Mundane Monday

My local newspaper runs a column each week called "Monday Moaning." Readers can write in with whatever it is they want to complain about, and the paper runs it. This really bugs me, though the paper tries to counter it with a "Thankful Thursday."

I think we've got enough complaining in this world without giving it a forum. But then again, I have been known to use this space to do a little complaining of
my own.

So today I was running around doing errands, thinking about "Monday Moaning" and just how mundane today is...hence, Mundane Monday. Here's what I did:

1. Laundry. 4 loads.
2. Trip to Target for necessities and Christmas presents.
3. Grocery store run.
4. Exercised despite not feeling like it.
5. Listened to a podcast.
6. Did the school run, times two.
7. Tidied up, but not very much.
8. Phoned a friend.
9. Got caught in the rain.
10. Did a lot of dishes.
11. Made dinner.

So you see, yes, it was a very Mundane Monday. How about you?

*And don't forget to enter the giveaway for the book They Were Still Born: Personal Stories About Stillbirth, below.

What Not to Say to a Parent Who's Lost a Baby

1. You'll have another baby.

2. It wasn't meant to be.

3. It was God's will.

4. God needed another angel in heaven, or, the variant, God needed your baby in heaven more than you needed your baby here. (You really think God is that freakin' cruel? That's not a God I want any part of.)

5. Your baby couldn't have survived if he'd been born.

6. I know just how you feel. (Hint: Unless your baby died too, YOU HAVE NO IDEA. None whatsoever.)

7. It happened for a reason. (There is no good reason for my child to have died. He was not meant to have died. But he did anyway.)

I hope someone comes here, someone who is in danger of saying some of these horrible phrases to newly bereaved parents, and learns something. The best thing anyone can say is simply this: "I'm sorry."

Readers, do you have anything to add to my list? I'm sure you do, so please, help me enlighten the rest of the world.