyed your brain…..ate it up…..nothing left…..then go get that piece you hid and you can run on that for the rest of your life.”

………………..

Years later it happened, just as he said…..my brain was gone.

Ah, but I remembered the hidden piece.

I’m runnin’ on that piece now and doin’ pretty good.

Now, from time to time I watch my grandchildren munch away…..not on MY brain, oh no…..on the ones that ATE mine…..their parents!

I shared my secret with my girls who are now parents but I’m not sure they were listening.

I hope so because I see some serious signs goin’ on.

It’s one of the reasons why grand parenting is so much easier than parenting.

My grandkids seem to enjoy their times with me.
We talk and laugh back and forth and munch on my homemade cookies.

But I can tell sometimes when I talk with their parents…..
It’s not cookies their kids are munchin’ on.

And now I realize that’s why at times when I was ready to pull out all my hair, my mom sat quietly with a kind of look of contentment on her face…..she obviously knew the secret too.