{"id":379890,"date":"2016-05-22T17:08:14","date_gmt":"2016-05-22T17:08:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/2016\/05\/22\/best-parenting-advice-ever-youre-going-to-kiss-ass\/"},"modified":"2016-05-22T17:08:14","modified_gmt":"2016-05-22T17:08:14","slug":"best-parenting-advice-ever-youre-going-to-kiss-ass","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/2016\/05\/22\/best-parenting-advice-ever-youre-going-to-kiss-ass\/","title":{"rendered":"Best Parenting Advice Ever: You&#8217;re Going to Kiss Ass"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Happy Sunday, Journeyer!<\/p>\n<p>Looks like I&#8217;ve still got it in me. That knack for mixing metaphors in humorous ways.<\/p>\n<p>Not too long ago I actually mentioned to Warren that I hadn&#8217;t had any Annah-isms in a while.<\/p>\n<p>That notion went out the window when Big Guy handed me the open calendar I sent with him when he went away to college.<\/p>\n<p>Like I&#8217;d done for his brother and sister before him, I made little love entries on special or arbitrary dates. Sometimes I&#8217;d tape a four-leaved clover in the St. Patrick&#8217;s Day box, draw a few  hearts below February 14th, or just write some random quote or note of inspiration.<\/p>\n<p>This is the message I added to May 9, 2016, the beginning of my boy&#8217;s final exam week:<\/p>\n<p>[Tweet theme=&#8221;basic-white&#8221;]<strong>&#8220;Your&#8217;e going to kiss ass on those exams.&#8221;<\/strong>[\/Tweet]<\/p>\n<p>Of course I added a star at the end of the proclamation, just for celebratory good measure.<\/p>\n<p>That right there has to be some of the <strong>best parenting advice ever<\/strong>! Maybe they should hang it in the parenting hall of fame.<\/p>\n<p>My boy laughed as he made some reference to my mixed up words and placed the dayplanner into my hands.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/annahelizabeth.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Annah-ism-Youre-going-to-Kiss-Ass-on-Those-Exams.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" size-medium wp-image-8929 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/annahelizabeth.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Annah-ism-Youre-going-to-Kiss-Ass-on-Those-Exams-300x150.jpg\" alt=\"Annah-ism You're going to Kiss Ass on Those Exams\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>There are some things we mamas just don&#8217;t want to know. I definitely prefer to remain in the dark if Big Guy&#8217;s 4.0 for his second college semester had anything to do with kissing someone&#8217;s ass.<\/p>\n<p>I think I&#8217;ll just stay in my own little world and the intended &#8220;You&#8217;re going to kick ass on those exams&#8221; <em>because you paid attention in class, did your homework, and studied your little heart out.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Laughter is often our best medicine, isn&#8217;t it, Journeyer?<\/p>\n<p>Seeing as I&#8217;ve spent this past week knee-deep in a new and different legal dilemma (I KNOW! Someone please make it stop!), I embraced every single fly-by event that brought a smile to my face or warmed my heart.<\/p>\n<p>And speaking of my heart, it&#8217;s a little heavy for a friend whose father died unexpectedly. I never had the privilege of knowing the man in life, but I certainly came to know him through the many stories told during the service. Mixed in with the silent reverence were many reflections that brought laughter.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s even heavier yet because it seems my relationship with Beauty has become even more estranged since the whole Graduation\/Mother&#8217;s Day debacle. I just have to trust what I know and what everyone keeps telling me, that her pulling away isn&#8217;t uncommon for a twenty-one year old, and that some day she&#8217;ll come back around.<\/p>\n<p>At the same time, I&#8217;m trying to remember that I have no control over that, so I&#8217;m trying to find balance between that trust that everything will work out okay and wishful thinking&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>So, how did <em>I kick ass and take names<\/em> during a week that threatened to kick my ass?<\/p>\n<p>I enjoyed every second of a previously scheduled massage.<\/p>\n<p>I laughed with new acquaintances and loved learning more about crystals and auras in a class I took Tuesday night.<\/p>\n<p>I drank in the most mesmerizing morning sun I&#8217;ve ever seen. Usually a bright sunrise colors the horizon, but on this day, the giant glowing orb was a welcome contrast to an otherwise dismal, yet cloudless, sky.<\/p>\n<p>I had a nice dinner out with Warren and Big Guy.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking of my youngest, he purchased his first car this week! I was happy he asked Warren and I to be a part of the process. I am so happy for him!<\/p>\n<p>Friday night I went to dinner and a fun psychic reading with a friend.<\/p>\n<p>I did a little house cleaning yesterday and prepared my screen in porch for the summer.<\/p>\n<p>I finally opened the package that came with my Tiny Buddha <em>Be here now<\/em> shirts! Wearing it this weekend helped me stay Zen while working on some tough copyright and plagiarism issues. If you aren&#8217;t familiar with the brand, I highly recommend you head over there for some powerful bits of inspiration,<span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"> <a style=\"color: #0000ff;\" title=\"5 Reason You Feel Alone on Tiny Buddha\" href=\"http:\/\/tinybuddha.com\/blog\/5-reasons-feel-alone-how-change-that\/\" target=\"_blank\">including this one from yours truly<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/annahelizabeth.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/TinyBuddha-Be-here-now-shirts.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" size-medium wp-image-8930 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/annahelizabeth.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/TinyBuddha-Be-here-now-shirts-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"TinyBuddha Be here now shirts\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I spent the past two days doing writing work out on the deck, drinking iced cold and enjoying the fresh outdoors and greening landscape.<\/p>\n<p>And I made the season&#8217;s first batch of homemade nectar.<\/p>\n<p>As I type, one of my ruby-throated regulars is suspended right outside my office window; a quick hello before flying off.<\/p>\n<p>What about you, Journeyer? Did you have any kick-ass or kiss-ass moments that made you smile or laugh?<\/p>\n<p>Your neighbors want to know! Won&#8217;t you share? Leave a little something in a comment below.<\/p>\n<p>Until we meet again, yours in hope, healing, and happiness,<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/annahelizabeth.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Annah-Elizabeth-Signature.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-7123\" src=\"https:\/\/annahelizabeth.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Annah-Elizabeth-Signature-300x52.jpg\" alt=\"Annah Elizabeth Signature\" width=\"300\" height=\"52\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Happy Sunday, Journeyer! Looks like I&#8217;ve still got it in me. That knack for mixing metaphors in humorous ways. Not too long ago I actually mentioned to Warren that I hadn&#8217;t had any Annah-isms in a while. That notion went out the window when Big Guy handed me the open calendar I sent with him [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":379891,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1034,1035,1382],"tags":[316,1005,1561,1562,113,317,1563,1564,63,1507,149],"class_list":["post-379890","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-happy-happens","category-mental-health","category-parenting","tag-happyhappens","tag-annah-ism","tag-best-parenting-advice-ever","tag-college-exams","tag-family","tag-finding-happiness-in-your-day","tag-kick-ass","tag-kiss-ass","tag-parenting","tag-tiny-buddha","tag-writing"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Annah-ism-Youre-going-to-Kiss-Ass-on-Those-Exams.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379890","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=379890"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379890\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/379891"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=379890"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=379890"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=379890"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}