Mario Etiquette

I have mentioned my sons love for Wii before. Their new favorite game is Super Mario Brothers. Today I found myself trying to explain to them some Mario etiquette. They were playing the third world which is full of snow and penguins which they found extremely exciting. They let out the items that make you transform and got a mushroom and a penguin. Nate took both of the items which as you can imagine did not make Mulatu happy. This happened a couple more times to which Mulatu said everytime, "Nate took both of them, I got nothing."

This got me thinking of how these lessons in how to play the game of Mario can translate into how some people approach life. You can play Mario for yourself. You can run through the stage leaving the other people behind and taking all the good 'items' for yourself or you can choose to work together, occasionally carrying others on your back and helping the others get to the end which in some cases requires sacrificing items that you might have wanted for yourself. I have to admit that I've realized as I've played Mario with my kids that I can be a very selfish Mario player. Likewise my kids have helped shine a light on the ways I live selfishly in real life and I am trying everyday to make myself a better person and a better mom.

Tomorrow my boys will have been home 6 months. It has been an incredible journey of some really high moments and some not so high moments. I have learned a lot about myself and a lot about my kids. It is amazing to look back and see how far they have come. This past week we had another immunization at the doctor and they both popped in there, took care of business and left. No tears, no bad attitudes. I was so proud of them both. Sometimes they make me want to pull my hair out, sometimes I want to sleep a little longer than they will allow, sometimes I don't know how to get through to them, but most days they just make me laugh and I can't stop smiling about the fact that I get to be their mom.