Living with permanent?

Chances are if  you have children (or a pet), they've done some sort of damage in your home at sometime that is permanent or least long lasting. Chances are you've also got some kind of product under the sink or in the garage to undo, cover up or remove the damage.

I can think of three occasions where my  two sons eldest son left damage in our home.

Once, when he was around two years old, he got into my glitter nail polish and left a trail on the wall, from the bathroom, through the living room, all the way to his bedroom. He was caught red-handed. Or perhaps I should say 'glitter handed'! We ended up repainting the rooms. Another time he wrote a message for me on our dry erase whiteboard. With a Sharpie. Yes, there was a dry erase marker for him to use, but he really wanted to get his point across. Wrote it in all caps too. We replaced the whiteboard and locked up the Sharpies!

But the most permanent damage has been to my dining room table.

Many years ago, both my boys were doing their homework in the kitchen and kept fighting with each other. So I decided to separate them. I sent my eldest into the dining room to finish his homework, thinking that since he was older, he would be more responsible. I was wrong.

Well, a week or so later, I was polishing my dining room table and I noticed something. My son showed his disdain for his homework by inscribing his 'feelings' deep into the grain of my table.

He was doing math at the time.

He also showed his disdain for his brother? Or perhaps me? Or both of us? A second inscription.

I'd like to think it says 'fork'!

I was furious.

I looked into having my table refinished, but because the damage is so deep, they said they would have to really thin out the wood and it couldn't be done. I also thought about replacing the table, but I didn't want to because I love this dining room set. So I've just had to learn to live with it.

 Now, at Christmas, Thanksgiving, Birthdays or when we have guests over, I have to get a little creative with my place settings and decorations so as to cover up his wood carving, but on the most part, I've learned learned to live with the damage.

In the same way, I'm learning to live with the permanent damage of my vestibular nerve caused my bout of vestibular neuritis in 2018. Sometimes I have to get a little bit creative and adjust my life according. Some days I'm actually successful at it. Other days, not so much.

 My sons piano teacher would never say "practice makes perfect" as the most common saying goes. She would instead say "practice makes permanent". Everyday I get to practice living with this disorder. And everyday that I practice, I get a little better at living with it.

And would you know, there are even some days that I polish my dining room table...and smile.