Mini Teeth and Happy Thoughts

First item of business, my laptop just outsmarted me for a good 30 minutes. I wanted to listen to some tunes without waking up my kid-lit, so I untangled the earphones my husband left for me {THAT was a feat} and looked for the earphone jack. 

Couldn't find it.

Gave up.

Cursed my laptop and called him names.

Wrote 90 % of this post before having a sudden, random epiphany and knew exactly where to look for the jack. It was right in the front. Staring at me. If it were a snake. . . it would have killed me a long time ago.

I'm such a smarty-pants sometimes. 

. . . . . . .

The real point of this post was to point out to all of you {who aren't already friends with me on Facebook} that Miss Squeaker got her first tooth on Tuesday.

Can you SEEEE it? It's so insanely tiny, but I just had to document it because I'm a crazy-first-time-mom. And I had to have something to show for the ornery little stinker she's been for the past week.

If my kid is good at nothing else, she's good at crying. That, I'm afraid to say, is no exaggeration. 

. . . . . . 

 I was watching the movie "27 Dresses" last night. {I absolutely love that movie to little bitty pieces, but that's not the point I wanted to make.} :) 

There's a point in the movie when two sisters have to reconcile after a huge blow-out, and the younger sister {who has a seemingly perfect, effortless life} explains how not-so-very-perfect her life really is. She admits to pretending/wanting to be like the older sister, at which point the older sister looks rather dumbfounded and says,

 

"Why would you want to be ME when you get to be YOU?"

And in classic Jessica fashion, I thought to myself, "Huh. That sounds like it could make a good blog post." And so here we are.

{I know I must sound like a broken record, but just grin and bear it. . . or go watch some reruns or whip up some of this dinner and pop some popcorn or somethin' :D}

Heaven only knows that I talk a LOT about comparing yourself to others and being true to yourself. But it's only too true that 99% of the population {particularly women} have the nasty little habit of thinking everyone else's life is perfect.

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I had to include that picture because it seriously cracked me up! However, this picture also caught my attention for a completely different reason:

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In case you haven't caught on, I'm referring to 'the grass is always greener on the other side' complex {that I also mentioned in this post}. Life is always better if you're someone else, right?

Take that lady in line in front of you at the grocery store, for example. She doesn't get flustered by her wailing kid(s), but instead, neatly folds her receipt in her organized-by-category-and-color planner before walking out unruffled (without sweat stains and cheerios in her hair). She must have a better life than you, right?

What about that guy down the street that always has the perfect lawn with beautiful flowers all year? And that person driving down the road next to you with the expensive, clean car? And don't forget the lady on the TV that can sing every note under the sun. Oh, and don't forget the one with the perfect body. And the single guy who gets to do whatever he wants whenever he wants. 

They must all have better lives than you, right?

They're better than you, right?

Right?!

The funny thing about always looking OUT is that you never notice all the people looking IN. 

I'll betcha it would surprise your socks off if you knew how many people looked at you the same way you look at them. They think your life is so much better than theirs. 

Now, going back to that picture with the barbed wire, I'd like to compare it to how focusing too much on the other side of the fence {or even trying to get over there like the cow} can be painful and dangerous. Barbed wire is not forgiving. There are "fences" for a reason. . . we can't, and shouldn't, live each others' lives. 

Maybe that person in the clean, expensive car wishes they had children to hide stale chicken nuggets in between the seat cushions but they can't have any.

Maybe the person with the perfect body just really wants that cookie you're stuffing in your face {but I wouldn't know anything about stuffing cookies in my face. . . so. . . }.

Everyone's situation is different, so it only makes sense that their lives are different. Try your very hardest to enjoy your life while you're in it. I say "try" because I'm no queen of this philosophy. When Hannah has woken up for the third time between the hours of midnight and 4:00 a.m., I'm not feeling the joy. It's not always easy. 

There are times when I see someone walk by me in the street and I think, "Man. I just REALLY want her shoes. I wonder what my life would be like if I had money to spend on shoes like that. . ." But then I try and get over it as soon as I can. 

After all, I have green grass on my own side. :)