A Long and Rambling Post

I confess we are fans of reality tv in this house. That's something you won't often hear people admit, but I felt that this needed to be shared.

We don't watch much- there's a lot of junk out there. But we've become fans of certain shows:

The Biggest Loser- It's motivating, and while it's on we talk about working hard, setting goals, etc.
The Amazing Race - We love seeing people travel around the world. It's also good to watch and discuss different character traits. (Both the good ones and the bad ones.)
Survivor - Again with the travel and the character traits.
On occasion, Wife Swap - We enjoy watching this because it gives my family perspective. I'm sure that there are people out there who think that I am an extreme person. (No, no, it's true. There are those who think that.) Sometimes the men in my family think I go a bit overboard in some areas. (Cleanliness IS next to godliness, you know.) But the women on this show let them know that I'm not too bad!

"You think I like to clean, get a load of this lady?"
"You think a messy house is no big deal? Look at this place!"

Anyway, after watching tonight's episode of "The Amazing Race", it cemented in my head why you will never see me on reality tv. During the race, one of the moms is talking to her children about the area in which they find themselves. They're driving acroos the long bridge over Lake Pontchartrain into New Orleans, and she tells them, "This is one of the 5 Great Lakes."

Even Braden laughed at that.

And I'm sure that this mom is shrinking into her easy chair in shame, knowing that that error made it onto national tv.

But that would be me. I could never go on reality tv because I know I would say something ridiculous and it would not end up on the editing room floor. They'd probably replay it in slow motion. Multiple times. And I'd give them plenty of material too. I can imagine the camera crew checking into their hotel at night saying, "Oh geez, did you hear what she said today??"

Every tantrum thrown by my children. Every embarrassing romance novel on my bookshelf. The preprogrammed channels on my radio. And somehow, of course, it would have to come up that there's a Milli Vanilli cassette in my tape deck right now. All these things would find ways to make it onto the small screen and mock me.

I feel really sorry for that mom on tonight's show. We all say dumb things, but thankfully we don't have it broadcast across several time zones. We don't have to hear our friends or complete strangers repeating them to us the following day. (I'll bet that mom knows the names of all 5 Great Lakes now. In alphabetical order.)

But then I think of our boys, and the things they hear me say. What are the words that they will hear in slow motion over and over in their own minds? What is it that we'll have said that may echo? Years from now, when they gather together at holidays and reminisce, what will they remember us saying?

Now that Colson is becoming much more adept at speaking, he's a constant reminder to me to watch my words and guard my tongue. Not just to avoid the possibility of them remembering the idiocy that so often spews forth from my mouth, but to fill their heads and their hearts with words that I want them to carry with them as they grow.