Do You Ever Miss Feeling Smart?

My typical day is filled with 6 am wake up calls, spilled cereal, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, dirty dishes, library story times, potty accidents, grocery store runs, riding razors to the park, playing in the sprinklers {well zack at least}, folding laundry, doctor appointments, cooking dinner, cleaning up dinner, reading stories, giving baths & finally shutting out the light.

Sometimes in betwixt all that I'll steal a moment to check my email, chat with my mom {maybe even lunch! yahoo}, have a 15 min power nap and pour myself a Diet Coke {no sonic close to our new house...boohoo}. Doesn't sound too bad, right?

Frankly, it isn't. I love my home life {I even missed it when we were in hawaii} but lately I've missed feeling "smart." Sounds weird, I know. But there was a time where I think maybe I might have been considered smart...in a bookish way & I kind of miss that feeling. I miss going to classes everyday or working in an environment where I had to constantly learn new things.

So in my effort to feel "smart" again I've decided to put down Parents magazine, as I really don't need one ounce of that information & picked up some better reading material...as I am a big reader & thought this is where I can feel "smart" again.
This week I have been reading a book called Defining Moments by Gordon Zacks. It is a book I was given several years ago & had thumbed through but hadn't ever read fully. Each chapter is about an influential person or leader & their "defining moment" in history. I am learning I don't know squat about history...I get the big picture stuff, but the minute details I'm lacking.

I came across a quote that I just love & it's had me thinking all weekend...it is from David Ben-Gurion. He was Isreal's first prime minister in 1948 {the George Washington of Isreal} & his goal was to establish a Jewish presence on the ground in order to stake claim on the geography...something I know very little about. In an interview with young American Jews he was asked what he was most worried about. His response? "Color television." That caught my attention instantly, as he was literally in the thick of war after war. He went on to explain, "Right now this country has black & white television. Already it's stealing time from the family, from reading, from writing, from people communicating with each other. It's subverting our way of life. Our children aren't reading or studying. They're indulging themselves. Color television will be worse because it will be more attractive. If they have color television, they'll waste even more time doing in color, what they are already doing in black & white. This will undermine the moral fiber of the nation and the principle of sacrifice upon which the state has been built."

I have to say I agree, although I was still surprised by his answer. Amongst all the turmoil that was what he was worried about...but really he's right. It is the little day to day things that make up the fiber of our being, our society.

{mind you, tonight is the season finale of bachelor...i'll be front & center in my jammies with popcorn}