People are more important than things.

People are more important than things - or are they? I write this with a few tears remaining in my eyes from a little frustration fit I had a few minutes ago. After noticing how dusty a picture was on the wall, I took it down, and was cleaning it. This wasn't just any picture - it is a large, matted photograph of a lighthouse with a message about getting through storms in our lives - and was given to us by a dear friend after a tough time. It hangs above our staircase in the center of our house and spreads it's message like a covering over us. To me, it's priceless. I was in the process of tenderly "windexing" it, when I notice Serena trying out the hula -hoop that she just got. I remember getting one of those really going around my waist when I was in grade school - so we had a humorous session going on between Stu and I, when I hear this little voice, "I'm queaning". I than notice that Gabe has been squirting Windex on my beautiful picture - which has run down the glass and was spreading up onto the print - already discoloring it. What? I turned my back for 1 second! Instead of clowbering him, like I felt like to, I "pulled out my hair" as the tears started flowing. Garret's like, "sometimes I feel like that too."
Now, you might not notice the water stain in that picture when you come to my house, but it's there. Along with the dings in my coffee table that I've already sanded out and re-varnished once, the burn mark in my counter-top from when Kira was playing with a candle, the countless mars in the hardwood floor from carelessly dropped items, and you'll miss the $50 engraved emu egg from our trip to Australia because Damien dropped it off the bookshelf, and you'll miss the china plates that were handed down to me from my grandma because toddler hands found a way to get past that child lock on the cupboard. That's just touching on the fringe of it all.
I remember distinctly my mom saying "people are more important than things" to me, after I got up in arms when one of my siblings went in the family room to (I thought) "mess it up" after I spent hours organizing the books and toys. Apparently all she wanted was a crayon~ but can't things stay nice for a change? It's like the common bumper sticker - I won't directly quote - just say "life" happens.

Boy, do I feel better! Thanks for listening!