Tomato/Tomato vs Potato/Potato

By: Samantha S. Daviss

We all do things a little bit differently than each other, and that is okay. That is what makes us human, and what makes us individuals. We just have to remember that just because it is done differently than how we might do it, doesn’t make it wrong. Right?

I know the tale as old as time is the difference between children and their parents. As we all grow up, we learn that we are no longer our parents’ child, but we are an individual. Allowed to make our own choices, decisions, and minds up about life and how to live life.

Now with that comes the unexpected; the unexpected by our parents. Sometimes as parents we forget that our children do grow up, do change, and do adapt new ways and ideas of doing things. I can see it in my parents’ eyes sometimes. The fire, the smoke and the agitation, that the way they taught me to do something, isn’t the way I do it at all anymore. I may have done it their way growing up. “Their house, their rules”. But now that I have become an adult, I have found my way, my rhythm, or maybe a better more efficient way to do something.

I know it’s hard to think that our babies, that we are grooming so hard to be bright, smart, and independent people, actually do grow up to be bright, smart, independent people. How dare they step out on their own, use their own methods and concepts of doing something.

It is just like a spouse. How dare they do the laundry differently than you may have done it. Or how dare they put the kids to bed in a different manner. Monday night is “The Very Hungry Caterpillar”, how dare they read “Goodnight Moon”. But in the end, isn’t your child happy, your spouse happy, and everyone is safely tucked in bed? Yes, they are.

So in the end that is all we need to think and worry about, is the big picture, the grand scheme of things. Is it really worth getting worked up about? Is it really worth lecturing about? Or is it really worth that breath of fresh oxygen to try and correct someone? I personally don’t think it is. As long as it gets done, taken care of or finished in a timely manner, that to me is all that is important.

So as the saying goes…” TomAto / Tomaaato  OR PotAto / Potaaato”…who really cares as long as it is taken care of, everyone is happy, and no one was hurt in the process. Sometimes it’s just time to let go of the reigns and let people be who they are, and sadly let our babies grow up, whether we like it or not. It is the circle of life.