It's NOT my party...

So, I know that I sometimes seem as if I don't have any feelings. It would appear that I have, in the past, been totally disinterested in YOUR feelings. I know I seem hard and crusty on the outside...

However, I am just as tender as you on the inside. And something happened quite recently that I am surprised hurt my feelings - I was not invited to a party. A party to which many of my friends (and I use that term loosely) were invited. I would have, of course, declined. But that's not the point. The point is that it's nice to be invited.

Do you remember when your child was excluded from her first party? How it hurt your heart? You may have even intervened by calling the parent and politely suggesting the invitation was lost, and that you were sure your angel was invited. Of course, she was then welcomed, and was never the wiser that she was originally shunned, blackballed, blacklisted.

Well, do your children a favor and don't shelter them from the harsh reality that sometimes we just don't make it to the guest list. Everyone else is talking about what they are going to wear, when the question finally and surely turns to you. "I wasn't invited," is the only fair response you can give. Might as well teach your little angel how to deal with the feelings now, before they get older. The pain at being left out will not be lessened, but it will be less shocking.