9.03.2009

Mrs. Understood

As I grow old and wiser, I have realized that in many aspects of my life, I am misunderstood.










I am often described as sweet. While I can be sweet, and try to be a good person, that's really just one part of my personality. I can also be sarcastic, grouchy, and rude. And I have a potty mouth. I'm just not a generally uber-sweet person. I'm Mrs. Understood.




I want Andrew, my step son, to spend time with us as a family. My Mother-in-Law wants him to spend all of his free time with her. She seems to think I'm being mean, when actually I just want him to be included in our family time. I believe it's good for him. I believe it's not right to leave him out of our fun family things. I want him to spend time with his big brother, who I think can be a good influence on him. My son is awesome. I want him to spend time with his sisters. Who are also fantastic. But MIL seems to think I'm being a Wicked Stepmother. I'm Mrs. Understood.





I am a smart-assed, sarcastic beeotch. Sometimes people take me seriously when I'm totally joking. Sometimes people think I'm being rude or have an attitude. I've recently had to explain to some new co-workers that I'm just a smart-ass, lamely attempting to be funny. Don't take me seriously. I'm Mrs. Understood.





It's very important to me to treat everyone in life the same. At work, I am friendly to everyone, from the Neurogurgeons that I work with to the housekeeping crew. "Status" means nothing to me. But in my effort to be friendly, I am sometimes taken the wrong way. I don't flirt. At least, I don't mean to. But some guys seem to misinterpret my friendliness. I don't want to stop being friendly, but I don't want to send the wrong message, either! Sigh. I'm Mrs. Understood.





I'm also moody. Which people sometimes take personally. But it's just me, I can't help it. I don't always wake up feeling all Miss Mary Sunshine. Which makes me Mrs. Understood.






This moodiness also makes me Mrs. Understood in another way. I'm often in a quiet mood. And that quietness is frequently mistaken as being Stuck Up. This happened much more often when I was younger...I was very shy. So people thought I was stuck-up. Nope, just Mrs. Understood. (actually, Miss Understood back then.)




Speaking of young....people often think I'm much younger than I actually am. I get very strange looks when I'm out & about with my oldest son, who is 16. I definitely don't look old enough to be his mother. Last night, my phone rang in a patient's room, and my ringtone is "Total Eclipse of the Heart" by Bonnie Tyler. The patient said "You're not old enough to have that ringtone!" I laughed and told her that I'm older than she thinks and I know that song very well. It's been like this my entire life, and although naturally I love it now, when I was younger I hated being mistaken for being even younger than I was. When you're 15, you don't want to look 11! But when you're 36, you love being mistaken for 25. Just call me Mrs. Understood!

9 comments:

Unknown said...

Mother in laws....arrghh, what can you do, mine is crazy also. And I hate people that don't get sarcasm!

Grace said...

I resemble some of these ummm understandings...

Erin said...

I hate it when people mistake my sarcasm! And my friendliness...the hubs is always telling me I am flirting...*sigh*

I loved all the pics, they fit perfectly!

Tara R. said...

There can only be good things come from you including your step-son in family events. Pssff to your MIL.

Everything else, we could have been sisters separated at birth.

Elenka said...

I love your thing about treating everyone the same. I try to do that, too. Having grown up with a carpenter and a custodian, I know how great it made my parents feel when someone realized that they were actually very smart. Many people are misunderstood.

Aleta said...

People love to define a person - That's the pretty one, the smart one, the funny one, the sweet one, the mean one. Ahhh, but we can't be defined by just one aspect of our personality.

Loved this post about all the different parts of who you are and all summing it back to being misunderstood. I understand, I do!

Twisted Fencepost said...

How did you get inside my head and describe me so well?
Oh yeah, you were describing you.
Funny, I could have sworn you were describing me.
Your son needs his family, make time for Grandma, too. But right now he needs family time.

Claudya Martinez said...

Nice to meet you Mrs. Understood! Keep on being you.

shortmama said...

This sounded so much like me!!